Best time tracking apps for freelancers

Toggl Track

The default recommendation in most freelancer roundups, and the one with the least friction: a one-click timer in the browser, on the desktop and on the phone, plus a desktop tracker that records which apps and websites you used for more than ten seconds so you can rebuild a day you forgot to log. The free plan is permanent rather than a trial, which is why plenty of solo freelancers never pay for it. Billable rates and PDF invoices exist, but on the paid tiers, and Starter runs $9 per user per month on annual billing after a 30-day trial of Premium.

Clockify

The cheapest serious option here: a permanent free plan for up to five users with no cap on tracking, and paid tiers that start at $3.99 per seat per month on annual billing. It has an auto tracker that quietly records the apps and websites you use (only you can see that data), alongside timesheets, a Pomodoro timer and idle detection. The catch for a freelancer is that client invoicing only appears on the Standard plan, two tiers above free, and the trial of paid features is a short seven days.

Harvest

Built for exactly this job: the pricing page describes its free plan as being for individual freelancers, and unusually that free plan already includes invoicing rather than holding it back for a paid tier. The limits are one seat and two projects, which is where most freelancers eventually outgrow it and move to the $9 per seat Teams plan. Tracking is timers and timesheets with calendar imports, not background recording, so you do have to remember to hit start.

TimeCamp

A cheap, feature-dense option that leans on automatic tracking harder than most: it records the apps and websites you use and can attach time to keywords, alongside an ordinary timer and manual entry. The free plan is permanent and covers unlimited users and projects, and the Starter tier at $3.99 per user per month on annual billing is where invoicing, attendance and time-off appear. The pricing page never states how long the free trial lasts, which is a small annoyance if you want to test the paid features first.

Timely

The most automatic of the set: it records your day in the background and drafts timesheets from that history, so the work becomes reviewing and approving entries rather than remembering to start a timer. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and the entry Starter tier is $9 per user per month on annual billing with a 20-project cap. Invoicing is not on Starter: sending invoices out to QuickBooks arrives with Premium, so a freelancer who bills from their tracker will pay more than the headline price.

RescueTime

The odd one out here, and worth knowing about for that reason: it runs in the background and tracks the time you spend in apps and on websites automatically, but it is built around focus and attention rather than client billing. There is no permanently free tier any more, only a 14-day trial, and the cheapest Focus plan at $7 a month does not include timesheets: those start with Solo+ at $12. Choose it to find out where your week actually went, not to raise an invoice.

FreshBooks

Really an accounting package with a timer attached, which is the point: the hours you track drop straight onto an invoice, and the same account handles expenses, estimates and card payments. Every plan can invoice, starting with Lite, whose standard price is $23 a month (the site is usually running a heavy introductory discount off that). Time is recorded by starting a timer or typing hours in, with nothing watching your screen. It is the priciest row here and only makes sense if you want FreshBooks to be your books as well as your clock.

My Hours

A plain, inexpensive project time tracker with a permanent free plan for up to five users and a Basic tier at $4 per user per month on annual billing, which makes it one of the cheapest paid options here. You log time with a timer or type it in afterwards, in a timeline or a weekly view; nothing records your screen. It can turn approved work and expenses into client invoices without leaving the app, though the pricing page does not spell out which tier that arrives on.

Paymo

Closer to a small project-management suite than a stopwatch: tasks, kanban boards, clients and invoices sit alongside the tracker, and the desktop Paymo Track app records what you do on your computer and builds a timesheet from it. Unusually the free plan already includes unlimited invoices, though it caps you at one client and two projects. The Solo plan is advertised at $5.90 a month for the first three months and $9.90 after that, with a 15-day trial of whichever plan you pick.

Memtime

A pure automatic tracker: it records everything you do on your computer, offline and without integrations, and you assemble timesheets afterwards from that record. There is no free plan and no month-to-month billing, only quarterly and longer terms, starting at $14 per user per month on the annual plan, and no invoicing at all. It is the right pick if your problem is forgetting to start timers and you already have somewhere else to bill from.

Bonsai

The freelancer-suite answer: proposals, contracts, a CRM, tasks and invoicing wrapped around a start-stop timer, so tracked hours feed invoices without an export step. The Basic tier at $9 per user per month on annual billing includes time tracking, but invoices and payments only arrive with Essentials at $19, which is the thing to check before signing up. There is no free plan, just a seven-day trial of everything.