Don’t you just hate the guilt that consumes you when the day ends, and you can’t account for it? It makes you feel lazy and unaccomplished? Or that time when you need to create an invoice for a project you handled. And you can’t get an accurate estimation of the time you spent on that project? You end up losing money and client trust. A solution is here for you- the best time tracking apps. Whether you are looking for a free time tracking app. One that you can integrate with existing services. One that functions hands off, or simply easy to use. Whatever your specific needs are, here is a list of the best time tracking apps to help you choose.

Best Time Tracker Apps

Are you good in time management? We are living in a fast-paced world that the answer to most people will be no. Time tracking app is an excellent tool to help you not only keep time but also become efficient and organized.

Some professionals such as Developers, designers, lawyers, contractors, doctors, and freelancers bill their clients on an hourly basis. They rely on a time managing process to accurately track time spent working on a specific task.

There are two main types of tracking software on the market. The first type helps users prove billable hours and improve task delegation while the second helps to measure time and monitor employee effort.

Choosing the best tracking software can be overwhelming due to the huge variety available. Also, each option has different features, advantages, and pricing plans.

In this article, we have done thorough research to collect the best time tracking apps. We have tried to address different requirements by highlighting basic time trackers and highly advanced software. This will help you choose the right app that will suit your needs.

Here is a compilation of top 5-time tracking apps

1. Hubstaff

This a very user-friendly and lightweight time tracking software that is compatible with both desktop and mobile. In addition, it has online timesheets and project management tools for businesses. What’s more, it offers optional screenshots, alerts for idle time, hour limits and more.

Unlike other tracking apps, Hubstaff works even when team members are offline. It does this by storing data and screenshots locally until the Internet connection is restored.

Another major advantage of this tracking app is application and the URL tracking and location monitoring through GPS. Most of its competitors such as Toggle and Worksnaps do not have this feature.

Application and URL tracking will show you the site and apps your team members are using. On the other hand, location monitoring helps you to track employees even in remote areas.

Pricing and plans

Hubstaff was designed to enable you oversee when employees are working, what they are doing and what to pay them. The pricing starts with a basic plan of $5-per-month. This plan gives you access to simple time tracking tools, payment schedule, 24/7 customer support, and personalized setting.

Moreover, this plan enables you to see whether the employees are working by taking screenshots while they work. Also, you can monitor keyboard and mouse activity during shifts. Hubstaff is one of the few apps that offer this level of insight on employees.

The second plan is the $9-per-month premium plan. In this plan, you will not only get access to everything offered in the basic plan but also Hubstaff’s application programming interface (API). This feature enables users to integrate the app with other third-party software.

Additionally, it includes a lightweight scheduling tool that will enable you to assign shifts and delegate duties from within the console. You can also use the tool to create invoices and make PayPal payments automatically.

Features and user interface

Hubstaff’s interface is very user-friendly with a nice-looking blue navigation bar on the left side. This leaves sufficient room on the right side for data entry and analysis.

The main dashboard provides an overview of the daily and weekly hours your employees have worked on. Also, you will see how each team member is handling their most recent tasks and how they have been active. This will help you differentiate between hardworking and lazy employees.

There are two main ways employees can add time on the app. They can either manually create timesheets of hours worked or use the stopwatch feature on the desktop app.

When using the timesheet feature, employees are required to log in hours. After working their shifts, employees need to add time on the timesheet and sign off. It is an appealing method of tracking time. On the downside, Hubstaff does not let you add future time. Therefore, you cannot use it as a shift planner.

Stopwatch feature is the second way of tracking time on Hubstaff. This is a bit frustrating since you will need to download a desktop application that opens in a separate window. However, it will track time normally.

Tracking time in Android and iOS apps is similar to the desktop app. However, mobile apps enable admins to monitor movement through GPS tracking. This will enable you to see how much your employees moved by capturing location data at different stages.

Another important feature on Hubstaff is the schedules tabs. This feature will enable you to assign dates and times for employees to work. For instance, you can set the minimum hours to work, break durations and create recurring shifts.

After reaching weekly staffing and budget limits, a notification will be sent to the admin. Also, invoices are created based on the time each employee has worked and calculated automatically in relation to the pay rate.

Hubstaff allows users to set automatic payroll through PayPal. This will help you to automate payments based on the time tracked on each employee.

It is important to note that automatic payroll does not allow changes to be made. So, payments will be made whether the number of hours indicated is right or wrong. Alternatively, you can set the payment option to manual.

2. Time Doctor

Time Doctor Software is a powerful tool that mixes between tracking time and monitoring employees. It is one of the best time tracking app as it provides insightful information about employees.

This tracking app records the web pages and apps each employee uses. It also allows managers to take screenshots every couple of minutes to view what employees are doing to minimize slacking off. This is regardless of where they are located.

The ability to integrate with third-party apps allows you to pay your employees directly from the software. Some of the payment options include Paypal, Payoneer, TransferWise and many others. Payment is automatically calculated based on the hours each employee has worked.

Pricing and plans

Time Doctor Software has three main plans. First, the introductory plan is free and only available on the desktop. However, it does not provide access to reporting and employee monitoring. This plan only allows you to track tasks and work hours.

Solo $5-per-month is the second plan is on Time Doctor Software. It is a great choice for freelancers who may want to track time with their clients.

The $9.99-per-month Custom plan offer access to the whole suite including time sheets, employee monitoring, application programming interface and more.

Features and user interface

The interface is user-friendly and anyone can use it. You will only need to identify the tasks you are working, click on the ‘start’ button and time tracking will automatically start. It will also help to monitor behaviour while on the clock.

The administrative dashboard is only accessible through the web-based client. It helps to show the number of hours each employee has worked and the tasks assigned.

There is a time period on the dashboard where you can see if the employees logged in late and if they were idle at any instance. Also, you will see the webpages visited, keystrokes made and apps used.

The ability to take screengrabs and snap photos through the webcam is a great feature. However, you will need to move from the desktop app to the web-based app. This can be annoying if you are a user as well as admin.

Measurement of keystrokes and mouse movement is done in intervals of between three minutes to an hour. Some people might be too clever to cheat the system by tapping random keys at the prescribed intervals. To avoid this, Time Doctor does not measure precisely at the set intervals.

It can also monitor web and app usage. Interestingly, this tool can capture up to four monitors simultaneously.

Even though Time Doctor cannot take screenshots on mobile devices, it can track employee location through the GPS. Unlike its competitors like Hubstaff, the webcam shot feature enables admins to take images of remote employees in 10-min intervals.

Depending on how you intend to use Time Doctor, data entry is broken down into projects or departments. Also, each project and department is further broken down into tasks. In addition, there is an option to permanently pin certain tasks on the dashboard. This will help see employees that perform repetitive tasks without creating new ones.

Using the seven in-built reports, this tool can track any data entered and include it in any report you create. It even has a ‘poor time use’ feature that tracks the time employees spend on social media or any website that is deemed off limit during working hours. Some of the sites that are considered time-wasting include Facebook and Youtube.

3. Toggl

It is one of the most intuitive time tracking systems. You only need to create a project, then a task within the project and start the timer. In addition, when you have done working on a particular task, just click stop and continue to the next task.

After finishing the project, create an invoice and sent it to the client through the app. You can send reports in Excel, CSV or PDF to the client before they make the payment.

Toggl allows you to easily set up projects, assign responsibilities, and create timelines and budget. In doing so, you will immediately identify projects that are overtime and have exceeded the budget. This way, you will plan time and adjust resources to mitigate the situation.

Recently, the company introduced an Android app that you can pair with your existing Toggle account to enhance time tracking.

Pricing and plans

Toggl has four main levels of services. Although the first tier is free, it offers some basic features such as time-tracking tools, idle detection, weekly reports and more. Furthermore, unlike on other time tracking apps, this plan does not have tight restrictions.

The paid plans start with the $10-per-month Starter plan. In this plan, you will get everything that is offered on the free plan. In addition, you will get billable rates, project time estimates, iCal integration, and others.

The Premium plan costs $20 per month. It offers everything in the starter plan plus one additional feature from a choice of seven. You can only switch the feature once per month.

Finally, the Enterprise plan costs $59 per month. It comes with everything mentioned above. In addition, all of the seven options in the premium plan are available in this plan.

Features and user interface

Due to its intuitiveness and simplicity, learning how to use Toggle is very easy. It is basically a timer that will start counting when you launch it.

At the end of each timing session, the time recorded is saved in the Toggl account. Also, in each session, you will log whatever activity you are doing whether it is working for client X or progressing with project Y. In doing so, you will have a clear report of what you have done, when and for how long when sending invoices to clients.

Within the Toggl account, there is adequate categorization that helps users track time in an orderly manner. For instance, you can create tags, projects, clients, etc.

On the desktop app, the data collected when offline is automatically synced to the account once the internet connection is restored. However, this app lack tools such as running reports.

Toggl has put a lot of emphasis on tracking time. For instance, their timer displays time up to the second. There is a setting for rounding the time up or down. However, this feature is not included in the free plan.

Toggl has apps in all major desktop and mobile platforms plus a browser extension. Unlike on other time tracking tools, the chrome extension includes a Pomodoro Technique time. Also, it has a start timer button on productivity related websites such as Google Docs.

4. TSheets

TSheets is one of the best time tracking tools available today. It offers tracking through the web, mobile and time clock kiosk. Shift scheduling and GPS tracking are some of the important features of this time tracking tool.

Pricing and plans

TSheets has three main payment options. The first plan is free and is designed for only one person. Therefore, it is a perfect choice for individual freelancers who need to track time on projects.

The second plan has a $16 base fee and can hold up to 99 users. Alternatively, you can pay $4 per person per month.

Employers with more than 100 employees will have to use the $80 base fee plan. Similar to the second plan, it has a $4 per user per month. For an extra $1 per user per month, you will get a lightweight scheduling tool that enables administrators to assign shifts and delegate tasks.

Features and user interface

TSheets has a very stylish left-rail navigation user interface. There are four main categories in the system that include track, report, manage and set-up. Under each category, there are other numerous subcategories such as schedules, jobs, clients, etc.

All the tabs are visible and accessible to the user no matter the page they are on. This is better than in Hubstaff where the user is required to have a separate app to record screenshots and keystrokes.

Even though TSheets does not provide a high level of oversight like other apps, it is more customizable and manageable. For instance, instead of shifting from one page to the other or from the desktop app to web app, certain widgets appear as small windows. This enables the user to view multiple pages simultaneously.

On the mobile app, the GPS feature track location and movement while on the clock. Tracking on desktop and laptop apps is based on IP address. This is not as accurate as GPS tracking.

There are four levels of permissions on TSheets that include Administrator, Employee, Payroll Manager, and Custom. The Employee level is the most common and has nine sub-levels such as mobile time entry, manage jobs, etc. Also, admins can add custom rules or restrictions to every employee.

Time tracking is done on a floating window stopwatch. This is an incredible feature that enables users to have access of the time even when working elsewhere within the system. Furthermore, there is a ‘take a break’ button for the user to pause without completely clocking out.

5. Harvest

This a time tracking app and monitoring tool that enables users to track time spent on projects and tasks. In addition to tracking time, it also has invoicing, expensing and team management features. Most of its features sets it apart from its competitors like Toggl.

Pricing and Plans

Harvest has a free plan and two paid level of service. The first level is identified as Solo and cost $12 per month. This is designed only for individuals. The second payable plan is known as Team plan which is meant for teams. It costs $12 per person per month.

Harvest offers a 10% discount if you pay for an annual contract. In addition, there is a 30-day free trial on the Team plan.

The difference between the three plan levels is very simple. The free plan can only support one individual and two projects. On the other hand, the Solo plan does not have a limit on projects. Finally, the Team plan allows unlimited number of users and projects.

Features and user interface

One thing you will notice when you log into the Harvest account is the detailed interface. You are likely going to spend some minutes exploring the incredible features.

Harvest comes with invoice templates that can work with both the standard and retainer invoice. On this tool, you will have to fill in your details in a lot of places. Therefore, don’t expect to start tracking time immediately. It will take some time to fully customize the account.

The main interface is probably on the web app because of the number features available. On this app, you will have almost all the feature you need to track time and more.

On the downside, Harvest is only available on MacOs, iOS, and Android. This leaves Windows and Linux users in the cold. However, these apps are great in tracking time even when you are offline. On the bright side, there is a browser extension that eliminates the hassle of navigating through the web app.

You can only see a running timer if you are using the MacOS app. Also, it only shows time in hours and minutes. Some competitors like Toggl account time up to the second. Also, Toggl has a running timer across all apps.

The note field provides adequate space for adding detailed information about the on-going tasks. This feature can be of great help if you work with a team of people. For example, you can use this space to add information about what each person is doing.

When choosing the best time tracking software for your needs, it is important to consider certain factors such as pricing, features, etc. You do not want to get stuck in a costly contract for a product that is not effective. We have highlighted several options with their pros and cons for you to make an informed decision. Our Top pick is the Hubstaff time tracking tool. It stood out from the rest because of its intuitive interface and the features involved. It also offers high-level oversight by taking screenshots and recording keystrokes and mouse activity.