If you’re on WordPress and shopping for an attendance and time-clock tool, WP ERP is the obvious first stop — it’s the biggest HR suite in the ecosystem. But if your actual problem is buddy punching (people clocking in from home, or covering for each other), WP ERP’s attendance module has a specific gap: its IP whitelist is global-only. It’s everyone or no one. You can’t lock one cashier to the building while letting a remote bookkeeper clock in from anywhere.
Punchwell was built around exactly that control. This page lays out the differences honestly, so you can decide which fits your shop.
The short version: WP ERP’s attendance IP whitelist applies to your whole company at once. Punchwell’s clock-in lock is per employee and per office — and instead of stacking a Pro subscription, a per-user yearly fee, and à-la-carte modules, everything is bundled into one flat per-site price.
Why the difference matters for buddy punching
A global IP whitelist sounds like attendance integrity, but it forces an all-or-nothing choice. Turn it on, and every employee is locked to the office network — including the ones who legitimately work remotely or travel. Leave it off, and on-site staff can punch from their couch. Most mixed teams end up leaving it off, which means it isn’t really protecting anything.
Punchwell takes a per-person approach. You flag the employees who must be on-site — the floor staff, the front desk, the warehouse crew — and only they are restricted. Everyone else clocks in normally from wherever they are. And when a flagged employee tries to punch from outside the office, Punchwell refuses the punch server-side. It doesn’t just record an off-site location for someone to review later; the punch doesn’t go through.
The allowlist depth is rare for this price point: exact IP addresses, CIDR blocks (a whole range like 203.0.113.0/24 in one entry), and address ranges, across both IPv4 and IPv6. You can set allowed addresses company-wide, per office, and per employee — and the three are unioned, so adding an address only ever widens access, never accidentally locks someone out. There are block / warn / flag enforcement modes and an optional clock-in time window, too.
See exactly how the IP clock-in lock works →
Side-by-side comparison
Competitor figures below are approximate, as of June 2026 — WP ERP prices its core, per-user add-on, and modules separately and may change them. Confirm current rates on wperp.com before deciding. Punchwell is an independent third-party project and not affiliated with WP ERP or weDevs (see the note at the foot of this page).
| Punchwell | WP ERP (Attendance) | |
|---|---|---|
| IP clock-in lock | Per-employee + per-office + company-wide (unioned, widen-only) | Global only — everyone or no one |
| IP allowlist depth | Exact IPs, CIDR blocks, address ranges; IPv4 + IPv6 | Whitelist (global) |
| Off-site punch behavior | Refused server-side (block), or warn / flag modes | Whitelist-gated at the company level |
| GPS geofence | Yes — company-wide or per-office radius (opt-in) | Varies by module/version — confirm |
| Kiosk / wall-tablet clock | Yes — shared device, short code + PIN | Not a core attendance feature |
| Mobile / PWA punch | Yes — responsive web/PWA (not an app-store app) | Varies — confirm |
| Shift policies, rounding, grace, auto-clockout, overnight | Yes | Partial — confirm |
| Leave + holiday import + PTO accrual | Yes (accrual engine: monthly / per-hour / annual grant, caps, carryover) | Leave in core; accrual depth varies |
| Payroll | Exports payroll data to CSV (+ SurePayroll / Gusto connectors). Does not move money. | Payroll is a separate paid module |
| Pricing model | Flat, per site | Pro subscription + per-user/year + per-module |
| Approx. price | $99/yr per site — unlimited employees | Free core; Pro ~$9.99/mo + ~$3/user/yr + Attendance ~$4.99/mo + Payroll ~$9.49/mo (approximate, as of June 2026 — confirm) |
| Hosting / data | Self-hosted; data stays in your WordPress DB; no data call-home (verified) | Self-hosted plugin (modules and licensing vary) |
| License | GPL, unlimited employees, no per-seat fee | GPL core; paid modules |
Both products are self-hosted WordPress plugins where employees are WordPress users, so neither asks your team to learn a separate system. The real divergence is the IP lock granularity and how the bill is assembled.
The pricing math: where module-stacking adds up
WP ERP’s core is genuinely free, which is great. The cost shows up when you add the pieces an attendance buyer actually needs. As of June 2026 (approximate — confirm current rates), the Pro plan runs about $9.99/month plus $3 per user per year, and Attendance and Payroll are à-la-carte modules at roughly $4.99/month and $9.49/month respectively.
Stack Pro plus the per-user fee plus a module or two, and the running total crosses $99/year at around three users — and it keeps climbing as you hire, because the per-user fee scales with headcount.
Punchwell is per site, never per seat. One flat annual price covers everything bundled — the full IP-lock depth, GPS geofence, kiosk, mobile punch, payroll export, PTO accrual, reminders, checklists, recruitment, loans, attendance reports, self-service, and permissions. $99/year per site, unlimited employees on every tier. Your bill doesn’t change when you hire your tenth person or your hundredth. (Renewal price is locked for as long as you never lapse.) There’s also a free community tier on WordPress.org with a basic single-office IP lock, if you want to start there.
Where WP ERP may be the better fit
We’d rather be straight with you than win a sale you’ll regret. WP ERP is a broad HRIS with CRM and accounting in the same suite. If you want HR, customer relationship management, and bookkeeping unified under one roof — and per-employee clock-in locking isn’t your priority — WP ERP’s breadth is a real advantage, and its module model lets you turn on only the pieces you want.
Punchwell is deliberately narrower. It’s a time clock and HR suite focused on attendance integrity for on-site, hourly, and shift teams — retail, clinics, restaurants, warehouses, salons. It doesn’t do CRM or accounting. What it does instead is the one control most tools (WP ERP included) get half-right: a hard, per-employee, per-office clock-in lock.
If buddy punching and time theft are the reason you’re searching, Punchwell is built for that job. If you need a full business suite, WP ERP is the broader tool.
A note on switching
Because both are WordPress plugins where employees are WordPress users, you’re not asking your team to learn a new app either way. If you’re coming from the abandoned original “WP Human Resource Management” plugin (a different product from WP ERP), Punchwell is a maintained GPL fork of that lineage, and your existing employee, attendance, and leave records carry over with a documented migration script — that’s a migration, not a rebuild.
If you’re coming from WP ERP itself, there’s no shared schema, so attendance and leave data would be re-entered — but employees are already WordPress users, so the accounts themselves stay put.
Try it before you commit
Start with the free version on WordPress.org to see how the clock-in lock feels, then upgrade when you’re ready for the full per-employee depth, GPS, kiosk, and payroll export. No card required, unlimited employees, and your data stays on your own server.
Get Punchwell free on WordPress.org → · See how the IP lock works → · Review the security posture →
Punchwell is an independent, third-party product built and maintained by Sturdyhaus. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by WP ERP, weDevs, wpspear, or any other company named on this page. “WP ERP” and other product names are referenced descriptively (nominative fair use) only to compare features and help buyers evaluate their options. All third-party names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Competitor prices and features are approximate and as of June 2026 — confirm current details with each vendor before purchasing.