Quick answer: It depends on how you make your money. If you run a building or trade crew of 3 to 30 on staged jobs, NextMinute is the pick, because the crew log hours on their phones, it syncs both ways with Xero, and every hour lands on the job so you know what your labour actually cost. If you only need hours for payroll, Xero's free Xero Me app does the job. Deputy suits businesses rostering shift workers, and Tradify suits solo tradies doing service work.
Let's be honest about how timesheets work at most trade businesses. Hours scribbled on a docket in the ute, or texted through on Sunday night while you're trying to watch the footy. Then someone, usually you or your other half, keys it all into Xero and hopes nobody rounded a seven-hour day up to nine.
Every app in this guide fixes that bit, and every one of them has the "integrates with Xero" badge, so the badge won't help you choose. What matters is what happens to the hours before they hit payroll. Hours that flow straight into a pay run tell you what you owe Jack this week. The same hours logged against the frame stage at the Hendersons' place tell you whether that job's making money or quietly eating it.
Different answer for different businesses, so here we go.
What "works with Xero" should actually get you
Quick checklist before you hand over a dollar. A timesheet app worth having should:
Most apps handle the first two no worries. The fourth one is where the money is, and it's the difference between a payroll tool and a business tool. We've banged on about this before in how to run construction timesheets with your crew.
Running a building or trade crew of 3 to 30? NextMinute
Cards on the table, this is us, and it's exactly the crew we build for: residential builders, chippies, landscapers, roofers, anyone running staged jobs over weeks or months.
The crew log time in the mobile app against the job or task they're actually on. They can add site photos, expenses and talk-to-text notes while they're at it, so even the bloke who types with one finger gets his timesheet done before he's out of the driveway. You approve, and the hours push through the two-way Xero sync to payroll. No double handling, no Sunday night data entry.
The part that pays for itself is what happens next. Those same hours feed back-costing reports, so you're watching actuals against your estimate while the job's still running, not three weeks after handover when the money's already gone. You can put buy/sell rates on the digger so the machinery earns its keep on paper too, and subbie invoices and materials get tracked against the job as costs, which means timesheets aren't the only thing feeding your actuals. If you've done the work on your charge-out rates, this is how you find out whether they're holding up.
Choose NextMinute if: you've got 3 or more on the books, you're quoting fixed-price staged work, and you want timesheets, quoting, scheduling and invoicing in one system that tells you your labour cost per job. Pricing starts at $199/month plus GST for 3 to 9 users, month to month with no lock-ins, every feature on every plan, and Sydney-based support who'll pick up the phone.
The catch: if you're a one-man band, or you roster staff across shifts rather than jobs, we're honestly not your app. One of the options below will do you better for less.
Just need hours into payroll? Xero Me (free)
Xero's own employee app comes free with Xero Payroll. The crew submit timesheets and leave from their phone, you approve, hours drop into the pay run. Done.
Choose Xero Me if: your job management is sorted (or you don't need any), and all you want is to stop chasing paper dockets before every pay run. Hard to argue with free.
The catch: the hours aren't connected to jobs. You'll know what you paid the crew, but not which job the money disappeared into, and if you quote fixed-price work that blind spot costs more than any subscription would. We've unpacked this properly in our Xero Projects vs NextMinute comparison.
Rostering shift workers? Deputy
Deputy is the big dog of Aussie workforce management, and for shift-based businesses it deserves the rep. Rosters, clock-in kiosks, award interpretation for Fair Work, and a solid Xero connection.
Choose Deputy if: your headache is rosters and awards, not jobs. Hospo, retail, or a labour-hire style operation running set shifts.
The catch: Deputy thinks in shifts, not jobs. There's no way to log hours against the fit-out stage of a reno, so if your work is jobs rather than shifts you'll be fighting it the whole way. Pricing starts around $6.75 to $13 per user per month, but once you add the Payroll and HR modules most businesses end up needing, you're at roughly $17 to $21 per user, with a $30/month minimum.
Solo tradie or a small service crew? Tradify
Tradify is a well-liked app for solo sparkies, plumbers and service tradies smashing through lots of short jobs. Timesheets come in on its Pro plan and sync with Xero.
Choose Tradify if: it's you and maybe one or two others, doing quote-it-Monday-invoice-it-Friday work.
The catch: per-user pricing (roughly $48 to $62 per user per month ex GST) climbs fast as you put people on, and it's not built for long staged builds with progress claims and variations. We see a lot of builders start on Tradify and outgrow it around the 3 to 5 person mark.
Budget is exactly zero? Jibble
Jibble has a genuinely free time tracking plan with a Xero connection. Decent way to get off paper without spending a cent.
Choose Jibble if: you want to test whether the crew will actually use digital timesheets before committing to anything bigger.
The catch: like Xero Me, it's time tracking and that's it. It fixes the paperwork problem, but it won't tell you anything about the job.
Comparison at a glance
FAQs
Does Xero have its own timesheet app?
Yep. Xero Me comes free with Xero Payroll and lets the crew submit timesheets, check payslips and request leave from their phone. Good for payroll hours, but it doesn't tie those hours to jobs, so you can't see what your labour actually cost on any given build.
Can NextMinute send timesheets straight to Xero payroll?
It can. Hours logged in the NextMinute app get approved and pushed through to Xero Payroll in a few clicks, with a two-way sync that keeps contacts and invoices matched as well. The same hours feed live job cost reports, so payroll and back-costing run off one set of numbers. Full rundown on our Xero integration page.
What's the best free timesheet app that works with Xero?
Xero Me if you're already on Xero Payroll, since it's included. Jibble if you want a standalone free tracker. Both are payroll tools rather than job tools, so treat them as the first step off paper rather than the end game.
What about subbies? Do they fill in timesheets too?
Generally no, and that's true across most of these apps. Timesheets are for your own crew on the payroll. Subbies invoice you, so in NextMinute their cost lands on the job through purchase orders and expenses instead. The job still shows its full cost picture, it just gets there a different way.
I run MYOB. Same story?
Pretty much. NextMinute syncs timesheets with MYOB and QuickBooks as well as Xero, so a mixed setup isn't a drama.
The bottom line
If timesheets are just a payroll chore for you, grab one of the free tools and get back to work. But if you're quoting fixed-price staged jobs, your timesheets are the best paper trail you've got on whether you're actually making money, and they belong in a system that connects hours to jobs. That's what NextMinute does for Aussie building crews every day.
Easiest way to know is to see your own jobs in it. There's a 10-day free trial, no credit card, or book a 15-minute chat with the Sydney crew.
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