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Time is one of your most valuable resources, yet it can also be one of the most challenging to manage. Unlike your budget or your employees, time can slip away unnoticed, leaving you wondering why your team is suddenly falling behind on deadlines with a growing list of unfinished tasks.

This is where time tracking software can prove invaluable. These tools can help you and your team stay on top of schedules, monitor progress, and see where all of your time is going. They can also give you the data you need to plan better and make informed decisions.

In this article, I’ll share the best time tracking software available today. I’ve tested and reviewed these tools independently, focusing on the features that will matter most to project managers. Here, you can survey the market and decide which tool will best serve you and your team.

Why Trust Our Time Tracking Software Reviews

We’ve been testing and reviewing time tracking software since 2011. As project managers ourselves, we know how critical, and difficult, it is to make the right decision when selecting software.

We invest in deep research to help our audience make better software purchasing decisions. We’ve tested more than 2,000 tools for different project management use cases and written over 1,000 comprehensive software reviews. Learn how we stay transparent & our time tracking software review methodology.

Best Time Tracking Software Comparison Chart

Here is a convenient list with all the highlights you need from what we covered above.

Tool Best For Trial Info Price
1
Deel

Deel lets your employees and contractors review their time logged before submitting for approval.

Best for keeping payroll in sync

Free demo available

Flat rate user pricing, with a free version for businesses with up to 200 people Website
2
monday.com

Keep track of tasks based on timeline and status in a table view.

Best for visual project planning

14-day free trial + free plan available

From $8/user/month (billed annually) Website
3
Replicon

Easily record hours spent on any activity, project, or task

Best for global time management

14-day free trial

From $6/user/month Website
4
Insightful

Insightful is a great time tracking tool for remote businesses who want to adopt more advanced monitoring and project management features at scale.

Best for remote team monitoring

7-day free trial

From $8/user/month Website
5
Resource Guru

Resource Guru's timesheet feature prefills your hours, which you can confirm or adjust after you've done the work.

Best for timesheet logging

30-day free trial

From $4.16/user/month (billed annually) Website
6
Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch makes it simple to manage your employees’ time easily and efficiently.

Best time clock for GPS and image tracking

14-day free trial

From $3.99/user/month + $19/month base fee Website
7

Best for small teams and businesses

30-day free trial

From $6/user/month Website
8
Kantata

Kantata allows you to record and analyze both billable and non-billable hours in order to help users understand their productivity patterns.

Best for resource management features

Not available

Pricing upon request Website
9
Bonsai Agency Software

Bonsai offers detailed views of individual and team timesheets for a specified work period.

Best integrated time and resource management

Free trial available

From $9/user/month (billed annually) Website
10
Connecteam

Managers can track employee time and locations and easily craft schedules using the software.

Best GPS time tracking for mobile teams

14-day free trial + free plan available

From $29/month (for up to 30 users, billed annually) + $0.5/user/month for each additional user Website

Best Time Tracking Software Reviews

Here’s a brief overview of the best time tracking apps, screenshots, its standout features, and more.

Best for keeping payroll in sync

  • Free demo available
  • Flat rate user pricing, with a free version for businesses with up to 200 people
Visit Website
Rating: 4.8/5

Deel is an HR and payroll platform designed for businesses with distributed teams. It’s especially useful if you’re hiring across different countries, handling compliance, and managing international contracts. Deel covers everything from hiring and onboarding to payroll, benefits, and even expense management, giving you the tools to manage a global team in one place. 

Why I picked Deel: Deel’s time-tracking feature simplifies hour tracking for you and your team. With its clock-in and clock-out widget, available on both desktop and mobile, your team can quickly log hours and breaks, which are automatically recorded in their timesheets. Manual adjustments can be made as needed, while permissions can be set to control who edits or adds hours. This approach reduces errors and keeps payroll in sync with actual hours worked, helping you avoid surprises on payday and making your time management more accurate.

Deel Standout Features & Integrations

Features include an integrated time approval workflow that allows managers to review and approve team members' logged hours before they are synced to payroll. Its geo-tagging feature adds an extra layer of accountability, verifying the location of clock-ins and clock-outs for distributed teams. Furthermore, Deel supports automated overtime calculations and compliance with local labor laws, which helps streamline the time-tracking process for international teams.

Integrations include Google Workspace, Hubstaff, Brex, Personio, Sage, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Workable, UKG Ready, QuickBooks, Xero, and BambooHR.

Best for visual project planning

  • 14-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $8/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.6/5

monday.com is a project management software with time tracking features that has done away with a lot of the trimmings of typical management tools and focused on simple, visually intuitive layouts that help clarify the sequence of work.

Why I picked monday.com: I think monday.com is great tool. You can use it to track project billable hours, employee productivity, and invoicing. More than being a time-tracking solution, you can also use it for your employee productivity needs. You can easily assign owners to new tasks, prioritize each item, set due dates and know exactly how every working hour is spent on each project and task. You can also keep track of time on their mobile app.

Overall, monday.com is a highly customizable software that I would definitely recommend using to help handle your projects, collaborate in real time, and track time so you can provide more accurate information to the client.

According to my research, time tracking is available on monday.com's Pro and Enterprise plans and has to be added to each board as a column.

monday.com Standout Features & Integrations

Features include an intuitive time-tracking column that integrates seamlessly into project boards, which allows teams to monitor hours directly within their workflows. Furthermore, monday.com's automation capabilities extend to time tracking, where triggers can be set to automatically start or stop timers based on task status changes.

Integrations include business apps like Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Harvest, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform, and many more, accessible via Zapier.

Best for global time management

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $6/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.3/5

Replicon is a time tracking and timesheet software with a project time tracking product suite. This suite can help you manage project hours and costs, paid time off, and track billable hours and project expenses.

Why I picked Replicon: I chose this tool for the list because of its intelligent time tracking feature, which leverages AI and machine learning to help populate timesheets for employees based on the apps they use. The app will track employee activity across different platforms and pre-fill timesheets for them. Additionally, it will reconstruct the work week across multiple projects. Based on my research, it seems like all your people will have to do is review and submit, which will save you both hours of administrative tasks and money.

Replicon also has a mobile app that you can use to track time from any device. This makes it easy to track time while you are away from your computer, but also makes use of mobile device capabilities to expand its functionality. For example, you can take a pic and add it to your expense report using the phone's camera. I think that this feature makes Replicon perfect for employees on-the-go, since it can help them track their time quickly, easily, and without needing access to a computer.

Replicon Standout Features & Integrations

Features include advanced multi-level approval workflows that allow organizations to customize approval hierarchies for timesheets and project hours based on complex requirements. Its time intelligence system also offers predictive analytics that enable managers to identify patterns in time usage and proactively address inefficiencies or bottlenecks.

Integrations include SAP, ADP, Salesforce, Slack, Quickbooks, Jira, ServiceNow, Xero, Workday, Myob, Adobe XD, and Bamboo HR.

Best for remote team monitoring

  • 7-day free trial
  • From $8/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.8/5

Insightful is a workforce analytics suite focused on time tracking. It's both easy to navigate and pretty advanced, with remote team monitoring features like auto-grab screenshots and web usage tracking. For this reason, I think it's a useful tool for remote businesses that are scaling quickly—you can start with something relatively basic and adopt more advanced plans as you scale.

Why I picked Insightful: I chose Insightful as one of the best time-tracking tools because of its user-friendly interface and integration with various project management tools. The platform is well-designed and easy to navigate, making it a great choice for anyone who is new to time-tracking software in my opinion.

Insightful Standout Features & Integrations

Features include an automated time mapping feature that categorizes time entries based on the apps, websites, or documents used. The platform also provides stealth mode tracking, which allows time and productivity to be monitored discreetly. This feature is especially useful for roles requiring minimal interference.

Integrations include various project management tools like Asana, Jira, Slack, Trello, and others.

Best for timesheet logging

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $4.16/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.7/5

Resource Guru is a resource management tool that helps you and your team schedule work, manage workloads, and keep projects on track.

Why I picked Resource Guru: Although it doesn't have a real-time time tracker, Resource Guru's timesheet feature makes logging work hours straightforward. It pre-fills timesheets with entries from your schedule, so you can quickly confirm or adjust the time spent on tasks. This approach reduces the time you spend on administrative tasks and improves accuracy in time tracking. 

Additionally, Resource Guru provides a bulk log option, allowing you to review and log a week's worth of work with a single click. This feature speeds up the time-tracking process, letting you focus more on your projects. 

Resource Guru Standout Features & Integrations

Features include logged hours that are automatically aligned with scheduled activities to minimize discrepancies and manual edits. The platform also includes utilization heatmaps that provide a visual overview of how team members' tracked hours align with their capacity. Additionally, Resource Guru's integration with capacity planning allows you to compare planned versus actual time spent.

Integrations include Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Calendar, Calendly, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Sheets, Gmail, Asana, Salesforce, Jira Software, and Smartsheet.

Best time clock for GPS and image tracking

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $3.99/user/month + $19/month base fee
Visit Website
Rating: 4.8/5

Buddy Punch is a web-based employee time clock software that can help simplify your employee scheduling and payroll.

Why I picked Buddy Punch: It has features to support time tracking across the organization, regardless of their work arrangement. You can see timesheets for on-site employees, use GPS and IP locking features to keep tabs on your remote workforce, and easily categorize projects using project-specific time entries and job codes. It also offers flexible time clock methods, including via web, app, kiosk, facial recognition, or QR code.

On top of the time tracking features, Buddy Punch gives you access to employee scheduling options. With the scheduler you can let your team know exactly when they need to work on something and what type of activity they're expected to work on. Finally, the drag-and-drop functionality for schedules helps you make quick shift changes in minutes.

Buddy Punch Standout Features & Integrations

Features include an overtime calculation feature that allows you to customize overtime rules based on your specific business policies or local labor laws. The platform also provides automated alerts and reminders to employees to ensure timely clock-ins and clock-outs. Additionally, Buddy Punch's detailed audit logs track every modification to timesheets, providing complete transparency and accountability for payroll and compliance purposes.

Integrations include QuickBooks, ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Paylocity, PayPlus, SurePayroll, and Workday. A paid Zapier account can get you access to hundreds of other tool connections.

Best for small teams and businesses

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $6/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

actiTIME is a time tracking software designed to keep track of hours spent on projects, and it also allows project managers to analyze hours and timesheets to make informed decisions about estimates, invoices, and more.

actiTIME allows you to create projects and allocate tasks to team members so you can keep track of time per project and per task. Project managers can collect data on employee performance, as well as project costs and revenues, and review it in reports and charts.

This tool also offers the ability to compare estimated vs. actual time, as well as the ability to use that information to create invoices and adjust estimates as needed. These features foster a comprehensive and objective analysis of individual and team performance.

actiTIME is highly flexible and configurable to a diverse set of needs and preferences. It can also be integrated with other project management apps through Zapier or their API.

actiTIME offers free plans for teams of up to three members. Paid plans start at $5/user/month, and a free trial is offered.

Best for resource management features

  • Pricing upon request
Visit Website
Rating: 4.1/5

Kantata time tracking software is designed to help individuals and businesses efficiently manage and monitor their time and workload. The software can help users understand how their team's time is being utilized. These insights can be invaluable for optimizing workflows, identifying time-wasting activities, and improving overall efficiency.

Why I picked Kantata: I chose Kantata for this list because it goes beyond simple time tracking by offering time budgeting and forecasting capabilities. Users can set time budgets for specific tasks or projects, allowing them to allocate time and resources effectively. I also love how the software provides real-time updates on time spent, remaining time, and progress towards budgeted goals. In my experience, these types of features enable users to proactively manage their time, prioritize tasks, and more accurately meet deadlines.

Kantata Standout Features & Integrations

Features include AI-powered suggestions that analyze historical data to recommend adjustments to time budgets or schedules, helping teams stay on track. Additionally, the platform offers built-in reminders and nudges that can prompt team members to log hours consistently, reducing the risk of incomplete or forgotten time entries.

Integrations include Slack, Trello, Salesforce, Sage, Jira, Quickbooks, Xero, NetSuite, Genpact, and Google Calendar.

Best integrated time and resource management

  • Free trial available
  • From $9/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

Bonsai is a comprehensive business management software designed for agencies, consultancies, and professional service providers to streamline their operations. It offers a wide range of tools for managing client relationships, projects, financials, and more, including features such as CRM, scheduling, proposals, contracts, time tracking, file sharing, and invoicing.

Why I picked Bonsai: I selected Bonsai for this list for its time tracking solution designed to assist agencies of various sizes in managing their projects and ensuring accurate billing for clients. I like how the tool allows users to track their team's hours, generate timesheets, and produce instant activity reports, all fully integrated with project management and billing systems. 

Bonsai's time tracking capabilities also enable users to understand which projects and tasks consume the most time, thereby helping to manage billable hours more effectively. I particularly admire how the tool facilitates the conversion of billable hours into invoices with a few clicks and supports online payments to expedite the payment process.  

Bonsai Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a focus timer feature that combines time tracking with productivity techniques, enabling users to break work into focused intervals for increased efficiency. The platform additionally offers automatic time entry suggestions that are based on past activity to make it easier to log time without interrupting workflows. 

Integrations include Gmail, Google Calendar, Zapier, Slack, QuickBooks Online, Calendly, ClickUp, Trello, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Xero, and HubSpot.

Best GPS time tracking for mobile teams

  • 14-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $29/month (for up to 30 users, billed annually) + $0.5/user/month for each additional user
Visit Website
Rating: 4.3/5

Connecteam is a workplace software company that offers products for operational, communication, and skills management. The operational platform facilitates time tracking and employee scheduling.

Why I picked Connecteam: I am particularly impressed by Connecteam's operations management software, which offers a unique approach to time tracking, scheduling, and task management features. Employees can log their time in the system and it even provides GPS tracking to keep managers updated on the whereabouts of staff. You can also assign shifts and tasks to employees, and oversee their work with forms and checklists.

I also admire how the Connecteam's software can be connected with a payroll platform so you can easily use schedules and timesheets for pay administration. Additionally, I'm always on the lookout for customizable features, and Connecteam offers several customization tools for your team's unique tasks and timesheet needs.

Connecteam Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a geo-fencing feature that ensures employees can only clock in and out within a designated physical location, providing an added layer of accountability for remote or field teams. The platform's kiosk mode also allows multiple employees to log time from a single shared device, which is ideal for industries like retail or hospitality. 

Integrations include Paychex, Xero, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll (online + desktop), Google Calendar and others.

  1. TimeClock Plus

    For attendance management

  2. Beebole

    For customizable dashboards

  3. TimeCamp

    For automatic time tracking

  4. Toggl Track

    For its workload balancing

  5. TMetric

    For 7-day activity tracking storage

  6. My Hours

    For small teams and freelancers

  7. Clockify

    For efficient time tracking

  8. Traqq

    For a feature-rich free version

  9. BigTime

    For invoicing and billing

  10. Hubstaff

    For distributed teams

If you still haven't found what you're looking for here, check out these tools closely related to time tracking software, that we've tested and evaluated.

Selection Criteria for Time Tracking Software

Selecting employee time tracking software requires a comprehensive approach that considers both basic functionality and specific use cases, as well as additional features that set a tool apart from its competitors. Through my personal experiences and extensive research, I've developed a variety of selection criteria to identify the most effective solutions in this category. Here's how each criterion is evaluated, with its weight in the final scoring:

Core Time Tracking Software Functionality (25% of final scoring): To be considered for inclusion on my list of the best timesheet software, the solution had to support the ability to fulfill common use cases. These include:

  • Tracking time spent on specific projects and tasks
  • Distinguishing between billable and non-billable hours
  • Generating reports for client billing
  • Analyzing employee productivity and project progress
  • Integrating with other project management and accounting software

Additional Standout Features (25% of final scoring): This part of the evaluation serves to assess innovative features that distinguish an employee time tracking app from others on the market and determine how these features contribute to productivity, project management, and user experience enhancements. Such features include:

  • Advanced Analytics: Tools that provide deeper insights into productivity trends and forecasting.
  • Automated Suggestions: Solutions that offer intelligent recommendations to categorize time entries.
  • Customizable Dashboards: Platforms that allow users to tailor their interface to highlight key metrics.
  • AI-Driven Insights: Software that uses artificial intelligence to identify inefficiencies and suggest improvements.
  • Unique Integrations: Systems that connect with niche or industry-specific tools for seamless workflows.

Usability (10% of final scoring): Here, the evaluation examines the intuitiveness and user-friendliness of the time keeping software interface, including design aesthetic, ease of navigation, and mobile responsiveness, to ensure that users can easily perform common tasks. The more user-friendly the software, the higher the score. When evaluating usability, I consider:

  • Intuitive interface design, ideally with drag-and-drop functionality for easy task management.
  • Minimalistic design that reduces clutter and focuses on essential functions.
  • Responsive design for seamless use across desktop and mobile devices.
  • Customizable views that cater to different user preferences and roles.

Onboarding (10% of final scoring): This aspect focuses on assessing the availability and effectiveness of resources and tools for helping new users get started. However, according to Sara Fisher, it also influences tool adoption across your team.

When it comes to team adoption, I’ve found that success depends on how easy the tool is to onboard new users. Some tools are much trickier for people to pick up than others.

photo of Sara Fisher

Sara Fisher

Founder @ Green Luna Studio

Therefore, having an ironclad onboarding may include paying particular attention to the availability of customer support during the setup process. Effective onboarding is critical, and I look for:

  • Comprehensive training videos that cover both basic and advanced features.
  • Interactive product tours that guide new users through the main functionalities.
  • Ready-to-use templates that help teams quickly set up their workflows.
  • Access to webinars and live training sessions for in-depth understanding.
  • Responsive chatbots or help centers for immediate assistance during the setup process.

Customer Support (10% of final scoring): This part of the evaluation assesses customer support based on availability, responsiveness, and the quality of assistance and involves contacting support with queries to test response times and helpfulness. Efficient and effective customer support will score higher. Exceptional customer support differentiates top time tracking programs through:

  • 24/7 availability via multiple channels (chat, email, phone).
  • Knowledgeable support teams that understand both the product and its application in various industries.
  • Community forums or platforms where users can share insights and solutions.
  • Regular updates and clear communication on new features or fixes.

Value For Money (10% of final scoring): This criterion involves comparing pricing, features offered, and flexibility of plans against time tracking system's benefits to determine return on investment. Tools offering more features and flexibility at a competitive price receive higher scores. I assess value for money by looking at:

  • Transparent pricing models that align with the features and benefits provided.
  • Flexible plans that cater to different sizes and types of businesses.
  • Free trials or demo versions that allow users to test functionality before committing.
  • Discounts for annual payments or non-profit organizations.

Customer Reviews (10% of final scoring): The final section of this evaluation is designed to analyze customer reviews from multiple sources to gauge user satisfaction and the real-world impact of each employee time tracker. In particular, I look for trends in feedback about usability, support, and overall effectiveness. I also focus on:

  • Consistency in positive feedback across different aspects like usability, support, and functionality.
  • Real-world examples of how the timesheet management system has improved productivity and project management.
  • Feedback on the learning curve and how quickly new users can adapt to the tool.
  • Comments on employee timesheet software reliability and customer support responsiveness.

By carefully considering these criteria, I aim to identify project management time tracking software that not only meets standard requirements, but also provides additional value through innovative features, exceptional usability, and comprehensive support. Each criterion's score is tallied to determine a final star rating for each time card software, ensuring a comprehensive and fair evaluation.

How to Choose Time Tracking Software

With so many different time tracking software solutions available, it can be challenging to make decisions on what time tracking software is going to be the best fit for your needs.

As you're shortlisting, trialing, and selecting time tracking software, try to consider:

  • What you want to use it to do - Start by identifying the time tracking feature gap you're trying to fill to clarify the features and functionality the time tracking software needs to provide.
  • Who will need to use it - To evaluate cost and requirements, consider who'll be using the software and how many licenses you'll need. You'll need to evaluate if it'll just be project management professionals, or the whole organization that will require access. When that's clear, it's worth considering if you're prioritizing ease of use for all, or speed for your project management power users.
  • What other tools it needs to work with - Clarify what tools you're replacing, what tools are staying, and the tools you'll need to integrate with, such as accounting, CRM or HR software. You'll need to decide if the tools will need to integrate together, or alternatively, if you can replace multiple tools with one consolidated time tracking software.
  • What outcomes are important - Consider the result that the software needs to deliver to be considered a success. Consider what capability you want to gain, or what you want to improve, and how you will be measuring success. For example, an outcome could be the ability to get greater visibility into performance. You could compare time tracking software features until you’re blue in the face, but if you aren’t thinking about the outcomes you want to drive, you could be wasting a lot of valuable time.
  • How it would work within your organization - Consider the software selection alongside your workflows and delivery methodology. Evaluate what's working well, and the areas that are causing issues that need to be addressed. Remember every business is different — don’t assume that because a tool is popular that it'll work in your organization.

As of 2025, software for time tracking has evolved significantly, reflecting the changing dynamics of the workplace and the increasing emphasis on remote and flexible work arrangements. Here's a summary of the latest trends and functionalities in project management and time tracking software:

  1. Mobile Apps and Geofencing: The use of mobile apps for project management time tracking, particularly in conjunction with geofencing technology, has become more widespread. This technology allows for automated check-ins and location-based tracking, ensuring accurate time recording for employees in various settings​​.
  2. Biometric Identification: For accurate time-punching and ease of use, technologies like facial recognition and biometric iris technology are being adopted in modern time tracking solutions​​.
  3. Energy Expenditure Tracking: This emerging concept goes beyond mere time tracking; it measures the mental and physical effort expended during work, offering insights into employee engagement and well-being​​.
  4. Integration with Wearable Technology: Wearable devices like smartwatches have become integral in time tracking, offering features like activity tracking and health monitoring. This integration aids not just in tracking work hours, but also in ensuring employee well-being​​.
  5. Advanced AI and Automation: AI technologies are now prevalent in timesheet programs, automating time capture and enhancing accuracy. AI systems can analyze time usage patterns and optimize productivity, making them a rapidly evolving feature in this domain​​.

What is Time Tracking Software?

Time tracker software is a tool to record and analyze time spent on tasks and projects by individuals or teams. Timekeeping software is widely used to enhance productivity, manage workloads, and streamline project management. It allows employees to log their working hours with accuracy, providing valuable data for payroll, billing, and resource allocation.

For managers and team leaders, an employee time tracking system offers insights into team performance, helps in identifying areas where efficiencies can be gained, and ensures projects stay on schedule and within budget. Its utility extends to freelancers and consultants too, who use it to accurately bill clients and manage their time effectively across multiple projects.

Features of Time Tracking Software

Besides the core functionality, which should be present in all time tracking systems, several key features can also help you monitor employee hours and activities more effectively. Here are some of the most important features to look for:

  • Quick access time tracker: Any user should have easy access to the work time tracker. It can be a button that always hovers in a corner, an option on the navigation bar and even an embedded window within every screen in the software. Moreover, with remote work becoming more common, having a mobile app for time tracking also ensures convenience and flexibility.
  • Rates & Invoicing: I’d look for software that can store employee rates and help you automatically calculate the payment due by the client. This feature saves time on manual invoice creation and enhances billing transparency, which is vital for accurate client billing and dispute resolution. In short, the least number of hands touching numbers, the better.
  • Real-time tracking & reporting: It’s critical that your tracking app offers reports. These will help you isolate specific time periods and drill down into the details. Therefore, inform your justifications to the client or the WBS owner.
  • Real-time Tracking or Manual Logging of Work Hours: The ability to track time in real-time or log hours manually provides flexibility for different types of work environments and preferences.
  • Shift Creation and Attendance Tracking: For businesses with shift workers, features that allow for shift creation and attendance tracking are essential. They help manage employee schedules and ensure accurate recording of work hours.

When choosing time sheet software, be sure to consider these features in the context of your specific business needs.

Benefits of Time Tracking Software

Time keeping systems are an essential tool for modern businesses and individuals looking to enhance productivity and streamline their work processes. Here are five primary benefits of using time manager software:

  1. Increased Productivity: Time tracking software helps users identify how they spend their time, highlighting areas where they can improve efficiency and productivity. By understanding time allocation, businesses and individuals can optimize their work processes.
  2. Enhanced Project Management: The software can allow for more accurate project scheduling and management by tracking the time spent on each task. It ensures that project timelines are adhered to and resources are allocated effectively.
  3. Accurate Billing and Payroll: For businesses that bill by the hour, time tracking software provides precise data for invoicing, ensuring clients are billed accurately. Similarly, it aids in accurate payroll processing by tracking employee work hours.
  4. Insightful Data Analysis: The software offers valuable insights into work patterns and productivity trends, enabling strategic business decisions. This data can be used to improve workflows, allocate resources more effectively, and set realistic project deadlines.
  5. Improved Employee Focus and Accountability: By making employees aware of how they spend their work hours, time tracking software fosters a culture of self-management and accountability. It helps employees stay focused and be more responsible for their time and output.

Costs & Pricing for Time Tracking Software

For many, pricing is a major factor in choosing time tracking software. While prices can vary, pricing plans usually fall into similar categories, making it much easier to understand the balance of features and cost you need even before selecting a tool.

Moreover, having a clear understanding of time tracking software pricing across the market can save you money. By staying aware of pricing trends, you can ensure you're not overpaying for common features or features you won't use.

Here is a summary of typical plan options for time tracking software:

Plan Comparison Table for Time Tracking Software

Plan TypeAverage PriceCommon Features
Basic/Free PlanFree- Basic time tracking
- Simple reporting capabilities
- Limited number of users or projects
Standard Plan$5 - $10 per user/month- Enhanced time tracking features
- Basic reporting and analytics
- Integration with other software
- Limited support
Professional Plan$10 - $20 per user/month- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Full project management integration
- Enhanced support options
- Additional features like invoicing, scheduling
Premium/Enterprise Plan$20+ per user/month- Customizable features
- Advanced security options
- Priority support
- Comprehensive integrations with business systems
A breakdown of plan types, costs, and features for time project management software.

Once you've chosen software, it's a good idea to start with a free trial or a basic plan to see how well it suits your needs before upgrading to a more advanced plan. As such, understanding both the exact plan you want and your options for scaling the software is essential for making the right decision.

For example, basic or free time tracking software plans are perfect for individuals or small teams with simple time tracking needs. Standard plans suit businesses requiring detailed reporting and software integration. Professional plans offer extensive features for larger teams managing complex projects. Premium or enterprise plans cater to large organizations needing customizable features and advanced security.

Common stages where your company may want to upgrade its pricing plan include:

  1. Growing Team Size: When the number of employees or team members increases, additional user licenses or more comprehensive management features may be required.
  2. Increased Project Volume: When the company starts handling more projects simultaneously, advanced tracking and reporting capabilities may be needed.
  3. Enhanced Reporting Needs: As the company grows, more detailed and customizable reports may be necessary for better insights into time usage and resource allocation.
  4. Integration Requirements: With business growth, there may be an increased need to integrate time tracking software with other tools and systems, such as payroll, invoicing, or project management platforms.
  5. Advanced Features and Automation: Eventually, the company may require more sophisticated features like automated time tracking, advanced analytics, and workflow automation to improve efficiency and accuracy.

Ultimately, the right plan depends on your specific business requirements and budget. With careful consideration and research, you should be able to balance features and cost effectively.

New & Noteworthy Product Updates

Below you’ll find our release notes and take on the latest and greatest time tracking software product updates. Discover what’s now possible through feature releases, improvements, and updates on web, desktop and mobile apps. Learn what’s new, if it’s hot - or not, and why it matters for tracking the time spent on tasks and projects.

Q4 2024 Time Tracking Software Updates

ClickUp Update Notes

The new Custom Relationships feature in ClickUp allows users to filter views and reports based on tailored data connections for more precise insights.

ClickUp's Release 3.36 introduces several enhancements aimed at improving user experience and productivity. Notably, users can now filter views and reports by Custom Relationships, allowing for more tailored data insights. Additionally, Microsoft Teams link previews enable users to view shared Teams content directly within ClickUp tasks, Docs, and Chat, reducing the need to switch between applications. 

The update also includes a new 'My Work' page for mobile users, consolidating tasks, events, and calendar entries into a single, organized view grouped by day. This feature facilitates efficient task management on-the-go, allowing users to create tasks, view event details, and complete reminders with ease. 

These enhancements are particularly beneficial for project managers, team leads, and mobile users who require streamlined workflows and improved integration between communication platforms.

Verdict: Hot! Better data, better integration, and better mobility, all in one update! 

Check out ClickUp's most recent pricing information.

Kantata Update Notes

Kantata’s new Pulse Score graph visually tracks changes in project sentiment over time, showing trends in happiness, confidence, and collaboration.

In Q4, Kantata OX released Kantata Pulse, an integrated sentiment tool designed for professional services organizations to gather real-time feedback from clients and employees. By automating feedback collection across project phases, Pulse provides project managers with insights into how clients and team members feel about project progress. This tool helps detect issues early, combining sentiment data with quantitative metrics to give a fuller view of project health, ultimately improving satisfaction and project outcomes.

For organizations often hindered by disconnected, time-consuming feedback processes, Kantata Pulse is a valuable solution. Unlike post-project surveys, it captures feedback continuously, allowing for quicker interventions and strengthening relationships with clients and employees. The system is flexible, enabling both internal and external surveys without requiring additional user accounts, which enhances accessibility and participation rates.

Those likely to benefit from this release include project managers, account administrators, and client success teams who aim to improve project satisfaction and engagement. Kantata Pulse’s structured survey approach—focusing on happiness, confidence, and collaboration—delivers actionable feedback, supporting informed decisions and fostering a proactive approach to project management.

Verdict: Hot! Automating feedback and analysis is a great way to make your business better, faster. 

Check out Kantata's most recent pricing information.

monday.com Update Notes

monday.com’s new Sprint Performance Dashboard offers real-time insights into sprint metrics, enabling teams to make data-driven decisions throughout the sprint cycle.

The Engineering Performance Dashboard is a new feature in monday.com that integrates with GitHub to provide real-time insights into development workflows. It tracks key metrics such as time to pull request, code review, approval, merge, and overall cycle time, offering a comprehensive view of the development process.

This dashboard includes tables displaying items currently in each phase and their histories, detailing item names, pull request links, story points, owners, and time spent in each phase. These features can also help teams identify bottlenecks and make data-driven decisions to enhance efficiency.

Currently in beta, the Engineering Performance Dashboard is accessible to users with the GitHub integration enabled. Development teams, project managers, and stakeholders aiming to optimize their development cycles and improve workflow transparency will find this feature particularly beneficial.

Verdict: Hot! Accurate data tracking can be difficult, so anything that makes it easier is a great improvement. 

Clockify Update Notes

Clockify's new financial planning feature integrates budget forecasting and profitability insights into project scheduling for improved financial control and resource allocation.

In Q4, Clockify introduced a financial planning feature to enhance project management. This update enables users to compare projected billable income against labor costs during schedule creation, providing a clear view of potential profitability. Additionally, the feature offers project budget forecasting, allowing teams to monitor budget consumption over time and predict potential overruns based on scheduled assignments.

The financial planning tool also permits team members to plan their own schedules, fostering autonomy and improving resource allocation. By integrating financial insights directly into the scheduling process, organizations can make informed decisions, optimize project budgets, and ensure alignment with financial goals.

This update is particularly beneficial for project managers, financial analysts, and team leads who oversee project budgets and resource planning.

Verdict: Hot! Managing money can be difficult in the best of circumstances, so easy-to-use financial tools are always a welcome addition. 

Hub Planner Update Notes

Hub Planner's updated UI simplifies resource and project group management with enhanced design, improved navigation, and unified filtering.

Hub Planner has recently updated its user interface to enhance the management of resource and project groups. These groups, which can be created manually or through smart filters, help organize teams and projects efficiently. The latest UI improvements aim to simplify the process of building and managing these groups, making the platform more intuitive and user-friendly.

Key enhancements include a more compact design that occupies less screen space, refined column layouts for better visibility of selections and outputs, and resized buttons for a cleaner interface. Additionally, a unified search function now filters across all columns simultaneously, streamlining the filtering process. These updates are designed to make group management more straightforward and efficient.

Project managers, team leads, and resource coordinators who utilize Hub Planner for scheduling and resource management will find these updates particularly beneficial. The improved UI facilitates quicker navigation and more effective organization of resources and projects, enhancing overall productivity and user experience.

Verdict: Not. Project and resource groups are awesome, but UI updates are not exactly trending. 

Toggl Track Update Notes

The new "Always Track" feature in Toggl Track's Chrome extension automatically starts and stops time tracking for specified webpages, streamlining recurring task monitoring.

Toggl has recently introduced several new features to automate time tracking, reduce manual input, and enhance productivity. For example, the Toggl Track Chrome extension now includes an "Always Track This Page" option, which allows users to specify web pages for automatic time tracking. Once a designated page is opened, the extension begins tracking time after a user-defined period and stops when the tab is closed. 

Additionally, Toggl Track's calendar integration has been enhanced to automatically convert calendar events into time entries, eliminating the need for manual input. The integration features live syncing, ensuring that any changes to calendar events are immediately reflected in Toggl Track. This functionality is currently available for Google Calendar and is expected to launch for Outlook Calendar soon. 

These updates are particularly beneficial for professionals seeking to minimize the administrative burden of time tracking, including freelancers, project managers, and teams aiming to enhance productivity and accuracy in billing and project management.

Verdict: Hot! Time tracking is useful, but shouldn’t be time consuming. Automations can help with that. 

MyHours Update Notes

MyHours’ recent updates allows Jira epics to be mapped to My Hours projects, enabling seamless time tracking and project alignment across both platforms.

My Hours has introduced a beta integration with Jira Cloud, enabling a one-way synchronization of projects and associated issues from Jira into My Hours. This integration allows users to map Jira epics to My Hours projects and various Jira issue types to My Hours tasks, facilitating seamless time tracking on imported items. Automatic synchronization can be enabled to ensure that new projects and tasks created in Jira are promptly reflected in My Hours.

To set up the integration, users must have administrative privileges in both My Hours and Jira. The process involves authenticating the connection, mapping Jira entities to corresponding My Hours entities, and optionally enabling automatic synchronization. It's important to note that this integration is currently in early beta; therefore, users are encouraged to contact My Hours support for assistance during setup. 

This integration is particularly beneficial for teams and project managers who utilize Jira for issue tracking and My Hours for time management. By connecting the two platforms, users can streamline their workflows, ensuring that time spent on Jira issues is accurately tracked within My Hours, thereby enhancing project oversight and efficiency.

Verdict: Not. While a Jira integration can be helpful, it is also very common.

Harvest Update Notes

The new color-coded heat map in Forecast visually displays team capacity, highlighting overbooked members in red and underbooked members in green.

Harvest has reintroduced Forecast, its visual team planning tool, with significant enhancements to improve project scheduling and workload management. The updated Forecast allows users to plan by week or month, offering flexibility to scope project requirements over broader periods and assess long-term team availability. This feature aids in updating hiring plans and determining feasible project commitments. 

The new version also provides a color-coded heat map to visualize team capacity, highlighting overbooked (red) and underbooked (green) team members. This visualization enables managers to balance workloads effectively, preventing burnout and ensuring optimal utilization. Adjustments to schedules can be made easily through a click-and-drag interface, allowing for quick resizing and splitting of assignments to adapt to project needs. 

Integrating Forecast with Harvest's time tracking and invoicing capabilities offers comprehensive project oversight. Users can compare scheduled hours with actual tracked time, monitor budget progress, and predict budget spend based on assignments. This integration ensures projects remain on track and within budget, providing insights into team performance and project timelines. 

These updates are particularly beneficial for project managers, team leaders, and operations professionals seeking to enhance team scheduling, workload balance, and project budget management.

Verdict: Hot! What’s the point of time tracking if it can’t help you schedule your resource more effectively?

BigTime Update Notes

BigTime's Q4 update introduces "Merge Assignments" for accurate project tracking and "Partial Time Off" for flexible time-off requests, enhancing resource management.

BigTime's Q4 update introduces the "Merge Assignments" feature, which enables managers to consolidate separate records where employees have logged time without formal assignments. This tool combines scheduled hours lacking time entries with time entries missing schedules, resulting in unified records that enhance data accuracy and streamline reporting. Accessible to users with Resource Management or Project Manager roles, the feature is located within the Team Calendar subtab in the Projects section. 

Additionally, the update offers a "Partial Time Off" feature, allowing staff to request time off in hours rather than full days. Administrators can enable this option in General Settings, providing employees the flexibility to specify partial days off. These requests integrate seamlessly into the calendar, offering managers clear visibility into team availability. Contract-based limits can be set to ensure requests remain within manageable hours. 

These enhancements are particularly beneficial for project managers and HR professionals seeking to improve resource allocation and time-off management. The "Merge Assignments" feature ensures precise project tracking, while "Partial Time Off" accommodates diverse scheduling needs, promoting a more adaptable and efficient workplace.

Verdict: Hot! Maintaining work-life balance can be tough, so features that account for human oversights and the complexities of life are always needed. 

TMetric Update Notes

TMetric's timesheet customization allows organizations to set approval periods, define timesheet start days, and automate email reminders for streamlined submissions.

TMetric's latest update introduces enhanced customization for organizational timesheets, allowing workspace administrators to set approval periods, designate the starting day of timesheet periods, and enable automatic email reminders for timely submissions.

Additionally, users can now access a comprehensive import history within the workspace settings, detailing all data import requests, their statuses, and the initiators, thereby improving transparency and data management.

The update also offers configurable email notifications for estimates, budgets, tasks, time off, and timesheet events, enabling team members to receive timely updates while minimizing unnecessary emails.

These enhancements are particularly beneficial for project managers, team leaders, and HR professionals seeking streamlined time management and improved operational efficiency.

Verdict: Not. These updates are great, but not all that innovative. 

Time Tracking Software Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions people ask about this topic.

What is the best time tracking software?

The best time tracking software is the one that works best for your situation. Three things you should consider are:

  • The level of customer support you need
  • Any advanced feature needs (normally in premium paid plans)
  • If you need access from mobile devices

If you only need software that tracks time and generates invoices, you will benefit from most of the items on this list. However, if you are looking for a project management tool with time tracking capabilities, you want to stick with software like monday.com, Smartsheet or Toggl.

Project management tools will normally have time tracking or time entry modules. If not, they will offer integrations with specific time tracking tools in the form of plug-ins, add-ons, or power-ups.

What does time tracking software do?

Time tracking software allows project team members to track time to reflect the time spent on the tasks they are executing. It is a technological solution to the timesheets that were popular in the past.

Time tracking software also incorporates reporting features, so you can see what your team has been up to and if they have free time to take on more work. Therefore, making it a great complement to resource management.

Why is time tracking software important?

Time tracking software and expense tracking software is no one’s idea of a party, but it’s a necessary evil in the digital agency world, for professional services and consulting. Especially when you’re charging time and materials or billing by the hour and you need to track budget burn. Likewise, invoicing is not fun, but it’s necessary and requires accurate timesheet detail to function.

Fundamentally, there’s budget and financial tracking information that’s needed to keep a business alive; we need to know the project budget essentials:

  • Are we above or below the project budget?
  • Are we tracking to hit the budget?
  • How much should be invoiced to the client?
  • How profitable is the project / job / client?

What is the best time tracking tool for small business?

The best tool for small business is Clockify. This free tool has all the basic time tracking features that you need to get a team in the habit of recording time. These include timesheets, an auto timer, a pomodoro timer, and even idle detection and notifications.

The free version of Clockify is available for unlimited users and allows managers to pull basic reports on team activity, billable time, and overall team workload. However, if you need to track time only in a team of five or less users, you can consider free plans from many other tools like Toggl Track or Everhour.

Are timesheets important?

Timesheets are important if we want to give proper estimates based on past project performance and build better budgets. However, the accuracy and reliability of these estimates will depend on the quality of the information that feeds it. You need to make it easy for your team to track their time, and define the nomenclature behind that reporting.

In order to properly estimate, we need to be able to look back at timesheet data, and gauge how much should be charged for the next project. In choosing the best time tracking tool, it’s worth thinking through your agency or studio workflow, and think about the end to end experience – from the person creating the estimate to the person doing the work, to the person invoicing it; how does it all fit together?

Can time tracking help with risk management?

Absolutely! Time tracking can become your risk management superpower as over and under-allocation can surface issues like:

  • Are specs unclear?
  • Is there a bottleneck preventing a team from starting?
  • Was unexpected complexity introduced into the system?

As your time tracking improves, so does your ability to predict potential risks in your projects.

How do time tracking tools handle data privacy?

Time tracking software providers are increasingly aware of the importance of data privacy and typically adhere to stringent security standards, including GDPR, CCPA, and other relevant privacy regulations. They implement various security measures such as data encryption, secure data storage, and regular security audits to protect user data.

Additionally, many time tracking tools offer customizable privacy settings, allowing businesses to control what information is tracked and who has access to it. These settings help ensure that employee monitoring complies with privacy laws and ethical considerations.

Can time tracking tools integrate with other project management software?

Most leading time tracking solutions offer robust integration capabilities with popular project management software. These integrations are designed to streamline workflows, enhance productivity, and provide a more cohesive user experience.

Integration capabilities can range from simple tracking functionalities to deep, two-way synchronizations that include task updates, project progress, and financial tracking. For example, time tracking tools often integrate with platforms like Asana, Trello, JIRA, and Slack, allowing users to track time directly within these apps.

How scalable are time tracking solutions for growing teams?

Time tracking solutions are typically built with scalability in mind, catering to the needs of both small teams and large enterprises. Scalability features might include the ability to easily add or remove users, flexible pricing plans, and the capacity to handle a growing amount of data and projects.

Furthermore, scalable time tracking software often offers advanced features like project forecasting, resource allocation, and detailed reporting, which become increasingly valuable as teams grow. The best solutions for growing teams are those that not only scale in terms of user count and project volume, but also offer the flexibility to adapt to changing business processes and needs.

 

 

 

Harvest has reintroduced Forecast, its visual team planning tool, with significant enhancements to improve project scheduling and workload management. The updated Forecast allows users to plan by week or month, offering flexibility to scope project requirements over broader periods and assess long-term team availability. This feature aids in updating hiring plans and determining feasible project commitments.

The new version also provides a color-coded heat map to visualize team capacity, highlighting overbooked (red) and underbooked (green) team members. This visualization enables managers to balance workloads effectively, preventing burnout and ensuring optimal utilization. Adjustments to schedules can be made easily through a click-and-drag interface, allowing for quick resizing and splitting of assignments to adapt to project needs.

Integrating Forecast with Harvest’s time tracking and invoicing capabilities offers comprehensive project oversight. Users can compare scheduled hours with actual tracked time, monitor budget progress, and predict budget spend based on assignments. This integration ensures projects remain on track and within budget, providing insights into team performance and project timelines.

These updates are particularly beneficial for project managers, team leaders, and operations professionals seeking to enhance team scheduling, workload balance, and project budget management.

Verdict: Hot! What’s the point of time tracking if it can’t help you schedule your resource more effectively?

 

TMetric’s latest update introduces enhanced customization for organizational timesheets, allowing workspace administrators to set approval periods, designate the starting day of timesheet periods, and enable automatic email reminders for timely submissions.

Additionally, users can now access a comprehensive import history within the workspace settings, detailing all data import requests, their statuses, and the initiators, thereby improving transparency and data management.

The update also offers configurable email notifications for estimates, budgets, tasks, time off, and timesheet events, enabling team members to receive timely updates while minimizing unnecessary emails.

These enhancements are particularly beneficial for project managers, team leaders, and HR professionals seeking streamlined time management and improved operational efficiency.

Verdict: Not. These updates are great, but not all that innovative.

 

What's Next?

Since we are on the subject of time, here's a useful article on 5 time management techniques to help you be more productive. Also, this article on project budgeting explains what analogous estimation is and other estimation techniques used in project management.

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Ben Aston
By Ben Aston

I’m Ben Aston, a digital project manager and founder of thedpm.com. I've been in the industry for more than 20 years working in the UK at London’s top digital agencies including Dare, Wunderman, Lowe and DDB. I’ve delivered everything from film to CMS', games to advertising and eCRM to eCommerce sites. I’ve been fortunate enough to work across a wide range of great clients; automotive brands including Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda; Utility brands including BT, British Gas and Exxon, FMCG brands such as Unilever, and consumer electronics brands including Sony. I'm a Certified Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner and productivity nut!