As a freelancer or office worker, keeping track of your time spent on various tasks is crucial for accurate pricing of services and personal productivity. Time tracking apps can help streamline business processes and improve personal productivity. These apps not only have built-in timers but also allow manual editing or addition of time. Some even incorporate AI for hands-off tracking.
After extensive testing, we have rounded up the best time tracking apps for individuals and teams. With a variety of features and options, you can choose the app that best matches your work style and needs.
The Best Time Tracking Apps
Looking for a reliable time tracking app? Here are some options to consider:
- Toggl Track – a free app that allows you to track time effortlessly.
- HourStack – an app that integrates with your team’s project management software.
- Timely – an app that automates time tracking for large teams.
- Memtime – an app that simplifies automated time tracking.
- TrackingTime – an app that visualizes time differently.
- RescueTime – an app that helps reduce distractions and increase productivity.
What Makes the Best Time Tracking Software?
When it comes to tracking your time, having the right software can make all the difference. Here are some key features to look for when evaluating time tracking apps:
Real-time Tracking
Real-time tracking is a must-have feature for any time tracking software. This feature allows you to start a timer when you begin a task and stop it when you finish, giving you an accurate record of the time spent on each project.
Editing and Adding Time Blocks
The ability to edit time tracked or manually add time blocks is also important. The best time tracking apps allow you to correct time tracked after the fact, as well as enter a block of time post hoc in case you forget to launch a timer at all.
Reporting Features
Reporting features are essential for analyzing your work trends and making smarter business decisions. The most powerful time tracking apps offer dashboards and reports that let you break out daily, weekly, or monthly time spent per project, per person, or per client.
Invoicing and Data Export
Once you have aggregated all your time spent on your work, you have to be able to take action on it. All the best time tracking apps let you either automatically create invoices from the time tracking data stored in the app or export that information into PDFs, CSVs, or Google Sheets to share with the right people.
Multiple Points of Access
The best time tracking tools make starting a timer easy and convenient. They have the versatility to let you start a timer from wherever is most convenient to you, whether that’s your browser, a desktop app, or your mobile device.
Bonus: AI Features
Artificial intelligence is automating and simplifying workflows across tools of all industries, and time tracking apps are no exception. Time trackers that use AI to auto-track your time or use machine learning to automatically assign time blocks to related tasks and projects can be especially helpful.
What’s Not Included in This Roundup
This roundup focuses specifically on finding a time tracker for freelancers, individuals, and small teams. Employee monitoring software, project management, invoicing, or accounting apps that come with an add-on or built-in time tracker are not included. If you’re looking for more team-focused apps, take a look at Zapier’s picks for the best free timesheet software.
Additionally, this roundup does not include any tools that monitor users’ activities for the purpose of sharing that data with supervisors. The two automated tracking tools included in this roundup are for each user’s eyes only, and you choose how much (if any) data to share with others.
In conclusion, the best time tracking software for you will depend on your specific needs and preferences. Consider the features listed above, as well as any additional features that are important to you, when evaluating different time tracking apps.
The Best Time Tracking Apps at a Glance
If you’re in search of a time tracking app, there are a variety of options available to you. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the best apps on the market:
Toggl Track
- Best for: A free time tracking app
- Standout feature: Easy accessibility from anywhere
- Pricing: Free for up to 5 users; from $9/user/month
HourStack
- Best for: Integrating with your team’s project management software
- Standout feature: Simplicity in planning and tracking a team’s workload
- Pricing: From $12/month for 1 user
Timely
- Best for: Automated time tracking for large teams
- Standout feature: AI assistant for categorizing activities
- Pricing: From $9/user/month for up to 20 projects and 5 users
Memtime
- Best for: Simplified automated time tracking
- Standout feature: Minimalist interface
- Pricing: From $12/user/month (with a 24-month subscription)
TrackingTime
- Best for: Visualizing time differently
- Standout feature: Robust task management features
- Pricing: Free for up to 3 users; from $5.75/user/month
RescueTime
- Best for: Reducing distractions
- Standout feature: Focus sessions to block distracting websites
- Pricing: Free Lite plan for individuals; from $12/user/month
With these apps, you can easily track your time and stay on top of your productivity. Choose the app that best fits your needs and start tracking your time today!
Best Free Time Tracking App
Toggl Track (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, and Browser Extensions)
If you’re looking for a free and easy-to-use time tracking app, Toggl Track is a great option. With its generous free tier of service, you get access to all of its apps, including Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, and browser extensions, and all the core functionality you’d expect in a time tracking app.
One of the best things about Toggl Track is its effortless operation. Unlike many other time tracking apps that require you to enter client, project, and task details before you can start timing a task, Toggl Track lets you track your time right away. You can view your tracked time entries in a grid or calendar format and worry about the details later.
Moreover, Toggl Track offers a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that adds a Toggl timer button to most web apps, including Google Docs and Help Scout. With this feature, you have a continual reminder to track your time, making it one of the most flexible and easiest-to-use tools in the market.
Toggl Track also boasts some of the most detailed options available in a time tracking app. For instance, in the Toggl Track Chrome extension, you can automatically start and stop tracking time based on whether the browser is open or not. It also has excellent idle detection, which helps you maintain high accuracy across your records. When the app detects your computer has been idle but a timer is still running, it offers ways to correct the recorded block of time.
The app even has a Pomodoro Technique setting, allowing you to work for a set amount of time on a project that requires your focus and then take a short break, all with simple stopwatch-like reminders.
Toggl Track’s recent upgrade of its dashboards and reporting features allows for even more in-depth data analysis. You can create customized dashboards to see weekly stats or team summaries, and then generate reports filtered by team, tag, or client.
For even more flexibility, you can use Toggl Track’s Zapier integrations to connect Toggl Track with your favorite apps, such as starting new time entries in Toggl Track when calendar events start or adding new entries to a spreadsheet.
However, Toggl Track’s free plan is simple and easy to use for basic time tracking and reporting. If you want granular insights into your work, saved reports, or billable hours, you’ll need to upgrade to Premium. Another app on this list would probably work better for you if you’re looking for these features. Also, there’s no free task management or planning feature, so if you’re looking for a way to schedule and track your team’s workload, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Toggl Track Pricing
Toggl Track is free for up to 5 users. The Starter plan costs $9/user/month when billed annually and includes time rounding, billable rates, saved reports, and more.
If you’re looking for a simple time tracking app without extra bells and whistles, consider Clockify. Although the free plan doesn’t offer the same level of functionality as Toggl Track, it includes unlimited tracking, unlimited users, unlimited projects, and unlimited reports—all for free.
Best Time Tracking App for Integrating with Your Team’s Project Management Tool
HourStack (Web, Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge)
HourStack is a project time tracker that offers a seamless integration with your favorite project management tool, making it a great option for teams looking to plan and track their time efficiently.
One of the standout features of HourStack is its native integration with popular project management tools like Asana, Google Tasks, Trello, and Todoist, among others. This allows you to view your tasks from within HourStack and drag and drop them directly into your HourStack calendar to schedule your team’s workload.
The integration works both ways, which means you can mark tasks as completed from HourStack, and they’ll update in your project manager. This feature is a productivity tool nerd’s dream come true.
HourStack’s simplicity is what makes it a popular choice among users. The Calendar page shows you your planned tasks and lets you schedule and record work time, while the Reports page displays your scheduled vs. logged hours, along with how many tasks you’ve completed. With browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, you can quickly add or start tracking project time without needing to input a task or project first.
HourStack pricing starts at $12/month for one user and $15/user/month for teams, making it an affordable option for businesses of all sizes.
Who HourStack isn’t right for:
HourStack is not the best option for those who want a desktop and/or mobile app. The app works in your browser and through browser extensions, and while it’s very responsive for mobile, some users might feel constrained by the limited points of access.
HourStack Pricing:
- $12/month for one user
- $15/user/month for teams
If you need to connect HourStack to a tool that isn’t supported natively, you can make your own HourStack integrations using Zapier. This allows you to connect HourStack to thousands of apps, so you can coordinate your time tracking however it’s most useful.
In addition to HourStack, other time tracking apps optimized for team project management that we recommend include Harvest and Everhour. Both apps are built to handle collaborative workloads reliably and easily. Harvest works offline and has a robust free plan, and both tools have multiple native integrations that make it easy to incorporate your team’s project management tool for scheduling.
Best Automated Time Tracker App for Teams
Timely
If you are looking for an automated time tracker app that makes it easy to capture an accurate record of how you’re spending your time, Timely is a great choice. This time tracking app from Memory AS makes “Memories” of every software and website you use during the day. Then, whenever it’s convenient, you can drag and drop these Memories into their assigned tasks or projects to create a Timesheet.
Features
- Easy to start using
- Desktop app available for macOS and Windows
- Mobile app available for iOS and Android
- Browser extensions available for Chrome and Firefox
- Connects to your calendar and/or conferencing tools to incorporate your meetings into your work schedule
- Detailed and customized reports
- Offers a task planner feature for an additional $5 per month
- Emphasis on team scheduling and project management
- Integrates with Zapier to streamline processes
Privacy
If you’re a part of an organization, you might be concerned about privacy when using a tool like this. However, Timely isn’t an employee surveillance app. All the data it collects is private to you, and only you decide how much to share on your Timesheet. And if you don’t want the app to track your activities at any point, you can easily toggle off the app from your menu bar.
Ease of Use
The great thing about Timely is how easy it is to start using it. After downloading the desktop app, you’ll be prompted to connect to your calendar and/or conferencing tools so that Timely can incorporate your meetings into your work schedule. You can also easily add projects, tasks, and clients and set up your hourly rate for people and projects.
Then, just let the app work in the background. There’s no need to remember to start and stop a timer—just spend a few minutes at the end of the day dragging and dropping activities into their respective projects on your time sheet, and you’ll have an accurate and detailed accounting of how you spent your time.
AI Assistant
Timely’s new AI assistant learns patterns in your time tracking and, after the first day or so, starts making suggestions for categorizing activities as projects. This makes it even easier to assign tracked web activity to projects.
Task Planner
If you like planning ahead, Timely also offers a task planner feature for an additional $5 per month. You can plan out tasks by the assignee or the project. Then, every day, drag and drop your activities into their respective tasks on your Timesheet to compare planned vs. tracked time for each task.
Reports
Timely offers very detailed and customized reports. Easily view unbilled hours and reports for the whole workspace or just a specific project. You can also create report templates for customized views, filtered by clients, projects, people, tags, or teams. Then, when it’s time to invoice, Timely connects to QuickBooks to create invoices and push them to QuickBooks Online when they’re ready to send.
Team Scheduling and Project Management
What makes Timely such a great choice for teams is its emphasis on team scheduling and project management. You can click on the People tab to see a dashboard overview of planned vs. logged time, a breakdown by user, and an activities report for the team. Timely makes it easy to see who’s at capacity and who’s over-scheduled—and you can even filter for missing or overtime hours.
Pricing
Timely pricing starts at $9/user/month for the Starter plan (up to 20 projects and 5 users). The Premium plan is $16/user/month for unlimited projects and 50 users.
Who Timely Isn’t Right For
Users who don’t want an AI tool to track their every move on their computer may not find Timely to be the right fit. Additionally, if you do a lot of work off-screen, Timely may not be the best option for you, as it is primarily focused on tracking and categorizing computer-based work.
Best Time Tracking App for Simplified Auto-Tracking
Memtime (macOS, Windows, Linux)
If you are looking for a simple automated time tracking tool that doesn’t overwhelm you with team or project management features, Memtime might be the perfect fit for you. Memtime is a desktop app that automatically tracks your computer activity, allowing you to categorize it later. With Memtime, you don’t need to remember to start or stop a timer; you can just review and categorize your work at the end of the day.
Memtime Features
Memtime’s interface is minimalistic, with a running log of your activity, a space where you can create entries with a click, and an overview of your day’s work. The app also has a page for project management, where you can add clients and projects manually or import them from your other apps. Additionally, there is a reporting page that displays your productivity stats. You can also sync Memtime with your calendar to view events alongside captured activities.
To create new time entries in the Timeline view, you can click on the timeline and drag your cursor to adjust the entry’s duration. The display is broken down into five-minute intervals, or you can choose a one-minute breakdown if you prefer to be more granular and don’t mind scrolling. Alternatively, you can use List view, which lets you drag and drop activities to log new entries.
Memtime Limitations
One thing to keep in mind is that Memtime only works in a desktop app, and there is no mobile app or web access. Memtime uses five-minute intervals by default in the Timeline view, which might make the total logged work time less precise than other auto-tracking tools. However, if you’re just tracking for personal use, the simplicity of Memtime is worth the sacrifice.
Who Memtime Isn’t Right For
Memtime might not be the right fit for users who don’t want an AI app tracking their computer activities. Additionally, the tool is a little too minimalist for teams, and if you’re looking for multiple integrations or a mobile app, you might need to look elsewhere.
Memtime Pricing
Memtime’s Basic plan starts at $12/user/month (with a 24-month subscription) and comes with fully automated time tracking and calendar sync. The Connect plan starts at $18/user/month for project management software integration.
In conclusion, if you’re looking for an automated time tracking tool that is simple and easy to use, Memtime might be the perfect fit for you. Its minimalist interface and easy-to-use features make it a great option for personal use or for users who don’t need advanced team or project management features.
Best Time Tracking App for Visualizing Time Differently
TrackingTime (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Web, Chrome, Firefox)
If you’re looking for a collaborative time tracking tool that visualizes time in blocks or windows, TrackingTime is worth checking out. Unlike many other time tracking apps, TrackingTime offers a wide range of opportunities for customization. For instance, you can choose between a day, week, month, or team view.
The daily view has the most helpful layout, showing the full month’s calendar on the left with each day displaying an icon to show the amount of time tracked. On the right, the day you select is color-coded and organized by blocks of tracked time. This layout makes it easy to see how your day is shaping up and adjust your schedule accordingly.
In addition to tracking your time, TrackingTime puts more emphasis on planning your time before you start working compared to other apps. You can schedule blocks of time on your calendar for tasks you intend to work on later in the week or for recurring events, like meetings.
The Projects tab is the closest to a traditional project management tool that we’ve seen, with a sleek and user-friendly interface. It looks similar to an Asana list, where you can view tasks broken down by project, client, priority, or date. Clicking on a task expands a side panel where you can view tracked time, add attachments or subtasks, and set custom fields.
If you’d rather keep your task manager separate, TrackingTime’s Chrome extension integrates with several productivity tools, allowing you to start a timer directly from apps like Airtable, Asana, and Notion. Or you can connect TrackingTime to Zapier to help it talk to all the other apps you use.
TrackingTime is not for users who don’t care about time blocking or scheduling specific tasks in advance. However, if you are looking for a time tracker that doubles as a relatively robust task manager, TrackingTime is worth considering.
TrackingTime Pricing
TrackingTime offers a free plan for up to three users. For unlimited collaboration, advanced reporting, and team management features, you can upgrade to the Pro plan for $5.75 per user per month.
Best Time Tracking App for Reducing Distractions
RescueTime (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome, Firefox, Brave)
If you’re looking for an automatic time tracking app that helps you prioritize mindfulness, deep work, and reducing distractions throughout your workday, then RescueTime is the perfect solution for you. This app offers a “Focus” version that blocks all websites that you’ve identified as personal activities during a “Focus Session.” It also keeps track of how well you’re concentrating and provides you with a detailed report at the end of your session.
To start using RescueTime’s “Focus” version, you’ll first need to install a small monitoring app on your computer. This software works in the background to observe your computer usage and powers the RescueTime Assistant, which is a digital wellness coach accessible on your desktop’s menubar, taskbar, or system tray. The Assistant helps you manage your daily work progress, goals, and reports. It may alert you when you’re distracted and multitasking more than normal.
RescueTime’s most interesting set of features are designed to help you focus and take on deep work—high-value, mentally-demanding projects. You can determine the activities that qualify as Focus Work in your settings and set goals for how much Focus Work you want to complete in a day.
There’s a learning curve with RescueTime. You have to familiarize yourself with all these terms and how RescueTime defines and categorizes certain activities. But once you feel comfortable with the vocabulary and the settings, you won’t have to tinker with much else and can immediately dive into your deep work.
One word of warning: when you sign up for RescueTime, you’re given the option to choose your priority (“Focus” or “Analytics”). RescueTime’s strengths lie in its focus-friendly features, so if you try it, we recommend choosing Focus when you sign up.
RescueTime is a great choice for reducing distractions and gamifying focus. You can do even more with RescueTime by using its Zapier Integrations, which can connect RescueTime to all the other apps you use, so you can spend more of your time on that Focus Work.
Who RescueTime isn’t right for: Users who want to easily track time for individual projects and tasks.
RescueTime pricing: Free Lite plan for individuals, which doesn’t include activity blocking, advanced reporting, goal setting, or offline time entry. RescueTime Premium starts at $12/user/month.
What Makes the Best Time Tracker?
A great time tracker app should be easy to use, flexible, and accurate. It should allow you to start and stop timers with ease, manually add or edit time entries, and provide you with clear and concise reports. The best time trackers also offer automation features that allow you to streamline your workflow and save time. By automating the data flow between your time tracker and other apps, you can ensure that your time tracking is always up to date and accurate.
When choosing a time tracker, it’s important to consider your specific needs and preferences. Some time trackers offer advanced features such as project management and team collaboration, while others focus solely on time tracking. It’s also important to consider the price and whether the app offers a free trial or demo.
To help you choose the best time tracker for your needs, we recommend checking out related reading such as the best meeting schedulers, AI scheduling assistants, time blocking apps, and timesheet templates. With the right time tracker, you can take the guesswork out of scheduling and accounting for your workday, and focus on what matters most.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the top time tracking apps available for professionals?
There are several time tracking apps available for professionals, each with its own unique features and benefits. Some of the leading apps include Toggl Track, Harvest, Clockify, and RescueTime. It’s important to consider your specific needs and preferences before selecting an app.
Which free time tracking app is recommended for freelancers?
For freelancers, a free time tracking app like Toggl Track or Clockify can be a great option. Both apps offer basic time tracking features, as well as reporting and invoicing capabilities. Toggl Track also offers a Pomodoro timer and integration with other productivity tools.
How do Toggl Track and Clockify compare for work time management?
Toggl Track and Clockify are both popular time tracking apps, but they have some key differences. Toggl Track offers a more intuitive interface and robust reporting features, while Clockify has a simpler interface and is better suited for teams. Ultimately, the choice between the two will depend on your specific needs.
Are there any time tracking apps that offer real-time updates?
Yes, there are several time tracking apps that offer real-time updates, including Toggl Track, Harvest, and RescueTime. These apps allow you to see exactly how much time you’ve spent on a project or task in real-time, which can be helpful for staying on track and meeting deadlines.
Can you suggest a reliable app for tracking hours worked that’s also free?
Clockify is a reliable and free app for tracking hours worked. It offers basic time tracking features, as well as reporting and invoicing capabilities. Clockify also has a simple and intuitive interface, making it easy to use for individuals and teams alike.
What features should I look for in an effective time tracking app for my team?
When selecting a time tracking app for your team, it’s important to consider features like team collaboration, project management, reporting and analytics, and integration with other tools. Other factors to consider include ease of use, customer support, and pricing. Ultimately, the best app for your team will depend on your specific needs and preferences.