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Productivity · head to head

Hubstaff vs Microsoft 365

Hubstaff logo

Hubstaff

Productivity

Time tracking and team management for remote teams

From
$5.99/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Microsoft 365 logo

Microsoft 365

Productivity

Subscription bundle of the Office applications with mail, storage, meetings and organisational identity

From
$7/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Hubstaff no pricing amounts published on pricing page; specific dollar amounts for plans not disclosed; Microsoft 365 business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • They diverge on capability: Hubstaff covers Time tracking with timer, Microsoft 365 covers Office applications.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hubstaff and Microsoft 365 actually diverge.

Attributes where Hubstaff and Microsoft 365 differ
AttributeHubstaffMicrosoft 365
Starting price$5.99/month$7/month
PlatformsWeb, IOS, Android, MacOS, WindowsWeb
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hubstaff

  • Time tracking with timer
  • Activity monitoring
  • GPS location tracking
  • Screenshots
  • Reports and analytics
  • Invoicing
  • Team management
  • Mobile apps

Only in Microsoft 365

  • Office applications
  • Hosted services
  • Teams
  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • OneDrive storage
  • Device management and endpoint protection
  • Purview compliance
  • Copilot

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hubstaff

  • Productivitynot Microsoft 365
  • Collaborationnot Microsoft 365
  • Task managementnot Microsoft 365
  • Organizationnot Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365

  • Any organisation that wants mail, documents, meetings and identity from one supplier on one bill.not Hubstaff
  • A company standardising on single sign-on, where Entra ID becomes the account other services authenticate against.not Hubstaff
  • Regulated work that needs retention, legal hold and eDiscovery across mail and documents, provided the tier that includes them is actually bought.not Hubstaff
  • A household that needs installed Office applications on several machines rather than browser-only editing.not Hubstaff

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hubstaff

  • No pricing amounts published on pricing page; specific dollar amounts for plans not disclosed
  • Per-seat pricing structure means users charged per team member regardless of active tracking use
  • Billing model includes prorated charges on annual plans but full rates for new monthly users, creating potential cost complications

Microsoft 365

  • Business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • The compliance capabilities most organisations eventually need, including retention, data loss prevention, advanced eDiscovery and insider risk, sit at the top tier or in add-ons, so the real cost surfaces after an audit or a customer questionnaire rather than at purchase.
  • Annual term subscriptions commit you for the year and month-to-month terms cost measurably more per seat, so the flexibility to reduce seats during a quiet period is bought at a permanently higher rate.
  • Entra ID becomes the identity for everything else the organisation uses, which is the hardest kind of lock-in to put a number on, because leaving means re-federating every connected application rather than simply replacing a word processor.
  • The licensing model is complicated enough that most organisations are either over-licensed or quietly non-compliant, and reconciling it usually requires a partner or a specialist, which is a recurring cost that never appears in the advertised per-user figure.

Pricing, plan by plan

Hubstaff

$5.99/month
  • FreeFree
    • Basic time tracking
    • Limited to 1 user
    • Basic reports
  • Starter$5.99/month
    • Time tracking
    • Team management
    • Reports
  • Pro$9.99/month
    • Everything in Starter
    • GPS tracking
    • Activity monitoring

Microsoft 365

$7/month
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7/month
    • Email and calendar with 50 GB mailbox
    • Web and mobile versions of Office apps
    • Microsoft Teams included
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard$14/month
    • Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
    • Email and Teams
    • 1 TB cloud storage per user
  • Microsoft 365 E5$60/month
    • Comprehensive security and compliance
    • All productivity apps
    • Advanced analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Hubstaff if

  • You need time tracking with timer.
  • You work on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows.
  • You also want activity monitoring.
Hubstaff review

Choose Microsoft 365 if

  • You need office applications.
  • You also want hosted services.
Microsoft 365 review

Questions people ask

Is Hubstaff or Microsoft 365 better?
Neither clearly leads. Hubstaff starts at $5.99/month and Microsoft 365 at $7/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hubstaff or Microsoft 365?
Hubstaff starts at $5.99/month and Microsoft 365 at $7/month.
Does Hubstaff or Microsoft 365 run on more platforms?
Hubstaff runs on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows. Microsoft 365 runs on Web.
What is Hubstaff best used for?
Hubstaff is most often used for productivity, collaboration, task management, organization. Of those, productivity and collaboration are not what Microsoft 365 is typically brought in for.
What can Hubstaff do that Microsoft 365 cannot?
Hubstaff covers Time tracking with timer, Activity monitoring, GPS location tracking, Screenshots. Microsoft 365 covers Office applications, Hosted services, Teams, Microsoft Entra ID.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hubstaff: How much does Hubstaff cost?

Specific pricing amounts are not published on the pricing page. Hubstaff offers monthly and annual billing options with a per-seat pricing structure, a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans, and a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Source
Microsoft 365: What is the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office?

Office was a one-off licence for a specific version. Microsoft 365 is a subscription covering the applications and the hosted services together, and when payment stops the applications drop to a reduced state rather than continuing as they were.

Hubstaff: Is there a free trial for Hubstaff?

Hubstaff offers a free 14-day trial with no credit card required, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans excluding the free trial period.

Source
Microsoft 365: Is Teams included?

Not automatically for newer customers. Microsoft unbundled Teams and now sells it alongside the suite, so check what a given quotation actually covers.

Hubstaff: How does Hubstaff billing work when adding team members mid-cycle?

For annual plans, Hubstaff prorates charges when adding seats mid-cycle. For monthly plans, full rates apply for new users with no prorating offered.

Source
Microsoft 365: What happens to our files if we stop paying?

The documents remain yours and can be downloaded, but access to hosted mailboxes and sites ends after a retention window, so leaving requires a planned export rather than a cancellation.

Hubstaff: Can Hubstaff plans be canceled anytime?

Plans can be canceled anytime by contacting support or archiving the associated organization. Users removed from monthly plans do not receive prorated refunds.

Source
Microsoft 365: Is Copilot part of the subscription?

No. It is a per-user add-on on top of the base licence, generally with its own term commitment, and it is priced per seat regardless of how much any individual uses it.

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