Best Tracking Tools Free offers to keep an eye on the role of the Google Analytics for your website. It will allow you to easily track Google Analytics without glitches. The article is a collection of the best and most famous tracking tools.
With a time tracking tool, you can strategically plan and monitor the hours spent by you and your team on a project and increase productivity. This software captures employee time, hourly wages, and client billing rates and uses this information to automate invoicing and payroll management functions.
This article looks at eight best free time tracking software for project managers, sorted alphabetically. See the full list of time tracking software tools in Capterra’s software directory.
- Toggl Track for a free time tracking app
- Harvest for tracking hours and expenses in teams
- ATracker for a fully customizable setup
- TrackingTime for visualizing time differently
- RescueTime for reducing distractions
What makes a great time tracking app?
How we evaluate and test apps
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When you know how you spend your time, you can analyze your work trends and make smarter business decisions. Whether you’re working solo or in a small team, time tracking software can give you a complete overview of your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly work.
What do you do with this information? Perhaps most importantly, tracking your time can help you get paid, allowing you to feel confident about your invoices rather than trying to estimate how much time you worked after the fact. If you’re part of a team, time tracking can help you answer the question, “What have you been working on this month?”
When evaluating the best time tracking apps, we considered the following criteria:
- Real-time tracking. Nearly all time tracking apps let you track in real time, meaning they give you a running clock that you launch when you start a task, and that you can pause or stop when you finish.
- The ability to edit time tracked or manually add time blocks. The best apps let you correct time tracked after the fact, such as if you accidentally leave a timer running while you take off for lunch. You should be able to edit the time log to subtract however many minutes you weren’t working. You also want an app that lets you enter a block of time post hoc in case you forget to launch a timer at all. For example, if your phone rings and you jump into a 20-minute consulting call, you might not start a timer, but you do want to log and bill for those hours worked.
- Reporting features. 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.
- The ability to create an invoice or export data. Once you aggregate all your time spent on your work, you have to be able to take action on it. All these 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.
What’s not included in this roundup
Here, we focus specifically on time tracking apps for individuals and small teams. We don’t consider employee monitoring software, which often includes some type of time tracking. Employee monitoring tools are better suited for large organizations that need to keep a close eye on when employees clock in and out and whether they’re working when they say they are.
Additionally, we don’t include project management, invoicing, or accounting apps that come with an add-on or built-in time tracker. While time-tracking clocks can be very helpful inside these tools, we assume if that’s what you need, you’re likely shopping for a more robust solution.
Looking for ways to make tracking time even easier? Add automation to your time tracking app and automatically start events, create projects, and notify your team when you start work on a task.
Best free time tracking app
Toggl Track (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, and browser extensions)
If you need a time tracking app but can’t pay for one, you should use Toggl Track. The time tracking tool has a generous free tier of service that gives you access to all its apps (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, and browser extensions) and includes all the core functionality you’d expect in a time tracking app.
Toggl Track works so effortlessly primarily because it doesn’t ask much of you when you start timing a task. With many time tracking apps, you have to have a client, project, and task entered into your account before the app will let you track time. If you don’t, you have to set your task aside for the time being and enter them. With Toggl Track, you can track your time right away, view your tracked time entries in a grid or calendar format, and worry about the details later.
Additionally, when you use Toggl Track through the Chrome or Firefox browser extension, a Toggl timer button shows up in just about every web app you could imagine, from Google Docs and other Google apps to Help Scout. Because you always see the Toggl Track button while you’re working, you have a continual reminder to track your time.
Toggl Track has some of the most detailed options I’ve seen in a time tracking app. For example, 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. That way, if you’re interrupted while working and get sucked into a 20-minute conversation, Toggl Track can knock out those 20 minutes from your record. Toggl Track even has a Pomodoro Technique setting, so that you can 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.
For even more flexibility, use Toggl Track’s Zapier integrations to connect Toggl Track with your favorite apps like Google Calendar and Slack. Create Google Calendar events from new Toggl time entries Use this Zap Share new Toggl Time Entries in Slack messages Use this Zap See more Toggl integrations powered by
Toggl Track Pricing: Free for up to five users; $9 per user per month when billed annually for the Starter plan, which 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. While the free plan doesn’t offer the same level of functionality as Toggl Track, it does include unlimited tracking, unlimited users, unlimited projects, and unlimited reports—all for free.
Best time tracking app for teams
Harvest (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Web, browser extensions)
Among the best time tracking apps overall, Harvest is a top option for teams. It’s a stellar option for solo entrepreneurs, too, but it’s built to handle a collaborative workload in a way that’s clear and easy to understand.
Everyone on your team can install and use as many instances of Harvest as they like, including the desktop app, mobile app, and browser extension. The apps work offline, allowing you and your teammates to record time on tasks even when you’re not online. Harvest can automatically remind team members to track their time and submit their timesheets if you like, and the business owner can always edit, review, and approve team timesheets.
Additionally, Harvest integrates with a long list of apps. Some of the supported apps let you track your working hours directly from them (Asana, Basecamp, Slack, Trello, to name a few) and send the results to Harvest. Others are for invoicing and accounting, in case you choose not to use Harvest’s own invoicing tools. Harvest also has its own employee scheduling app called Harvest Forecast (sold separately) that tightly integrates with the core app.
If you need to connect Harvest to a tool that isn’t supported natively, you can make your own Harvest integrations using Zapier. Connect Harvest to thousands of apps, like Google Sheets and Dropbox, so you can track your time wherever it’s most useful. Add new Harvest Time Entries to a Google Sheets spreadsheet Use this Zap Add folders in Dropbox for new projects in Harvest Use this Zap See more Harvest integrations powered by
Harvest Pricing: Free for one user and up to two active projects; $12 per user per month for the paid plan.
Best time tracking app for a fully customizable setup
ATracker (iOS, Android, Web)
Most time tracking apps offer tags or color-coding to categorize your hours worked. For example, making all tasks related to a specific client red or blue. ATracker takes this one step further, allowing you to customize the iOS or Android app to perfectly match each and every task you do.
You can add a task for anything and everything, from business-related activities like writing or emailing to personal tasks like playing an instrument or doing housework. You can select from more than 800 icons to visually represent the task and use color-coding and tags for even more organization.
In the end, you might have dozens of tasks on the homepage of the app. Luckily, it’s incredibly easy to start tracking time. All you have to do is tap the task to start the timer and tap it again to end it (unfortunately, you can’t have multiple timers running at the same time).
ATracker will be the most powerful for people who really want to dig into the minutiae of their day. You won’t get a lot of value out of this app if you only want to track two or three tasks. Instead, you need to commit to breaking out your day into many little tasks and diligently tracking each one.
ATracker Pricing: Free for the Lite version with five active tasks; a one-time cost of $4.99 for the Pro version with unlimited tasks and data export; $2.99 per month for the Premium version for access to the web app and other advanced features.
Best time tracking app for visualizing time differently
TrackingTime (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Web, Chrome, Firefox)
TrackingTime is a collaborative time tracking tool that looks different from many other time tracking apps. It represents time in blocks or windows, just as if that working time were an event on your calendar. It’s not the only app that lays out your time in this fashion (Timeneye and Toggl Track do it, too), but it does offer the most opportunities for customization. For example, you can choose between a day, week, month, or team view.
The daily view has the most helpful layout we’ve seen, showing the full month’s calendar on the left (with each day displaying an icon to show the amount of time tracked) and the day you select on the right, organized by blocks of tracked time and color-coded.
TrackingTime also puts more emphasis on planning your time before you start working compared to other apps. For example, 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.
TrackingTime integrates with several productivity tools with its Chrome extension, allowing you to start a timer directly from apps like Airtable, Asana, and Notion.
TrackingTime Pricing: Free for up to three years; $7 per user per month for the Pro plan for unlimited collaboration and advanced reporting and time management features.
Best time tracking app for reducing distractions
RescueTime (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome, Firefox, Brave)
RescueTime is an automatic time tracking app with a version for just about every platform you could want. To start using RescueTime, first install a small monitoring app on your computer. This software works in the background to observe your computer usage and powers the RescueTime Assistant, “a digital wellness coach.”
The Assistant is accessible on your desktop’s menubar, taskbar, or system tray, and helps you manage your daily work progress, goals, and reports. For example, 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. RescueTime refers to this type of work as “Focus Work.” 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.
When you’re ready to tackle this kind of deep work, you start a “Focus Session.” During this session, RescueTime blocks all websites that you’ve identified as personal activities (like social media sites or YouTube). It keeps track of how well you’re concentrating, and at the end of the session, it will give you a detailed report.
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.
This is also the only app in this roundup that does not let you export your hours or automatically create an invoice. RescueTime is for the person who wants to track their hours worked for their own benefit, learning more about their working habits and how to optimize their productivity.
You can do even more with RescueTime by using RescueTime’s Zapier Integrations. Zapier can connect RescueTime to all the other apps you use, so you can spend more of your time on that Focus Work.
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1. ClickUp: Build unique time tracking reports
ClickUp is a cloud-based project management and collaboration tool that enables you to plan, track, and collaborate with your team on any project. It has a centralized dashboard where you can add important indicators and widgets for team members, time tracking, project status, tasks, and docs.
ClickUp has a global timer accessible from both desktop and mobile devices which you can track time automatically and link it to any project. This feature enables you to start and stop time, log in to any task, and create custom entries with manual time tracking.
This time tracking software helps you allocate time estimates on tasks and subtasks, compare actual time taken against your estimations, and improve time forecasting for the future. You can track and adjust your estimates according to your team’s daily capacity. ClickUp enables you to prepare comprehensive reports about the estimated time for a project, tasks completed in a day, who is behind schedule, and who is ahead of schedule to calculate overall team performance.
ClickUp offers call and email support. It is a web-based tool and also has a time tracking app for Android and iOS devices. ClickUp 4.7 (2451) Read reviewsVisit Website
Key Features:
- Project management
- Project planning
- Real-time editing
- Time and attendance
- Timesheet management
- Workflow management
Trial/Free Version: Free Trial Free Version Cost to upgrade:
$5 per monthDevice Compatibility:
Screenshot:
Dashboard in ClickUp *Analysis accurate as of November 10, 2021
2. Clockify: Visualize tracked time for reporting
Clockify is an on-premise time tracking tool that helps businesses track productivity, attendance, and billable hours. Its time track enables you to start and stop the timer for any active project or enter hours manually. Clockify integrates with Trello, QuickBooks, Asana, and Jira, among other platforms to simplify business operations.
As a time tracking software for project managers, Clockify furnishes a timesheet wherein you can predefine projects and record the time spent on each task. Project managers can monitor weekly activities and project progress through graphical and visual representations of tracked time.
Projects can be filtered as per estimated time, hourly rates, and actual completion time to make customizable reports for productivity analysis. Fixed-fee and project expenses can be recorded by sum or unit to prepare invoices.
Clockify offers support via call, chat, and email. It is a web-based tool and also has a time tracking app for Android and iOS devices. Most affordable Clockify 4.7 (1606) Read reviewsView Profile
Key Features:
- Task management
- Timesheet management
- Offline time tracking
- Overtime calculation
- Mobile time tracking
- Multiple billing rates
Trial/Free Version: Free Trial Free Version Cost to upgrade:
FreeDevice Compatibility:
Screenshot:
Dashboard in Clockify *Analysis accurate as of November 10, 2021
3. DeskTime: Collective time tracking
DeskTime provides project tracking, offline time tracking, automatic time tracking, and shift scheduling, among other features. DeskTime, as a project time tracking software, lets you monitor individual project time and manage your employees’ workflow.
This software enables a team to work on the same project at a given time. After that, it provides data about the collective time taken to complete the project. Project managers can use this data to classify individual contributions and monitor the time taken by each employee to finish the task. DeskTime helps allocate realistic deadlines to organize the workflow, project cost estimation, and eliminate manual project reporting.
This time tracking software comes with an automatic time tracking feature that oversees time spent on a project, activity, or task throughout the day and simplifies documentation. It eliminates the need for manual timers and manual tracked time reporting by automatically recording your performance in its database.
DeskTime offers support via chat, call, and email. This web-based tool has a time tracking app for both iOS and Android devices. DeskTime 4.5 (237) Read reviewsVisit Website
Key Features:
- Time tracking
- Productivity analysis
- Reporting/analytics
- Offline time tracking
- Mobile time tracking
- Screen activity recording
Trial/Free Version: Free Trial Free Version Cost to upgrade:
$6 per user per monthDevice Compatibility:
Screenshot:
Projects dashboard in DeskTime *Analysis accurate as of November 10, 2021
4. Harvest: Turn timesheets data into visual reports
Harvest is a time tracking software that offers actionable insights to improve project performance. Using this software, project managers can track project time, employee productivity, create visual reports, keep project profits on track, manage their team’s bandwidth, and automate invoice management.
Harvest integrates with platforms including Trello, Asana, Slack, and Jira, among others to monitor productivity, and Stripe and PayPal for payments. The software offers one-click time entries for timesheets and automated reminders to keep you on track.
Harvest enables project managers to turn timesheet data into intuitive, visual graphs and compare expected time taken against the actual time taken to complete a project. It lets project managers monitor project costs, time tracked for each project, exhausted budgets, and billable hours. Tracked time is used to create invoices that are sent to clients via email for approval.
Harvest offers support via query form, email, and Twitter. This web-based tool has a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. Harvest 4.5 (458) Read reviewsVisit Website
Key Features:
- Time tracking
- Project tracking
- Time tracking by project
- Timesheet management
- Expense tracking
- Offline time tracking
Trial/Free Version: Free Trial Free Version Cost to upgrade:
$12 per user per monthDevice Compatibility:
Screenshot:
Time tracking software in Harvest *Analysis accurate as of November 10, 2021
5. Hubstaff: Filterable timesheet reports
Hubstaff offers a complete suite of time trackers for managing field and remote teams. The tool helps in monitoring project hours, automating time tracking, and using time reports to get actionable insights. Hubstaff enables you to time-track specific tasks, projects, work orders, and clients with a single click. It creates time reports to streamline workflow, organize better estimates, and increase productivity.
The software furnishes employee timesheets consisting of a detailed report of employees’ hours by date, project, and client. You can make project budgets based on the number of working hours, bill rates, or pay rates. Set up alerts to notify you when you’re on the verge of going over budget.
Hubstaff lets project managers build detailed, actionable, and filterable time reports by week, team members, project, or client to find the exact answers. This helps PMs detect bottlenecks and mediate any workflow difficulties that may develop with the employee timesheets feature.
Hubstaff offers query form and email support. The tool is web-based and also has a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. Hubstaff 4.6 (1210) Read reviewsVisit Website
Key Features:
- Time tracking
- Timesheet management
- Screen activity recording
- Employee activity management
- Time tracking by project
- Vacation/leave tracking
Trial/Free Version: Free Trial Free Version Cost to upgrade:
$7 per monthDevice Compatibility:
Screenshot:
Time and activities report in Hubstaff *Analysis accurate as of November 10, 2021
6. Timesheets.com: Control access to timesheets
Timesheets.com is a web-based time tracking software for project managers and other teams. The tool enables project managers to track projects for multiple clients, monitor time taken to complete a project, and prepare billing reports via timesheets. Project timesheets are different from hourly timesheets used by employees, thereby managers may grant employees access to only the elements they need on a per-employee basis.
The software enables you to create customized project time reports and monitor workload on each employee, estimated project hours, and status of project activity. With the help of Timesheets.com tool, employees can update project managers about their progress or delays. Managers can adjust the timetable or reassign essential duties to other employees who are available.
Timesheets.com also furnishes employee attendance tracking to track who is on the clock, who is running late, and active projects. Employers can keep track of employee attendance and handle the payroll process from anywhere.
Timesheets.com offers support via chat, call, email, and expert interaction. It is a web-based tool accessible on mobile devices, desktop, and tablets. Timesheets.com 4.7 (722) Read reviewsVisit Website
Key Features:
- Timesheet management
- Time tracking for project
- Time tracking
- Time and attendance
- Time and expense tracking
- Self service portal
Trial/Free Version: Free Trial Free Version Cost to upgrade:
$9 per monthDevice Compatibility:
Screenshot:
Project time tracking for billing in Timesheets.com *Analysis accurate as of November 10, 2021
7. Toggl Track: Clean and minimal dashboard design
Toggl Track is a minimalistic time tracking software designed for freelancers, small teams, and larger teams. The software highlights automatic and manual, one-click time tracking, reporting, and project management features. It is a streamlined tracking tool that works seamlessly across multiple devices in real-time.
Toggl Track comes with a clean dashboard that gives you easy access to significant functions without looking cluttered. You can choose the degree of information you want to view, filter, and organize your data, then use CSV or PDF to produce easy client-ready graphics and reports.
Toggl Track time tracking software integrates with industry-leading platforms such as Asana, Trello, Slack, and Google Calendar, to eliminate non-profitable projects, inequitable distribution of work orders, and time-consuming manual administration.
Toggl Track offers query form and email support. It is a web-based tool and also has a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. Best Functionality Toggl Track 4.7 (1764) Read reviewsView Profile
Key Features:
- Productivity analysis
- Timesheet management
- Time tracking by client
- Time tracking by project
- Time tracking
- Salaried employee tracking
Trial/Free Version: Free Trial Free Version Cost to upgrade:
$9 per user per monthDevice Compatibility:
Screenshot:
Visual time reports in Toggl Track *Analysis accurate as of November 10, 2021
8. Zoho Sprints: Identify bottlenecks and alter targets
Zoho Sprints is a time tracking and collaboration software designed for agile teams, which offers timers and timesheets, drag-and-drop planning tools, dashboards, reports, and scheduling features. Time tracker and timesheets let project managers monitor billable and non-billable hours using a global timer that starts from anywhere.
The software enables time tracking for each project and team member and offers one-click timesheets approval. Project managers can use Zoho Sprints’ dashboard to look at the weekly summary of projects, progress status, and overview of critical project data. The software helps generate comprehensive project time reports, including velocity charts and burnup and burndown charts, allowing managers to measure project progress, identify bottlenecks, and adjust targets.
Projects feature integrates with Zoho Books or Zoho Invoice to help you record your exhausted budget, create a new budget for your project, and convert your timesheets into invoices for client billing and payroll.
Zoho Sprints offer support via chat and email. It is a web-based tool and also has a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. Zoho Sprints 4.5 (175) Read reviewsView Profile
Key Features:
- Time tracking
- Timesheet management
- Project management
- Progress tracking
- Sprint planning
- Status tracking
Trial/Free Version: Free Trial Free Version Cost to upgrade:
$9.30 per monthDevice Compatibility:
Screenshot:
Timesheets in Zoho Sprints *Analysis accurate as of November 10, 2021 Check out our time tracking software buyers guide if you want answers to basic questions about this software category.
How to choose the right free time tracking software for project managers
The right time tracking tool for project managers will help them monitor individual project time, establish target time, and maintain smooth workflow. Here are some considerations to keep in mind before investing in a time tracking solution:
- Project and team size: A free time tracking tool is great as long as it can accommodate your project and team size. If the free tool only allows for five users, and you need to track time for eight, it’s not very useful. You’re better off paying the monthly fee to expand your tool or finding something else that gives your team the room to grow.
- Integration: Whether you are monitoring one project or more, you will most likely be using several other tools such as a separate reporting system or a data transfer tool. If the software you’ve chosen is compatible with all of the other solutions you’re utilising, the project workflow will go off without a hitch.
- Billable hours tracking: While the majority of timesheet tools are stand-alone, you should ideally opt for a solution that counts your billable hours and automatically correlates them with the appropriate project. With autosuggestions, such tools scan project data from papers and files, forecast the clients involved, and reduce manual data entry during invoice production.
- Cost of upgrade: Always consider the cost of upgrade and additional costs associated with significant or additional features such as reporting and documentation.
Common questions to ask while selecting free time tracking software for project managers
Here are some questions to ask time tracking software providers before making a final purchase:
What are the limitations of this free software?
Does the free tool offer reporting and analytics?
What collaboration tools does it offer?
How did we choose these products? We didn’t—you did.
To find your ideal software match, you need information you can trust so you can save time, stay on budget, and focus more on growing your business. It’s why we vet and verify all our user reviews and recommend only the tools endorsed by people like you.
In other words, our product recommendations are never bought or sold, or based on the opinion of a single individual—they’re chosen by your peers, reflecting the views and experiences of our independent base of software reviewers.
At Capterra, we objectively select and rank products based on a methodology developed by our research team. Some vendors pay us when they receive web traffic, but this has no influence on our methodology.
CONCLUSION
I’ve been working in marketing for over 10 years, and I can tell you that one of the best ways to figure out what is and isn’t working is through tracking tools. In fact, there are so many different tracking options available that it can be confusing to choose the right one so I decided to write an article comparing some of the best tracking tools free tools on the market.
Tracking tools free -? This is one of the most popular questions asked in online forums. In fact, almost all newbies who are just starting out with online marketing ask this very question. Given the current economic situation, more and more people are coming up with ways to keep their budgets under tight controls. Today, online marketers are complaining there is a lack of funding resources. There are fewer repeat sales than before, because most affiliate marketers have exhausted their leads. I’m sure you’ve also heard the phrase “repeats don’t pay” in that connection, haven’t you? Although there is still potential for big money using this method given by use of tracking tools free or paid, but other techniques like mailing lists require great expenditures in financial resources.