BrightHR is a broad HR platform starting from £4.20/employee/month — but it requires 12-36 month contracts with early exit penalties. TimeTally combines time tracking and holiday management in one focused tool for £2/employee — with no contracts and no exit penalties.
| Feature | TimeTally | BrightHR |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing per employee/month | £2 | From £4.20 |
| Timesheet tracking | ||
| Holiday management | ||
| Contract required | No | 12-36 months |
| Payroll export | Limited | |
| Cancel anytime | Exit penalties | |
| iOS app |
BrightHR is a broad HR platform — offering document storage, health & safety tools, rota scheduling, and timesheet tracking alongside its leave management. However, it locks you into 12-36 month contracts with early exit penalties, and starts at over double the cost. TimeTally focuses specifically on what small businesses need most: employee time tracking and holiday management in one tool, with month-to-month flexibility and payroll exports to Xero, QuickBooks, or CSV. See our comparison matrix for a full side-by-side view.
Hours tracking
Employee time tracking
Holiday tracking
UK entitlements built-in
Approval workflow
Managers review & approve
Payroll export
Xero, QuickBooks, CSV
TimeTally includes comprehensive holiday and leave management — without requiring a long-term contract or bundling in HR modules you don't need.
Auto-calculated based on working pattern and start date
Sick leave, TOIL, compassionate leave, and more — all built in
Both BrightHR and TimeTally offer timesheet tracking — but TimeTally includes full timesheet approval workflows, overtime tracking, and direct payroll-ready exports to Xero, QuickBooks, or CSV — all at half the price and with no long-term contract. Industries like care homes, hospitality, and cleaning services particularly benefit from the simplicity and lower cost.
Employees log start/end times or total hours per day
Managers approve or reject with one tap
£2
per employee/month
From £4.20
per employee/month
Example: For 10 employees, BrightHR costs at least £42/month on a long-term contract. TimeTally for the same 10 employees = £20/month for time tracking AND holidays, with no contract.
Time Tracking, overtime, and holiday data all flow from one system — ensuring consistency and accuracy. One click sends approved hours to your payroll software, with the audit trail HMRC requires for RTI (Real Time Information) submissions. Explore how it works or use our ROI calculator to see the savings.
Need a broad HR platform → BrightHR
Need time tracking and holidays, no contracts → TimeTally
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