GuardChek / Compare / Connecteam alternative
Connecteam is a well-made workforce app for 30 industries. This is an honest, sourced comparison for guard company owners: what it does well, where a security company outgrows it, and what each one costs.
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Facts checked October 2026 on connecteam.com, its help center, the app stores, Capterra and G2. Connecteam prices are its published rates; the cost examples are our arithmetic.
Connecteam is a general workforce app. It markets to 30 industries, from home care and cleaning to construction and retail, and security is one of them. It is popular for good reasons, and it has its own page for security companies. Owners usually go looking for a Connecteam alternative when the company starts running like a security company rather than a staffing schedule: clients want proof of patrols, reports in a portal, invoices that match the hours, and someone needs to know when a guard alone at 3 AM is in trouble.
GuardChek was built inside a working security company, for exactly those jobs. Below is the comparison, with sources, so you can make your own call.
Credit where due. Connecteam's security page offers auto-scheduling, open shifts, shift swaps and no-show alerts, GPS clock-ins and tracking while on the clock, "NFC check-ins per post", incident forms with photo and video proof, time stamps and signatures, one-tap post orders, and hours tracked by site or client. Its pricing page has a free plan for up to 10 users and a 14-day free trial (checked October 2026).
Its apps are well rated: 4.9 stars from about 61,000 ratings on the App Store, 4.7 from about 29,400 reviews on Google Play, 4.6 from 5,321 reviews on Capterra and 4.6 from 3,506 reviews on G2 (all checked October 2026). If your guards like it, that matters.
Guard tours are the clearest example. Connecteam's patrol route guide (March 2026) sets up each NFC checkpoint as an event and sends every scan to an endpoint you choose, a webhook tool such as Zapier or your own system, for tracking in that tool. It does not describe a built-in tour screen or an alert when a checkpoint is missed. In GuardChek, tours are built in: routes, NFC checkpoints scanned with the guard's own phone, tour reports for clients, and alarms that reach the office while the shift is still running.
Clients are the second. Connecteam's own security software review (July 2026) lists "No built-in client portal" and "Requires internet to work" among its cons. Completed forms can be emailed to clients, and its invoicing guide ends with an Excel spreadsheet "you can use to generate the invoicing." GuardChek gives each client a portal login with the reports you choose to show them, and builds the client invoice from the same verified hours that pay your guards.
| Connecteam (its own pages) | GuardChek | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | 30 industries, security among them | Security companies only |
| Guard tours | NFC check-ins per post; each scan is sent to a webhook or a tool such as Zapier that you set up | NFC guard tours built in, with routes and tour reports |
| Missed checkpoints | Not described in its patrol route guide | Automatic missed-checkpoint alarms while the shift is running |
| Incident reports | Custom forms with photos, video, time stamps and signatures | A guided security incident report (police, fire, ambulance, witnesses) plus 11 more report types |
| Client portal | "No built-in client portal" (Connecteam's own review); completed forms can be emailed to clients | Client portal with per-site rules for which reports clients see |
| Client invoicing | Hours by site or client; the invoicing guide ends in an Excel export | Invoices from verified hours, with read receipts |
| No signal | "Requires internet to work" (Connecteam's own review) | Keeps working without signal and syncs when coverage returns |
| SOS / panic button | Not listed on its security page | SOS with audio on every plan |
| Banned subject list | Not listed on its security page | Company-wide banned subject database with ID scanning |
| Pricing | Per hub, flat for the first 30 users, then a charge for each extra user in each hub | Flat per plan by guard count; office and supervisor logins do not count |
Connecteam features read on connecteam.com, its security page, its help center and its own security software review, checked October 2026. GuardChek tours, alarms, dispatch, the banned subject database, invoicing and the client portal come with Growth and up; SOS and reports come with every plan. "Not listed" and "not described" mean we did not find it on those pages; ask Connecteam for current answers.
Connecteam is sold in three hubs (Operations, Communications, HR & Skills), each with its own plan. On its pricing page, every paid plan covers "the first 30 users", and each user after that adds a monthly charge in every hub you use. A guard company with more than 10 sites needs Operations Expert for unlimited geofences (Advanced covers "up to 10 sites"), and live GPS trails and document expiry dates are Expert features too. On monthly billing, Expert costs $119 a month per hub for 30 users, plus $5 per extra user in Operations and $3.60 in each of the other two hubs.
Here is what that comes to, monthly billing, next to GuardChek's published plans:
Connecteam prices by user, so office staff and supervisors who log in add to its numbers; GuardChek counts guards only. Both give two months free when you pay yearly. If a time clock, a schedule and forms are all you need, Connecteam's Operations hub costs less than the GuardChek plan at every size above. The comparison changes once you price everything a guard company runs on. Connecteam's own review lists "No built-in client portal", its invoicing guide ends in an Excel spreadsheet, and its security page and patrol route guide do not describe an SOS button or a missed-checkpoint alarm. In GuardChek, SOS is on every plan, and tours with missed-checkpoint alarms, client invoicing, the client portal and the banned subject database come with Growth and up, so at 25 guards the GuardChek plan to compare is Growth at $649.
This is not a list of things only we have. Going by Connecteam's security page and pricing page, both GuardChek and Connecteam do auto-scheduling, open shifts and shift swaps, GPS clock-ins with a live map of guards on shift and a trail of where they went (an Expert plan feature on Connecteam), team chat and a news feed with read confirmations, post orders, payroll integrations, timesheets and pay stubs on the guard's phone, document and license expiry reminders, and connections to other software. The difference is what sits on top of that for a security company.
If your whole team, office included, is 10 people or fewer, Connecteam's free plan is hard to beat. If you mostly need a time clock and a schedule, do not bill clients for hours, and have no client asking for patrol proof or reports, Connecteam or other apps like Connecteam may be all you need. GuardChek is for owner-operated guard companies, from about 15 guards to a few hundred, who want tours, reports, client portal, invoicing, SOS and payroll in one system built for security.
Our setup includes loading your sites, guards, clients and schedules for you, so you run your first GuardChek shifts within days. Book a demo, bring your current Connecteam setup, and we will show you the same operation in GuardChek on a flat price.
A 30-minute live demo with a security operator, not a sales rep. Bring your guard count and your current Connecteam plan.
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Connecteam sells three hubs (Operations, Communications, HR & Skills), each with Basic, Advanced and Expert paid plans. Paid plans cover the first 30 users: $35, $59 or $119 a month per hub on monthly billing ($29, $49 or $99 billed yearly), plus a monthly charge for each extra user in each hub. There is a free plan for up to 10 users and a 14-day free trial. Source: Connecteam's pricing page, checked October 2026.
Not built in. Connecteam's own security software review lists "No built-in client portal" as a con; completed forms can be emailed to clients instead. GuardChek includes a client portal on Growth and up.
It has NFC check-ins. Its patrol route guide sends each checkpoint scan to a webhook or a tool such as Zapier, where you track patrols yourself; it does not describe a built-in missed-checkpoint alert. GuardChek tours, with missed-checkpoint alarms, come with Growth and up.
It connects to payroll software such as QuickBooks Online, Gusto and ADP (checked October 2026); we found no payroll product of its own. GuardChek builds finalized payroll reports from verified hours on every plan and also connects to payroll software, so whatever pays your guards today can keep paying them.
GuardChek has no free plan and no free trial; Connecteam has a free plan for up to 10 users. If you are past that size and need tours, client reports and invoicing, book a live demo and compare on your own numbers.
No. Plans are flat by guard count: $449 a month for up to 25 guards, $649 for up to 50 and $899 for up to 100, with custom pricing above that. Office staff and supervisor logins do not count toward the guard cap.