Biometric attendance machine vs phone app for multi-site staff
A biometric attendance machine (fingerprint or face) is fixed at one entrance, needs power and enrolment of every staff member, and is bought per site. A phone app like HaazriPro runs on the supervisor's Android phone, so it moves with the supervisor across sites and needs no hardware. A machine suits one large site with a single gate. For staff spread across many small client sites, an app is usually cheaper and simpler to run.
By HaazriPro Team · Last updated
Competitor facts checked on 8 October 2026. Each one links to the vendor's own page.
This page is the buying decision: a machine at every site or a phone per supervisor. For the full set of options, from paper registers to GPS selfie apps, read how to take attendance without a biometric machine.
How do a machine and an app compare?
| Biometric machine (category) | Phone app (HaazriPro) | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | One device per site or entrance | The supervisor's Android phone |
| Setup per new site | Buy, install and power a device | Create the site and assign staff in the app |
| Enrolment | Each staff member's fingerprint or face on the device or system | One photo per staff member |
| Who marks | Each staff member, at the device | The supervisor, by tapping each face photo |
| Data held | Biometric templates | Ordinary photos, no biometric data |
| Staff who rotate between sites | Must be enrolled wherever they go, or on a connected system | Reassign them to the new site in the app |
| Power and network | Needs power; syncing needs a connection or manual export | Works offline on a charged phone, syncs later |
| Salary and client bill | Depends on the software the device connects to | Built in, from the same attendance |
What does a biometric machine cost?
Prices vary by brand and features, so check current quotes. As an example from a vendor's own page, PagarBook lists its PagarBook iD device for face and fingerprint at a sale price of "₹18,000 + GST", shown struck through from ₹27,000, on its home page. SalaryBox offers a biometric attendance device as an add-on on its pricing page. Multiply the device cost by the number of sites and add the software subscription the device needs.
HaazriPro needs no device. It is one flat price of ₹499 a month for up to 500 staff, with unlimited sites and supervisors.
Where does a machine work well?
A biometric machine is a good fit when:
- many staff come in through one fixed entrance, such as a factory or warehouse gate;
- the site has reliable power and somewhere safe to mount the device;
- staff stay at that site, so enrolment is done once;
- the employer wants each person to mark themselves, with no supervisor in the loop.
Where does it struggle on contract sites?
Most security, housekeeping and construction contracts look different:
- Many small sites. A housing society with four staff does not justify its own device, and the client may not let you install one.
- Rotation. Relievers and staff covering absences move between sites, and every site's device has to know them.
- Outdoor and temporary posts. Construction sites, parking lots and gates may have no power point or shelter for a device.
- Month-end merging. Each device produces its own log, which someone has to collect and combine before salary and bills can be worked out.
How does HaazriPro handle what a machine does?
A machine's main job is to make sure the right person is marked. HaazriPro does that by putting each staff member's photo on the supervisor's screen: the supervisor taps the face of the person in front of them, so similar names cannot be confused. It does not scan faces or fingerprints. It records the time of every mark, so the owner can see when attendance was filled in later rather than on the day.
Where a machine stops at the attendance log, HaazriPro carries on: the month's attendance and advances become the salary sheet, and staff-days at each site become the client bill, both shareable as PDFs on WhatsApp.
What about staff data?
A biometric machine stores fingerprint or face templates for every staff member. Before you install one, be clear with your staff about what is collected, why, how long it is kept and who can access it, and take advice from your lawyer on your obligations. Face photo marking avoids collecting biometric data at all; you keep the same kind of photo you would put on an identity card.
What happens when a fingerprint or face does not read?
Every biometric system has to deal with people it cannot match on the day: worn or dirty fingers after manual work, a cut, poor light at a gate, or a device that has stopped responding. Each needs a fallback, usually a manual entry by someone in charge, which is a supervisor's mark under another name. Plan for that fallback before you buy, and decide who is allowed to make manual entries and how they are recorded.
With face photo marking, the supervisor's mark is the method rather than the exception, and every mark is recorded with its time.
How long does each take to set up?
A device needs to be bought, delivered, mounted, powered and connected, and every staff member enrolled on it, at every site. In HaazriPro you create the site, add each staff member with one photo, assign them to the site, and give the supervisor the app. A new site can be marking attendance the same day. When a contract ends, there is no device to collect.
Can you use both?
Yes. If one large client site already has a machine, keep it there and use the app at your other sites. The important thing is to bring all attendance into one record before you work out salary and bills, so the numbers come from one source. See our guide on why name-based attendance causes pay disputes for how the record itself prevents disputes.
Sources
- PagarBook home page: PagarBook iD device price (checked 8 October 2026)
- SalaryBox pricing: biometric device add-on (checked 8 October 2026)
This comparison reflects each product's public pages as we checked them on 8 October 2026. Products and prices change, so get current quotes from each vendor and take advice from your lawyer on staff data.
Turn daily attendance into salary sheets and client bills
Supervisors mark attendance by tapping each staff member's face photo, even offline. The salary sheet and the client bill are ready at month end.
Start 30-day free trial