Why time tracking matters (beyond “counting hours”)

If you’re solo, time tracking helps you price projects better, prove value to clients, and spot scope creep early. If you’re running an agency, it’s the backbone of project profitability, capacity planning, and smooth invoicing. The best tools do three things well:

• Capture time with minimal friction (timers, retro-entry, calendar view, automatic tracking).
• Turn hours into insight (billable vs. non-billable, budget burn, team capacity, profitability).
• Connect to your stack (PM tools, invoicing, payroll, calendars, and chat apps).

With that lens, let’s dive in.

1) Toggl Track — the “it just works” tracker with stellar reports

Best for: Freelancers and small agencies who want a friendly interface, multi-device tracking, and strong reporting without heavy admin.
Why people love it: Toggl Track is fast, forgiving, and flexible. Start/stop timers on web, desktop, or mobile, or log time later. The Calendar View makes it easy to drag and drop entries based on your day, and background activity tracking can nudge your memory while keeping data private until you choose to use it. It also integrates with Google/Outlook calendars so your day visually makes sense. Reports are polished and client-ready, and tagging projects/billable rates is simple.

Where it shines for agencies: Clear profitability and project reporting, easy team onboarding, and enough structure (clients/projects/tasks) without being rigid.

2) Harvest — time tracking with invoicing your clients actually pay

Best for: Service teams and agencies that want tracking, budget tracking, and client-ready invoicing in one place.
Why people love it: Harvest blends elegant tracking with practical business features. You can set budgets and watch them update in real time, generate clean visual reports, and convert approved timesheets into invoices without extra tools. If your priority is “track, analyze, invoice, repeat,” Harvest keeps that loop tight.

Where it shines for agencies: Project managers get budget visibility; finance gets straightforward invoices; teams get easy timers. For small-to-mid agencies, this can replace juggling multiple apps.

3) Clockify — generous free plan and simple, scalable tracking

Best for: Teams that want a capable free-forever plan and straightforward tracking (with upgrade paths for audits and approvals).
Why people love it: Clockify makes it trivial to track billable hours, start/stop timers, or log retroactively. You can add projects, tasks, and tags, and unlock helpful admin features (like time audit, bulk edit, required fields, and kiosk mode) as you scale. It’s approachable for non-technical users and easy to roll out quickly across a team.

Where it shines for agencies: When cost control matters and you need clean timesheets, approvals, and exports—especially during growth.

4) Hubstaff — time tracking with proof-of-work and workforce analytics

Best for: Distributed teams and field/remote operations that need screenshots, GPS/time clock, and detailed productivity insights.
Why people love it: Hubstaff goes beyond time capture. You get multi-device tracking (desktop, web, mobile), optional screenshots for proof-of-work, productivity metrics (apps/URLs), and payroll/billing. It’s popular where measurable accountability is a must—think large remote teams, agencies with strict SLAs, or field teams who clock in on location.

Where it shines for agencies: Budgeting and cost controls at scale, plus visibility across accounts and projects—useful for client reporting and internal QA.

5) Timely by Memory — automatic tracking with AI that writes your timesheet

Best for: Consultants and creative teams who forget to start timers and want automatic, privacy-friendly tracking that still respects trust.
Why people love it: Timely’s background capture builds a private activity timeline (apps, docs, calendars). You then confirm what to log—no guesswork. Reports are clean, and recent updates add AI-assisted notes, turning cryptic titles into human-readable entries your clients can understand. For anyone allergic to manual timers, this is a delight.

Where it shines for agencies: Accurate utilization data without nagging the team. Great for creative billables where “where did the time go?” is a weekly riddle.

6) Everhour — deep integrations with your favorite PM tools

Best for: Teams living in Asana, ClickUp, Jira, Monday, Basecamp, etc., who want time tracking inside the tools they already use.
Why people love it: Everhour embeds timers and estimates directly into task views, so you track where the work happens. It handles budgets, invoicing, expenses, and resource planning, but its superpower is reducing tab-switching and making time capture a habit. If your process is task-centric, this feels natural.

Where it shines for agencies: Real-time budget burn and estimates vs. actuals, all visible alongside tasks. PMs get a live pulse; team members don’t need a second app.

7) Paymo — time tracking that grows into full project ops

Best for: Small to mid-size agencies that want time tracking tightly coupled with project management and invoicing.
Why people love it: Paymo covers the full arc: plan tasks, track time (manual, stopwatch, automatic, even Pomodoro), monitor team workloads, and turn timesheets into invoices. The Paymo Track desktop app gives a precise visual breakdown of your day (including idle time), which is useful for both focus and billing accuracy.

Where it shines for agencies: When you’re ready to consolidate “PM + time + invoice” into one platform without enterprise bloat.

8) ClickUp (Time Tracking) — unified tasks + docs + time in one workspace

Best for: Teams standardizing on ClickUp for project management who want a built-in, no-context-switch timer and timesheets.
Why people love it: Start/stop from any device, tie time directly to tasks, add time retroactively, and centralize reporting. If ClickUp is your team’s HQ, using its native time tracking keeps everything linked—requirements, comments, files, and hours—so nothing gets lost in translation.

Where it shines for agencies: Cross-functional teams (strategy, creative, dev) working in one system. PMs can see workload, deadlines, and time in the same place.

9) RescueTime — protect your focus, then track the right hours

Best for: Freelancers and knowledge workers who need help reducing distractions and building sustainable focus habits, not just logging time.
Why people love it: RescueTime monitors app/website usage in the background and helps you understand where attention goes. It’s less about client billing and more about deep work—ideal if your hours are slipping due to pings and context switching. Pair it with a billing-oriented tracker (like Toggl or Harvest) for a complete system: one tool to reclaim your focus, another to capture billables.

Where it shines for agencies: Coaching juniors on productive habits and building a culture of focused work. (For strict proof-of-work, you’d look to Hubstaff instead.)

How to pick the right tool (fast)

Use these three quick filters to narrow the list:

A) Your workflow style

• Timer-friendly, manual control: Toggl Track, Clockify, Harvest, ClickUp.
• Automatic assist (set-and-forget): Timely, Paymo Track.
• Behavior/focus insights: RescueTime.
• Proof-of-work & workforce analytics: Hubstaff.

B) What you sell

• Fixed-fee creative/consulting: Timely or Toggl Track (to ensure accurate capture + clean reporting).
• Retainers & hourly billing with invoices: Harvest or Paymo.
• Agencies embedded in Asana/ClickUp/Jira: Everhour (embedded timers) or ClickUp native.
• Distributed/field teams with accountability needs: Hubstaff.

C) Admin appetite

• Minimal setup: Toggl Track, Clockify.
• All-in-one (PM + time + invoice): Paymo, Harvest, ClickUp.
• Advanced oversight: Hubstaff (screenshots, GPS, payroll), Everhour (budgeting + PM integrations).

Pro tips for better adoption (what actually sticks)

• Make time capture inevitable. Put timers where work happens: embed (Everhour), native in PM (ClickUp), or use calendar/auto assist (Toggl, Timely). Fewer clicks = better data.
• Name projects like invoices. Align client/project/task names with what appears on invoices and statements of work. Harvest and Paymo make this seamless when turning timesheets into invoices.
• Track non-billables on purpose. Internal meetings, proposals, QA—log them! You’ll price smarter next time. Clockify’s billable toggle and reporting help separate these without friction.
• Budget and alert early. Set project budgets (time or fee) and review mid-sprint. Toggl/Harvest/Everhour/Paymo all support budget views.
• Use accountability thoughtfully. If you enable screenshots/GPS (Hubstaff), set expectations clearly and limit it to roles where it’s truly needed.
• Automate the boring parts. Let Timely draft entry notes automatically; use recurring projects/templates in Clockify; and send invoices right from Harvest/Paymo.

Quick buyer’s guide (TL;DR)

• Easiest overall: Toggl Track for fast capture + pretty reports.
• Time → Invoice in one: Harvest or Paymo.
• Best free starter: Clockify (robust free plan; upgrades for approvals/audits).
• Remote oversight: Hubstaff (screenshots, GPS, payroll).
• For forgetful timers: Timely (automatic capture + AI notes).
• Live in Asana/ClickUp/Jira: Everhour (embedded). If you’re all-in on ClickUp, its native time tracking is solid.
• Focus first: RescueTime (reduce distraction; pair with a billing tracker).

Final thoughts

You don’t need the “perfect” time tracker—you need the one your team (or your future self) will actually use every day. Start with your workflow:

• If you’re freelancing across varied projects, Toggl Track or Timely keeps capture effortless and reporting beautiful.
• If you’re running client retainers with strict budgets and invoices, Harvest or Paymo simplifies the business loop end-to-end.
• If you’re building a distributed team with compliance or field needs, Hubstaff adds the oversight most tools avoid.
• If you live in ClickUp or Asana/Jira/Monday, Everhour or ClickUp’s built-in timer keeps everything in one place.
• And if your biggest problem is distraction, RescueTime earns its keep by helping you protect the hours you already have.

Pick one, set up two or three real client projects, and run it for a week. The right choice is the one that makes your next invoice and your next project estimate faster, clearer, and more profitable.