Time tracking software: how to choose one
Almost every time tracker measures time accurately. What separates them is everything that happens next: who approves the hours, what they turn into, and whether anyone ever bills them.
What to look for
Are you billing clients or recording staff hours?
These are different products. Project time tracking optimises for billable accuracy; workforce time recording optimises for compliance and attendance. Buying the wrong one is the most common mistake in this category.
What does an hour attach to?
A tracker that only knows projects makes invoice lines vague. One where time attaches to a task or a ticket lets the invoice cite the work.
Who approves the hours?
If a client has to agree the total before you invoice, check whether that can happen inside the tool or ends up in email.
Does it produce an invoice?
Some do, some invoice only from a higher tier, some never do. This single answer usually decides the shortlist.
Can people fix entries afterwards?
Nobody starts every timer. Easy retrospective editing is the difference between data that is roughly right and data nobody trusts.
How is it priced as the team grows?
Per-seat pricing on a tool used occasionally is expensive. Check whether part-time contributors need full seats.
What does the free tier really include?
Free tiers in this category vary more than anywhere else — from unlimited users to five, to one seat and two projects.
Does it work where the work happens?
A timer people have to remember to open gets used less than one embedded in the tool they are already in.
Billable time and statutory time recording are not the same thing
In most European countries an employer has some duty to record employees' working hours, and the tools built for that are a separate category from the ones built for billing clients. The duty itself is national rather than uniform, so the specifics differ — but the split between the two kinds of tool holds everywhere. A project tracker is generally not designed to satisfy the obligation, and a workforce time-recording system is generally poor at producing an invoice.
- Project time tracking answers "what do we bill for" — it optimises for billable accuracy and client reporting
- Statutory working-time recording answers "when did staff work" — it optimises for completeness, tamper resistance and retention
- Requirements differ by country; check yours before assuming one tool covers both
- If you need both, expect to run two systems rather than compromise on either
Kinds of tool on the market
Pure timers
Do one job extremely well: start, stop, tag, report. Cheap, easy to adopt, and the hours dead-end in a report somebody has to act on.
Automatic trackers
Reconstruct the day from activity rather than relying on people to start timers. Best for teams whose problem is forgetting, not measuring.
Trackers with invoicing attached
Cover the step most teams actually need — turning hours into a bill. The project management around them is usually thin.
Time tracking inside a bigger tool
The timer sits on the task or ticket it belongs to. Less refined as a timer, but the hours arrive somewhere useful without an export.
What the tools cost
Entry prices for a single user. Free tiers in this category differ more than the paid ones, so they are worth reading closely.
| Tool | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Clockify | The cheapest paid seats. | 3.99 USD per seat a month billed annually — 3.99 EUR in the EU; free up to 5 users |
| TimeCamp | A free tier for a whole team. | 3.99 USD per user a month, billed annually; free tier unlimited |
| My Hours | Simple reporting and approvals. | 4 USD per user a month, billed annually; free up to 5 active users |
| Toggl Track | The best pure timer and reporting. | 9 USD per seat a month, billed annually |
| Harvest | Billing time and expenses together. | 9 USD per seat a month, billed annually; free 1 seat, 2 projects |
| Timely | Automatic tracking with no timers to start. | 9 USD per user a month, billed annually; no free tier |
| Everhour | Tracking inside Asana, Jira or ClickUp. | 8.50 USD per seat a month billed annually, but the paid plan needs 5 seats minimum |
| Oplero | Hours that become a client-approved invoice. | Free during the beta, then 1.99 USD per user a month |
Prices checked July 20, 2026
Common mistakes
Buying a project tracker to meet a legal obligation
Statutory working-time records have requirements a billing tool was never designed for. Check what your country asks before assuming one tool covers both.
Choosing on the timer, not on what follows
Every tool here measures time correctly. The differences are all downstream — approvals, invoicing, where the hours end up.
Reading the headline price as the entry price
Some plans have minimum seat counts, so the per-seat figure is not what you can actually spend.
Rolling it out without saying why
Time tracking introduced without an explanation reads as surveillance. Teams that know the hours are for billing fill them in; teams that do not, do not.
Where Oplero fits
Oplero's timer is not more refined than Toggl Track's or Timely's, and reporting depth is not where it competes. What it does is refuse to let the hours dead-end: time attaches to the task or client ticket it came from, collects into a timesheet the client approves through a link without an account, and becomes an invoice in one click. If your hours already reach an invoice through a process that works, this is not worth switching for. If they reach a spreadsheet, it might be.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free time tracking software?
TimeCamp has the most generous permanent free tier — unlimited users and projects. Clockify's free tier covers up to five users and My Hours up to five active users. Oplero is free for everyone during its beta, but it is a much broader tool than a timer.
Which time tracking tools can invoice?
Harvest, Timely and Everhour invoice from tracked hours, and Clockify does from its Standard tier up. Oplero adds a step in between: the client approves the timesheet before it becomes an invoice.
Can I use one tool for billing and for staff hours?
Rarely well. Project time tracking and statutory working-time recording have different requirements, and tools that claim both usually do one properly. If you need both, plan for two systems.