A spreadsheet or LoggerIQ: an honest comparison
Most teams start in a spreadsheet. For a small, steady team it can be enough. Here is what it asks of you, what the law asks of your records and what changes when the roster moves to LoggerIQ.
Prices checked on
What you get, what you pay and who gets billed
The LoggerIQ column is what ships today. The Spreadsheets column is what the official sources say, each with a numbered source at the foot of the page. Where they are ahead, the row says so.
| Topic | LoggerIQ | Spreadsheets |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Published price | US$5 per user per month. Tax included. The same in every country. Free for up to 5 people and 1 site. | No new licence if you already own spreadsheet software. Fair Work publishes a free weekly time and wages record template. Source 1 |
| What the price includes | IncludedRosters, clock entries and timesheets, award interpretation, leave, kiosk, onboarding, documents, letters and policies with e-signature, expenses and Virtual HR. Payroll is the one thing not in the price. | Whatever you build: usually a roster grid, a timesheet tab and a leave tracker. |
| Getting pay right | ||
| Award interpretation | With limits11 modern awards: Hospitality, Retail, Fast Food, Cleaning, Security, Restaurant, Clubs, SCHADS, Hair and Beauty, Aged Care and Nurses. Every pay line names the clause it came from. | With limitsYou look up the pay guide and update every rate yourself. Award rates rose 4.75% from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. Source 2 |
| Time and wages records | IncludedEach clock entry is kept with its approval. The person sees every change to their hours with who made it, read from a seven-year records log. | Fair Work requires time and wages records kept for 7 years, legible, in English and changed only to correct an error. How the file shows that is up to you. Source 3 |
| Payroll in Australia | Not offeredNot available yet. Approved hours go to Xero as a draft timesheet or out as an import file for MYOB or Employment Hero payroll. | Hours are retyped or pasted into payroll, using the pay guides for the rates. Source 4 |
| Day to day | ||
| Shared kiosk | IncludedA shared tablet at the site where people clock in with a PIN or card. | Start and finish times written in by the person or a supervisor after the shift. |
| Onboarding and documents | IncludedOnboarding, documents, letters, policies and forms, in the price. | Contracts and documents kept in folders or on a shared drive. |
| E-signature | IncludedBuilt in, typed or drawn, for letters, policies, declarations and forms. Each signature is bound to the exact content signed. | Signed on paper or through a separate e-signature service. |
| Mobile app | With limitsAn installable web app that works offline and queues clock entries. The native iOS and Android app is built and in testing, not yet in the stores. | Whichever spreadsheet app each person has on their phone. |
The honest read
Where that set-up is ahead, where LoggerIQ is and why.
A spreadsheet costs nothing extra if you already own the software, it does exactly what you build and nobody has to learn a new app. For a handful of people on fixed hours under one award, that is a fair choice. The Fair Work Ombudsman publishes a free weekly time and wages template to start from.
The cost shows up as time and risk. Award rates moved by 4.75% from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. A spreadsheet only knows that if someone updates every rate. Time and wages records have to be kept for 7 years and changed only to correct an error, which a shared file does not enforce by itself. Clock times typed in after the shift are only as good as the person typing them.
LoggerIQ takes those jobs off you: clock entries are captured at the site, the award engine prices each line with its clause for 11 modern awards and every change to someone's hours is recorded with who made it. It costs money where the spreadsheet does not. The worked example below shows exactly how much.
What 25 people cost a month
A spreadsheet adds no licence fee, so the comparison is your time: building it, checking it each pay run and updating rates each July. The ROI calculator turns that into a number for your team.
Who takes a paid seat at LoggerIQ and who does not:
- Workers: billed. Anyone who clocks in, takes a shift or submits a request is a seat.
- Kiosk-only workers: billed. Someone who only ever clocks in at a shared kiosk still counts, because their hours are kept and paid like everyone else's.
- Managers and admins: billed. People who run rosters and approve hours are seats too.
- Pending invites: free. Someone you have invited or imported costs nothing until they accept and join.
- Leavers: free. When someone leaves, their seat stops. Their records stay, at no charge, for as long as the law asks you to keep them.
- Auditors: free. Read-only access with an end date for your auditor costs nothing.
- Everyone on the team
- 25 users × US$5US$125
- Tax
- IncludedUS$0
- A month
- US$125
Tax included: nothing is added at checkout. See pricing
Sources
Every Spreadsheets fact on this page, with the page it came from and the day we read it. Anything we could not confirm is left out.
Put it next to your own roster
Free for up to 5 people and 1 site. Pro is US$5 per user per month, tax included, with every feature except payroll and a 30-day free trial.
- 30 days with every feature
- Import from Deputy or a spreadsheet
- Cancel any month