Best Time Tracking Software
Time tracking has been integral part of how industrial revolution shaped up. Innovators right from Benjamin Franklin to various management consultant such as William Bundy, Fred Flintstone who worked extensively and emphasised on keeping log of time worked on activities. Timesheet has come a long way since then; the method of counting, collecting time log data has evolved from punching cards to computers to mobile apps to smart devices today. But the essence remains the same – tracking time data to measure & improve employee productivity.
Even today high percentage of companies track employee time involved in project work management such as tracking billable time, which in turn is used to charge customers, calculate payroll data, pay contractors and other expenses. In the past, it used to laborious activity to keep track of time worked. Thankfully, the modern day web application and mobile apps make it lot easier to enter time. These online time tracking tools allow employee to log time, enable managers to review timesheet reports and automatically generate project portfolio cost dashboard as well as billing invoices.
Broadly speaking, time tracking tools can be categorised into two set of tools
- Simple time tracking apps
- Comprehensive project portfolio management tools
For all those tools belonging to first category, companies have to integrate apps to other systems, in order to generate meaningful, usable information. In case of second category time tracking tools, it is about viewing time tracking data along with other information such as resource rate, resource time, project time, planned hours, actual hours of work, resource cost implication on project execution, project financials – budget, estimated cost, actual cost, billing, etc. Essentially, in case of tools in second category, there are more features than just time tracking which employees can use depending on business need.
If your company is looking for best time tracking tool, we have just simplified your job. Here’s a list of 18 timesheet software tools you should consider.
ZilicusPM
ZilicusPM provides you all the tools for efficient time tracking, timesheet reporting, costing, billing, team collaboration, dashboard, etc. That’s not all, ZilicusPM is a complete project management software that provides comprehensive project management features such as project portfolio, Gantt chart, resources assignment, budgeting, expenses, issues, risk, team collaboration, billing, executive dashboards and reporting.
Top Features
- Time tracking, time billing
- Mobile app to track time on the go
- Track time against project tasks, issues, risks
- Timesheet reports and financial dashboard
- Gantt Chart, Kanban board with drag-n-drop functions
- Interactive executive dashboard
- Project budgeting, expense tracking, cost, billing management
- Team collaboration: calendar, discussions, meeting management
- Project Issues, risks, change requests management
How Does ZilicusPM Help You?
ZilicusPM enables you to track time and report work pretty easily. It is much more than time tracking as it helps you to bring order to entire project work be it schedule, resources, changes, budget, cost, billing. You do not need to use different tools for each of these activities. ZilicusPM gives you a single, central project management tool where managers can clearly track health & status of client projects and team members can remain top of their things & clearly know things they have work on.
Replicon
Pricing
$ 10 /user/month
Rating
Website
replicon.com
Replicon is one of the earliest player in time tracking tools market. As mentioned above, it can be categorised as a software designed for time keeping.
Top Features
- Time tracking and billing
- Set billable, non-billable time tracking
- Timer clock, budgeting, expense tracking
- Add clients, manage client specific billing rates
- Timesheet approval configuration
- Mobile ready application
How Does It Help You?
Replicon is simple to use time tracking tool with many features and configuration settings around time tracking. It also allows you to set resource workload, billing rates, etc. It positioned for large companies for better time management of employees by tracking their time (in general, not necessarily for actual projects). It has ability to track time to the minute level as well.
Avaza
Pricing
$ 9.95 /user/month
for 5+ projects
Rating
Website
avaza.com
Avaza is web based as well as mobile application that provide good mix of time tracking, task collaboration and integration with other tools. Avaza time tracker goes to the extent wherein you start timer on your smartphone, stop it on your iPad or other device, and thereby keeping track of the hours spent on a project tasks.
Top Features
- Time tracking
- Timesheet approval
- Time tracking mobile app
- Invoicing linked to tracked timesheet & expenses
- Client project management, task scheduling, etc.
How Does Avaza Help You?
In addition to time tracking, Avaza offers a whole host of workplace automation especially using project management features. It helps you organise personal or team work wherein the work is broken down to individual tasks and assigned to team members. Team can track time on the go and get it approved from managers. Aggregate timesheet and expenses can be billed to client with invoices generated using Avaza.
WORKetc
Pricing
$ 78 /user/month
Max 2 users
Rating
Website
worketc.com
WORKetc offers time tracking integrated project management, CRM, invoicing, customer support, reporting, and collaboration software.
Top Features
- Task dependency, recurring tasks, triggers and alerts
- Set companywide billing, charge rates for people, project, activities
- Track times against project activities, track expenses
- Team collaboration with documents sharing, discussions, notes
- Manage products and quotes, project budget
How Does WORKetc Help You?
WORKetc is not a pure project management play but it offers an integrated business management tool with basic/simpler scheduling integrated with billing, invoicing, CRM as well as helpdesk tool. It keeps track of what team is working on, and saves project managers time by integrating timesheet with billing, CRM, reporting, calendar, etc. It is useful for agencies to manage their business with clients.
Zoho Projects
Pricing
$ 20 /month
Free plan available
Rating
Website
zoho.com/projects
Zoho Projects provides timesheet management features as a part of Zoho apps suite. It is well known as simple project management tool that helps project team to organise its work, track time. Zoho Project’s time tracking features help you streamline project performance with financial reports, invoicing, etc.
Top Features
- Gantt chart with task lists and milestones
- Time, expense tracking and issue tracking
- Document and file management
- Chat, forum, calendar and feed for collaboration
How Does It Help You?
Zoho Projects is simple project management integrated with time tracking tool and other apps such as Zoho Invoice, Zoho CRM, Zoho Books for sending invoices to clients. So it provides customers with more than just time tracking and billing. One can also select from different products like as Zoho CRM, Zoho Recruit, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Desk and Zoho Creator.
Paymo
Pricing
$ 11.95 /user/month
Min 5 users
Rating
Website
paymo.com
Looking for a simple but powerful time tracking tool? Paymo can be your answer. Paymo offers project management software for freelancers as well as small businesses. It is a simple project management app integrated with time tracking, billing and work management in one tool which gives you better picture of team performance .
Top Features
- Time tracking
- Gantt chart tool
- Timer for desktop application
- Automated timesheet submission
- Dashboard to track project, team performance
- Client management
- Billing clients for progressed projects
- Mobile app to track time on the go
How Does Paymo Help You?
PaymoApp is a simple project management app, suitable for small teams. Its time tracking feature is available as app for desktop as well as mobile. One can track timesheet using various views it offers, that also includes reports which project managers can generate for client(s). It allows small business to focus on the business, instead of paperwork. Tracking time, creating estimates and invoices is made simple using Paymo.
Airtable
Pricing
$ 10 /user/month
For business users
Rating
Website
airtable.com
Airtable primarily is a team collaboration software with drag & drop file uploads facility and spreadsheet like interface. It provides realtime collaboration, calendar views, gallery & card views and integration with more than 350 App.
Top Features
- Spreadsheet meets database
- Time tracker block
- Checklist, images, select buttons, texts as fields
- Configurable views
- Real time team collaboration
- Email reminders and other notifications
How Does It Help You?
Airtable provides a pro-feature to track time in a collaborative fashion. Though it is a very flexible online spreadsheet, improved version of Smartsheet (so to say) that allows sheet creator to create project activities, assign those activities to team members and track for status. It’s simple for team members to use and intuitive to collaborate. What one should remember, Airtable is not a pure project management play rather like online spreadsheet or Smartsheet, it can be used for any purpose imaginable like sales, com, HRMS, etc.
For full featured project management software, take a look at an alternative to Airtable.
Freshbooks
Pricing
$ 25 /month
For business users
Rating
Website
freshbooks.com
Freshbooks allows you to easily track time from anywhere, even while on the go using mobile app or browsing the web using FreshBooks Chrome Timer, FreshBooks ensures you bank every billable hour. Also, it allows you to track time directly from other apps such as – Asana, Basecamp, Trello, etc..
Top Features
- Track time for client(s)
- Track time against project activity
- Project schedule, tasks, Gantt chart
- Desktop app for Chrome browser
- Mobile app for Apple and Android phones
- Time tracking approval, expenses approval
- Time tracking report per project, per client, per employee
How Does Freshbooks Help You?
Freshbooks is a time tracking software good for project teams members and small business owners to track, log every minute of employees’ time. You can track time against a specific client and bill that client as per recorded/approved time, you can get breakdown of hours tracked every day. Do not confuse Freshbooks with Freshdesk.
Harvest
Pricing
$ 12 /user/month
For business users
Rating
Website
getharvest.com
Harvest is pretty popular timesheet software in the market because of its minimum features and ease of use. It is a simple time tracking app integrated with online invoicing, and reporting software. It simplify employee time tracking and billing.
Top Features
- Track time from any device – laptop, iphone, ipad
- Estimation and billing
- Time tracking, budgeting
- Timesheet, cost, bill reporting
- Resource workload management
- Online proofing and review approval
How Does It Help You?
Harvest is an online time tracking tool but can hardly be called as team collaboration software. With minimalistic design and purpose, it allows freelancers or small business owners track time, expenses, project cost easily. .
Clockify
Pricing
Free
Rating
Website
clockify.me
Clockify is a simple time tracking tool and timesheet app that allows your team track hours spent working on projects. It claimed to offer unlimited users and free plan forever.
Top Features
- Time tracking
- Timesheet reporting
- Organize timesheet with tags
- Basic project management features, tasks, teams
- Web application, desktop app, mobile app
How Does It Help You?
Clockify helps customers track time worked across different projects. It is simple to use, integrates with Trello, Gmail, Github, Jira, Google Docs, Asana, Basecamp, Wrike, Redmin, Flow, Teamwork and many other applications. It is also available as online, hosted options.
Toggl
Pricing
$ 9 /user /month
Rating
Website
toggl.com
Toggl is simple time tracking system for freelancers and small businesses. It offers simple online timer with a powerful timesheet tracking software. It syncs with iOS & Android app and integrates with other apps like JIRA, MeisterTask, etc.
Top Features
- Time tracking
- Timesheet reporting
- Automate time tracking
- Use it on the go, from anywhere
How Does It Help You?
Toggl helps customers track time allocation across different customers and projects. Know exactly what people were spending their work time on – so that you do not have to check that all the time. You get free just to focus on the important things, instead of micromanaging team members..
1. Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is one of the oldest project management tool offered in the market and for decades it used to be the most popular choice of project managers for task scheduling but it is not the best way to track time.
Notable Features
- Project scheduling: tasks, sub-tasks, milestones
- Gantt chart, Task dependency, task split, critical path, baseline
- Resource assignment and planning
- Project cost estimation with project templates
- It does not offer any easy way to track time time
How Does This Tool Help You?
Microsoft Project so far has been used by 20 million people. It enjoyed massive popularity and leadership because of the limited choice available to its users mainly project managers. Like many enterprise tools, Microsoft Project has become a legacy tool because of lack of collaboration and limited features. The only way time can be tracked in MS Project is, project manager manually collecting data from team members and entering against tasks as a sum of work hours. However Microsoft has started offering MS Project Online as a new offering to address collaboration issues.
Pricing
From $55 /month/user for cloud platform, from $940 for on-premise software (for one PC)
Must explore Alternative to Microsoft Project
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