Buddy Punch vs Mural: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Buddy Punch and Mural to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Buddy Punch
6.5/10
Cloud time clock and employee scheduling software that lets small and mid-sized businesses track hours, jobs, PTO and locations and send timesheets to payroll.
Mural
7/10
Mural is a visual collaboration whiteboard for teams that run workshops, brainstorms, agile planning and retrospectives, with facilitation tools and enterprise security controls.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.5/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Analytics | 4/10 | 4/10 |
| Customization | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $19/mo Advanced | $12/user/mo Team+ |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $159/mo Advanced | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| Time tracking | ||
| App integrations | ||
| Client collaboration | Not listed | |
| Collaboration tools | Not listed | |
| File sharing | Not listed | |
| Gantt charts | Not listed | |
| Kanban boards | Not listed | |
| Reporting | Not listed | |
| Scheduling | Not listed | |
| Task management | Not listed | |
| Whiteboards | Not listed | |
Buddy Punch vs Mural cost by team size
Mural costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Buddy Punch | Mural |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $33/moAdvanced | FreeFree |
| 5 users | $89/moAdvanced | FreeFree |
| 10 users | $159/moAdvanced | FreeFree |
| 25 users | $369/moAdvanced | FreeFree |
| 50 users | $719/moAdvanced | FreeFree |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Buddy Punch
- Higher Cost score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for small business (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Includes Time tracking, which Mural lacks
Why choose Mural
- Has a free plan (Buddy Punch does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $159/mo
- Higher Scalability score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Security score (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for product teams (7/10 vs 1/10)
Pros & Cons
Buddy Punch
Pros
- Employees can clock in many ways, including mobile app, kiosk, QR code, webcam and selfie punches.
- Direct payroll syncs cover around 20 systems, including QuickBooks, ADP, Gusto, Paychex and Rippling.
- Admins are free and only active employees count toward billing.
- Reviewers describe support as fast and handled by real people.
- GPS punches and geofencing help verify that field staff are where they should be.
Cons
- It is not a project management tool: there are no task boards, Gantt charts or docs.
- Costs rise with each user and each add-on, and there is a 19 USD monthly base fee.
- Reviewers say correcting missed punches is manual and the admin settings take time to learn.
- Some users report the mobile app lags, especially on weak connections.
- An independent review rates the built-in reporting as basic, and advanced reports cost extra on lower plans.
Mural
Pros
- Facilitation features and LUMA frameworks make it strong for running structured workshops.
- Free visitors can view or edit individual murals, so external participants do not need a paid seat.
- Enterprise security includes SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, SCIM, audit logs, data residency and BYOK.
- Broad integrations with Teams, Zoom, Jira, Azure DevOps, Asana and Confluence.
- Reviewers on G2 and Capterra rate it highly for ease of use, with about 4.5 to 4.6 stars.
Cons
- It is not a project or task manager, so there are no Gantt charts, no time tracking and no task assignment.
- Reviewers complain that menus and functions move around often between releases.
- The Free plan caps editable murals at three.
- The Business plan is annual-only, and SSO is not available on cheaper tiers.
- Large boards with many collaborators can feel cluttered.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Mural scores higher on our Project Management criteria: 7/10 against 6.5/10 for Buddy Punch. The largest gap is in Scalability: 5/10 for Buddy Punch and 8/10 for Mural.
Mural costs less for 10 users: free on its Free plan, against about $159/mo on its Advanced plan for Buddy Punch, billed monthly.
Mural has a free plan; Buddy Punch does not list one.
Mural is the better fit for product teams: we rate it 7/10 for them, against 1/10 for Buddy Punch.
Buddy Punch has Time tracking, which Mural lacks.
