Best Time Tracking Software for Freelancers

• Free forever: Includes unlimited tasks and plan members, two-factor authentication, collaborative docs, whiteboards, everything view, real-time chat, Kanban boards, sprint management, calendar view, and 100MB storage
• Unlimited ($10 per user monthly): Everything in Free, plus unlimited storage, unlimited integrations, unlimited dashboards, Gantt charts, native time tracking, resource management, agile reporting, and custom fields
• Business ($19 per user monthly): Everything in Unlimited, plus Google SSO, unlimited teams, custom exporting, advanced automations, advanced dashboard features, advanced public sharing, granular time estimates, workload management, and advanced time tracking
• Enterprise (Custom): Everything in Business, plus white labeling, advanced permissions, enterprise API, unlimited custom roles, team sharing for spaces, default personal views, single sign-on (SSO), live onboarding training, dedicated customer success manager, and access to managed services

Paid plans are 30% off when you pay yearly

• Feature-rich time tracking: With ClickUp, you can add notes and labels to your time entries. If you’re subscribed to the Business plan, you can mark time entries as billable or not. You can also sort tasks based on the time spent to gain insights on potential bottlenecks or where improvements are needed. However, time tracking is not available in the free plan.
• Multiple dashboard views: In managing projects, people, and timelines, ClickUp offers not just one, two, or three views—but 15. Of all the software in this list, only ClickUp has this customization capability, as others have little-to-no customization options. You can choose from list, board, box, calendar, Gantt chart, mind map, timeline, and more.
• Broad customization capabilities: Different parts of the ClickUp platform can be customized depending on personal preferences, workflow, business model, and more. Of all the providers in this list, only ClickUp offers this kind of customization. You can select from its more than 50 widget variations to create a dashboard that’s unique to your business and produce an excellent overview of your work and high-level reporting.
• Communication and collaboration tools: Your team can manage all communication on one platform and collaborate with each other in real-time. Users can add “watchers” to tasks who will get notifications when updates are made. You can assign comments and mention team members in tasks or chat views. You can also simultaneously edit docs with other team members. ClickUp’s Whiteboard feature allows teams to brainstorm and map out ideas or projects in real-time.
• Convenient and real-time reporting: ClickUp lets you create both basic and advanced reports. In this guide, only ClickUp and TimeCamp offer this functionality.

With ClickUp, you can start time by clicking a button and mark it as billable or not. (Source: ClickUp)

• Free option: Includes unlimited users, unlimited tracking, time tracker, timesheet, kiosk, auto tracker, calendar, mobile and desktop app, Pomodoro timer, idle detection and reminders, tracking integrations, team activity, reports, export and share data, and billable rates
• Basic ($4.99 per user monthly): All Free features, plus add time for others, hide time and pages, required fields, bulk edit, decimal format, time audit, customize export, project templates, historical rates, edit profiles, import time, kiosk PIN, breaks, favorite entries, and split time
• Standard ($6.99 per user monthly): All Basic features, plus time off, invoicing, approval, lock time, attendance and overtime, targets and reminders, manager role, task rates, rounding, QuickBooks integration, and customized kiosk
• Pro ($9.99 per user monthly): All Standard features, plus scheduling, forecasting, expenses, labor cost and profit, budget and estimates, custom fields, multiple currencies, user fields, email reports, alerts, force timer, GPS tracking, screenshots, and data region
• Enterprise ($14.99 per user monthly): All Pro features, plus SSO custom domain, custom accounts, and audit log
• Cake.com Bundle ($15.99 per user monthly): All Enterprise features, plus time tracking, team communication, and project management

Discount on paid plans when you pay yearly.

• Flexible time tracking: With Clockify, you’re not limited to tracking time on specific devices. You can access its online timer on iOS and Android mobile devices and web browsers—Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge. It even has desktop apps that work on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. The other providers in this list offer mostly desktop and mobile apps, like Harvest and TimeCamp—not all three options.
• Leave management: If you upgrade to at least its Standard plan, you are granted access to a leave management module where you can track accruals and balances and manage PTO requests and approvals. Other providers (except for TimeCamp) don’t have this feature, although they can also track leave hours by creating specific “leave tasks” to record vacation, sick, and holiday hours.
• Computer screenshots: Aside from idle time detection, website and apps tracking, and a Pomodoro timer, Clockify has a screenshot recording tool that takes snapshots of your computer screen every 5 minutes while your timer is running—although you have to upgrade to either its Pro or Enterprise to get this feature. However, if your clients don’t require detailed proof of work or if you find it invasive, then consider Harvest, since it doesn’t have this tool and provides more features in its free plan.
• Third-party software integrations: Clockify integrates with more than 50 web apps, allowing you to track time easily from inside other solutions like Asana, Trello, Salesforce, Basecamp, and Zendesk. However, it doesn’t connect with scheduling software, payment gateways, and accounting solutions (except QuickBooks). If you require robust integration options, Toggl Track is a good option since it connects with more than 100 apps.

Clockify has an autotracking feature you can enable with a few clicks. (Source: Clockify)

• Free plan: Includes timesheets, unlimited projects, time clock kiosk, unlimited users, web, desktop, and mobile apps, and geofencing
• Starter ($3.99 per user monthly): Includes all Free features, plus invoicing, Excel reports export, attendance, time off, unlimited tasks, and overtime tracking
• Premium ($6.99 per user monthly): Includes all Starter features, plus billable time, budget and estimates, apps and websites tracking, management roles, projects archiving, and one integration
• Ultimate ($10.99 per user monthly): Includes all Premium features, plus timesheet approvals, billing rates, expenses, pivot table, screenshots, and unlimited integrations
• Enterprise ($14.99 per user monthly): Includes all Ultimate features, plus priority support, self-hosted and private cloud instance, custom integrations, training and assistance, and setup sessions

Discount on paid plans when you pay yearly.

• Attendance and leave management: Not only does its time tracker help you log hours for projects, but TimeCamp can also be used to monitor clock-ins/outs and overtime. Similar to Clockify, it has leave management capabilities to help you track vacation, sick, and holiday leaves.
• Productivity tools: TimeCamp offers a range of online tools to monitor work productivity. It tracks idle time and monitors hours spent on websites, apps, and documents. Its productivity assistant feature allows you to set goals and measure productive and idle hours. Additionally, you can activate computer screenshots for transparency and proof of work. Although it lacks a Pomodoro timer like Clockify and Harvest, TimeCamp has a private time mode for breaks and personal computer activities.
• Invoicing and client payments: TimeCamp has smart invoices that you can generate and send to clients easily via email or as a private link or PDF file. Clients can even pay you directly from the invoice through PayPal. However, you have to upgrade to at least its Pro plan to get these features. For a more budget-friendly option, consider Harvest since it offers its invoicing and online payment tools for free—provided you need only one user seat and two active projects.

TimeCamp has various standard reports to help you understand how work hours are spent and keep track of your budget. (Source: TimeCamp)

• Free option: 1 user, 2 projects
• Pro plan ($12 per user per month): Unlimited user seats and projects

Save 10% on yearly billing

• Feature-rich free tier: Despite having only one user seat and two active projects, Harvest’s feature-rich free plan offers every feature available, such as time tracking, expensing, invoicing, and online payment tools. While some of the providers in this list have invoicing, payments, and expensing capabilities, you have to upgrade to a paid plan to get these features.
• Expense reporting and client payments: With Harvest, you can mark expenses that you incurred while working on client projects as billable. You can even include it in invoices for client billing. Sending its web invoices even provides your customers with an option to pay you online either through PayPal or Stripe.
• Third-party software integrations: Harvest integrates with more than 50 solutions, and the systems that it partners with are more robust than Clockify, which offers mostly productivity and project management tools. Harvest, meanwhile, also integrates with communication, customer relationship management (CRM), analytics, and issue-tracking software. However, if you want a time tracking solution that connects to more than 100 apps, then consider Toggl Track.

Send invoices to clients with the Harvest mobile app. (Source: Harvest)

• Free: Includes up to five user seats, unlimited time tracking, unlimited clients and tags, exportable reports, automated time tracking, 100-plus integrations, Google and Outlook calendar integration, and inactive data storage for 6 months
• Starter ($10 per user per month): Everything in Free plan, plus billable rates, time rounding for reports, customized reporting, project time estimates and alerts, subproject tasks, prepopulated project templates, and unlimited inactive data storage
• Premium ($20 per user per month): Everything in Starter tier, plus fixed fee projects, timesheet approvals, team time tracking reminders, schedule report emails, project forecasts and analysis, team labor costs, advanced time tracking data integrity features Includes historical billable rates, time tracking audits, lock time entries, add time for team members, set required fields, and more , native JIRA and Salesforce integrations, and SSO
• Enterprise (Custom): Everything in Premium options, plus multiple workplace management, dedicated customer success manager, onboarding assistance, priority support, customizable solutions, and volume discounts for larger companies who pay annually

Save 10% when you opt for yearly billing

• Free-to-use productivity tools: You don’t have to pay to access Toggl Track’s idle time detection and URL and apps tracking tools. It even has a Pomodoro timer that reminds you automatically to take breaks after every 25 minutes of work or any length of time you choose.
• Robust integrations: Toggl Track makes tracking employee and freelancer hours seamless, given its wide selection of integration options. You can log time from inside 100-plus solutions, such as Asana, Basecamp, Jira, Evernote, Trello, Wrike, Salesforce, Zendesk, Slack, and Zoho. However, it doesn’t integrate with QuickBooks and payment gateways like most of the providers in this list do.
• Flexible time tracking: You can log hours through Toggl Track’s apps for web browsers, computers, and mobile iOS and Android devices. While its desktop app works on Windows and Mac computers, it doesn’t support Linux computers like Clockify does.

Integrate your Google or Outlook calendar to create or start time entries based on your events. (Source: Toggl Track)

• Basic ($7 per user): Time tracking, tasks and projects, unlimited screenshots, activity tracking, three-day support, and one group per department
• Standard ($10 per user): All in Basic, plus app and URL tracking, payroll, 60-plus integrations, 24-hour support, and up to three groups per department
• Premium ($20 per user): Additional features include client login access, VIP support, concierge account setup, video screen captures, 24-hour support, and unlimited groups

*Get two months free when you pay yearly.

• Time tracking: Time Doctor uses a separate desktop app to track time. You can also download its Chrome extension to track time from other management software including Trello, Asana, Zoho Projects, and Jira. You can start and stop time tracking by pressing the timer button. If you forget to pause time tracking while you’re on break, it detects this idle time automatically and deducts it from the tracked hours. Time Doctor can even track time offline and sync data automatically as soon as connectivity is restored.
• Project management: You can create projects and assign tasks to other freelancers if you need extra hands. Projects are accessible by specific users depending on your settings. Time is then tracked per task and project, so it’s easy to analyze how much time is spent for each client.
• Productivity reports: Time Doctor provides daily and weekly reports that include hours, projects, and tasks, as well as website and app usage per team or user. These reports can be downloaded as XSL or CSV files. You can analyze productivity levels per task, project, and even per team member, if necessary. The app records users’ website activities and detects unproductive websites automatically while working. Hubstaff also offers this functionality.
• Client access: To help provide proof of work, you can show your work progress to clients by providing them login access if you have a Premium Time Doctor subscription. You can determine what your clients can view, including reports, screenshots, and tracked hours.
• Invoicing: You can convert tracked hours into invoices to send to clients. You can assign hourly rates per client and determine the date range. You can customize invoices depending on the currency and pay rate. Time Doctor supports all currencies and common payment methods, such as PayPal and Payoneer.

Time Doctor lets users track their productivity from their dashboard. (Source: Time Doctor)

• Free: Includes 1 seat, time tracking, timesheets, activity levels, limited screenshots, limited reports, limited payments, and two-day email support
• Starter ($7 per seat per month Introductory pricing for the first 12 months. Pricing subject to change thereafter ): Everything in Free, plus limited app and URL tracking, and clients and invoices
• Grow ($9 per seat per month Introductory pricing for the first 12 months. Pricing subject to change thereafter ): Everything in Starter, plus Tasks add-on included, reports, one integration, idle timeout, project budgets, work breaks, expenses, and one-day email support
• Team ($12 per seat per month Introductory pricing for the first 12 months. Pricing subject to change thereafter ): Everything in Grow, plus Insights add-on included, unlimited screenshots, unlimited app and URL tracking, auto discard idle time, teams, payments and payroll, unlimited integrations, overtime, time off and holidays, scheduling and attendance, client budgets, timesheet approvals, daily and weekly limits, and chat support
• Enterprise ($25 per seat per month Introductory pricing for the first 12 months. Pricing subject to change thereafter ): Everything in Team, plus Locations add-on included, Corporate app add-on included, higher limits on public API, pay by bank debit, HIPAA compliance, SOC-2 Type II compliance, enterprise deployment, account provisioning, SSO, concierge sign-up, assigned account rep, and two-hour email support

Optional Add-ons

• Insights (starts at $3 per seat per month): Includes categorized work time, smart notifications, focus and meeting time, suspicious activity detection, behavioral highlights, and work time classification
• More screenshots (starts at $3 per seat per month): Includes up to 10 screenshots every 10 minutes for team members and secondary monitors
• Tasks (starts at $3 per seat per month): Includes Kanban view, timeline view, task comments, start and due dates, and labels and attachments
• Data retentions (starts at $2 per seat per month): Includes time and activity data, calendar and limits, and finances
• Locations (starts at $4 per seat per month): Includes location tracking on mobile, job sites with geofences, work orders, and jobs
• Corporate app (starts at $3 per seat per month): Includes time tracking and activity in the background on corporate computers, account provisioning, and email notification management

Save 16% when you opt for yearly billing

• Multiple time tracking products: Hubstaff is great for those who want simple time tracking and reporting, is best for users who also need solid productivity tools, and is optimal for those who require geolocation tracking in addition to time monitoring.
• Productivity tools: Idle time detection, computer screenshots, and URL and apps tracking are just some of the tools that Hubstaff offers. With its productivity rates, you can spot dips and improvements based on keyboard and mouse usage. If you set hours or productivity goals for your freelancer team, you can celebrate wins and recognize employees by giving them virtual high-fives through Hubstaff. None of the providers on our list has this feature.
• Employee payments: While Harvest and TimeCamp integrate with payment gateways to accept client payments, Hubstaff connects with PayPal, Wise (formerly TransferWise), Payoneer, and Bitwage so that you can pay your team members online. You can also export your tracked time data to payroll providers like FreshBooks, QuickBooks, and Gusto.

Hubstaff’s organized dashboard (Source: Hubstaff)