Built for small businesses.
Owned by one.

Where we came from

CKZ Time Clock was built in 2005 out of frustration. As a small business owner managing hourly employees, we found the available options were either expensive enterprise systems that required a full-time IT person to run, or glorified spreadsheets that still meant hours of manual payroll math every week.

So we built something better. A simple, honest time tracking tool designed specifically for small business owners who don't have an IT department, a dedicated HR team, or a budget that stretches to enterprise software pricing.

Twenty years of staying independent

We've been offered acquisition deals. We've had venture capital conversations. We've always said no — because we believe independent software companies build better products than ones chasing exit multiples. When we make a decision about a feature or pricing, the only people in the room are us and our customers.

We're still based in Shadow Hills, California. We still answer our own phone. And we still care more about whether your payroll export actually works than about how we look in a pitch deck.

What we believe about software

Good software should do what it says. It shouldn't hide its pricing, upsell you on features you already paid for, or require a training seminar to clock in for a shift. CKZ Time Clock is designed so that a brand-new employee can figure out how to punch in without asking anyone for help — and so that a business owner can run payroll on a Friday afternoon without wanting to throw their laptop out the window.

We think software pricing should be honest. That's why we publish it on our website instead of making you talk to a salesperson. And it's why we offer a permanently free plan for small teams — because a 4-person business shouldn't have to pay $60/month just to know who showed up for work.

What we believe about community

We're a small business that serves small businesses. But some of the most important work happening in communities across the country is being done by people who aren't in it for the money at all — nonprofit organizations, volunteer fire departments, EMS crews, and rescue teams who put in the hours because someone has to.

Those organizations shouldn't have to scrounge a budget for time tracking software. So we don't charge them for it. Free. No time limit. No catch. It's the right thing to do, and it costs us almost nothing to do it.