Buddy Punch Review: How to Make Money as an Affiliate

Disclosure: some links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

What Is Buddy Punch?

Buddy Punch is time clock software for businesses with hourly employees. It tracks when people clock in and out, where they are when they do it, and turns all of that into timesheets you can run payroll from.

It's built for teams that don't all sit at one desk. Think construction crews on job sites, home health workers visiting patients, retail staff across a few stores, or delivery drivers out on routes. When your people are spread out, knowing who worked what hours gets messy fast. Buddy Punch is meant to clean that up.

Here's what you get:

• Time tracking from a computer, the mobile app, or a shared kiosk with a PIN or QR code
• GPS and geofencing so you can see where punches happen and block punches from outside set areas
• Attendance alerts for late arrivals, early departures and missed shifts
• Scheduling with a drag-and-drop builder and recurring shifts
• PTO tracking with automatic accruals and time-off requests
• Payroll as a built-in add-on, plus integrations with QuickBooks, Gusto and ADP
• Accountability tools like photo verification on punches, IP locks and timesheet approvals

How Does Buddy Punch Work?

For Users

1. Start a 14-day free trial from the Buddy Punch website. No credit card is needed.
2. Add your employees and set up your pay periods, overtime and break rules.
3. Employees clock in and out from their phone, a computer or a kiosk.
4. Managers review and approve timesheets, handle time-off requests and build schedules.
5. Export hours to your payroll tool, or run payroll inside Buddy Punch with the payroll add-on.

For Affiliates

1. Apply to the Buddy Punch partner program from the Partners page on their website. Signups run through PartnerStack.
2. Once approved, grab your referral link from your partner dashboard.
3. Write helpful content for small business owners and managers who need a better way to track hours.
4. Readers click your link, try Buddy Punch and become paying customers.
5. You earn a commission on those sales under the program's terms.

Buddy Punch Pricing

Buddy Punch charges a monthly base fee plus a price per user. Here's how the plans looked when I checked:

A few things worth knowing. Administrators are free, so only employees and managers count as paid users. Payroll is an add-on at $49/month plus $8 per user. And there's no free plan, just the 14-day trial.

Prices can change. Check the Buddy Punch pricing page for current numbers before you buy.

Who Should Use Buddy Punch?

Buddy Punch is a good fit if you are:

• A small or mid-sized business with hourly staff who still use paper timesheets or a spreadsheet
• A field service company with crews moving between job sites
• A healthcare, restaurant or retail business that needs a shared kiosk and break rules
• A manager who wants scheduling, PTO and time tracking in one place instead of three

Who shouldn't use it? If your team is all salaried and you only want to track time on client projects, a project time tracker is a better fit. And if you're a solo freelancer, you don't need a time clock at all.

Pros and Cons of Buddy Punch

Pros

• Free trial with no credit card
• Free admin users, so you only pay for the people being tracked
• Lots of ways to clock in: phone, computer, kiosk, PIN or QR code
• GPS, geofencing and photo checks help stop buddy punching and time theft
• Works with common payroll tools like QuickBooks, Gusto and ADP

Cons

• The $19 base fee makes it less of a bargain for very small teams
• Useful features like scheduling and real-time GPS sit in higher plans or cost extra
• Payroll is a separate add-on with its own base fee
• No free plan once the trial ends

Buddy Punch vs Alternatives

The simple version: Buddy Punch and Atto go head to head as employee time clocks. Toggl is better for tracking billable project hours. ADP is a payroll company first, and Buddy Punch can feed hours into it. If your client already uses accounting software, Buddy Punch also connects with QuickBooks, which I cover in my QuickBooks review.

How to Make Money with Buddy Punch as an Affiliate

Buddy Punch runs a partner program, and signups go through PartnerStack. Their Partners page says you can "earn 20% of every sale for the first 12 months." The cookie length and payout details are not published on the Buddy Punch website, so check those inside your partner dashboard once you're approved. I won't guess at numbers here.

What does 20% for 12 months look like? It depends on the team size. Because Buddy Punch charges per user, a business with 30 employees pays a lot more than one with 3. That means one good referral can be worth far more than a cheap one-person software sale.

New to PartnerStack? My PartnerStack review walks you through how the network works.

Angle 1: "Best time clock app for small business"

Owners search for this when they're fed up with paper timesheets. A simple, honest roundup that explains who each tool fits can rank and convert well. Buddy Punch makes sense as the pick for hourly teams spread across locations.

Angle 2: Industry-specific guides

Buddy Punch has pages for construction, healthcare, auto repair, legal and more. Pick one industry and write "how to track employee hours for a construction crew" or "time clock for home health aides." These searches are smaller, but the readers know exactly what they need.

Angle 3: Buddy Punch vs competitors

Comparison posts like "Buddy Punch vs Atto" catch people who are close to buying. Lay out the pricing, the features and who each one fits. Be fair, and let the reader decide.

Keyword ideas that are worth targeting:

• buddy punch review
• buddy punch pricing
• buddy punch vs atto
• employee time clock app with gps
• time clock for construction workers
• how to stop buddy punching

Low competition, high intent. Simple content, done well, can rank here.

Common Questions About Buddy Punch

Is there a free trial?

Yes. Buddy Punch offers a 14-day free trial, and you don't need a credit card to start.

Does Buddy Punch have a free plan?

No. After the trial, you need a paid plan. Admin users are free, though, so you only pay for employees and managers.

Can Buddy Punch run payroll?

Yes, with the payroll add-on. It costs $49/month plus $8 per user. You can also export hours to tools like QuickBooks, Gusto and ADP instead.

What does "buddy punching" mean?

It's when one employee clocks in for another who isn't there yet. Buddy Punch fights this with photo checks on punches, GPS and geofencing.

How much do Buddy Punch affiliates earn?

The Partners page says 20% of every sale for the first 12 months. Check the cookie length and payout terms in your PartnerStack dashboard after you're approved.

Final Thoughts

Buddy Punch solves a real, boring, expensive problem: knowing who worked, when and where. That's exactly the kind of product that's easy to write about, because the people searching for it already feel the pain.

For affiliates, the per-user pricing and 12 months of commission make it worth a look, especially if you write for small business owners, contractors or managers. Start with one industry, write helpful guides, and build from there.

Check out Buddy Punch here.

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