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It's a split decision.
Choose DeskTime if your main need is automatic time tracking, app and website records, project hours, and published per-user pricing. Its Pro plan lists $6.42 per user monthly with annual billing. Choose Paylocity if you want HR, payroll, finance, and IT tools in one platform and are prepared to request a quote. Paylocity does not publish prices, seat limits, or usage limits, so compare a detailed proposal before switching.
01Side by side
| DeskTime | Paylocity | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $6.42/user/month, annual billing | Quote-based; price not published |
| Free plan | No free plan; 14-day trial | No free plan; trial not published |
| Best for | Teams tracking work time and activity | Employers combining HR, payroll, finance, IT |
| Core strength | Automatic time, app, website, project tracking | Unified HR, payroll, finance, and IT platform |
| Learning curve | Not published | Not published |
| Integrations/data | App, URL, document tracking; API on Premium | Dashboards and guided actions; integrations not published |
| Team/seat costs | Per-user pricing; Enterprise custom for 200+ users | Seat and usage limits not published |
| Support | Enterprise includes account manager and employee training | Payroll and tax support described as expert-led |
DeskTime Choose DeskTime if
- Choose DeskTime if you need automatic time and activity tracking.
- Choose DeskTime if you need project hours and productivity reports.
- Choose DeskTime if published per-user pricing matters.
Paylocity Choose Paylocity if
- Choose Paylocity if you want HR and payroll in one platform.
- Choose Paylocity if finance and IT tools belong in the same system.
- Choose Paylocity if you can evaluate a custom quote and service terms.
02Pricing compared
DeskTime Pro lists $6.42 per user per month with annual billing; Premium lists $9.17 on the same basis. Monthly billing is offered, but its prices are not published. Prices exclude VAT, and DeskTime offers a 14-day free trial. Enterprise pricing is custom. Paylocity does not publish a starting price: its pricing is quote-based, and monthly or annual billing terms are not listed. Seat limits, usage limits, and add-on or overage costs are also unpublished. That makes a direct cost comparison impossible from public prices alone. DeskTime’s listed rates give teams a starting point; Paylocity buyers need a quote reflecting their selected modules and organization. Before switching to Paylocity, ask for itemized module costs, seat assumptions, and any add-on charges.
03Features and depth
These products solve different problems. DeskTime focuses on automatic time tracking: it records work time and tracks apps, websites, and documents. It also categorizes activity for productivity calculations and AI summaries, assigns time to projects and billable or non-billable hours, and reports on online status and remote work patterns. Reports, exports, shift scheduling, and an absence calendar round out its team-management tools. Paylocity is a broader HR, payroll, finance, and IT platform. Its listed capabilities include payroll and tax filing, workforce management, finance spend tools, and IT asset management, access control, and service support. It also offers a mobile app and analytics dashboards. DeskTime’s Premium plan lists screenshots, integrations and API, and shift scheduling; Pro lists document title tracking and calendar integrations. Paylocity’s modules are customizable, but the published information does not specify module-level limits. Choose based on whether you need work-time records or a wider employer platform—not feature-count alone.
04Ease of use and learning curve
DeskTime’s narrower focus should make it easier to evaluate against a specific need: automatic time records, activity visibility, or project-hour reporting. Its listed plans also make the price comparison more straightforward, though monthly rates are unpublished. Paylocity covers HR, payroll, finance, and IT, so buyers should expect to scope which modules they need before judging setup or cost. The published information does not publish implementation steps, training requirements, or learning resources for either product. The review scores rate ease of use at 7 for DeskTime and 6 for Paylocity. Treat that as a directional comparison, not proof that either product will be simple to roll out for your team.
Questions people ask
How much does DeskTime cost?
DeskTime lists Pro at $6.42 per user per month and Premium at $9.17 per user per month, both with annual billing. Monthly prices are not published, and prices exclude VAT. Enterprise pricing is custom. DeskTime also lists a 14-day free trial.
What does Paylocity do?
Paylocity is a platform for HR, payroll, finance, and IT. Its listed capabilities include payroll and tax filing, workforce management, spend management, IT asset and access management, a mobile app, and analytics dashboards. Pricing is quote-based, with no public starting price in the published information.
What are the top 10 employee monitoring software products?
The published information covers DeskTime, not a ranked set of employee monitoring products, so it cannot support a reliable top-10 list. DeskTime does list automatic time tracking, app and website tracking, productivity analysis, and project-hour tracking. Compare current features and pricing before choosing alternatives.
Who is Paylocity's biggest competitor?
The published information does not identify Paylocity’s biggest competitor or provide market-share data to establish one. DeskTime is not a like-for-like substitute: it focuses on time and activity tracking, while Paylocity combines HR, payroll, finance, and IT tools. Define the category before comparing vendors.