Top 10 time tracking software

Whether you are a small business owner, freelancer, or project manager, keeping a handle on time is crucial.

From billing your clients correctly to ensuring both you and your team are being productive, time tracking and billing software help ensure your business runs as professionally as possible.

Why use digital time tracking software?

Using digital time tracking software enables you to track time consistently. Such a benefit is particularly significant as we continue to live with COVID-19, and increasing numbers of people will work from home for the long-term.

Time tracking software also usually offers full integrations with accounting software and payroll tools, enabling you to automate employee salaries or the sending of invoices to clients. As well as giving you real-time visibility of yours and your teams' productivity, you will save a bundle of time using automation features.

When you use time tracking software, you will also be able to create reports, collaborate, and audit timesheets and productivity. Enterprise-level time tracking tools will also allow you to create custom entry fields and reports.

Here are the top 10 best time tracking tools you should consider using, whatever your business situation.

Top 10 best time tracking software tools

1. Clockify

Clockify is an exceptional free time tracking software tool that can support unlimited tracking, users, projects, and reports. Clockify integrates seamlessly with other tools, and you even get to use the API on the free plan!

Intuitive and with a clean interface, Clockify is an ideal free time tracking software for freelancers. Still, anyone can use it to track projects and manage teams. Clockify’s paid plans introduce additional features, including the ability to log each individuals' timesheets privately. If your small business is growing, Clockify’s enterprise-level tier is excellent value. One notable feature allows you to see the cost and profit attached to each team member's performance. You even get a custom subdomain to effectively create a time tracking portal for your business!

2. Toggl

Like Clockify, Toggl is a fantastic free time tracking software tool you can use if all you need to do is keep track of time. Toggl offers no collaboration options and minimal reporting features. However, if you are a freelancer or only looking to manage how you spend your time, it is a fantastic tool. Toggl's best quality, which it shares with Clockify, is that you do not need to do much to get started. You simply type in the name of a project and press “Start,” or you can even press “Start” and enter the details at a convenient time later.

Toggl also offers a browser extension, making it easy for you to quickly start tracking time and ensuring your records are accurate.

Paid plans are also available, while Toggl’s time tracking tool works great alongside its project management and recruiting tools.

3. Timing

If you are looking for time tracking software for macOS, Timing is probably the best app out there.

Timing works both online and offline, while its best feature is that you do not need to hit "Start" or set anything up to track your time. You simply open Timing, and it follows what you are doing. Over time, you can set rules for monitoring to make your app even more accurate, reducing the time you need to spend managing your timeline.

One of the best features of Timing is that you only pay once. This benefit should make the Expert tier, which offers a vast range of automation features, integrations, and plug-ins, more affordable.

4. Everhour

Everhour is a brilliant tool to use as employee time tracking software and project time tracking software all in one. Both free and paid plans are available.

Everhour’s main feature is that it allows you to see the availability of your employees. If you are working on a project and need to redirect resources, you view each person's workload and select the best person to redeploy. You can also set a maximum of employee hours to work on specific projects to drive productivity. You may also choose to set your employee schedules across the whole breadth of a long-term project if you need to.

Everhour integrates with tools like QuickBooks and Xero for easy accounting, as well as Agile platforms like Jira for supercharged project management.

5. FreshBooks

FreshBooks is better known as an accounting software tool. However, the integrated time tracking and billing software feature is so useful that it deserves a spot on this list in its own right.

The best thing about FreshBooks is that its time tracking software is a fully-fledged tool. When using it, you do not feel like you are using something that has been added to the accounting software as a bonus feature, because that is the last thing it is.

With FreshBooks’ time tracking tool, you can:

• Track work sessions and generate detailed activity reports.
• Integrate with tools like Bootcamp and Trello.
• Track time on your laptop or apps on your mobile devices.
• Automate payroll and the sending of invoices based on tracked time.
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6. Timesheets

Timesheets is an excellent time and attendance tracking software platform. It allows you to track everything from hours worked overall to specific project time, mileage and expenses, annual leave, and periods of absence.

Timesheets also has a powerful range of other human resources features. You can do everything from planning and viewing annual leave for your whole business or create training manuals and keep employee files online.

Timesheets integrates with QuickBooks for accounting and payroll, and offers a freemium version for freelancers. Timesheets' paid versions also represent exceptional value.

7. Forecast

Forecast is a fantastic project time tracking software tool that helps you get better at planning yours and your teams’ workload. Before you track any time with Forecast, you first estimate how long a task should take. When you track time, you can then easily see whether tasks are taking a shorter or longer time than estimated. From there, you can take the necessary action to understand why there are bottlenecks in your projects and deal with any issues.

Over time, you can then use Forecast to estimate more accurately, which is ideal both for time planning but also for supplying quotes to your clients.

Forecast does not offer a free plan, but you do get a 14-day trial to test it out.

8. Monday

Monday.com is not huge in terms of bells and whistles. Still, if you are looking for a customisable time tracking solution that also makes it easy to collaborate with team members, few tools come close to it.

Monday’s reporting dashboard is easy to read and navigate. It allows you to bring together data from several projects to get an overview of what is happening across your company.

While you can do everything you need to from a time tracking and collaborative perspective with Monday, you don’t get accounting, invoicing, or payroll tools built-in. However, Monday integrates with a vast number of tools to ensure you can hold all your data in one place.

Monday does not have a free plan, but you do get a free trial before committing to a subscription.

9. actiTIME

actiTIME is an ideal tool if you are a small business owner and are looking for an entry-level project time tracking software for your company.

Like Forecast, actiTIME makes it easy to compare estimated vs actual time spent on overall projects or specific tasks within more extensive projects. With actiTIME, you can also monitor employee performance, understand project revenue, costs, and profitabilty, and bring everything together into intuitive, easy to interpret data visualisations.

actiTIME integrates with a range of other tools via Zapier or its API, and the app itself gives you the flexibility to use your platform in any way you need.

10. Project Manager

Project Manager’s timesheet software tool is part of a more comprehensive project management platform. Whether you buy the comprehensive tool or just the timesheet software, it is well worth the price you will pay after taking advantage of its 30-day free trial.

Our favourite feature is the real-time reporting, allowing you to view the progress of projects and keep your clients up to date without micro-managing your teams. As the name of the tool suggests, you can use it for all your project management needs. Features include assigning tasks, managing timesheets and expenses, and planning team member workloads.

Project Manager offers several native integrations and many more via Zapier.

11. WebWork Tracker

WebWork is a time-tracking and productivity-monitoring tool designed for remote teams, hybrid teams, office-based teams, freelancers, and everyone else who wants to track time. The tracker aims to improve time management and productivity while tracking time.

WebWork is available as a desktop app, mobile app, on the web, and as a Chrome extension. It tracks your time automatically and generates detailed reports. Other than time, WebWork also tracks app and website usage and provides you with information on how productive you are. Productivity is also measured by the number of keystrokes and mouse clicks.

To help you save time further, WebWork has built-in task management and communication tools. It means you can organize your tasks, discuss them with your coworkers on team chat or through video calls, and track the time spent on them. All in one place.

WebWork integrates with a number of other tools, such as Jira, Asana, Zoho Projects, Slack, GitHub, Xero, and many more.

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Getting started with time tracking software

With so many time tracking software tools available, you should easily be able to find a tool that fits your needs offers all the features you require. Ensure you take full advantage of product demos and free trials to test different tools and find the one that works best for you!