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How to Get Organized at Work When Overwhelmed

how to get organized at work

A rising feeling of anxiety is blooming in your chest, accompanied by cold sweats. This probably means you’re an overwhelmed employee.

This sense of dread and general anxiety can be avoided by implementing some organizational tips. And that’s what you’ll learn today: how to get organized at work when overwhelmed.

Take the first step towards organizing your work and start tracking time today

12 Ways to get organized at work when overwhelmed

  1. Don’t beat yourself up, and take a deep breath
  2. Do a “brain dump”
  3. Make use of time-tracking apps
  4. Organize the tasks by category or action
  5. Prioritize what you need to do
  6. Set realistic goals for the day
  7. Make sure your workspace is organized
  8. Leave some time for unexpected tasks
  9. Start easy and gradually increase in complexity of tasks
  10. Keep testing and choose the right productivity tools for you
  11. Delegate when needed
  12. Automate repeated processes

Getting organized at work isn’t quite as simple as just putting together a to-do list. It’s a soft skill worth learning. Even if you’re not organized at your core, you can still learn how to better prepare and manage your days at work.

The benefits are endless, the most important being a sense of happiness and tranquility at work.

Avoid stress and get organized when overwhelmed by using practical techniques and tools, both digital and analog.

1. Don’t beat yourself up, and take a deep breath

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, the worst thing you can do to yourself is beat yourself up or mistreat yourself for feeling stressed.

This is such a normal situation, that everyone faces. You just need an extra push to get back on track and focus on what you need to get done.

It’s important to redirect those feelings and channel them to find a solution to your problems.

If needed, take 10 minutes and do breathing exercises, meditate for a little bit, stare out a window or go outside and breathe fresh air.

Use these techniques to promote relaxation, lower your heart rate and regroup your thoughts.

Free eBook: How to work smart, not hard

Get your copy of the eBook to discover the best productivity tips for teams and their leaders

2. Do a “brain dump”

All the scattered ideas and messages in your brain need organization.

Get all those thoughts out and “dump” everything in a list, your planner, a productivity app, in a pack of sticky notes… Whatever works for you.

This kind of exercise is the first step toward staying on top of everything

You’ll reorganize your overwhelmed brain and store every bit of information where it needs to be. Imagine your brain being like a set of drawers. Of labeled drawers, of course.

Your appointments, personal or professional appointments are in one drawer, meetings in another, urgent tasks in another… And so on. 

Don’t censor yourself when “brain dumping”. Write everything you need and think of because if you’re not doing it as you write or type, you can organize it later.

You’ll feel your mind much lighter after this and ready to do the work.

3. Make use of time-tracking apps

When feeling overwhelmed at work, leveraging a top time-tracking app can be a game-changer. These powerful tools help you gain valuable insights into how you spend your time and identify areas where improvements can be made.

Start by selecting a reliable time-tracking app that suits your needs and preferences. Set clear goals and allocate specific time blocks for different tasks or projects.

Use the app to track your time spent on each activity, allowing you to identify bottlenecks, prioritize effectively, and make necessary adjustments to your workflow. Regularly reviewing the data provided by the app will enable you to optimize your time management, regain control, and reduce overwhelm, ultimately leading to increased productivity and a greater sense of accomplishment.

Start tracking your time with zero effort

Track your time spent on each activity, allowing you to identify bottlenecks, prioritize effectively, and make necessary adjustments to your workflow

4. Organize the tasks by category or action

Your tasks and projects can be organized in several different ways, and you need to find the one that works best for you.

A good way of starting to get things done is to keep all your tasks and commitments in one place, be it digital or analogic, like a planner. Another good tip is to start every item with an actionable verb.

Don’t be vague when writing your to-do list. Use verbs such as “plan”, “solve, “create”, keeping them in imperative mode.

Then it’s time to organize the tasks in your list into categories. Something that maybe you already started doing while you “brain dumped”.

By categorizing tasks, you establish a reason for doing things, and by doing that, you turn your workload less overwhelming.

The kind of categories you choose to use can be helpful. Avoid grouping them by the project or by person, and instead, try organizing them by the due date, for example.

Separate those tasks that are time sensitive from those that just need to be set on a to-do list.

Do you want to know how to use a planner? Find how to increase your productivity with this tool in our article.

a team of four people organizing their workload

5. Prioritize what you need to do

Prioritizing tasks is also a form of organizing them into categories. Identifying the most urgent work that needs to be done is a strategic move.

You can prioritize things using different prioritization techniques. Once again, it’s all about finding a method that works for you. 

Free eBook: How to work smart, not hard

Get your copy of the eBook to discover the best productivity tips for teams and their leaders

You can start working on smaller tasks that will lead to a bigger project.

You can organize your list by the due date, by what’s most important and not so much, or by attributing a code to your tasks. For example A-B-C. the A being the most urgent, or !, !!, !!!… You can do your code.

TIP: The best workload prioritization tools

6. Try deep work

One of the best methods for getting work done quickly and efficiently is to enter a deep work mode. It’s when you focus on one task at a time for a longer period of time – no context-switching or interruptions. Usually, a deep work session takes a couple of hours (including short breaks).

To manage your time during a deep work session, use the Pomodoro timer that will break the session into work and break chunks of time. The timer provided by Timeular features ambiance music, too, which will additionally help you to enter the deep work mode.

For better results, try to schedule deep work time every single day of work – early mornings, when your brain is most crisp, would be perfect.

7. Set realistic goals for the day

If you are fighting the anxiety that can be generated from that feeling of becoming overwhelmed, avoid any actions that can fuel that.

Know your limits, and don’t work yourself too much, too quickly. Make your list and timeline more realistic.

Set a goal for the day: “I’ll check off three items from my list today”. If the goal is accomplished and you’re left with extra time, that’s great. If not, you now are more aware of the limitations and obstacles of that task, meeting or commitment.

That’s why is important to set realistic goals. It’s all about motivation.

Do you want to learn how to set realistic goals? Then you need to read our blog!

A organized workspace with laptop, smartphone and agenda

7. Make sure your workspace is organized

A dirty workspace may explain why you’re feeling unproductive. So, a good way to keep stress at bay is to keep your workspace clean.

Put everything away in its place and only leave what you need to do your work. Clean space, clean mind. 

The same motto applies to your virtual workspace. Digital clutter can work wonders in reducing anxiety and improving your work life.

When you feel overwhelmed, try some of these things and do them regularly:

  • Time block your calendar to reserve the time for each task;
  • Keep your e-mail inbox at zero unread messages (or as close to this as possible);
  • Read and clear all your notifications on different platforms and social media channels;
  • Reassign and reorganize the overdue tasks and commitments.

Free eBook: How to work smart, not hard

Get your copy of the eBook to discover the best productivity tips for teams and their leaders

These simple actions are fundamental to avoid further stress. In the future, you will be thankful.

8. Leave some time for the extra or the unexpected 

Estimate the time you’re going to spend on your tasks. Things happen when you least expect them, so it’s always best to be prepared for surprises.

You have no way of knowing when a crisis will hit, so all you can do is anticipate issues in case they happen.

Allow flexibility in your schedule for unexpected situations. If your calendar is packed with meetings, appointments, and commitments, something extra can mess up your day.

An excessive workload is one of the main causes of stress at work. So, leaving a few hours free for any of these situations is a good idea.

By doing this, you’ll feel less overwhelmed in case something happens. 

Read also: Create a balance in your work by doing an effective workload analysis.

9. Start easy and gradually increase in complexity of tasks

Big goals and projects can feel very overwhelming and are hard to organize.

Breaking the big goals into smaller, more easily achievable ones is the way to go. Not only do things seem more doable, but achieving short-term goals is extremely motivating and will keep you going.

By breaking your goals down into actionable steps, you’re also avoiding stress and feeling overwhelmed at work.

Your daily efforts will have a big impact in the long run.

10. Keep testing and choose the right productivity tools for you

We reached the part of this list of suggestions that must be put into practice over time when you reach a strong pace in this path toward a state of being organized.

Once you find the best planner, the best marketing tool, the best note-taking app, and the best time tracker, keep them.

Use them well, and they will be your best friends. Enjoy the free trials and keep experimenting until you find them.

Additional tip: A workload management tool may be a great addition to help you organize.

11. Delegate when needed

Knowing how to delegate tasks, it’s a valuable skill for team leaders, project managers, and team members. Make sure you and your colleagues are on the same wavelength and that you can easily distribute the tasks amongst yourselves.

Think about outsourcing if you work alone or your team is overworked.

Doing so allows you to focus on high-impact projects and symbolizes an act of trust and validation.

Plan and align the important and urgent tasks for yourself to work on and those that, while not so important, still need to be done to delegate. Everything in between can be done in time.

TIP: Learn what are the 4 D’s of time management and why they’re important.

12. Automate repeated processes

Workplace automation takes advantage of the tech tools available and tries to automate some processes. This will save you some valuable time and boost business efficiency and at the same time, your efficiency.

Organizations can only be boosted with automation technology by cutting down some manual labor and avoiding duplicate processes.

The best task automation tools can be used to assign tasks to people, send e-mails, set up digital campaigns, adjust deadlines, and provide people with the project’s status, among other possibilities.

Why is it important to be organized at work?

The major benefit of being an organized worker is that it reflects on the quality of the work you deliver.

You’re presented with opportunities to excel in your career when you’re organized and productive.

Your organization method is adaptable to your work style, aiding and benefiting your professional progress. A certainly positive and professional progress.

FAQ

How to get organized at work?

Getting work organized is not difficult. It’s all about establishing a routine for the most simple and essential tasks. You will create habits that, with time, will become innate. Keep everything in its right place, be it objects or virtual tools, and take notes. Write down everything: your lists, your due dates… 

Learn how to time block or timebox with us, and focus on one task at a time. Carving out some time to organize the basics helps you create systems and boundaries that work for you. 

How to get organized at work with ADHD?

First of all, if this is you, please talk to your doctor in case you need clinical help. Aside from that, we can give you some tips to get you started: set a goal and break it down into smaller pieces to get started and make sure you schedule the time you need to work on them. Start small to go big.

Read also
What is ADHD procrastination and how to avoid it?
ADHD planning: the ultimate guide you need

How to stay organized at work while working on multiple projects?

The keyword to this answer is prioritizing. After figuring out what is more urgent, divide your day or week into time blocks and use a time-tracking tool to help you.

Make sure you avoid the different time wasters and that your workspace is organized while working on your priorities list, and don’t be afraid of delegating if necessary. Be realistic about deadlines.

Conclusion

When feeling stressed and overwhelmed with work, asking for help is not a sign of weakness.

It’s taken as an actual method or organization. You’re aware of your needs and limitations and can use that information to develop your work and time management skills.

To avoid getting overwhelmed at work, establish a routine that works for you and make it happen. 

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The Best Employee Time Tracking Software for 2024

best time tracking tools for employees

Boost your team’s productivity, revenue, and project management effortlessly. It all starts with one simple step.

Introduce the best employee time tracking software. It helps everyone see where their time goes.

Wondering how to find the best employee time tracking app? Check out the list below.

Looking for an automated and secure employee time tracking software for your team?

With Timeular you can track everything, even the little things, in <1 minute per day. The way you want.

Best employee time tracking apps for 2024

  1. Timeular
  2. Clockify
  3. RescueTime
  4. Toggl
  5. Hubstaff
  6. TimeCamp
  7. Timely
  8. ClickUp
  9. Intuit QuickBooks Time
  10. Harvest

What is an employee time tracking app?

An employee time tracking app is software designed to monitor and record employees’ time spent on various tasks and projects.

It typically includes features such as project time tracking, workforce management, tracking the number of hours worked by employees, generating employee timesheets, and providing insights into employee work hours.

Time management

What to expect from the best employee time tracking apps?

  • Automated time tracking: To ensure accurate time tracking that doesn’t require much effort.
  • Project time tracking: To track project progress, project status and save time on chasing employee timesheets by project managers.
  • Attendance tracking: To track all types of employee time off.
  • Work hours tracking: To track work hours, overtime, and minus-hours.
  • Integration with your payroll software: To send your time tracking data and streamline your payroll processes.
  • Anti-surveillance policy: You should not be looking for employee monitoring software that spys on your team. Choose a time tracking app that respects privacy and doesn’t allow for screenshots or screen recording.

Methodology of choosing the best employee time tracking software

We found the best employee time tracking software by researching customer reviews and using our own experience.

Here are the key time tracking features we considered:

  • Automated time tracking
  • Employee productivity insights
  • Work hours tracking
  • Simplicity and user-friendliness
  • Integrations, i.e. with payroll software

The 10 best employee time tracking software

timeular time tracking software

1. Timeular

Timeular is an AI-powered employee time clock app and PTO tracker that is simple, smart, and secure. Its unique combination of automatic time tracking and physical time tracking cube, along with advanced AI capabilities, sets it apart.

As an AI time tracker, Timeular eliminates manual timesheets and streamlines employee time tracking, leave tracking, work hours tracking, overtime tracking, productivity tracking, and project management.

With a stellar rating of 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra and over 100,000 users worldwide, it’s a reliable choice that can save users up to 90% of their time spent on tracking.

A standout feature of Timeular is…

It’s the time-tracking cube! It is a hardware time tracker, that automatically starts tracking time when flipped, capable of tracking up to 1,000 activities.

Please note: You don’t need the physical tracker to use Timeular software.

time tracker

Effortless employee time tracking with a physical Tracker

Tracking employee hours can be simple! Try an employee hours tracker with a hardware time tracker and track work hours effortlessly with your entire team.

Key features:

  • It’s effortless and intuitive: Easy-to-use calendar-like interface and user-friendly design make time tracking enjoyable
  • Multiple simple time tracking methods: Use simple keyboard shortcuts, flip the time-tracking cube, or allow automatic time tracking to
  • Flexible setup with folders, activities, and tags to track employee time across clients and projects
  • Automated time entry suggestions based on calendar events, visited websites and apps used
  • Easy-to-digest, intuitive time reporting with just a few clicks
  • Integrations with over 3,000 tools of your choice, incl. payroll software and other apps
  • It helps to keep project budgets in control with budget notifications and non-billable and billable hours tracking;
  • It comes with time tracking features such as work hours tracking, overtime tracking, and PTO tracking
  • It’s GDPR compliant and secure: Your data is stored locally on your device, while it’s 100% GDPR compliant;
  • 100% anti-surveillance policy: No intrusive screenshots or screen recordings

Automatically track employee time with no effort

Why spend 5-10 minutes per day entering a handful of made up time entries, if you can track everything, even the little things, in <1 minute per day?

Timeular Pros and Cons

ProsCons
Easy to use: Timeular’s intuitive and user-friendly interface makes it incredibly easy for users to track time accurately and efficiently. 30-day free trial but no free plans
Versatile: The app and its features are highly adaptable to individual, team, and business needs and processes.No Chrome extension or Apple Watch app integration yet;
Data accuracy: Timeular’s user-friendly approach ensures that the tracked data is more accurate than other solutions, minimizing discrepancies.
Team Folders: Makes it easier to work and collaborate for the common goal of a team.
Track billable hours: Allows teams and individuals to accurately track billable and non-billable hours
Physical time tracker: The Tracker’s physical nature makes it easy to establish a time-tracking habit through muscle memory, ensuring users never forget to track their time again.

Reviews:

  • “We have become 20% more profitable because everyone is in the habit of time tracking.” – Richard Wingfield, Head Geek at Envision Design
  • “Tracking in Timeular has increased the amount of hours worked that are reported. Before some things were forgotten and missed off. Now the whole day is in Timeular and we have all of the information we need.” – Roman Haag, Partner at iAgentur
  • “I’ve doubled my revenue thanks to Timeular and managed to halve how much I work. Timeular helped me understand where I needed to make changes to become more efficient and this has allowed me to cut down my time spent working.” – Valdemar Alfred, Owner of Valdefar

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.6/5
  • Capterra: 4.6/5

Best for:

  • Consolidating all time management tasks within one app
  • Effortless and automatic time tracking
  • Tracking leave time
  • Ensuring secure time tracking without monitoring employees
  • Windows time tracking and Mac time tracking

Pricing:

  • 30-day free plan
  • Paid plans start at $7.50

Related article: The best time tracking apps for designers

clockify time tracking apps for accountants

2. Clockify

Clockify is an employee time-tracking app that allows employees to track time across various projects, create timesheets, and generate insightful reports. Its user-friendly interface and integrations with popular project management tools make it a cost-effective choice for businesses looking to improve time management.

Despite being in our best time-tracking apps list, Clockify’s users have reported encountering frequent bugs in its Android app. While the user interface remains intuitive, its mobile application experiences sluggish processing times and frequent crashes.

Additionally, the app’s functionality is significantly hindered without an internet connection, so you might not be able to track employee hours in such cases.

Given Clockify’s affordable pricing plans and range of tracking features, we can say it’s among the best free time tracking software for employees ( has a free trial of the paid PRO version).

In the end, it’s a time and attendance solution for most small businesses that don’t require a 100% foolproof tool.

Read also: Clockify vs Toggl Track: which one should you pick

Clockify – key features

ProsCons
It’s free: Clockify is free, with unlimited users and time tracking.Stability: Time tracking is unstable, as some users experience occasional glitches while using the mobile app.
Integrations: Clockify integrates with over 80 web apps, and the setup process is simple.Limited features: Invoicing is not available in the free plan; The software also lacks integrations with payroll providers; No screenshot feature.
Idle time detectionPrice: Many users consider the paid packages expensive in comparison with the features offered.
Reporting and analytics: The available features are limited for team members or business owners who need detailed reports.
Tracking: You can’t pause sessions; you have to stop them and create a new one.

Pros reported on G2 by Clockify users:

  • “Clockify makes precise time and activity logging very easy. We can quickly and easily separate our hours by projects and individual tasks. With tangible and illustrative data, we may also create personalized reports and assess team productivity.”
  • “Clockify has a very user-friendly interface, which is what I find most appealing.”
  • “It’s simple and free, offers the basic features that should be enough for most of the businesses”

Cons reported on G2 by Clockify users:

  • “I think there are now some restrictions on how flexible the reports that are created can be. More possibilities to filter and personalize the reports to my own requirements would be nice.”
  • “The free version of Clockify includes several restrictions on features, and advanced capabilities might only be accessible in the subscription edition. In order to access and utilise Clockify, which is largely a cloud-based service, you must have a reliable internet connection. Your ability to correctly track time may be hampered if you live somewhere with spotty or unstable internet services.”
  • “I’m not a huge fan of the UI. Feels a bit outdated to me.”

Ranking:

  • G2: 4.5/5
  • Capterra: 4.7/5

Clockify pricing:

  • Free plan
  • Paid plans start at $3.99 per user/month

Free eBook: How to plan your team’s time?

A step-by-step guide into the best techniques to manage your team’s time and implement a time tracking method

RescueTime tracking app

3. RescueTime

Known to be a great alternative to HoursTrackerRescueTime is a time-tracking tool that focuses on helping individuals and teams understand and improve their digital productivity.

RescueTime offers Focus sessions, enabling teams to monitor and optimize time usage, ensuring maximum efficiency effectively.

This feature allows businesses to selectively designate which websites contribute to productivity while identifying and managing those that hinder progress. Moreover, users can limit disruptive notifications from other applications.

The app also generates detailed reports that offer a comprehensive overview of how you spend your time, categorizing activities into productive and unproductive segments.

Note: For any business or team that wants to implement this tool, we advise full transparency with your employees. Otherwise, they may think you are “spying”/micromanaging them.

Despite of this feature, RescueTime remains one of the best attorney time-tracking software.

RescueTime pricing:

  • Lite: Free trial version
  • Premium: $12 per user/month (contains calendar and music integration, history reports, and warmups for Focus Sessions)

RescueTime – key features

ProsCons
Automatic time tracking: RescueTime operates in the background and you can keep track automatically of time spent on different websites, apps, and activities.Limited manual input: offline time tracking is not captured automatically, which can inconvenience employee tracking.
Goal setting and alerts: RescueTime allows you to set productivity goals and receive alerts when doing excessive time tracking non-productive activities.Limited integration options: Its integration ecosystem is relatively limited compared to other time-tracking apps.
Mobile and desktop apps: Available across mobile devices and desktop applications.Privacy concerns: As RescueTime tracks your activities in the background, some team members may have concerns about privacy and data security. 

Pros reported on G2 by RescueTime users:

  • “It’s so easy, you don’t have to do anything. Just work and it will track your activity. It is 0 annoying, as they only notify you of really relevant events.”
  • “I liked that I learned a lot about where my time goes. I can often get distracted when I’m researching something, and end up on a totally unrelated task. FocusTime definitely made me more aware of when I started wandering.”
  • “Rescuetime is a simple to use tool. Does not have a lot of features compared to other applications in the space but more isn’t always better.”

Cons reported on G2 by RescueTime users:

  • “There haven’t been much substantial product updates in the past few years, maybe by design. But I’d love to see more reports and faster loading times for longer time horizons.”
  • “It collects all the data and sends storage to its server. I often worry about the data privacy issues with this software, Have to evaluate the tradeoff.”
  • “Sometimes it will log you off the site and there is no work recorded”

Ranking:

  • G2: 4.1/5
  • Capterra: 4.6/5

RescueTime pricing:

  • Lite: Free plan
  • Premium: $12 per user/month (contains calendar and music integration, history reports, and warmups for Focus Sessions)

Read also: Alternatives to RescueTime

4. Toggl Track

Toggl Track is one of the best time tracking software that enables users to track time on projects and tasks or clients. It offers many features, including time tracking, project management, and reporting capabilities. 

This time-tracking app is easy to use, and its intuitive interface allows teams to create projects, add tags, and start and stop the timer with just a few clicks.

Furthermore, team members can track billable hours and generate reports on employee time and attendance.

With its one-click timers, Toggl ensures ease and efficiency in the time-tracking process, and you can run multiple timers simultaneously.

Toggl Track also offers compatibility between your computer and mobile devices, allowing you to initiate a timer in your browser and pause it on your phone. Even if it’s not one of the basic time-tracking features, having it in some cases might be good.

The reporting and analytics features are somewhat limited, resulting in restricted insights into your time-tracking data.

Toggl remains a reliable time-tracking tool for lawyers, freelancers, and project managers who need a simple time tracking app to manage their tasks.

However, while it is a good option for those looking for a primary time-tracking tool, it may not be the ideal choice for those who need a high level of accuracy, reporting, and analytics features.

Toggl Pros and Cons

ProsCons
Easy setup: Simple setup, allowing users to start tracking time without significant disruptions.Price: Many users consider the paid packages expensive, considering the features available.
Easy to use: Ease of use is a top feature. No extensive training for employees is required.Accuracy: Ease of forgetting to switch between activities when tracking time, resulting in less accurate reports.
Free version: Toggl’s free version — while limited — offers a range of services, allowing employees to track time and export reports. It’s a great way to test the app.Limited features: Toggl sticks to time tracking; it does not include functions like invoicing or scheduling, for example.
Reporting and analytics: The available features are limited for those who want detailed reports.

Pros reported on G2 by Toggl Track users:

  • “The user-friendly interface helps me to simply organize all of my work in one spot, and the reporting option allows me to see how far I’ve come on each project in a particular time frame.”
  • “Toggl enables me to learn from previous projects and estimate better for future projects; I can learn from metrics and improve time estimates”
  • “I like the time tracking reminders in Toggl Track; they help me estimate billable hours accurately and efficiently, while also minimising unbilled hours.”

Cons reported on G2 by Toggl Track users:

  • “One thing I dislike about Toggl Track is that it does not allow me to set a timer for my activities in 5 or 15 minute intervals, thus I cannot obtain correct seconds.”
  • “Setting up workspaces isn’t the nicest part since if you modify information, such as the name, it doesn’t appear to be changed.”
  • “Sometimes gets tricky to update the timer.”

Ranking:

  • G2: 4.6/5
  • Capterra: 4.7/5

Toggl Track pricing:

  • Free plan: 14-day trial
  • Team: $8 per user/month paid annually
  • Business: $13.35 per user/month paid annually
hubstaff time keeping app for iphone

5. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is one of the best employee time-tracking software that offers a comprehensive suite of features designed for employee monitoring and managing time effectively.

It provides accurate time tracking and GPS tracking based on location monitoring, project management features, as well as invoicing functionalities. 

This time-tracking app is a reliable and efficient tool for managing teams and tracking time. The automatic time tracking feature eliminates the need for manual entry and ensures accurate recording of work hours, making payroll and invoicing processes smoother.

The GPS tracking feature makes Hubstaff a competitive time-tracking app for employee hours tracking on the go.

Despite being among the best time-tracking apps for employees, Hubstaff can be quite intrusive for some people and promote toxic micromanagement. 

This is a result of Hubstaff’s employees’ keyboard tracking and mouse activity by measuring the frequency of a user’s mouse and keyboard strokes with activity levels.

Hubstaff – key features

ProsCons
Easy to use: Hubstaff is easy to use, and it has a user-friendly extension and app.Extension: The Chrome Extension could use some work as it crashes frequently.
Price: Hubstaff offers a 14-day free trial. It has a free plan for individuals. Privacy: Some users feel uncomfortable with the level of monitoring provided.
Flexibility: Smaller teams or organizations with a more flexible work structure might find the software to be too robust for them.
Integrations: Hubstaff integrates with over 30 apps, which is not much compared to other options on the market.

Pros reported on G2 by Hubstaff users:

  • “Honestly, Hubstaff is a lifesaver if you manage remote teams or freelance yourself.”
  • “I like how convenient it is to add tasks, keeps track of my employee’s log times, allows me to see what tasks are being worked on and at what percentage of productivity, and enables screen recording to ensure they are working on what they are supposed to be.”
  • “Hubstaff offers an intuitive interface that simplifies time tracking, with robust reporting features that provide valuable insights into productivity. The seamless integration with other project management tools enhances workflow and efficiency”

Cons reported on G2 by Hubstaff users:

  • “It can feel like Big Brother is watching, especially if your work doesn’t require constant computer use. Plus, if you manage a team based on trust, it might send the wrong message that you don’t trust your employees.”
  • “Initially, it can be a little much to understand, but after a day of usage, it is very seemless and flawless.”
  • “Husbtaff integrates with severeal work management systems incuding Monday.com. However the intergration is not great. Most tasks/boards don’t sync. The idea is that employees should be able to track the projects they are working on, which would give the management great data. However, it doesn’t really work.”

Ranking:

  • G2: 4.3/5
  • Capterra: 4.6/5

Hubstaff pricing:

  • Free trial (14-day)
  • Starter: $4.99 per user/month
  • Grow: $7.5 per user/month
  • Team: $10 per user/month
  • Enterprise: $25 per user/month

Tired of Hubstaff?

Find the best time tracking tools that serve as alternative to Hubstaff.

6. TimeCamp

TimeCamp is an employee time-tracking app designed to enhance overall team productivity, allowing team members to log their time entries with ease.

This platform enables you to identify areas of high and low productivity within your team while allowing for employee monitoring and tracking billable and non-billable hours.

All plans provide ample time-tracking functions like time entries, GPS tracking, automatic time tracking, idle time tracking, and keeping track of daily and weekly timesheets.

Paid plans offer additional features, including productivity and time-budget reports, billing and invoicing capabilities, unlimited third-party integrations, and user role assignments.

TimeCamp’s mobile app allows you to accurately track time for your projects, whether you’re on your commute to the office or back home.

This software has a rating of 3.7 stars on the Google Play Store, with some users pointing out bugs that make the experience less pleasant.

TimeCamp – key features

ProsCons
Forever-free plan: TimeCamp’s free plan allows for unlimited users, projects, and tasks. Data accuracy: Some users experience problems with data accuracy.
Limited features: The free version sticks to time tracking, not including features like invoicing or scheduling, for example.
Android App: User reviews on Google point out bugs in the app.

Pros reported on G2 by TimeCamp users:

  • “It’s easy to manage an entire team’s time spent on projects, and it integrates with Monday.com easily””TimeCamp is very easy to set up and use. If you wish, it can track your time, including the use of software. The software is scalable, so it can be used by a tiny firm or by a large company. I like the support which is very timely and helpful.””The logging of timesheets is easy to perform and assigning tasks to relevant work done is the best feature. Also, sorting for tasks and adding minute-by-minute details is very helpful.”

  • Cons reported on G2 by TimeCamp users:
  • “I am concerned about the data that Timecamp collects regarding my browsing and search habits. There’s no transparency about what is done with the data and what levels of granularity of data are available to my managers and seniors.””It can be buggy at times, but overall works wells and suits our needs.””There is some learning of the app required, if you jump right into it there may be some things that trip you up in a minor way.”

  • Ranking:
  • G2: 4.7/5Capterra: 4.7/5

  • TimeCamp pricing:
  • Free forever planStarter:$2.99 per user/monthPremium:$4.99 per user/monthUltimate:$7.99 per user/month

7. Timely

Timely is one of the best time tracking software for employees. It promises to provide precise daily records of all the time you spend in documents, meetings, emails, websites, and video calls with ease of use.

Timely’s most unique feature is the Memory Tracker. This feature allows users to switch between tasks, apps, and meetings while quietly operating in the background, eliminating the need for manual entry.

The Memory Tracker automatically records employees’ activities across different apps and devices. Afterward, it creates comprehensive timelines and provides detailed insights into time allocation.

Note: Memory Tracker is an independent app that you’ll need to install on your computer, besides Timely, which causes friction in the user experience.

Regarding data security, Timely doesn’t support employee screenshots, keystroke monitoring, or other aggressive employee monitoring tactics.

Timely – key features

ProsCons
Easy to use: Timely’s interface is quite intuitive and easy to use.Price: Timely doesn’t have a free version.
Memory tracker feature:  It operates seamlessly in the background, keeping track of all the tasks and activities you engage with throughout your day.Accuracy: The AI tool needs improvement when it comes to tracking time accurately.
Privacy: Timely has a strict anti-surveillance policy that doesn’t allow screenshots and security breaches.Limited features: Timely does not allow invoicing option.

Pros reported on G2 by Timely users:

  • “The daily calendar display shows me what documents, meetings, web pages, etc. I’ve accessed and for how long. This allows me to then record billable time against multiple clients in a single day.”
  • “Timely has revolutionized the way I approach time management. Its intuitive interface allows me to effortlessly track my hours, ensuring that every minute of work is accounted for.”
  • “It allows me to review how I spend my time, so when I look at which projects I spend the most hours on on, it allows me to better allocate it in the future.”

Cons reported on G2 by Timely users:

  • “Sometimes it doesn’t synchronize 100 % across platforms.”
  • “Of course, Timely is not perfect, it utilizes AI and it needs to be trained and sometimes retrained according to your purposes. Sometimes you also have to resync your calendars to show the correct and up-to-date data, and I find it easier to work in the browser instead of the app provided.”
  • “While its automation feature is a standout, it requires a bit of learning for those not tech-savvy. I would prefer more customization options in terms of reporting and data visualization to tailor the app more closely to their specific needs.”

Ranking:

  • G2: 4.7/5
  • Capterra: 4.8/5

Timely pricing:

  • Free trial (14-day)
  • Starter: $9/user per month
  • Premium: $16/user per month
  • Unlimited:$22/user per month ( includes unlimited users)

Read also: The best Timely alternatives

8. ClickUp

Though included in a best time tracking apps list, ClickUp is, in essence, a project management tool that also includes a time-tracking functionality.

This project management software covers features like timers, timesheets, and reporting; ClickUp allows users to track time spent on specific tasks, projects, and other activities.

Additionally, ClickUp offers integrations with popular time-tracking apps, allowing teams to sync data between ClickUp and external time-tracking apps if desired.

Its flexibility lets users choose the time-tracking solution that best fits their needs while leveraging ClickUp’s comprehensive project management features.

ClickUp is one of the best project management tools that allows time tracking. For this reason, it may be overwhelming for teams looking only for an easy-to-use time-tracking solution.

ClickUp – key features

ProsCons
User-friendly interface: ClickUp has an intuitive and user-friendly interface that makes it easy to navigate.Learning curve: Navigating through ClickUp’s functionalities and understanding how to set up time tracking effectively can take some time and effort.
Comprehensive solution: ClickUp offers a wide range of project management features alongside its time-tracking functionality.Feature overload: While ClickUp’s feature-rich nature can be an advantage, it may also be overwhelming for users who only require basic time tracking.
Integrations: ClickUp integrates with various popular tools and platforms.Limited offline access: ClickUp primarily operates online, which means you need an internet connection to access and use its time-tracking features.
Limited time tracking features and reporting

Pros reported on G2 by ClickUp users:

  • “Whether it’s coordinating daily tasks, tracking project progress, or conducting operational meetings, ClickUp proves invaluable in maintaining efficiency and ensuring everyone is on the same page.”
  • “From task assignments and due dates to subtasks, dependencies, and time tracking, ClickUp caters to diverse needs, ensuring all aspects of a project are efficiently managed within one platform.”
  • “Its a comprehensive platform that has helped for my project workflow. It has helped me for time tracking and due dates. ClickUp has everything for me to keep my projects on track and my team aligned.”

Cons reported on G2 by ClickUp users:

  • “While ClickUp’s interface is generally intuitive, I find the initial learning curve steep, especially if they are transitioning from another project management tool. The abundance of features and customization options can be overwhelming for new users, requiring time and effort to grasp fully.”
  • “The mobile app is okay but could be better.”
  • “I have to manage a lot of data so sometimes it takes time to load and stops working without any notification. It would be great if this can work flawlessly or if we can get some notification for the same.”

Ranking:

  • G2: 4.7/5
  • Capterra: 4.7/5

Clickup pricing:

  • Free Forever
  • Unlimited: $7/user per month
  • Business: $12/user per month
  • Enterprise: Contact for pricing

Read also: ClickUp Time Tracking Integration

quickbooks

9. Intuit QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time is known to be a reliable replacement for the Time Doctor app. It is a time-tracking and employee scheduling software designed to help businesses efficiently manage and track employee hours.

With QuickBooks Time, users can create employee work schedules, track and manage employee hours for payroll purposes, and invoice clients based on billable hours. It also features GPS tracking to oversee and coordinate mobile teams and geofencing tracking as a reminder for employees to clock in or out upon entering or leaving a job site.

Real-time reports provide live-time monitoring of employees currently on the job, while the inclusion of overtime alerts helps you avoid exceeding your budgeted hours. Furthermore, you can easily track and approve an employee’s time entries through the convenience of a mobile or desktop app.

QuickBooks Time offers various plans, each comprising a monthly base fee along with a monthly per-user fee. 

QuickBooks – key features

ProsCons
User-friendly interface: The software offers a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and understand.Pricing: It has a monthly base fee along with a monthly per-user fee. Depending on the size of your team, the cost may be a consideration.
Integrations: It integrates smoothly with other QuickBooks products like QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll.Mobile app limitations: Some users may find that the mobile app lacks certain features or experiences occasional performance issues 
Employee scheduling: The software includes employee scheduling capabilities, allowing businesses to manage work shifts and optimize workforce allocation.Limited offline access: It primarily operates online, meaning an internet connection is required to use the software.

Pros reported on G2 by QuickBooks Time users:

  • “Quickbooks time is helpful for tracking the number of hours of work done by people. The upsides of using Quickbooks Time is that the information easily imports into Quickbooks accounting software.”
  • “I like that is great for organizing your time and is very user-friendly. Also, it has mobile access and that it integrates with QuickBooks so you can manage all in one.”
  • “QB Time is a relatively robust time-tracking system that we integrate with QuickBooks. I like the flexibility to create specific jobs/projects and can assign groups of employees to that project.”

Cons reported on G2 by QuickBooks Time users:

  • “Quickbooks has fixed options about stuff you can add so I would like if the application had more flexibility or if you could add your own options and the customer support is not that great.”
  • “The minimum interval is 15 minutes, requiring individuals to clock out 6 minutes later than their finish times to ‘equate’ to the correct working hours.”
  • “What I dislike about Quickbooks Time is the frequent cellphone app updates mean that I need to help the crew periodically update the app on their cellphone.”

Ranking:

  • G2: 4.4/5
  • Capterra: 4.5/5

Intuit QuickBooks pricing:

  • Simple start: $15 per user/month
  • Essentials: $30 per user/month
  • Plus: $45 per user/month
  • Advanced: $100 per user/month
time tracking software harvest

10. Harvest

To conclude our list of the best time tracking tools for employees, let’s take a look at Harvest.

Harvest is one of the best employee time tracking apps that offer a range of features to streamline time management. Besides making time tracking easier, Harvest also helps users automate invoicing and reporting. 

Harvest has quite a long list of integrations, such as analytics & reporting apps, productivity, and finance tools.

This software is accessible through various platforms, including an online version, desktop software, and a dedicated mobile app.

Realistically, Harvest doesn’t present anything groundbreaking but works for those needing a simple app.

Harvest has recently received criticism for the latest updates that, according to users, have made the app slow and difficult to use.

If this app doesn’t suit your needs, you might be interested in our post on time tracker alternatives to Harvest.

Harvest – key features

ProsCons
Free plan: Harvest offers a free trial for 30 days, although it’s limited to one user and two projects.Stability: Users report that recent updates to the mobile app created glitches and made the app slower.
Responsiveness: Track time wherever you work — desktop, browser, and mobileDifficult to use: Users are generally unhappy with the new interface and say it became overly complicated, slow, and clunky.
Connectivity: Some users have reported occasional issues with working offline.

Pros reported on G2 by Harvest users:

  • “It works very well and is very intuitive. It facilitates time tracking for users who need to work on sending invoices to clients and track multiple projects, from multiple devices, complementing several applications.”
  • “It’s super simple to use and takes the hassle out of tracking time. It helps us get a high-level view of how our team is spending time against projects and clients.”
  • “I like how you can access from anywhere, mobile app, desktop app, website, many easy options for quickly tracking time spent on projects.”

Cons reported on G2 by Harvest users:

  • “The UI might occasionally get a little cluttered when managing numerous users and assigning particular tasks while working on large projects with various collaborators.”
  • “Some reporting functionalities are somewhat limited in customization compared to more robust project management tools and software out there.”
  • “I find the process of finding projects to be one of the most frustrating aspects of Harvest. With over fifty projects active at any given time, it can take the same amount of time to type keywords into the search bar to find what I’m looking for without having to manually scroll through all the open projects. This often results in a lengthy and tedious experience that slows down my workflow significantly.”

Ranking:

  • G2: 4.3/5
  • Capterra: 4.6/5

Harvest pricing:

  • Free plan
  • Paid plans starting at $12 per user/month

Conclusion

Implementing an effective employee time tracker can significantly improve productivity, streamline workflows, and optimize resource allocation within your organization. 

By considering the features, user-friendliness, integration capabilities, and scalability of different time-tracking tools, you can select the best solution that aligns with your specific business needs.

FAQ

What is a time tracking app?

Time-tracking apps are software applications designed to help individuals and organizations monitor and record the amount of time dedicated to various tasks, projects, or activities. 

What is the best way to track time for employees?

The best way to track how many hours employees spend on specific task is to use dedicated employee time tracking apps. An employee time tracking app offers features such as automated time capture, timers, and detailed reporting, enabling accurate tracking of working hours.

How does time tracking software work?

Time-tracking software operates by capturing, recording, and analyzing data related to employees’ work activities. This can be achieved through manual input, automated tracking based on app usage or computer activity, or integration with other tools. 

How do employee time tracking apps benefit remote teams?

Employee time tracking apps, essential for remote teams, offer precise time tracking for employees, aiding in remote team management. Particularly beneficial for small businesses, these apps facilitate specific task tracking, ensuring efficient allocation of resources and improved productivity within the team.

How secure are employee time tracking apps?

Employee time tracking apps prioritize security by adhering to regulations like GDPR. With data stored locally, these apps ensure confidentiality and compliance. Whether it’s through an employee time clock app or employee time tracking software itself, sensitive information like tracked time remains protected.

Can employee time tracking apps track billable hours for clients?

Yes, employee time tracking apps can effectively track billable hours for clients. The best time tracking software tools offer features specifically designed for billable hours tracking, allowing users to input billable rates and track the time spent on client-related tasks. This enables accurate invoicing based on the hours worked, ensuring transparency and efficiency in client billing processes, while effectively tracking employee time.

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12 Best Time Tracking Apps for 2024

best time tracking apps

Time tracking apps have revolutionized time tracking. Instead of spending long hours on filling timesheet templates manually, businesses are switching to the best time tracking apps to forget about time tracking and let software do it for them.

This saves tons of time, improves time management, brings in more billable hours and helps to increase revenue.

It’s clear: Time tracking apps simply pay off. But how do you choose the one that works best? For that, check our selection of the best time tracking apps below.

Looking for the best time-keeping app?

Just found it! Timeular is the most simple, smart, and secure time tracking app embraced by over 100,000 users.

The 12 best time tracking apps for your business

  1. Timeular
  2. Harvest
  3. Toggl Track
  4. My Hours
  5. Everhour
  6. Timely
  7. Quickbooks Time
  8. Tmetric
  9. Timeneye
  10. ActivTrak
  11. Insightful
  12. Apploye

1. Timeular: A simple time tracking app for automatic time tracking

Simplicity is one of the key features you need to look for when choosing a top time tracking app.

Automatic time tracking is another.

Timeular provides both. It’s a simple time tracking app and an automatic time tracker that lets you 100% effortlessly manage all time-related matters within a single app: project time tracking, leave tracking, work time and overtime tracking, reporting, and payroll tracking.

Reviews:

  • “I’ve doubled my revenue thanks to Timeular and managed to halve how much I work. Timeular helped me understand where I needed to make changes to become more efficient and this has allowed me to cut down my time spent working.” – Valdemar Alfred, Owner of Valdefar
  • “Tracking in Timeular has increased the amount of hours worked that are reported. Before some things were forgotten and missed off. Now the whole day is in Timeular and we have all of the information we need.” – Roman Haag, Partner at iAgentur
  • “We have become 20% more profitable because everyone is in the habit of time tracking.” – Richard Wingfield, Head Geek at Envision Design

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.6/5
  • Capterra: 4.6/5

Looking for the most effortless a accurate time tracking tool for your team?

“People complain a lot less about time tracking now because of the easy interface of Timeular” – Kaitlin Snow Seamons, Executive Creative Director at Harmon Brothers

For whom:

  • Small, medium-sized, and large teams seeking to simplify time tracking and track time automatically
  • Businesses prioritizing user-friendly and privacy-conscious time-tracking apps over strict time-monitoring
  • Freelancers who want to log hours with ease and bill their time accurately without manual spreadsheets
  • Productivity enthusiasts who want to work more efficiently, better prioritize their tasks

Best for:

  • Keeping all time management matters in a single app
  • Effortless time tracking
  • Automatic time tracking
  • Leave time tracking
  • Secure time tracking WITHOUT employee surveillance
  • Mac time tracking and Windows time tracking

Key features (Read on to learn more details):

Timeular makes time tracking simple and fun

Many time-tracking apps fail to provide accurate time tracking because they are too complex. Instead of simplifying the time tracking process, they overcomplicate it, leading to delayed time reports based purely on guesstimations.

That’s where Timeular comes in. The biggest benefit of Timeular over other apps is that it makes time tracking as easy as ABC.

Smooth user experience, clear dashboards, and simple time tracking methods help to track time 100% accurately in less than 1 minute per day!

Many effortless time-tracking methods to choose from

While using Timeular for project time tracking, you can pick the tracking method that suits you best. That’s particularly handy when you use Timeular with your team, where each individual has their own work style.

There are 3 main time-tracking methods to choose from:

  • Physical time tracker – Track time with an 8-sided cube that sits on your desk and builds your time-tracking habit. Assign activities to each side and flip it to start or stop tracking time for a specific client or activity. Use the Tracker or not, it’s up to you.
  • Automatic time tracking – Delegate the entire time tracking process to Timeular! With the automatic time tracker, you neither need to remember to add new time entries nor start or stop the timer during work. Timeular will suggest time entries based on calendar events as well as apps, docs, and visited websites. The data is stored on your local machine, nobody else can access it.
  • Keyboard shortcuts (aka Quicktrack) – You don’t need to enter the desktop app to start and change your time entry. With one global shortcut, the QuickTrack Popup appears and lets you pick up on previous tasks or start new ones.

“I could never get time tracking to work effectively. That’s changed now thanks to Timeular”

Rachael, Senior Developer

It’s the best time-tracking software for teams and individuals

Timeular is the go-to team time tracking tool embraced by over 100,000 users and thousands of teams that rediscovered the joy and accuracy of time tracking.

Multiple team-oriented features like shared folders, leave tracking, work hours tracking, overtime tracking, automatic timesheet collection, time budget management, and others help thousands of teams streamline time tracking, project management, and payroll.

How an IT Team saves 10 hours a week thanks to Timeular

Read about how Bang&Olufsen, Codeflügel, Austrian Red Cross, Ricola, and many more bigger and smaller teams use Timeular.

“I am not one that finds joy in tracking my time. Thankfully, I can now simply flip the Timeular Tracker”

Melissa, Senior Analyst in Health

Timeular is one of the best time tracking apps for freelancers, too.

Leave and PTO tracking

Timeular offers a seamless PTO tracker – an easy method for adding and monitoring all types of leave requests from the whole team: It avoids the frustration of manually tracking leave requests in spreadsheets.

You don’t need to pay extra for the leave tracking feature. It’s included in all pricing plans.

Devices:

  • Web app
  • Desktop app
  • Mobile app: Android, iOS

Pricing:

Best time tracking tools are simple and automated. Just like Timeular.

“Since we started using Timeular and tracking our time, we’ve never made another mistake in planning, creating accurate proposals or budgeting for clients” – AC Coppens, Founder of THE CATALYSTS

Did you know that Timeular is one of the best productivity apps for iPhone?

time tracking software harvest

2. Harvest

Harvest is one of the best time tracking apps for iPhone. With Harvest, you can track the time spent on each project or individual task, collect the data, and create visual reports that will more easily allow you to outline action plans in the future.

Once a specific task is done, with Harvest, you can send invoices to your clients straight from the app, eliminating the need for separate accounting software. And, if a client ever forgets to pay on time, Harvest will send an automatic reminder for you.

This time-tracking tool is great for freelancers, as the billing and accounting features are super handy if you’re working by yourself. If you don’t need to track the time of more than 2 projects, you can use Harvest as a free time-tracking app.

Track time on your desktop or mobile or by integrating Harvest with your favorite app. You can do that via Zapier, their native integrations, browser extensions, etc. 

Side note: Read our blog if you want to know why Harvest is a reliable alternative to RescueTime.

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.3/5
  • Capterra: 4.6/5

Key features:

  • Basic time tracking
  • Automatic invoice creation
  • Managing online payments
  • Visual reports

Integrate Harvest with Timeular and track time with zero effort

Pros reported on G2 by Harvest users:

  • “The software is good at very basic time tracking.”
  • “Harvest’s expense tracking function is what I appreciate best about it”
  • “It allows you to easily log your time to many different projects and allows admins to review time at scale.”

Cons reported on G2 by Harvest users:

  • “Some reporting functionalities are somewhat limited in customization compared to more robust project management tools and software out there.”
  • “Must be connected to internet to work.”
  • What I don’t like about Harvest is the options for sending notifications or reports. I find the tool a bit too simple at times and would like to have more flexibility

Devices:

  • Desktop app
  • Mobile app
  • No web app

Pricing:

  • Free plan available for 1 seat, 2 projects
  • Paid plans start at $10.80/seat/month

Side note: Read our blog if you want to know why Harvest is a reliable alternative to RescueTime

Read our guide and find the best time tracking tips you can adopt.

3. Toggl Track

Toggl Track, a top time-tracking app, offers seamless integration with over 100 tools, including Asana, Zapier, Jira, Salesforce, and more, allowing effortless collaboration with your team’s preferred software.

With Toggl Track, you can effortlessly track time across the web, desktop, and mobile apps, as well as through the browser extension, with automatic synchronization of all your time entries.

As Toggl Track is one of the best time tracking apps, the pricing is a bit higher than in some other tools, so make sure you keep that in mind when choosing this tracker.

Integrate Toggl with Timeular and track time with zero effort

Key features of Toggl Track:

  • Offline tracking with a mobile app
  • One-click syncs across multiple platforms
  • Project management features like project estimates, alerts and historical billable rates
  • Anti-surveillance policy

Find which one is better for you: Timeular vs Toggl.

Pros reported on G2 by Toggl Track users:

  • “It makes it simple to measure time spent on tasks and projects”
  • “The user-friendly interface helps me to simply organize all of my work in one spot”
  • “The mobile app makes it easy to track my time from anywhere, which is perfect when I’m running errands or attending meetings outside of the office.”

Cons reported on G2 by Toggl Track users:

  • “I’ve encountered a couple instances when the finish times of my sessions were not captured in the desktop app.”
  • “One thing I dislike about Toggl Track is that it does not allow me to set a timer for my activities in 5 or 15 minute intervals, thus I cannot obtain correct seconds.”
  • “I find the tediousness of tracking time with Toggl Track to be a major drawback. It would be helpful if it was easier to record forgotten times and collaborate on projects with other users.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.6/5
  • Capterra: 4.7/5

Devices:

  • mobile app
  • desktop app

Pricing:

  • Free plan for up to 5 users
  • 30-day free trial for all paid options
  • Paid plans start at $9/month per user
my hours time tracking app

4. My Hours

My Hours is a free time tracking app with a paid plan for unlimited users. In both pricing plans you can track unlimited projects and clients, replacing messy manual timesheets with a dedicated software.

Project management features like analyzing project costs, creating time estimates, and tracking budgets make My Hours one of the best time-tracking tools for project management.

Another thing worth mentioning is that My Hours is one more good time tracking app on our list that doesn’t allow time monitoring through screenshots or monitor recording.

Key features:

  • Simple and clear UI
  • Multiple integrations
  • Anti-surveillance policy

Pros reported on G2 by MyHours users:

  • “Very easy to use and set up multiple clients, projects, contractors and bill rates.”
  • “Simple to use, and easy to launch both using the web or the Mobile app.”
  • “Allows me to easily monitor where my teams time is being spent. From a management perspective I have quick insights on where there’s lack of efficiency for various projects.”

Cons reported on G2 by MyHours users:

  • “I think the dashboard view can be improved.”
  • “I wish the exported reports looked and felt more similar to the online platform. I find there to be a small disconnect with what’s included in the exported reports vs. online.”
  • “On the basic plan the reports are very simple”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.6/5
  • Capterra: 4.8/5

Devices:

  • Web app
  • Mobile apps
  • Browser extension

Pricing:

  • Free plan
  • Paid plan from $8/month per user
time tracker everhour

5. Everhour

Everhour is one of the best time tracker software that helps managers stay on top of important things and workflows such as invoicing, payroll, and budgeting.

Get simple and flexible project billing, prioritize tasks, set budgets to track progress in real-time, receive timely notifications, and much more. Like many other apps, this app integrates management software such as Trello, Asana, Monday, and Jira.

Besides being focused on budgeting, payroll, and invoices, Everhour also allows you to create tasks, organize them in sections, and add time estimates.

Everhour is one of the best time-tracking apps for small businesses.

Top features:

  • Set billing and budgeting with timely notifications
  • Timecard calculator
  • Invoicing and reporting
  • Weekly timesheet template

Pros reported on G2 by Everhour users:

  • “One of the things I like most about Everhour is their availability to integrate with several other tools.”
  • “The reporting feature is so easy to use and can be configured any way we need.”
  • “The reports section is awesome for invoicing clients, and also to know when to charge more.”

Cons reported on G2 by Everhour users:

  • “From time to time, Everhour may glitch and not sync with the apps properly. But that has been a rare occasion”
  • “I would say that Everhour has a steep learning curve, and it can take some time to get used to the interface and features.”
  • “Exported reports don’t look the best, design related.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.7/5
  • Capterra: 4.7/5

Pricing:

  • Free plan for up to 5 seats
  • Paid plans start at $8.50/month per user
Timely - time tracking app

Automatically track your time with no effort

6. Timely

Used as a reliable alternative to Timecamp, Timely emerges as one of the smartest time trackers, offering automatic time entries for logged hours and billable hours. It serves as a reliable alternative to Timecamp, ensuring accurate timesheets without manual input.

With this time tracking app, you can track time effortlessly, as it automatically captures time spent across web and desktop apps. This results in precise daily records of activities, including documents, meetings, emails, websites, and video calls, enhancing productivity and workflow management.

Moreover, Timely’s task planning feature facilitates efficient project timeline planning, allowing users to manage tasks with drag-and-drop functionality. This aids in maintaining a clear vision of the day and week, crucial for project completion within specified date ranges.

Top features:

  • Protect team privacy and trust
  • Automatic time tracking
  • Visual planning

Pros reported on G2 by Timely users:

  • “You can integrate it with other apps to track your work.”
  • “It helps me to visualize where I spend my time.”
  • “The integration with Google Calendar and Zoom is also useful”

Cons reported on G2 by Timely users:

  • “The price is a bit high”
  • “While its automation feature is a standout, it requires a bit of learning for those not tech-savvy.”
  • “Occasionally the memories app fails to sync with timely and track my activity, which makes it difficult to log time if I don’t immediately log it and forget what I did that day.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.8/5
  • Capterra: 4.7/5

Pricing:

  • Free trial
  • Paid plans with unlimited projects start at $9/month per user

TIP: Read our post if you’re looking for an alternative to Timely.

quick books time keeper app

7. QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time is a top-rated time-tracking app provided by QuickBooks, a robust accounting software.

QuickBooks Time covers all the basic tracking features you would expect, such as timesheet templates, various integrations, reports, etc. However, it does have something special – it’s a part of the QuickBooks family.

So, if by any chance your accounting department is working with QuickBooks, it integrates smoothly.

With QuickBooks Time you can clock in with just one click, download the time clock app for Android or IOS, build schedules for your teams and integrate with other software you’re already using.

Top features:

  • GPS and mileage tracking
  • PTO management
  • Employee scheduling

Pros reported on G2 by Quickbooks Time users:

  • “Quickbooks Time is helpful for tracking the number of hours of work done by people.”
  • “It’s very intuitive, you can start using it with minimal prior experience.”
  • “It has mobile access and that it integrates with QuickBooks so you can manage all in one.”

Cons reported on G2 by Quickbooks Time users:

  • “Sometimes for no reason it will clock them out or clock them back in when they are not working.”
  • “The minimum interval is 15 minutes, requiring individuals to clock out 6 minutes later than their finish times to ‘equate’ to the correct working hours.”
  • “It was extremely difficult to get the PTO function to work properly.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.5/5
  • Capterra: 4.7/5

Devices:

  • Desktop app
  • Mobile app
  • Tablet kiosk

Pricing:

  • 30-day free plan
  • Paid plans start at $15/month per user

8. TMetric

TMetric is a free time tracking app with paid options. It’s one of the best time-keeping apps, offering a range of useful features for time management, including billing and invoicing, time-off management, and productivity monitoring. However, its employee monitoring features, such as screenshots and activity tracking, are intrusive and unnecessary.

Users praise TMetric for its accuracy and simplicity, highlighting its clear interface. However, some users have reported occasional lag, especially with a weaker internet connection, and minor issues with taskbar precision.

Despite these drawbacks, TMetric ranks highly on platforms like G2 and Capterra, offering flexibility across desktop, mobile, and browser extensions. It’s a reliable choice for tracking billable hours and managing time entries.

Top features:

  • Screenshots capturing
  • Sites and apps monitoring
  • Billing and invoicing
  • Time off management

Pros reported on G2 by TMetric users:

  • “It is a very accurate app. It shows the exact time of what I’m doing during work time.”
  • “The user interface is quite simple.”
  • “The interface provides a clear overview of your time entries and allows for quick and efficient time tracking.”

Read about effective time management.

Cons reported on G2 by TMetric users:

  • “If you leave a pc and start using a different pc it may conflict with your time schedule. So people end up having to completely delete and reinstall the program as a workaround.”
  • “Well, sometimes Tmetric lag especially when the internet is not that strong”
  • “This app sometimes won’t show the taskbar precisely, even if I’m already logged in.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.6/5
  • Capterra: 4.6/5

Devices:

  • Desktop app
  • Mobile app for iOS and Android
  • Browser extension

Pricing:

  • Free plan for unlimited projects and clients
  • Paid plans start at $5/month per user

9. Timeneye

Timeneye is a simple time-tracking app designed for seamless integration with the Microsoft Office Suite. It offers easy integration with tools like Outlook Calendar, Microsoft Planner, or Power BI, enhancing your workflow efficiency.

When you connect Timeneye with a Microsoft tool, all your projects sync automatically, ensuring accurate and up-to-date tracking. Time tracking within Microsoft tools automatically updates your time entries in Timeneye, providing real-time data for your reports.

With Timeneye, you can analyze patterns and make data-driven decisions to improve efficiency. Its tailored approach to Microsoft Office Suite makes it a valuable tool for enhancing productivity and workflow management.

Top features:

  • Tailored to Microsoft 365
  • Effortless tracking app
  • Simple pricing
  • Task progress monitoring

Pros reported on G2 by Timeneye users:

  • “I can easily create projects and keep track of my time.”
  • “The user interface is simple and intuitive”
  • “I found Timeneye a great choice for simply tracking time, split out by categories and tags, without being burdened by the invasive auto-tracking features of some software.”

Cons reported on G2 by Timeneye users:

  • “If the online interface and the Timeneye Android app are used simultaneously, connectivity issues may arise.”
  • “Reporting is still basic and could be improved.”
  • “Timeneye doesn’t offer some of the methods of tracking time available from other solutions. For instance, it won’t auto-track your apps.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.5/5
  • Capterra: 4.8/5

Devices:

  • Desktop app
  • Mobile apps
  • Browser extensions

Pricing:

  • 30-day free trial
  • $6/month per user

10. ActivTrak

ActivTrak is one of the best time-tracking apps, offering a comprehensive suite of tools for workforce management and time management. It assists with tasks like monitoring working hours, schedule adherence, team performance, and workload balance, providing insights into productivity metrics that can be beneficial for teams.

However, it’s important to note that while ActivTrak provides valuable insights, its heavy emphasis on employee monitoring raises ethical concerns.

Despite its capabilities in tracking activity, reporting, and ensuring compliance, this approach can create an atmosphere of surveillance within the workplace, undermining trust and autonomy.

Read also: Monday.com Time tracking integration

Top features:

  • Employee productivity monitoring: activity logs, screenshots
  • Workload management
  • Hybrid & remote workforce management

Pros reported on G2 by ActivTrak users:

  • “The dashboard helps our team leads clearly see how their teams are doing.”
  • “The information being gathered is helpful and informative.”
  • “I like that the stats are very granular yet can be rolled up as well.”

Cons reported on G2 by ActivTrak users:

  • “I feel like sometimes the amount of information can be overwhelming and there are too many difference sections of information.”
  • “Activtrak does have a longer learning curve, and how the individual and overall organization learns to use it should be factored in during implementation.”
  • “Understanding the breakdown of the data is more difficult for an average user.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.4/5
  • Capterra: 4.6/8

Devices:

  • Web app

Pricing:

  • Free plan for up to 3 users
  • Paid plans start at $10/month per user
insightful-time-tracker-app

11. Insightful

Insightful is a comprehensive productivity tool tailored to streamline task management across various industries.

Equipped with features like attendance tracking and automatic time mapping, Insightful facilitates seamless team coordination and project optimization. Its offline functionality enables uninterrupted time tracking, ideal for remote work setups.

However, Insightful’s monitoring capabilities extend to invasive practices such as taking screenshots, logging activities, and tracking website and app usage. These features intrude on employee privacy and may foster a culture of surveillance rather than empowerment.

Top features:

  • Employee monitoring through screenshots, activity tracking, and more
  • Automatic time mapping
  • Attendance tracking

Pros reported on G2 by Insightful users:

  • “I appreciate the interactive and helpful customer service”
  • “Clear UI that has all metrics that I required”
  • “I can track the hours I work on every project, if you have a problem with the software they help you really quickly to solve it”

Cons reported on G2 by Insightful users:

  • “The way users are calculated is extremely advantageous to the vendor. They pick up built-in/system accounts and charge for those without any way to control the cost or limit the system account monitoring.”
  • “Not so easy to check time per project spent by the whole team.”
  • “I don’t like the fact that it doesn’t run in a specific time zone. If I move to a different time zone, it will use the time on the computer to clock in.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.7/5
  • Capterra: 4.7/5

Devices:

  • Desktop app

Pricing:

  • 7-day free plan
  • Paid plans start at $6.40/month per user
Aploye time monitoring  app

12. Apploye

Apploye is a top-rated time tracking software that provides a robust time-tracking system tailored for hybrid and remote work environments. It offers essential time tracking features such as task management, time off management, and project tracking.

However, it also includes intrusive employee surveillance functionalities like random screenshot capture and real-time monitoring of application and website usage.

While these time tracking features may seem beneficial for monitoring team productivity, they raise serious concerns about employee privacy and autonomy. Such invasive monitoring practices can erode trust between employers and employees, leading to a negative work environment.

Top features:

  • Random computer screenshots, instant screenshots, tracking idle time
  • GPS location tracking
  • Attendance management
  • Team management features

Pros reported on G2 by Apploye users:

  • “Easy setup, all type reporting, easy to manage user and get invoice ready”
  • “Since it allows me to view the end-to-end lifecycle right from time spent by each employee per project till payments, it helps us keep a check on all the ongoing projects.”
  • “Apart from time tracking, it also provides a Task Management feature that helps organizations monitor employees’ productivity’

Cons reported on G2 by Apploye users:

  • “There were some downsides to Apploye, namely, the screenshot tool, which some employees felt invasive. There needs to be a level of trust between employer and employee since no one (even the superstars) works at 100% focus during all working hours. Everyone needs a mini break to surf the web or do something not work-related, so if a screenshot captures that, it caused friction.”
  • “It’s a great desktop app, but would be great to have some more integration options.”
  • “There were some downsides to Apploye, namely, the screenshot tool, which some employees felt invasive.”

Rankings:

  • G2: 4.5/5
  • Capterra: 4.9/5

Devices:

  • Desktop app
  • Mobile app
  • Web app

Pricing:

  • 10-day free plan
  • Paid plans start with $2.5/month per user

How to choose the best time-tracking app?

Choosing the best time-tracking tool is vital to working smarter, not harder, but how do you know which one to choose? What are the most important things you need to consider before making your choice?

In our opinion, you should consider things such as the type of device you use for work, which integrations your time tracker should have to not mess with your workflow, the investment you’re willing to make, and the size of your business, among others.

Keep reading and get to know all of them!

1. Device

Time trackers are usually made for specific devices, such as Windows, IOS, Android, or Mac, and you must have that in mind when choosing.

For instance, if you have a lot of meetings and work out of the office most of the time, you probably should consider an app made for IOS or Android. However, if you work from the office, you’ll benefit more from a Windows or Mac app, with extra features.

2. Integrations

Time tracking should be easy, not something dreadful. Therefore, when looking for the perfect software for you, consider your usual workflow and aim to find a tool that fits.

For instance, if you’re already using project management tools such as Trello or Asana, make sure that you choose a time-tracking tool that integrates smoothly.

3. Pricing

Your budget is one of the key points when choosing the time-tracking software for your team.

Depending on what your needs are, such as the number of users, key features, and the number of workspaces, you’ll find different price points. Keep that in mind when choosing your time tracker. 

4. Business size

The size of your business and team is probably one of the things that has a bigger impact when choosing the perfect time-tracking app.

Depending on the size of your business features like budgeting, ease of use, reporting, permissions, price, and others can be decisive factors. 

Time management

5. Software features

You should ask yourself, what features does your time-tracker need to have to work for your team?

Consider your workflow and note down all the characteristics your tool should have. Is it just the basics, or will you need some special features? Will you track time with your team? Is tracking billable hours important for your work? 

Some of the more basic features would be to:

  • Track the time you spend on activities in realtime or add it manually
  • Create projects and tasks, and associate with your clients
  • Add tags depending on the type of work you have
  • Indicate the billable time and set your hourly rates
  • Generate reports for clients, and export them to PDF, CSV, and Excel

However, depending on your needs, you may need some extra features.

Things like customizing your reports, managing invoices and payroll hours, using the software offline, and accessing it across various devices are some of the features that not all time trackers may have.

Make sure you check every single detail before you make a final decision.

6. Type of work: freelancer, remote

Depending on your job type, sometimes trackers may be better for you as your needs will differ depending on whether you run a small business or a large company. Each type of business has its requirements.

For example, if you work as a freelancer, you’ll probably appreciate a straightforward time tracker with a good price and integrated with billing/invoicing software. 

On the other hand, if you work remotely, you’re probably working with a team, while freelancers usually work alone. Therefore, you’ll need a time tracker that includes more users and a team view to know what everyone is up to. 

Now that you know what you should consider before choosing the best time-tracking software for your team and business.

7. Customer service

Last but not least, make sure that the company is providing excellent customer service that helps you understand tracking data and resolve any issues that might occur.

Conclusion

There you go, hope you found this article helpful!

All the tools covered can help you with task management, scheduling, effective time management, and weekly planning. However, the best time tracker software is the one that perfectly aligns with your business needs and goals.

Most businesses aren’t thinking of all the things we mentioned previously when they start looking for a time-tracking solution.

To be as successful as you wish, you need to cover every detail to get the perfect match.

We can’t say this enough, time tracking allows you to make more intelligent decisions about how you price and run projects, how you schedule your team, and even how you spend your day.

It can be a decisive factor in whether your company is profitable or not. Hopefully, you’ll be able to find the perfect match for you thanks to our list!

FAQ

What is time tracking?

Time tracking is a way of accurately tracking how much time you spend on tasks or projects.

How can time tracking help increase productivity? 

By knowing exactly how much time is spent on each task in your daily life, you get a better idea of how to optimize your processes. Once everything is optimized and improved, you’ll less likely to invest your time in anything else apart from your work. This will help you to remain focused on your tasks and projects. As a result: you’ll be faster and more efficient when completing your tasks.

How much does a time tracker cost? 

Time tracking software rate may vary considerably depending on features, business/enterprise size, pricing models, etc. The Point is it depends on what you’re looking for, there’s no specific price for it.

Which time-tracking apps are more suitable for small businesses?

The perfect time tracking for a small business depends is Timeular since it’s versatile, accurate and reliable.

What is the best time-tracking app for Android?

There are a lot of apps on the market but we can ensure you that Timeular is one of the best time-tracking apps for Android.

What is the best time tracker for contractors?

Timeular is one of the best time trackers for contractors.

What is the best time-tracking app for iPhone?

Timeular is one of the best apps you can choose. Get to know the top-rated iPhone time tracking apps in our blog.

You might be interested in:

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Timely Alternatives: 5 Top Time Tracking Tools

While Timely has captured attention as it was the first AI time-tracking tool on the market, it’s not the most precise and has left many users lamenting the bugs and task slip-ups that fall through the cracks. 

The AI for suggested logs is decent but needs a lot of room for improvement before it will be a feature I use regularly.

G2 review

Timely indeed has all the baseline features of a time-tracking app, but its AI still lacks precision, the tool is missing a solid invoicing feature, and the price wall is a pain point.

Yes, Timely is expensive, and that’s also why you might be here today because you need to find a valid Timely alternative to track your time.

Looking for an AI-powered alternative to Timely?

Timeular is an effortless, secure, and smart time-tracking solution designed for teams aiming to track billable hours, maximize productivity, and generate precise client reports.

Key takeaways on Timely alternatives:

The top alternative to Timely is Timeular as it provides overall more value at a lower price, and it includes:

  • Multiple tracking methods, including a physical tracking gadget;
  • Next level data privacy, as users’ data is stored only locally, not in the Cloud as Timely;
  • AI time entry suggestions based on calendar events and past entries;
  • All features in one app, whereas Timely requires you to download the Memory tracker (its AI brain) separately, which causes friction;
  • An AI-generated productivity insights dashboard that Timely doesn’t include;

Other Timely alternatives mentioned:

  • Harvest excels with invoicing and payments, which are lacking in Timely, but relies heavily on manual input;
  • Clockify facilitates project management and time off tracking, surpassing Timely’s features, but its employee privacy feature has raised concerns;
  • Toggl Track offers a user-friendly interface, includes a free version, and is a cost-effective alternative to Timely. However, its free version has limited functionalities;
  • RescueTime targets personal productivity with smart coaching, a niche Timely doesn’t focus on. It might not be suited for teams or project tracking.

5 Alternatives to Timely

In the following section, you’ll be introduced to five Timely alternatives: Timeular, Harvest, Clockify, Toggl Track, and RescueTime. Each offers unique features and pricing structure, helping with effective time management. Let’s dive in!

1. Timeular

Timeular is the most effortless, smart, and secure automatic time-tracking app designed for teams. As of today, more than 100,000 users are leveraging Timeular, like Google, Audi, Toyota, McKinsey, and Bang & Olufsen.

Timeular offers many features overlapping with Timely, as, at the core, their time-tracking system is powered by AI. While similar, Timeular is cheaper, prioritizes users’ privacy by storing their data solely on their computers, not in the cloud, and is more user-friendly.

Like Timely, in Timeular, you can track billable and non-billable hours, forget about manually inputting time entries, and leave Timeular to track your time automatically for you.

How an IT Team saves 10 hours a week thanks to Timeular

Learn how Bang & Olufsen retrieved 10 hours of work and changed the IT structure to work more efficiently by tracking time with Timeular

Time tracking is more effortless in Timeular

Timeular makes time tracking effortless with its incredibly intuitive interface and multiple tracking methods. While in Timely, the only way to track time is in the calendar interface, in Timeular, you can track time in many ways, based on what one suits you best:

  • Flipping the physical time-tracking gadget, which once turned to another side, starts tracking an activity for you. The tracker can record up to 1,000 activities.

Note: while it is recommended, as it fosters a time-tracking habit, the gadget is not mandatory.

  • Enable automatic time-tracking – do your task, and Timeular will record your work in the background and automatically add AI time entry suggestions to your calendar – so you never forget the time spent on tasks.
Timeular - best AI tools
  • Calendar interface automatic time-tracking – create timesheets automatically based on saved app usage, visited websites, and calendar events. Click on the suggestions in the user-friendly interface, and your timesheet is done. Your data will be prefiltered to prevent information overflow.
  • QuickTrack – using keyboard shortcuts to start an activity with a click.

Track time more accurately with Timeular than Timely

In Timeular, tracking time is more accurate because:

  • It brings many tracking methods together;
  • Sends custom reminders to build a time-tracking habit;
  • Allows to write notes, add tags and mentions to the time entries, which increases the level of detail of each task;
  • Allows a flexible setup with folders, activities, and tags to track time across your clients and projects the way you need it;
  • You can automate the start and stop of time tracking to reduce manual work and human error;
  • Contrary to Timely, Timeular has all its features in one app, whereas Timely requires you to download the Memory tracker separately.

How a software house tracks time against estimations to improve accuracy

“The CodeFlügel team is now in the habit of tracking all of their time. Thanks to Timeular it’s much easier, much more fun and much more convenient.” – Claus Degendorfer, CEO of CodeFlügel

Track billable hours and budgets

Timeular is the best billable hours tracker and has gone further than other time-tracking tools. You can track billable and non-billable hours, but the very same task can be set as billable or not whenever you think it is necessary. 

With Timeular, you can also closely monitor project budgets, ensuring efficient oversight of their progress and profitability. Swiftly identify projects at risk of exceeding budgets, and quickly reallocate your team’s time to prioritize where it’s most needed.

Timeular allows easy and intuitive reporting

Timeular streamlines the process of billable hours tracking and generates transparent, detailed reports for your clients. With its meticulous activity breakdown, every small task is recorded and integrated into your invoice.

Moreover, you can export these reports in PDF, XLSX, or CSV formats for convenient use.

Timeular’s features that Timely is missing

  • The physical gadget loved by all its users

The Timeular Tracker is a physical device that resembles a multi-sided dice, with each side representing a different activity or task category. It’s a tangible way to track your time effortlessly. You simply flip the device to the corresponding side that matches your working activity.

For example, if you’re working on a project, you flip the Timeular Tracker to the project side. If you switch to answering emails, you flip it to the email side, and so on.

This way, you can accurately log how much time you spend on each task throughout your day. You can track up to 1,000 activities with the tracker.

time tracker

Track your time with a physical Tracker

“I find that using the Tracker speeds things up and makes it really easy to track my time.” Noah Ruseng Bested, Bang & Olufsen

  • Quicktrack – a feature that allows you to track time with keyboard shortcuts. It allows you to log activities directly from your computer without opening the app.
  • Antisurveillance – managers are allowed to check the tracked data of an employee only with a 12-hour delay on the same day. Your team will track honestly only if they don’t feel spied on and their tracked work is not weaponized.
  • Data privacy – your data is stored solely on your local computer, not in the cloud as in Timely.
  • Leave tracking– easily manage the leaves and absences of your team! Track your employee time off and view leave statistics for streamlined administration and improved resource allocation.
  • Overtime tracking – so you can keep your team in check and maintain their work-life balance.
  • The productivity insights dashboard generated by AI is used to identify app usage, procrastination patterns, and times when you are productive or unproductive.

Timeular - best AI tools
  • Notes and Tags – Timeular enables you to add notes and tags to your time entries. Notes allow you to provide additional context or details about a specific time entry or activity.

For instance, if you were working on a particular project, you might add a note describing the progress or tasks completed during that session. Conversely, tags are useful for categorizing and filtering your time entries based on keywords or labels. You might use tags like “meeting,” “research,” or “client work” to organize your time data efficiently.

  • Rounding – rounding is a feature that lets you adjust the time entries to a specific granularity in your reports. For example, you might set the rounding to 15 minutes.

If you worked on an activity for 7 minutes, it would be automatically rounded to 15 minutes in your report. Rounding can be beneficial for simplifying time records, billing clients, or getting a broader picture of how you allocate your time throughout the day.

Timeular: the best (and cheapest) AI-powered alternative to Timely

Timeular comes at a lower price than Timely and offers a 30-day free trial against Timely’s 14-day.

Timeular yearly planTimely yearly plan
Personal – $7.50 p/m Starter – $9  per user per month
Personal Pro – $11.50 p/mPremium – $16 per user per month
Team – $15.80 p/mUnlimited – $22 per user per month

Bye bye Timely. Welcome Timeular!

Claim your 30-day free trial with Timeular. Start your time tracking today.

2. Harvest

Harvest is a popular time-tracking tool that constitutes a valid Timely alternative. It’s better suited for small businesses as it stands out for streamlining invoicing and payment processes. Nevertheless, Harvest still relies heavily on manual input, making time-tracking tools an effort and the process itself time-consuming.

Read also: The Best Harvest Alternatives in 2023

Harvest’s Features that Timely is missing

time tracking software harvest

Project and task tracking

Users can create and organize projects with specific tasks in Harvest. This feature enables better organization and categorization of work, making it easier to allocate time and resources effectively.

Expense tracking

Harvest includes expense tracking capabilities, allowing users to record and categorize project-related expenses. This feature aids in comprehensive project cost tracking and ensures that expenses are accurately billed to clients or accounted for in project budgets.

Client and team management

With Harvest, users can manage client information and team members. This feature facilitates seamless collaboration, client-specific billing, and team-based reporting and insights.

Invoicing and payments

The software enables easy and customizable invoicing based on tracked time and expenses. Users can generate professional invoices and receive payments directly through Harvest, streamlining the billing process.

Timesheet approvals

For team-based projects, Harvest provides timesheet approval functionality. Project managers or supervisors can review and approve timesheets before billing or calculating payroll hours and processing, ensuring accuracy and accountability.

Harvest’s vs. Timely pricing options

Harvest yearly planTimely yearly plan
Free planStarter – $9  per user per month
Pro – $10.80 per user per monthPremium – $16 per user per month
Unlimited – $22 per user per month

Pros of Harvest

  • Cheaper than Timely
  • Generate invoices
  • Streamlines payments
  • Offer time off scheduling

Cons of Harvest

  • Manual time tracking
  • The free plan is heavily limited
  • There’s no automatic time-tracking
  • The learning curve is pretty steep

3. Clockify

clockify - time tracking software for contractors

Clockify is a team management tool for time tracking, billing, and scheduling. Like Timely, Clockify allows automatic time tracking.

Despite the tools giving it best when used in teams, Clockify has faced criticism for its disregard of employee privacy rights. The software’s handling of user data has raised concerns among users and privacy advocates, making it a subject of controversy.

Read also: Toggl Track vs Clockify

Clockify’s features that Timely misses

Project and task management:

Organize and categorize work into projects and tasks for better tracking and reporting.

Time off tracking

Manage employee time off, vacations, and leaves to ensure efficient workforce planning.

Chrome extension

Start and stop timers directly from your browser using the Chrome extension.

GPS tracking

When employees are using the app, their location is displayed on a map view

Employee monitoring features

Capture screenshots of employees’ computers regularly, offering insights into their on-the-job activities.

Pricing options

Clockify yearly planTimely yearly plan
Basic – $3.99 per user per monthStarter – $9 per user per month
Standard – $5.49 per user per monthPremium – $16 per user per month
Pro – $ 7.99 per user per monthUnlimited – $22 per user per month
Enterprise – $11.99 per user per month

Pros of Clockify

  • It is cheaper than Timely
  • Allows time off tracking
  • Has automatic tracking
  • Timesheets approval

Cons of Clockify

  • Intrude employees privacy
  • Has limited integrations
  • Clunky mobile app
  • Limited reporting functionalities

TIP: Read Clockify vs Timeular and find why Timeular is the best

4. Toggl

toggl time tracking

Toggl is a popular timesheet tool offering a wide range of features; time tracking can be done either automatically or manually. Toggl is a reasonable alternative to Timely for the ones looking for a free tool with a streamlined timesheet experience, offline tracking, and project estimates. Unfortunately, like Timely, it has a pay-per-seat subscription but still remains cheaper.

Read also: Timeular vs. Toggl

Toggl’s features that Timely misses

Chrome extension

It enhances the user experience by allowing quick and convenient access to time tracking without the need to switch between different applications.

More integrations

Toggl seamlessly integrates with various project management and collaboration tools like Asana, Trello, Slack, and more. This integration ensures smooth data synchronization and enhances workflow efficiency.

Pomodoro timer

Toggl incorporates a Pomodoro timer, a technique that encourages productivity by breaking work into intervals with short breaks in between. Users can stay focused and maintain a work-life balance using this feature.

Offline mode

Toggl supports offline mode, allowing users to track time even when not connected to the internet. Once the connection is restored, the data is automatically synced.

Toggl vs. Timely pricing options

Toggl yearly planTimely yearly plan
Free – up to 5 usersStarter – $9 per user per month
Starter – $9 per user per monthPremium – $16 per user per month
Premium – $18 per user per monthUnlimited – $22 per user per month
Enterprise-tailored solution

Pros of Toggl

  • It’s a cheaper option
  • It offers a freemium version
  • Detail reporting
  • Automated time tracking

Cons of Toggl

  • The free version has minimal functionalities
  • There’s a steep learning curve
  • Has no AI integrated

5. RescueTime

RescueTime tracking app

A reliable alternative to DeskTime, RescueTime is a fully developed automated time tracking solution and competes well with Timely. Nevertheless, RescueTime is primarily focused on personal productivity and not project tracking.

RescueTime’s features that Timely misses

Smart coaching

Sends custom messages based on past activities. The messages are focused on advising for productivity and help users to stay focused and on track.

Activity categorization

The tool categorizes tracked activities into productive, neutral, or distracting categories, providing users with insights into how their time is being utilized.

Goal setting

Users can set productivity goals based on time spent in specific categories or on particular tasks, encouraging them to achieve their targets and work efficiently.

Offline time tracking

RescueTime tracks time spent on offline activities, like meetings, calls, or breaks, ensuring a comprehensive view of users’ time allocation.

Productivity scores

The tool assigns productivity scores to websites and activity categories, indicating their impact on users’ productivity.

FocusTime

RescueTime’s FocusTime feature allows users to block distracting websites and applications during dedicated work or study sessions, promoting better focus and productivity.

Pricing options

RescueTime yearly planTimely yearly plan
Free Starter – $9 per user per month
$12 per monthPremium – $16 per user per month
Unlimited – $22 per user per month

Pros of RescueTime

  • Helps users improve focus and productivity
  • Has smart coaching alerts
  • Automated tracking
  • Offline tracking

Cons of RescueTime

  • It’s not suited for teams or projects
  • It does not support billable hours tracking
  • Buggy app

Read also: The best alternatives to RescueTime

What is the best alternative to Timely?

The article thoroughly compares five-time tracking tools that serve as alternatives to Timely. While Timely boasts AI-powered features, users often feel dissatisfied with bugs and limitations. Additionally, the high cost and lack of a free version further contribute to the search for more suitable options.

Among the five alternatives introduced—Timeular, Harvest, Clockify, Toggl, and RescueTime—Timeular emerges as the standout choice. It not only offers automated time tracking but also excels in providing the most effortless and accurate methods for tracking time.

Moreover, its cost-effectiveness in comparison to Timely makes it even more appealing. The user-friendly interface, diverse tracking options, and robust capabilities for monitoring billable hours and budgets make Timeular the highly recommended alternative for time tracking needs.

Other articles you might be interested in:

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10 Best Time Doctor Alternatives

best AI marketing tool: timeular

Time Doctor has gained popularity as a time tracker and proof of work application, but it may not match all your needs.

Your search for Time Doctor alternatives might be attributed to outdated features, limited functionality, and unresponsive customer support.

That’s why we have curated an extensive list of the best Time Doctor alternatives, meticulously tailored to cater to specific business needs.

What you’ll find in the article:

  • Timeular tops the list: Praised as the best Time Doctor alternative for its ease of use, innovative tracking methods, including a physical tracker, and a strong focus on privacy without employee surveillance.
  • Option diversity: Choose from a variety of Time Doctor alternatives, from simple tools like Toggl to comprehensive platforms like Insightful;
  • Direct comparisons: On features, usability, integration capabilities, pricing, and user ratings to help you make the right choice;
  • Privacy and seamless integration: Discover alternatives that prioritize user privacy and offer seamless integration with popular tools, contrasting Time Doctor’s more intrusive monitoring features.

Tired of Time Doctor? Track time effortlessly with Timeular!

Increase profitability an bill accurately with the effortless time tracking app. Never chase a timesheet again!

The 10 best Time Doctor alternatives

1. Timeular

Our recommendation as the best alternative to Time Doctor is undoubtedly Timeular, which currently serves 100,000+, including Google, Audi, McKinsey, and Bang&Olufsen.

Compared to Time Doctor, time tracking with Timeular is much more user-friendly, automated, and secure, especially for teams.

Timeular prioritizes tracking time effortlessly without pushback, increasing billable hours, improving productivity, and sharing transparent reporting.

Multiple time tracking methods

With its user-friendly interface, teams of any size can effortlessly track time without opening the software, hence with less context switching and distraction.

There’s no need to chase timesheets, as all team members enjoy tracking time with Timeular. Thanks to this, all your reports are accurate and delivered on time.

Unlike Time Doctor, which has just one tracking mode, Timeular includes multiple convenient tracking methods:

  • Intuitive calendar view where team members can add activities by drag and drop;
  • Handy keyboard shortcuts to quickly switch between different activities;
  • Physical time tracker for those who prefer a quick, tactile experience or might need help to build a time-tracking habit using muscle memory;
  • Automatic time tracking: just carry on with your work, and Timeular automatically collects your app usage, which can be turned into time entries. It’s your decision which ones are reflected on your timesheet or not.
automatic time entries
  • Time entry suggestions generated by AI: your timesheets will be populated automatically by the AI time tracker that uses AI-generated suggestions that pull the information from your calendar events and past time entries. There you have it – timesheet filled in one click to accept the suggestion.
  • Rest assured, your privacy is protected 100%: your data is stored solely on your local machine, so nobody else can access it.
Timeular - best AI tools

Employee monitoring – not in Timeular

Time Doctor and Timeular differ significantly in employee monitoring and surveillance.

Time Doctor includes a screenshot function that enables managers to check employees’ on-screen activities. Such a feature raises concerns about privacy intrusion and the potential erosion of trust between managers and team members.

In contrast, Timeular intentionally omits this capability, prioritizing privacy and fostering a proactive time-tracking routine.

In fact, Timeular recognizes that employees track time honestly when they’re not monitored in real-time, so it allows managers access to an employee’s tracked data only with a 12-hour delay.

“People complain a lot less about time tracking now because of the easy interface of Timeular.”

Kaitlin Snow Seamons, Executive Creative Director at Harmon Brothers

Track work time, overtime, and all types of leaves

Employ Timeular as both an overtime tracker and leave tracker, granting you full oversight of your work schedule.

Gain smart productivity insights

Understand work habits and identify productivity patterns and time sinks that lead to inefficiency. Timeular generates a dashboard for you to make data-driven decisions and optimize for better performance.

Note: The data in this dashboard is accessible only to you!

Timeular - best AI tools

Track time with the physical tracker

Differently from Time Doctor, Timeular goes beyond just software. It offers a physical tracking gadget that connects to the app via Bluetooth and works offline. This device features 8 sides, each representing a distinct activity, enabling effortless switching between tasks. The Timeular Tracker works offline and can track up to 1000 activities with just 8 sides. Simply leave one or more sides of your Tracker empty. Every empty side will act like a joker side. It will open Quicktrack and let you choose what you want to track.

The Tracker is a helpful add-on to the software, but you can track time in Timeular without it. The Tracker is an excellent method to build muscle memory and reinforce time-tracking habits.

time tracker

Track your time with a physical Tracker

Build a habit using muscle memory and a powerful physical reminder. All new users get 2 months free subscription when connecting a new Tracker.

Integrate Timeular with your favorite tools

Timeular’s wide range of features allows you to manage billable time, generate insightful reports, and integrate seamlessly with popular tools:

  • 3,000+ apps through Zapier
  • Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook
  • Jira
  • Toggl and Harvest
  • API for custom integrations and automation

Keep in mind that Timeular works great as a Mac time tracker and a Windows time tracking app, providing full flexibility across devices.

time tracking tips

Bang & Olufsen retrieved 10 hours of work and changed the IT structure to work more efficiently by tracking time with Timeular

Who is Timeular for?

Timeular is a versatile tool that suits any team but is especially suited for businesses that need to track billable hours, such as law firmsmarketing agencies, and consultants.

The software alone offers a streamlined time tracking experience: whether using Windows, Mac, Linux, or mobile devices, Timeular supports your preferred platform.

Timeular is also one of the greatest time-tracking apps for Android and the best productivity app for Mac due to its more seamless and user-friendly experience compared to Time Doctor.

Concluding, if you’re looking for:

  • an all-done-for-you time-tracking tool that removes the noise
  • a tool that makes it easy for you to track, find the data you need and easily generate insights
  • an app that is flexible and adapts to your working conditions
  • 100% data privacy

Then Timeular is the perfect fit for you and the best alternative to Time Doctor.

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. Timeular

TRAITSTIME DOCTORTIMEULAR
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary
Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
Billable tracking
Physical tracker
Automatic time tracking
AI-generated time entries
Editable time entries
Smart productivity insights
Infinite private and shared folders
Leave, overtime tracking
Custom reminders, also for Pomodoro
Add notes, tags, and mentions in time entries
Drag and drop time entries
Copy-paste time entries
QuickTrack: Keyboard shortcuts
Custom reminders
Import time entries from a calendar
Dark mode
Budget feature
Mobile companion
Automatic tracking 
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux iOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux 
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
Evernote
Clickup
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
Over 3000, including:
Google Calendar
GitLab time tracking integration
Outlook Calendar
Apple Calendar
Harvest
Toggl
Salesforce time tracking
Jira
Zendesk time tracking integration
Trello 
Asana
Hubspot time tracking integration
Over 100 free apps with Zapier 
TrackerNo physical tracker.8 sides physical tracker USB-C charging, tracks time offline  
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with monthly or yearly subscription
30-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription (you don’t need to buy the tracker)
Tracker $61,15 (€57.50)+2 months free
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Capterra – 4.6
G2 – 4.5

Say goodbye to Time Doctor! Claim your free Timeular trial

Turn time tracking into a task so easy that your team will even enjoy it

2. Toggl

Considered by many to be both a reliable alternative to HoursTracker and one of the viable Time Doctor alternatives, this time-tracking software has a simple interface.

It provides features such as time logging, project tracking, and reporting, making it a valid tool for tracking and analyzing work hours.

When comparing Toggl to Time Doctor, there are a few distinctions to consider. While Toggl primarily focuses on time tracking and project management, Time Doctor offers additional features geared explicitly toward remote employee monitoring and productivity management.

Additionally, Time Doctor provides features like screenshot monitoring, website and application monitoring, and keyboard and mouse activity tracking that Toggl doesn’t have. However, Toggl includes a similar feature for idle time detection.

On the other hand, Toggl’s strength lies in its simplicity and ease of use. Its user-friendly interface and straightforward time-tracking functionality make it ideal for individuals and teams who primarily need a reliable and intuitive solution without needing advanced monitoring features.

Who is it for?

Toggl is ideal for individuals, freelancers, and small to medium-sized teams across various industries who prioritize simplicity and ease of use in their time-tracking needs.

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. Toggl

TRAITSTIME DOCTORTOGGL
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary
Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
Billable tracking
Editable time entries
Add notes in time entries
Individual and multi-user collaboration and tracking
Pomodoro timer   
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux iOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
ClickUp
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
Over 100, including:
Asana
Evernote
GitHub
Gitlab
Google Calendar
Jira
Salesforce
Slack
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.6
G2 – 4.6
Google Play Store – 4.6

Toggl vs. Timeular

Find out which one is the best to increase business productivity and revenue.

3. RescueTime

RescueTime is a suitable alternative to Time Doctor as this time-tracking software assists individuals and teams by enhancing their digital productivity.

One of RescueTime’s standout features is its Focus sessions, which enable teams to monitor and optimize their time usage, working as a productivity tracking software.

With this function, businesses can selectively designate websites that contribute to productivity while identifying and managing those that impede progress. Additionally, users can control disruptive notifications from other applications to maintain their focus. Moreover, the application can track time spent on activities and generate reports, categorizing activities into productive and unproductive segments.

So, as RescueTime primarily focuses on helping users understand and improve their productivity, TimeDoctor emphasizes remote employee monitoring. So, the latter offers features like screenshot monitoring and keystroke logging to track work activities. This might lead employees to feel controlled and micromanaged.

RescueTime doesn’t offer features like project and task management, employee attendance tracking, payroll management, and client billing.

Start tracking your time accurately with zero effort

“Tracking in Timeular has increased the amount of hours worked that are reported. Before some things were forgotten and missed off. Now the whole day is in Timeular” – Roman Haag, Partner at iAgentur

Who is it for?

RescueTime is a good alternative for individuals looking to enhance digital productivity and effectively manage time through data and features like focus sessions. It’s not designed for teams that require a wide range of automatic time tracking, billing, and invoicing features.

Read also: The top employee time tracking apps.

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. RescueTime

TRAITSTIME DOCTORRESCUETIME
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
Time tracking and monitoring
Digital productivity insights
Website and application tracking
Distraction management
Focus sessions
Productivity reports and analytics
Categorization of activities 
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux iOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux 
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
ClickUp
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
Google Calendar
Outlook Calendar
Slack
Zapier
Spotify
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
1 free plan
1 paid premium with a monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.6
G2 – 4.1
Google Play Store – 3.6

Read also: Top replacement apps for RescueTime

4. Harvest

time tracking software harvest

Harvest is a time-tracking software that supports invoicing; it helps individuals and businesses manage their time and finances. With its focus on time trackingproject management, and invoicing, Harvest provides essential features for tracking billable hours and generating accurate invoices.

Harvest’s key features include easy time entry and tracking, project and task management, and flexible invoicing options. It allows users to track time spent on specific projects and tasks, manage budgets, and generate professional invoices for clients.

In contrast, Time Doctor focuses on remote employee monitoring and productivity management, offering comprehensive team monitoring features, including screenshot monitoring, website and application monitoring, and activity tracking. From this perspective, Harvest is one of the Time Doctor alternatives that does not promote surveillance.

Who is it for?

Overall, Harvest is a valid alternative to Time Doctor for individuals and freelancers who require a tool for time tracking, project management, and invoicing to enhance their productivity and streamline their billing processes.

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. Harvest

TRAITSTIME DOCTORHARVEST
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary
Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
Time tracking and monitoring
Custom reminders 
Reports and analysis
Invoicing and payments 
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux iOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux 
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
Evernote
ClickUp
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
Asana
GitHub
Basecamp
Trello 
Slack
Akita
Zendesk
Databox
Zapie
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
1 free plan
1 paid premium with a monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra- 4.5
G2- 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.6
G2- 4.3
Google Play Store – 2.8

Tired of Harvest? Looking for an easier alternative?

Read ”The Best Harvest Alternatives in 2023”. The article brings you the five best alternatives to Harvest highlighting their key features, pricing, and advantages.

5. Apploye

Apploye is a monitoring productivity management and time-tracking software. As Time Doctor, the monitoring feature might make employees feel micromanaged and their privacy intruded.

Apploye’s main features include screenshots, activity levels, app and website monitoring, project tracking, invoicing, and payroll management. It provides businesses with detailed insights into employee productivity, helps track billable time, and simplifies payroll hours calculations.

Time Doctor offers similar features, such as employee monitoring and productivity analysis. However, it also includes advanced capabilities like keyboard and mouse activity tracking. These features are particularly useful for remote teams and ensuring efficient work practices.

On the other hand, Apploye has other features that Time Doctor does not have, such as an Employee GPS location tracker. Price-wise, Apploye is a more economical option, with the most expensive plan costing $3.5 per user/month.

Who is it for?

Apploye is a valid choice for businesses and professionals seeking a comprehensive solution for time tracking, employee monitoring, and productivity management. All in all, Apploye is one of the viable alternatives to Time Doctor.

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. Apploye

TRAITSTIME DOCTORAPPLOYE
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary
Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
Automatic time tracking
Detailed timesheets
Employee monitoring
Live Feed and real-time Screenshots
Project and task management
GPS Location
Payroll
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux and iOS (soon)
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
Evernote
ClickUp
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
Asana
Trello 
ClickUp
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
10-day free trial
4 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.9
G2 – 4.5

6. Desktime

DeskTime is a time-tracking software designed to help individuals and teams monitor their work hours and optimize productivity levels. 

DeskTime’s key features include automatic time tracking, website and application monitoring, productivity reports, project tracking, and an absence calendar. It enables users to track their time, categorize productive and unproductive activities, and generate reports to gain insights into their work habits and efficiency.

DeskTime also tracks URLs and app usage to monitor the websites, programs, and applications accessed by users, categorizing them as either productive or unproductive for effective task completion.

Time Doctor provides similar productivity analysis features but extends its capabilities to include screenshot monitoring, website and application monitoring, and keyboard and mouse activity tracking.  DeskTime is a little more expensive than Time Doctor, with its cheapest plan costing $7 per user/month (vs Time Doctor’s $5.9) and the most expensive $20 (vs Time Doctor’s $16.7).

Who is it for?

DeskTime, as one of the alternatives to Time Doctor, is designed for professionals and businesses of various sizes and industries who want to track their time, improve productivity, and gain insights into their work habits and efficiency.

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. DeskTime

TRAITSTIME DOCTORDESKTIME
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary
Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
Automatic time tracking
Offline time tracking
Document title tracking
Pomodoro Timer
Private time option
Custom reports
Cost calculation
Screenshots
URL & App tracking
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS 
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
Evernote
ClickUp
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
Google calendar
Outlook Calendar
Trello
Gitlab
Asana
Basecamp
Jira
Zapier
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
1 month free with an annual plan
1 free plan (limited features)
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.6
Google Play Store – 3.9

Read also: Desktime alternatives

7. Insightful

Insightful helps individuals and teams manage their time effectively and enhance productivity.

Insightful’s premise is “It’s impossible to watch your employees every minute of the day. But Insightful employee monitoring software can do it for you”. With its key features, such as employee productivity monitoring, automatic time tracking, and remote work management, Insightful offers essential tools for tracking and optimizing work performance.

Similarly to Time Doctor, Insightful promises productivity increases by automatically monitoring employees’ work and eliminating the human error of manual time entries and clock-ins. Insightful reports also make it possible to compare the productivity of employees working from home with those working face-to-face.

Who is it for?

Considering its features and market positioning, Insightful is a good Time Doctor alternative suitable for finance, insurance, healthcare, IT, and call center companies.

Comparison Table: Time Doctor vs. Insightful

TRAITSTIME DOCTORINSIGHTFUL
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary
Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS 
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS 
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
Evernote
ClickUp
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
No info available
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
7-day free trial
4 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.8
G2- 4.8

8. ManicTime

ManicTime is an employee monitoring app. It generates progress reports and improves time management. ManicTime enables its clients to track computer usage, project progress, and application access, facilitating efficiency and troubleshooting.

It automatically records work hours, aiding attendance monitoring and ensuring accurate payroll. With real-time records, it simplifies payroll reconciliation and eliminates errors caused by manual tracking. While the software operates automatically, users can manually start/stop time, switch between tasks, and prioritize projects. The ability to auto-tag screenshots enhances clarity and provides context to work activities.

ManicTime operates as a local datastore rather than a cloud-based service, ensuring that all recorded data remains stored on your machine, enabling it to function without internet connectivity.

Although not a high-end tool, ManicTime is a viable option for small teams or individuals who require a time-tracking and employee-monitoring tool and don’t want to pay for more complex tools with features they won’t use.

Who is it for?

ManicTime is an excellent alternative to Time Doctor, especially for small to medium-sized businesses that require time tracking, productivity monitoring, and project management. It can also be a good choice for remote workers and freelancers.

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. ManicTime

TRAITSTIME DOCTORMANICTIME
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary
Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
30-day free trial
Several plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux 
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
Evernote
ClickUp
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
Jira
GitHub
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
30-day free trial
Several plans with monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.4
G2 – 4.2
Google Play Store – 2.9

9. Tick

Tick, another Time Doctor alternative, is a solution that allows businesses to monitor time on projects and tasks with ease. Tick offers features such as performance reports and insights, providing a full view of billable hours for clients. It also includes project budgeting and tracking functionalities to monitor project statuses and employee hours.

It allows its users to run multiple timers and conveniently fill in time cards. One interesting feature is that users can track time and view budgets on the go from their wrist with Tick’s time tracking app for Apple Watch. So, Tick can be a great option for mobile and outdoor employees that needs to travel to a customer’s site.

It also integrates with 750+ other web apps. While Tick excels in these areas, it lacks a complete project management system. 

Although Tick is considered a solid tool, its outdated and underdeveloped interface has contributed to its low ratings of 2 stars on the Google Play Store.

Who is it for?

Tick time tracker is a great time tracker for small businesses, particularly in the service industry, which requires an efficient way to track time on individual projects and tasks, manage project budgets, and generate reports.

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. Tick

TRAITSTIME DOCTORTICK
Features Time Tracking 
Employee Monitoring
Project Management
Budgeting
Summary
Reports
Distraction alerts
Screenshots and Screen Recording
Time tracking
Project budget tracking
Custom reports
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Apple Watch
IntegrationsOver 60, including:
Asana
Evernote
ClickUp
Hubspot
Monday
Odoo
Zendesk
Over 750+ web apps, including:
Asana
Trello
Zapier
Metric.ai
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
30-day free trial
4 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.5
Google Play Store – 2.9

10. QuickBooks Time

To conclude the list of alternatives to Time Doctor, we choose QuickBooks Time. It’s a time-tracking and employee-scheduling software designed to streamline business time management.

It provides features such as creating employee work schedules, tracking and managing employee time for payroll purposes, and invoicing clients based on billable hours. 

With GPS time tracking, businesses can coordinate and monitor mobile teams, while geofencing tracking serves as a helpful reminder for employees to clock in or out upon entering or leaving job sites. Real-time reports offer live-time monitoring of employees currently on the job, while the inclusion of overtime alerts helps businesses stay within their budgeted hours.

The convenience of a mobile or desktop app allows easy tracking and approval of employee timesheets. QuickBooks Time offers flexible pricing plans, consisting of a monthly base fee along with a monthly per-user fee.

As a negative element, QuickBooks Time primarily operates online, meaning an internet connection is required to use the software. This stifles effective time management.

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Time is suitable for various industries, including construction, landscaping, home healthcare, and more. 

Comparison table: Time Doctor vs. QuickBooks Time

TRAITSTIME DOCTORQuickBooks Time
Features 30-day free trial
4 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
Time tracking
Timesheets
GPS and geofencing
Project tracking
Custom reports
Platform compatibilityiOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, 
Integrations14-day free trial
3 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
Yes, including more than 50 accounting and payroll apps.
Pricing model14-day free trial
3 plans with monthly or yearly subscription
30-day free trial
4 plans with a monthly or yearly subscription
RatingCapterra – 4.5
G2 – 4.4
Google Play Store – 2.3
Capterra – 4.7
G2 – 4.5
Google Play Store – 4.2

Read also: QuickBooks time tracking

Conclusion

Based on this comprehensive guide on TimeDoctor alternatives, you are equipped to choose your new time-tracking software.

Timeular stands out as a top recommendation as a Time Doctor alternative for effective time tracking and productivity management, however.

Besides offering a unique touch to time tracking with its physical tracking device, what sets Timeular apart is its ability to combine simplicity with powerful features:

  • AI capabilities for seamless automatic time-tracking, but simple and secure at the same time;
  • enhances error-free time tracking, which helps to ditch manual time entry;
  • includes both online and offline tracking;
  • allows billable and nonbillable hours tracking;
  • does not support employee surveillance and micro-management with techniques like mouse movement tracking;
  • transparent reporting for great customer relationships;

It empowers individuals and teams to take control of their time, boost productivity, and achieve their goals with ease.

Start your effortless, secure and smart time tracking experience

Turn time tracking into a task so easy that your team will even enjoy it

You might be interested in the following:

The Best Monday.com Time Tracking Integration

Monday.com is a project management software known for useful features like smooth task tracking, visual project planning, and seamless team collaboration.

Thanks to those key features, Monday is a top choice for many professionals. However, if you need to track time and work hours to create time reports, the Monday time-tracking may fall short.

Therefore, to enjoy accurate time tracking functionality enabling client invoicing and proper time management, you need a Monday time tracking integration with a simple, smart, and secure time tracking software.

Looking for the a simple, smart, and secure Monday time tracking integration?

You’ve just found it!

In this article, you’ll learn how Monday time tracking works and how to optimize it with proper time tracking software to achieve an effortless approach to time tracking and time management.

Does Monday include a time-tracking feature?

Yes, Monday does provide a native time-tracking feature. However, if the user wants to track the time spent on a certain task, it has to be set up manually.

To use the native Monday time tracking feature, you have to add a Time Tracking Column. This feature is only available for users who subscribe to Monday’s Pro plan, the most expensive option. 

Why is tracking time with Monday essential?

  • Project management time tracking, especially with tools like Monday.com, is crucial for any kind of project or team. It helps project managers and their team members become more time-aware, track their tasks, monitor project progress and stick to the project schedule and budget.
  • Time tracking ensures teams use their resources efficiently, boosting productivity and reducing overtime.
  • By implementing a project time tracker, each team member, including hourly employees, remote employees and managers are better equipped to establish an accurate budget, exercise project cost control, and maintain the precision of project billing and invoicing.

To boost productivity, create detailed reports about hours worked by the whole team, and ensure efficient resource management in the entire project, you need to track time in Monday.

How to manage projects and track time in Monday.com

To track time in Monday.com, you need to set up a “Time Tracking Column”.

  • To add it, click on the “+” icon at the top right of the board and select “More columns. ” There, you’ll find the “Time Tracking column. ” Users must start the timer to track time spent on a task.
  • It’s also possible to add time manually. However, it’s important to note that this feature doesn’t display all tracked periods or provide additional insights. As a result, you may need to take extra steps to gather more information or simply to account for billable hours when presenting to a client.

The limitations of Monday time-tracking

Unfortunately, with the most basic level of Monday time tracking, you are not able to seamlessly and automatically track how much time is dedicated to specific tasks.

While Monday.com has some of the strongest project-tracking features, it’s not sufficient when it comes to time tracking, and here is an example of why:

  • Fundamental time-tracking features: The Monday time-tracking capabilities are fairly simple. Monday allows users to log time spent on tasks and that’s pretty much it.
  • Manual time tracking: Monday lacks more advanced features that a dedicated time-tracking tool would provide. You can track time directly in Monday by adding hours manually. Such manual data entry makes the time tracking processes prone to human error. 
  • Limited reporting capabilities: The time reports and analytics options offered by Monday are not comprehensive enough for advanced needs. They lack the depth of insights necessary for improving customer relationships, such as enhancing transparency in the billing process.
  • Native time tracker only available in paid plans: The Time Tracking Column and Time Tracking Widget are only available for users who subscribe to the Pro plan.

In conclusion, if you need a time tracker that will make time tracking seamless (=automated) and will equip you with valuable insights, you need to rely on third-party time management software.

Timeular: The best Monday.com time-tracking integration

Time tracking should be easy and hassle-free. That’s where Timeular comes in as the top third-party time tracking solution that integrates with Monday.

Timeular is a simple, smart, and secure time-tracking software trusted by over 100,000 user teams worldwide. Let’s get into details and key features.

Physical tracker for easy time tracking

With Timeular’s physical time management cube on your desk, you can effortlessly track time of over 1000 activities. There is no need to open your time tracking software or project management tool to manually edit, start, or stop tracking – simply flip the cube, and the software will record the time.

This way, you and your team can cultivate a time-tracking habit, without stressing over time tracking.

Please note that the Tracker is optional software designed to simplify the time-tracking process and infuse some enjoyment into it.

Multiple tracking methods

Regardless of your preferences, in Timeular you’re able to choose the time tracking method that best suits your work style, whether it’s flipping the physical Tracker, using keyboard shortcuts, or utilizing automated time tracking.

All these methods ensure a smooth and quick time tracking experience, significantly reducing the time spent on creating time reports.

Project budget control

Keep project budgets in check by setting the planned hours for each project (also known as a project time budget). Timeular will notify you when you approach certain limits, preventing overspending while maintaining client satisfaction.

Automated time tracking

Time tracking doesn’t have to be time-consuming. With Timeular timer and its automated time tracking and AI time tracking features it can be as little as 1 minute a day.

You don’t need to create manual time entries to track the time of your projects and tasks or fulfill timesheet templates every week.

Fill in your timesheets automatically based on reports on app usage, visited websites, and scheduled calendar events.

Instant and complete reports

Access versatile reporting features with various filters and views that offer actionable insights into productivity levels and project progress—no need for additional costs or higher-tier plans to access these valuable reports.

Make use of the intuitive time entry system and you’ll see the outputs as follows.

Automated billable and non-billable hours

As billable hours tracking software Timeular allows you to label tasks as billable or non-billable to track them automatically. Timeular timer enables you to designate tasks as billable or non-billable for automatic tracking. By assigning hourly rates to tasks or team members, the system seamlessly calculates costs, streamlining the creation of time reports in no time.

This simplifies project cost tracking and accurate billing, and offers insights into projects and team efficiency.

Tracking overtime

Overtime tracking must be monitored and rewarded. With the overtime tracker that automatically records extra hours in your timesheet, any overtime and deficit hours are automatically recorded based on previously configured work schedules and requested leave. Fair and accurate salaries, always!

Leave management

Timeular serves as a leave tracking system, too. It helps you manage various types of leaves, including paid time off, sick days, vacation time, and more, so you can plan and manage projects and workloads effectively.

Project time tracking and leave tracking in a single tool? Yes, please.

Read also: How Timeular integrates with GitLab

How to track time on Monday.com with Timeular

You can easily integrate Timeular with Monday.com through Zapier, by following the steps:

  1. If you or your team don’t have an account, you won’t have to pay for a Zapier subscription, as you can use it for free for up to 100 integrations. Plus, you don’t need any coding skills to make this connection. To get started, you should be authenticated in both Monday.com and Timeular.
  2. To connect Timeular with Zapier, you’ll require an API key and a secret API. You can locate these in Timeular by navigating to Settings > My Account > API > Create a new API key. Now, you have both tools integrated. Now, you have to create a Zap.(Zapier’s action) to track your time in Monday.com with Timeular.
  3. Set up a new Zap. The trigger might be creating a new item on the board and the action will need to be set to start tracking time on Timeular.
  • Go to our Support article for more information about integrating Timeular with Zapier.

Check the video below for guided video instructions:

Conclusion

Monday.com is a great choice for its project management functionalities, but as its native time-tracking feature comes with limitations, integrating it with a standalone time tracking tool is essential.

To address your complex needs for tracking, use Timeular, the best Monday.com time tracking integration. It comes with noteworthy benefits: you can achieve a more robust and intuitive time-tracking process, helping you optimize project management and team productivity. 

You might be interested in:

10 Best TimeCamp Alternatives in 2024


While TimeCamp offers many features for a time tracking tool, such as attendance management, work hour tracking, and geofencing, it still lacks advanced capabilities.

At times, it just won’t work. We have run into a few times that you just can’t do anything in Timecamp, and it looks like your entries are missing.

Capterra review

Reviews on Capterra demonstrate that TimeCamp users have expressed concerns about the software’s complexity, lack of flexibility, and reporting limitations. Considering these cons alongside its features is important when evaluating TimeCamp as a time-tracking software and productivity-tracking solution.

As TimeCamp doesn’t meet your expectations, dive into this article to find the 10 best alternatives to TimeCamp.

Looking for a robust alternative to TimeCamp?

Try Timeular – an AI-powered time tracker with robust software and flexible, detailed reporting functionality that just works.

Best TimeCamp alternatives for 2024

  1. Timeular
  2. TimeDoctor
  3. Toggl Track
  4. Time Clock Wizard
  5. Timely
  6. Clockify
  7. Hubstaff
  8. Harvest
  9. Quickbooks Time
  10. Everhour

1. Timeular – smooth time tracking software for teams

Timeular is an AI time tracker that enables users to track time in a few seconds per day – with ease at the core, accuracy, and a privacy-first approach.

It is designed for small businesses and bigger teams aiming to track billable hours, increase productivity, and generate precise and easy-to-digest reports.

As a great alternative to Timecamp, it consolidates intelligent timekeeping methods into one platform and generates quick insights into budgets, time allocation, and overtime.

These in-depth insights empower data-driven decision-making and better resource management, as well as prompt client invoicing.

High employee buy-in

Fostering a safe and trusting environment is vital for team members to submit honest and accurate timesheets. Timeular prioritizes your company and employees’ privacy, leading to enhanced employee buy-in with:

  • Anti-surveillance measures for employees: Managers can see tracked data of a tram member only at midnight on the same day – with a short delay – this way, the team feels confident in working at their own pace and not micro-managed.
  • Data privacy: Unlike Timecamp, Timeular stores data only on the users’ computers, not in the cloud, with user-only access to it and 100% GDPR compliance.

The user-friendly interface and modern time-tracking features further amplify this by streamlining time tracking, making it fast and effortless.

“People complain a lot less about time tracking now because of the easy interface of Timeular.”

Kaitlin Snow Seamons, Executive Creative Director at Harmon Brothers

Automatic time tracking

With Timeular’s automatic time-tracking feature, you can effortlessly fill in your timesheets based on app usage, visited websites, and scheduled calendar events. Your data remains securely stored on your device, accessible exclusively to you.

Easily tailor your tracking preferences by adding specific apps and websites to a blocklist. Enjoy pre-filtered data, which provides easy analysis without overwhelming dashboards.

automatic time entries

AI-generated suggestions

Taking time-tracking one step closer to seamless, in Timeular, you receive AI time entry suggestions based on your calendar and past entries.

Skip the manual timesheet hassle for good – click once to accept the suggestion, and that’s your time tracking for the day.

Timeular - best AI tools

The physical tracking gadget 

At the heart of Timeular is the physical Tracker, an 8-sided dice on your desk, fostering a habit of time tracking. With this intuitive tool, employees find it easy and stress-free to log their time, ensuring relevant and detailed reports. 

Track time with a physical Tracker

“We have become 20% more profitable because everyone is in the habit of time tracking” – Richard Wingfield, Head Geek at Envision Design

Quicktrack – add time entries effortlessly with a keyboard shortcut

Timeular users can choose to use the physical Tracker or a digital alternative, Quicktrack, that allows them to begin tracking a time entry using a keyboard shortcut.

Budget management

Assign a budget to each project and track project progress. Manage expenses by tracking time spent on specific tasks and customers.

Track over time and any type of leaves

Timeular allows teams and individuals to track all types of leaves and absences in a single platform. If one or more team members are going on holiday, they must add a leave entry directly in your calendar view. Specify the type of absence and its duration, and add an optional note. You can do it both on your desktop and in your mobile app. 

“As a busy manager, I needed an agency timesheet software with leave tracking functionalities that was as efficient as it was user-friendly. Timeular exceeded my expectations with its simplicity and effectiveness. Managing leaves is now a breeze.”

Andrew W, Team Leader at a Marketing Agency

Personal productivity insights dashboard

Generated by AI – helps users identify app usage, procrastination patterns, and times when they are productive or unproductive.

Timeular - best AI tools

Key features:

  • Automatic time tracking
  • Team time tracker
  • Overtime and underwork tracking
  • Leave tracker
  • AI time tracking
  • Personal productivity monitoring dashboard
  • Modern and user-friendly interface
  • Automatic overtime tracking
  • Time tracking methods that allow tracking time in a few seconds per day
  • A physical Tracker fostering the habit of tracking
  • Helps to manage budgets
  • Detailed reports
  • Protected employee privacy
  • GDPR Compliance
  • Unlimited projects
  • Cross-platform tracking (Linux, Android, Windows, and Mac time tracking)
  • Mobile time tracking
  • Offline and online time tracking

Pricing: 

  • 30-day free trial
  • Paid plans start at 6.30 EUR per user

Track time with zero effort

“Since we started using Timeular and tracking our time, we’ve never made another mistake in planning, creating accurate proposals or budgeting for clients” – Roman Haag, Partner at iAgentur

2. Time Doctor

Time Doctor is a robust time-tracking app offering a wide range of time-tracking features that help to improve employee productivity. While it includes employee monitoring capabilities like screenshots, screen recording, and activity level tracking, it’s important to note that such monitoring features at Time Doctor can raise privacy concerns among employees

Striking the right balance between productivity tracking and respecting privacy is crucial to ensure accurate and effective time-tracking data.

For teams seeking a TimeCamp alternative, it is essential to prioritize employee buy-in and address privacy concerns to maintain a positive and productive work environment.

Key features:

  • Employee monitoring
  • Project management and budgeting
  • Detailed reporting
  • Distraction alerts
  • Screenshots, screen recordings, and activity levels

Pricing

  • 14-day free trial
  • Paid plans start at $5.90 a month per user

Pros:

  • Distraction alerts
  • Offline time tracking
  • Mobile time tracking
  • Email notifications
  • Privacy Concerns
  • Employee monitoring

Cons:

  • Privacy concerns
  • Employee monitoring

Read also: Top Substitutes to TimeDoctor

3. Toggl Track

Toggl Tracker is a well-known time-tracking app that offers a convenient one-click time-tracking experience across various platforms. It includes useful features such as idle time detection to remind you when you’re not using your computer and customizable reports.

Whether you’re an independent worker or part of a team seeking alternatives to TimeCamp, Toggl Tracker provides flexibility with project tagging, reminders, and customizable reports.

However, while it serves as a solid tool for basic time tracking, individuals seeking heightened precision in their time tracking and reporting may find some occasional oversights in activity switching, leading to less precise reports.

Additionally, Toggl lacks integration capabilities with physical time-tracking devices, which can be essential for building a consistent time-tracking habit.

Key features:

  • Employee time tracking
  • Client billing and client invoicing
  • Project budgeting
  • Reporting
  • Payroll management
  • Idle time detection

Pros:

  • Free plan available
  • No employee monitoring
  • Multi-user collaboration

Cons:

  • No physical tracker
  • Multi-user collaboration
  • Limited functionality in the free version
  • Limited team management features 
  • Limited budget tracking 

Pricing: 

  • Free plan available
  • Paid plans start at $9 per month per user

TIP: Read our post “Clockify vs Toggl” and find out which one is the best.

Don’t chase employee timesheets again!

Try Timeular’s automatic time tracking and create time reports automatically

4. Time Clock Wizard

Time Clock Wizard is an online employee time-tracking software and workforce management system designed to streamline attendance tracking and payroll processes. 

Its interface and features enable employers to monitor time and attendance, leave requests, and generate payroll reports, aiming to optimize workforce productivity and compliance. 

However, user reviews on Capterra mention concerns about an outdated and less intuitive user interface, occasional technical glitches, limited advanced features and integrations, subpar customer support, mobile app performance issues, and confusion around the pricing structure. 

Key features:

  • Employee scheduling
  • Tracking working hours
  • Time tracking
  • Task management
  • Payroll reporting

Pros: 

  • Task management
  • Mobile app
  • PTO reports
  • Payroll reporting

Cons: 

  • Less intuitive user interface
  • Occasional technical glitches 
  • Limited advanced features and integrations
  • Subpar customer support 
  • Mobile app performance issues

Pricing: 

  • Free plan
  • Paid plans start at $34.95 per month per user
Timely - time tracking app

5. Timely

Timely is another noteworthy tool on the list of best TimeCamp alternatives. It is great time-tracking software for users seeking automation. Timely, just like Timeular, are the alternatives to TimeCamp that are AI-powered automatic time-tracking software. It ensures time tracking features, allowing for precise and effortless daily records of time employees spend on activities like document work, meetings, emails, website usage, and video calls. 

A standout feature, the Memory Tracker, operates silently in the background, eliminating manual entry by seamlessly capturing tasks, apps, and meetings users engage in. This is one of the main features that makes Timely a valid time tracker replacement for DeskTime

With a strong focus on data privacy, Timely does not endorse employee screenshots, keystroke monitoring, or any surveillance methods, making it a reliable and secure option for generating comprehensive timelines and detailed insights into time allocation across different apps and devices.

TIP: Get to know the best Timely alternatives

Key features:

  • Automated time tracking
  • Project tracking
  • Memory tracker feature
  • AI-driven
  • Protected user privacy

Pros: 

  • Saved time thanks to automated time tracking
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Memory tracker feature
  • Anti-surveillance policy

Cons: 

  • Steep learning curve
  • No offline mode
  • No manual time entry option

Pricing:

  • Paid plans start at 9 EUR monthly per user
clockify time tracking apps for accountants

6. Clockify

If you’re searching for TimeCamp alternatives, Clockify could be the best free alternative, especially if you have a large workforce with budget constraints. Clockify offers a free plan with basic time-tracking features, allowing unlimited users and projects. Their paid plans are also affordable, making it a cost-effective choice.

Clockify is particularly beneficial for industries that require effective employee monitoring. With features such as GPS tracking, screenshot captures every 5 minutes, and the ability to disable manual time editing for specific workers, it ensures efficient project management

However, keep in mind that Clockify’s interface might feel overwhelming with some duplicate features that cannot be turned off. But if you need sophisticated management and administration capabilities, Clockify excels in providing those. It’s worth noting that the software focuses more on managers’ experience than on regular employees’ motivation and productivity.

Overall, Clockify remains a strong contender for those seeking reliable time-tracking alternatives to TimeCamp.

Key features:

  • Ideal for industries requiring effective employee monitoring, like construction
  • GPS tracking for accurate project management
  • A screenshot capture every 5 minutes for enhanced monitoring
  • Option to disable manual time editing for specific workers
  • Cost-effective solution for efficient project management and tracking billable hours
  • Provides sophisticated management and administration capabilities

Pros

  • Free version available with basic time tracking features
  • Invoicing is not available in the free plan. The software also lacks integrations with payroll providers
  • Clockify integrates with several apps, and the setup process is simple

Cons

  • Some users experience occasional glitches while using the mobile app
  • Limited resources: it limits users and billable clients. If you need more resources, you will have extra costs, which means that it’s expensive to scale up
  • You can’t pause sessions. You have to stop it and create a new one

Pricing: 

  • Free plan
  • Paid plan starts at $3.99 per user
hubstaff time keeping app for iphone

7. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is a robust time-tracking software designed for effective employee time monitoring and management. With accurate time tracking, GPS-based location monitoring, project management, and invoicing functionalities, it’s a reliable TimeCamp alternative for teams. 

One standout feature is Hubstaff’s automatic time tracking, which eliminates manual entries, ensures precise recording of work hours, and streamlines payroll and invoicing. GPS tracking benefits mobile workers, optimizing resource allocation and workflow management. 

However, it’s essential to consider that while Hubstaff is highly regarded for employee time tracking, some may find it intrusive and potentially promote toxic micromanagement due to its tracking of keyboard and mouse activity, raising concerns about privacy and autonomy.

Read also: Top 10 Hubstaff alternatives and competitors

Key features:

  • GPS-based location monitoring 
  • Project management functionalities 
  • Client invoicing capabilities 
  • Automatic time tracking 
  • Streamlined payroll and invoicing processes
  • Includes advanced reporting

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • Free plan

Cons

  • Low number of integrations (only 30 apps, which is not much compared to other TimeCamp alternatives)
  • Privacy concerns due to employee monitoring features
  • Smaller teams or organizations with a more flexible work structure might find the software to be too robust for them

Pricing: 

  • 14 days for free
  • Paid plans start at $4,99 per user
time tracking software harvest

8. Harvest

Harvest is a robust time-tracking tool with functionalities that make it a viable alternative to Timecamp. It is designed to simplify time management for users, offering automation for invoicing and reporting to enhance efficiency. With an extensive list of integrations, it seamlessly works with various applications, providing a comprehensive experience. Accessible across multiple platforms, Harvest ensures convenient time tracking and management.

While Harvest may not introduce groundbreaking features, it serves as a reliable option for straightforward time-tracking needs. However, it’s worth noting that recent updates have led to mixed reviews, with some users on the Google Play Store reporting challenges with app performance and usability.

For those exploring alternatives to TimeCamp, considering user feedback is essential in finding the right fit for their time-tracking requirements.

Read also: Harvest vs Toggl

Key features:

  • Time tracking
  • Invoice management
  • Analytics features

Pros

  • Detailed reports and analytics
  • Integration with management tools
  • Invoicing

Cons

  • Some users have reported occasional issues with working offline
  • Users report that recent updates to the mobile app created glitches and made the app slower
  • Users are generally not happy with the new interface and say it became overly complicated, slow, and clunky

Pricing: 

  • Free plan
  • Paid plans start at $10.80 monthly per user

TIP: Read our post to know the competitors and alternatives to the Harvest time tracker.

Why is Timeular one of the best alternatives to TimeCamp?

9. Quickbooks Time

good alternative to Time Doctor, QuickBooks Time is a time-tracking and employee scheduling software designed to help businesses efficiently manage and track employee hours.

QuickBooks Time allows its users to create employee work schedules, track and manage employee time for payroll purposes, and invoice clients based on billable hours.

It also features GPS time tracking and geofencing tracking as a reminder for employees to clock in or out upon entering or leaving a job site.

Real-time reports provide live-time monitoring of employees currently on the job, while the inclusion of overtime alerts helps you avoid exceeding your budgeted hours.

Furthermore, it works as a timesheet software because it allows you to track and approve employee timesheets through the convenience of a mobile or desktop app.

QuickBooks Time offers various plans, each comprising a monthly base fee along with a monthly per-user fee. 

Pros

  • The software offers a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and understand.
  • It integrates smoothly with other QuickBooks products like QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll.
  • The software includes employee scheduling capabilities, allowing businesses to manage work shifts and optimize workforce allocation.

Cons

  • It has a monthly base fee along with a monthly per-user fee. Depending on the size of your team, the cost may be a consideration
  • Some users may find that the mobile app lacks certain features or experiences occasional performance issues 
  • It primarily operates online, meaning an internet connection is required to use the software

Read also: QuickBooks time tracking

10. Everhour

The tool is a basic time-tracking app for teams that facilitates billing and invoicing, and that’s why it’s considered a great alternative to Timecamp.

Everhour offers a budget feature that helps you monitor the progress of each project.

What stands out in Everhour is the large integration stack, but users lament the steep learning curve.

Pros

  • Billing features
  • Integration with apps
  • Invoicing
  • Detail reports

Cons

  • Clunky mobile app
  • Pricing
  • Limited support
  • Short trial period
  • Steep learning curve

Pricing

  • Free plan
  • Premium plans start at 5$ per user/month

Why is Timeular one of the best alternatives to TimeCamp?

If you are looking for the best time-tracking apps to easily track time spent on individual tasks and projects, Timeular is your best choice. With its automated time tracking, AI-powered capabilities, physical Tracker, and unlimited smart time tracking features, it helps you log your day within a few seconds per day. 

It’s a perfect TimeCamp alternative for small teams, remote teams, as well as on-site teams, ensuring all essential features to:

  • Track time seamlessly
  • Simplify time management
  • Provide valuable insights
  • Increase the team’s productivity
  • Manage remote employees
  • Create project estimates

Tracking time and billable hours with Timeular is easy! Imagine the world without manual time tracking and guesstimations and try Timeular 30 days for free.

Other articles you might be interested in:

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Top 5 Time Tracking Timeflip2 Alternatives

DeskTime alternatives

Timeflip2 is mainly a physical timer. It connects with Android or iPhone apps, as well as a web app, to sync project and time info.

But here’s the catch: there’s no desktop app, and you need the actual Timeflip2 device to use the mobile or web time tracking app. The physical device is not easy to assemble and is buggy.

This is why it is worth looking for a powerful Timeflip alternative. Below, you will find the top 5 alternatives to help you with effective time tracking and time management.

Timeular shared spaces

Tired of Timeflip2? Try Timeular!

It’s more than just a physical tracker, though it includes one. And it comes with smart software powered by secure AI capabilities, too

Here are the 5 alternatives to Timeflip2

Before seeing the alternatives, Timeflips’s users lamented about other issues, too, namely long shipment times and absent customer support.

Considering these matters, finding another time-tracking solution becomes vital. So, here are the 5 popular alternatives to Timeflip2:

  • Timeular
  • Timely
  • Harvest
  • Toggl
  • RescueTime

Timeular

Timeular is an effortless, secure, and smart time-tracking app powered by AI capabilities.

Like Timeflip2, Timeular has a physical time tracking device that you can flip to track time. However, the Timeular Tracker is much more robust and reliable than the Timeflip2 one.

Contrary to Timeflip2, at its core, Timeular is a robust software with automatic time-tracking and leave management functionalities and a data privacy-first approach. Moreover, the software can be used independently from the tracker cube.

Among Timeular’s customers are over 10,000 businesses, including Google, Audi, Toyota, McKinsey, and Bang & Olufsen, which makes it a trustworthy Timeflip alternative.

Top features of Timeular that Timeflip2 is missing:

  • Track time collaboratively with your team: Thanks to shared folders, teams can track time for one or more projects. 
  • 100% data privacy and GDPR compliance: In Timeular, tracked data is stored only on the local computer, not in the cloud.

  • Billable hours tracking: By switching a toggle in Timeular, it is easy to track when a task is billable or not, also using different currencies and rates.
  • Automatic time tracking: Without lifting a finger, Timeular tracks your work in the background while you perform it and automatically adds suggestions to your calendar.
Timeular - best AI tools
  • Accurate and customizable reports: filter, customize, and group data to get the full picture of your projects and bill clients accurately.
  • Leave and time off tracker: when tracking, you can add leaves and time off, so estimated hours will be adjusted. On top it also works as an overtime tracker, so you keep your team’s workload balanced.
  • Control over budgets: Set hourly budgets for each client and project, and see with a glimpse how much time you’ve left for each.
  • Productivity insights dashboard: Generated by AI to identify app usage, procrastination patterns, and times when you are productive or unproductive.
Timeular - best AI tools
  • Alerts: Maintain your productivity levels. Receive custom notifications to start or stop tracking or taking a break or emails prompting you to fill in your timesheet.
  • Add tags and notes to time entries: add more details to your time entries for more transparency.
  • Calendar integration: add your calendar entries in Timeular and vice versa to have a full picture of your day. (Read: Google Calendar time tracking integration) & 3000+ other integrations with tools of your choice.

Read also: Timeular vs. Timeflip2

“Since we started using Timeular and tracking our time, we’ve never made another mistake in planning, creating accurate proposals, or budgeting for clients. It’s so easy to use. Everyone uses it, and it shows.” – AC Coppens, Founder of THE CATALYSTS

Timeular Tracker vs. Timeflip2 Tracker

The Timeular app works separately from its tracker, enhancing simplicity and concreteness in time tracking. Unlike Timeflip2, Timeular’s tracker is pre-assembled and features 8 sides that can be customized with stickers. Offline functionality allows tracking up to 1000 activities, with empty sides acting as versatile options. Charging the tracker with USB-C is needed every 3-12 months, depending on usage frequency.

In contrast, the Timeflip2 time tracking feature is limited to use with its physical tracker, which may inconvenience travelers and those who wish to avoid carrying an extra item. Relying on the physical tracker means no tracking when it malfunctions or runs out of batteries during work.

TimeularTimeflip2
TrackerComes already assembled
Track up to 1000 activities
Bluetooth connection
8 sides tracker
USB-C charging 
No LED flashes
Offline tracking
It needs to be assembled
Bluetooth connection
12 sides tracker
Needs AA batteries
LED flashes
time tracker

Discover the Timeular Tracker!

Make time tracking tactile and easily track 1,000 activities using just 8 sides. Build a habit using muscle memory and a powerful physical reminder. All new users get 2 months free subscription when connecting a new Tracker.

Time tracking is more effortless in Timeular

Timeular makes tracking time effortless with its intuitive interface and multiple tracking methods. While in Timely, the only way to track time is in the calendar interface, in Timeular, you can track time with multiple methods, finding the one that suits you best:

  • Flipping the physical Tracker – and hardware that you can flip to start tracking up to 1,000 activities 
  • Enabling automated tracking – do your task, and Timeular will record your work on the background
  • Using keyboard shortcuts

Timeular is perfect both for teams and individuals

Timeular lets you track time and customize the time entries with notes and tags, which the whole team can share. You can track time together with your team using shared folders and create both individual and team reports.

Track billable hours and budgets

Timeular is the best billable hours tracker and has gone further than other time tracking tools. The very same task can be set as billable or not whenever you think it is necessary. 

With Timeular, you can also closely monitor project budgets, ensuring efficient oversight of their progress and profitability. Swiftly identify projects at risk of exceeding budgets, and quickly reallocate your team’s time to prioritize where it’s most needed. This powerful feature empowers you to maintain control and optimize resource allocation for enhanced project management.

Track work time, overtime, and all types of leaves in Timeular

Beyond work hours, Timeular allows you to effortlessly track overtime and all types of leaves, providing comprehensive control over your work schedule.

Why Timeular is the best alternative to Timeflip2

In summary, Timeular is the first best alternative to Timeplip2 because:

  • Timeular Tracker works better and is easy to use
  • You can track up to 1,000 activities with the Tracker
  • Timeular has AI-powered capabilities to suggest entries based on your calendar
  • Users can track time in the Timeular app independently from the Tracker 
  • Timeular allows collaborative time tracking – track time with your team
  • Users can track billable vs. non-billable hours
  • You can gain productivity insights at a glance by checking your dashboard
  • Timeular has multiple time tracking methods: automatic, with keyboard shortcuts, or Tracker
  • Timeular works as a payroll tracker, timer app, work hours tracker and others.
  • It offers up to 3,000 integrations, including time-tracking integration with Jira, Github, and other tools.
  • Timeular’s support is responsive and answers in less than 24 hrs

“People complain a lot less about time tracking now because of the easy interface of Timeular.”

Kaitlin Snow Seamons, Executive Creative Director at Harmon Brothers

Timeular vs. Timeflip2 pricing

Timeular

Timeular offers a 30-day free trial for the software, and all new users get a two-month free subscription when purchasing a new Tracker. Each tracker costs $69, and there are multiple subscription plans available when billed annually:

  • Personal: $7.50 / month 
  • Personal Pro: $11.50 / month
  • Team of all sizes: $15.80 / month

Timeflip2

As of today, Timeflip2 doesn’t offer a free trial; the software is forever free, and the tracker can’t be purchased separately from the software. Here are Timeflip2’s deals for trackers:

  • One tracker costs $59
  • Three trackers cost $169
  • Five trackers cost $269
TimeularTimeflip2
30 days free Trial
Tracker costs $69 with 2 months for free
Personal – $7.50 / month
Personal Pro – $11.50 / monthTeam – $15.80 / month
One tracker costs $59 – no other cost

Considering all the functionalities and benefits presented in the Timeular vs Timeflip2 section, Timeular is better equipped both by its software and tracking device to offer a comprehensive experience to its users.

Timely

Timely - time tracking app

Timely is an AI-powered time-tracking tool that comes as another Timeflip alternative. It offers automatic tracking, eliminates manual input, and supports billable hours. However, Timely still comes with drawbacks:

its AI still lacks precision, and the tool misses a solid invoicing feature, while the price wall is a pain point, and they do not offer a free version.

Top Timely features that Timeflip2 is missing:

  • Automatic time tracking: Let Timely automatically monitor your time spent in apps, meetings, and emails.
  • Billable tracking: Keep up with billable and non-billable hours for accurate client invoicing.
  • Track as a team: Add your time with your team and collect insights for projects and clients.
  • Integration with popular project management and productivity apps such as Jira, Asana, ClickUp, and Gmail.

In conclusion, Timeflip2 offers some features that make it a viable alternative to Timeflip2, but it may leave you lamenting once you have analyzed all the best solutions like Timeular, for example.

Timely vs. Timeflip2 Pricing

TimelyTimeflip2
Starter -$9 per user per month
Premium – $16 per user per month
Unlimited -$22 per user per month
One device is $59 – no other cost

Read also: Best Alternatives to Timely

Harvest

time tracking software harvest

For small businesses, Harvest presents a viable alternative to Timeflip, particularly excelling in optimizing invoicing and payment workflows. However, it’s important to note that Harvest significantly relies on manual data entry, potentially making tracking time more cumbersome.

Top Harvest features that Timeflip2 is missing:

  • Project and task tracking: Harvest, users can craft and arrange projects with specific tasks, enhancing organization and resource allocation.
  • Expense tracking: The tool offers expense tracking, enabling users to log and categorize project expenses. This ensures accurate billing and budget management, enhancing project cost monitoring.
  • Timesheet approvals: Harvest offers timesheet approval for team projects. Managers can review and approve timesheets before billing or payroll, ensuring precision and responsibility.
  • Invoicing and payments: Harvest simplifies invoicing with customizable options based on tracked time and expenses. It generates professional invoices and facilitates direct payments, streamlining billing.

Finally, while it is one of the notable alternatives to Timeflip2, Harvest comes with the same issue you stumble upon as a Timeflip2 user: manual tracking, which hinders efficient task management.

Harvest vs. Timeflip2 pricing 

HarvestTimeflip2
Free plan
Pro – $10.80 per user per month
One device costs $59 – no other cost

Read also: The Best Harvest Alternatives in 2023

Toggl

Toggl, a widely used time-tracking app, provides an array of functionalities, enabling tracking time both automated and manually. It is a valid alternative for Timeflip2, particularly appealing to those seeking a cost-effective option with seamless timesheet management, offline tracking, and project estimations. 

Top Toggl features that Timeflip2 is missing:

  • Chrome Extension: Enhances user experience by providing swift tracking time access, eliminating the need for app switching.
  • Integrations: Toggl seamlessly merges with project tools like Asana, Trello, Slack, and more, syncing data for efficient workflows.
  • Pomodoro Timer: Boosts productivity with work intervals and breaks, aiding focus and work-life balance.
  • Billable tracking: Allows you to stay on top of of billable time.

Toggl vs. Timeflip2 pricing 

TogglTimeflip2
Free up to 5 users
Starter – $9 per user per month
Premium – $18 per user per month
Enterprise – tailored solution
One device costs $59 – no other costs

Read also: Timeular vs. Toggl

RescueTime

The last time tracker competing with the Timeflip app as an alternative is RescueTime. It is a comprehensive automated time-tracking tool and effectively rivals Timeflip2. However, it prioritizes individual productivity rather than teamwork and project management.

Top RescueTime features that Timeflip2 is missing:

  • Smart coaching: delivers personalized messages drawn from past activities, offering productivity advice to maintain focus and momentum.
  • Activity categorization: sorts tracked tasks into productive, neutral, or distracting categories, revealing valuable insights into time usage.
  • Goal setting: enables users to establish productivity targets based on specific categories or tasks, fostering efficient work habits.
  • Productivity scores: assigns scores to websites and activity types, gauging their impact on overall productivity.
  • FocusTime: it blocks distracting apps and sites during dedicated work/study sessions, enhancing concentration and efficiency.

Curiosity: Did you know that RescueTime is considered one of the best time tracking apps for designers?

RescueTime vs. Timeflip2 pricing 

RescueTimeTimeflip2
Free version
$12 per month
One device costs $59 – no other costs

Conclusion

Timeular stands out as the superior alternative to Timeflip2 for efficient tracking.

Unlike Timeflip2’s limitations, Timeular offers a pre-assembled and reliable time tracker that seamlessly integrates with its software.

This allows for diverse time-tracking methods, collaborative teamwork, accurate billable hours, customizable reports, and more.

Its competitive pricing, 30-day free trial, and responsive customer support further enhance its appeal. Timeular’s versatility caters to individual preferences and team needs, making it a top choice for renowned companies like Google and Audi.

With its user-friendly interface, robust features, and consistent innovation, Timeular emerges as the ultimate alternative for effective time management. It surpasses Timeflip2 and other alternatives in delivering a comprehensive and effortless experience.

Read also:

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5 Best Harvest Alternatives in 2024

best harvest alternatives

The long-considered trendy choice in time-tracking no longer suits your needs? We got you.

Harvest is a great tool. However, its limitations leave users searching for more advanced alternatives.

So, we made a roundup with the five best Harvest alternatives – and evaluated their key features, pricing, and user experiences.

Why consider Harvest alternatives?

Here’s a list of the most frequent drawbacks of Harvest, identifiable on Capterra:

  • No leave tracking feature, but offers time-consuming workarounds to track PTO or sick time;
  • Manually intensive, as it has quite a manual process of adding time entries, defeating the purpose of time tracking software – to increase productivity;
  • Limited integration options;
  • There is no way of preventing tracking over budget ( alerts, notifications etc);
  • Lack of comprehensive reporting and customization: lack of activity summaries for regular users and limited options for customization.
  • Cost concerns, as based on its features and compared with other tools of its kind, there are tools with similar prices but more advanced features, such as Timeular.

Tired of Harvest? Start tracking with an automatic time tracker instead

“We have become 20% more profitable because everyone is in the habit of time tracking.” – Richard Wingfield, Head Geek at Envision Design

The best Harvest alternatives

1. Timeular

Timeular is the best Harvest alternative for teams looking to track their billable hours and prefer complete data privacy, as well as smart automation features such as leave and overtime tracking.

Essentially, Timeular is equipped with AI-powered key features that make it an effortless, secure, and smart time-tracking app.

Why Timeular is the best alternative to Harvest

  • Offers a physical time-tracking gadget for those who prefer a tactile experience. Not only Harvest, but no other time tracking tool currently offers a time tracking cube. (Check a quick video on how the gadget works )
  • Billable hours tracker: While in Timeular, you can mark billable and non=billable hours with a click, Harvest does not allow teams to distinguish between billable and non-billable hours. If you track something, it goes all in the same bucket.
  • Endless activities to track: in Timeular, you can track endless activities and projects, while users in Harvest lament the limitations in tracking projects – with the tracking cube alone, you can track up to 1,000 tasks.
  • Leave tracker and overtime tracking are functionalities embedded in Timeular, whereas Harvest doesn’t allow them.
  • Automatic time entry suggestions: skip the manual timesheet with Timeular’s automatic time tracking. The AI time tracking app allows you to effortlessly track time using time entry suggestions based on your calendar and past entries.
  • Total data privacy and 100% GDPR compliance: Harvest stores your data on the cloud, whereas in Timeular, your data is stored only locally on your computer.

Track your time with a physical Tracker

Build a habit using muscle memory and a powerful physical reminder. All new users get 2 months free subscription when connecting a new Tracker.

Timeular key features:

  • Ease of use – loved by 100,000 users, many of whom mentioned how simple and intuitive their navigation is, Timeular has a low learning curve.

“People complain a lot less about time tracking now because of the easy interface of Timeular.”

Kaitlin Snow Seamons, Executive Creative Director at Harmon Brothers

  • Tracking the way you want or need: track press keyboard shortcuts without opening the app, on the calendar view, or with the physical tracker.
  • Track on any device you need: desktop app, web app, mobile app, offline or online.
  • Record up to 1,000 tasks with its unique physical time-tracking cube.
  • Automated, intuitive time reporting system: generate visually appealing detailed reports in a few clicks to identify project performance, app usage, and productivity patterns. Export them in various formats.
  • Team collaboration: with shared folders, your team can track time in one place. So, if two team members work on the same project, the data at the end of the day will show the sum of the worked hours without sharing timesheets.
  • Personal productivity monitoring: Track time spent in different apps, understand work habits, and identify productivity patterns and time sinks that lead to inefficiency. Note: The data in your productivity tracking dashboard is accessible only to you.
Timeular - best AI tools
  • Accurate budgetsstay on top of budgets with automated notifications when you reach a certain budget limit. Add the hourly budget on a client or project, and as you work, Timeular records how many hours you’ve left.
  • Integrations: integrate with tools of choice like Trello, Asana, and Google Calendar with Timeular for easy synchronization of tasks and projects. And, if you use Zapier, you can connect to +3000 apps (ex: Xero time tracking integration).
  • Automated suggestions to fill the calendar based on your calendar events powered by AI.

Pricing options

Timeular offers a 30-day free trial period and different pricing plans, including monthly and annual subscriptions.

While both Harvest and Timeular are effective time-tracking solutions, Timeular stands out essentially for its ease of use, data privacy, physical tracker, and capacity to distinguish between billable and non-billable hours.

These features, combined with its appealing pricing options, make Timeular the perfect Harvest alternative for businesses, teams, and individuals seeking an accurate, unique, and engaging time-tracking experience that increases productivity and billable hours.

Looking for an effortless, smart and secure time tracking tool for your team?

Increase profitability an bill accurately with the effortless time tracking app. Never chase a timesheet again!

2. Toggl

Besides being a Harvest alternative, Toggl is also one of the best alternatives to Time Doctor. This time-tracking software offers a good range of features and pricing options. Here are its key highlights:

Toggl key features:

  • Time tracking: Toggl provides an intuitive interface for tracking time spent on tasks and projects. It offers one-click timers, manual time entry, and idle time detection.
  • Integrations: Toggl integrates with popular project management tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira, as well as accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero.
  • Reporting and analytics: Toggl generates reports and visualizations that provide insights into productivity, project progress, and time utilization.
  • Team collaboration: Toggl allows teams to collaborate and track time together. Managers can assign tasks, track team performance, and generate team reports.

Pricing options:

Toggl offers various pricing plans, including a free plan. However, this plan only offers limited features.

The paid plans offer additional features such as project tracking, billable rates, and reporting capabilities.

Advantages of Toggl over Harvest:

  • Versatility and integrations: Toggl offers a wide range of integrations with popular project management and accounting tools, providing seamless synchronization and workflow management.
  • Flexible pricing options: Toggl’s pricing plans cater to various needs and budgets, including a free plan that provides some more basic time-tracking capabilities.

While Harvest is a powerful time-tracking tool, Toggl stands out with its simplicity, versatility, and reporting features.

The ease of use, integrations, and flexible pricing options make Toggl a popular choice for freelancers looking for an efficient time-tracking solution.

Read also: Toggl track vs Clockify: what’s the best time tracker?

3. Clockify

Clockify is a commonly used time-tracking software that provides time tracking, timesheet management, project tracking, and reporting. Clockify is a reliable alternative to Desktime and other time trackers due to its essential features.

Clockify key features:

  • Project and task management: Clockify allows users to create projects, assign tasks, and track time at the project and task level. This helps with organizing and prioritizing work.
  • Integrations: Clockify integrates with popular tools like Trello, Asana, Slack, and more, allowing easy workflow management and synchronization.
  • Team collaboration: Clockify enables teams to collaborate by sharing projects and tasks, tracking time together, and monitoring team performance.

Pricing options:

Clockify offers a free plan, as well as paid plans, including a “Plus” plan with advanced features such as time rounding, billable rates, and more comprehensive reporting options. Additionally, Clockify provides “Workspace” plans for teams.

Advantages of Clockify over Harvest:

  • Free plan: Clockify’s free plan offers time-tracking features, making it an attractive option for individuals/freelancers.
  • Comprehensive reporting: Clockify’s reporting and analytics features provide insights into time usage and project performance, allowing users to make data-driven decisions.
  • Seamless integrations: Clockify integrates with a wide range of popular tools, enabling users to streamline their workflows and synchronize time tracking with their existing project management and communication platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Asana, Jira, Trello, and others.
  • Flexible pricing options: Clockify offers a range of pricing options, allowing users to choose a plan that suits their specific needs and budget.

Clockify offers a better free plan when compared to Harvest, making it a viable alternative to Harvest. The flexibility in pricing options and the ability to track time at both project and task levels make Clockify a favorable choice for freelancers.

4. RescueTime

Another tool worthy to be mentioned on the Harvest alternatives list is RescueTime. It is a time-tracking software that focuses on helping users improve their productivity and eliminate distractions.

RescueTime key features:

  • Automatic time tracking: RescueTime runs in the background and automatically tracks time spent on different applications, websites, and tasks, providing an accurate representation of your activities.
  • Focus time and goal setting: RescueTime allows you to set goals for productive time and block distracting websites during designated focus sessions.
  • Focus alerts and productivity score: RescueTime sends you notifications and alerts to help you stay on track, and it assigns a productivity score based on your daily activities.

Pricing options:

RescueTime offers you both free and paid plans. The free plan provides basic time tracking and limited reporting features. The paid plans, such as the “Premium” and “Business” plans, offer other features like goal setting, distraction blocking, and detailed reports for individuals and teams. Pricing varies based on the plan and the number of users.

Advantages of RescueTime over Harvest:

  • Automatic time tracking: RescueTime’s automatic time tracking eliminates the need for manual input, providing a more effortless tracking experience.
  • Focus and distraction management: RescueTime offers features like focus time, goal setting, and distraction blocking, helping users stay focused and minimize time wasters.

While Harvest primarily focuses on time tracking for billing and project management purposes, RescueTime is designed to help individuals improve their overall productivity and time management skills.

With its automatic tracking, focus management features, and in-depth analytics, RescueTime offers a unique approach to time tracking that goes beyond traditional monitoring.

Read also: RescueTime alternatives and competitors

5. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is an employee-monitoring software designed for remote teams. It offers a variety of features, pricing options, and advantages over Harvest, making it one of the competitive Harvest alternatives.

Hubstaff key features:

  • Employee monitoring: Hubstaff allows monitoring of employees’ activities, including application and website usage, mouse and keyboard activity, and screenshots (optional).
  • GPS tracking: Hubstaff offers GPS tracking for remote teams, enabling employers to monitor the location and movement of employees in the field.
  • Project management: Hubstaff includes features for task assignment, project budgets, and collaboration, allowing teams to manage projects alongside time tracking.

Pricing Options:

Hubstaff offers several pricing plans based on the number of users and features required.

The plans range from a free plan with limited features to paid plans with advanced functionalities like employee monitoring and GPS tracking.

Pricing may also depend on additional features such as payroll integration and time off management.

Advantages of Hubstaff over Harvest:

  • Employee monitoring: Hubstaff’s employee monitoring features provide visibility into employee activities, making it suitable for businesses that require additional oversight and accountability.
  • GPS tracking: Hubstaff’s GPS tracking feature is beneficial for companies with remote or mobile teams, as it allows tracking of employee locations and helps ensure compliance and productivity.
  • Project management integration: Hubstaff combines time tracking and project management capabilities, making it a convenient, all-in-one solution for teams needing both functionalities.

While Harvest focuses primarily on time tracking for billing and project management, Hubstaff extends its capabilities to employee monitoring, GPS tracking, and project management.

Hubstaff’s emphasis on employee accountability and comprehensive reporting makes it suitable for businesses that require monitoring and management features alongside time tracking.

If this app isn’t the best for your needs, read our post and find 10 alternatives to Hubstaff.

Conclusion

While Harvest has been a very popular choice, it also has limitations. There are several alternatives available that offer unique features and advantages.

Time tracking tools like Timeular, Toggl, Clockify, RescueTime, and Hubstaff provide various functionalities to different needs, from simple time tracking to employee monitoring and project management integration. 

Timeular is the best Harvest alternative for businesses, teams, and small companies who need to bill their time. It’s also the best due to its simplicity, comprehensive, detailed, and sharable reporting capacities, flexibility in pricing, and seamless integrations. This makes Timeular perfect for those who want to optimize their time management, enhance productivity, and increase billable hours.

Choosing the right time-tracking software can significantly improve business efficiency, help meet deadlines, and contribute to achieving work-life balance.

You might be interested in the following:

FAQ: How should I choose the right Harvest alternative?

Q: I’m currently using a time-tracking tool but am considering a switch. How should I choose an alternative?

  • Comprehensive time-tracking features: Make sure the Harvest alternative offers detailed time-tracking capabilities, allowing for both manual and automatic logging of hours.
  • Advanced and customizable reporting: Choose a Harvest alternative that goes beyond basic features but provides in-depth reporting and analytics on time spent on tasks, project progress, and employee performance.
  • Project Budgets: The best Harvest alternatives should allow setting and managing budgets to ensure financial goals are met.
  • A simple time tracking tool: a simple time tracking software, yet effective that makes it easy for you to digest tracked data, track progress seamlessly, allows easy resource planning, has customizable reports, will make a great Harvest alternative.
  • Other features to assess: Ensure the Harvest Alternatives you are assessing include client billing, easily adding time entries, monitoring employee activity with privacy in mind, and truly behaving like a productivity tool.

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Timeular: The Best Toggl Alternative

If you heard about Toggl or have already used it, but it doesn’t match your needs, you landed on the right page.

In this article, you will quickly understand why Timeular, an AI-powered time-tracking tool, is the best Toggl alternative despite Toggl’s popularity.

Tired of Toggl? Start tracking with an AI-powered time tracker instead

“We have become 20% more profitable because everyone is in the habit of time tracking.” – Richard Wingfield, Head Geek at Envision Design

TLDR:

  1. Timeular is overall more affordable while offering more advanced features;
  2. While Toggl requires users to upgrade to Toggl Plan to track leave time, Timeular includes all types of leave tracking at no extra cost;
  3. Timeular adds AI-generated time entry suggestions, allowing users to focus on their work rather than tracking, while Toggl doesn’t;
  4. Toggl allows users to track time only manually and automatically, while Timeular offers these two options, enhanced by AI and a physical tracking gadget.
Timeular tracking app

Is Timeular the best tool for you?

Timeular is an all-in-one solution that works both as an automatic time tracker and leave tracker without any additional costs for any of these key features. It’s loved by over 10,000 companies worldwide, including Google, Audi, Toyota, McKinsey, and Bang & Olufsen.

While there are multiple Toggl alternatives, here’s what makes Timeular a great alternative:

  • Includes an optional physical time-tracking gadget – unique among tracking tools, helps with the team’s buy-in into tracking, and makes the necessary evil (time tracking) enjoyable;
  • Covers leave tracking – whereas Toggl track doesn’t, if you need this feature, you need to upgrade to Toggl Plan, which is behind a price wall;
  • Includes AI context tracking – sends you tracking suggestions based on your calendar events; all you have to do is click once to accept a suggestion, so ditch manual time entries;
  • Offers an AI-powered productivity insights report – find out when and what tools, apps, or tasks make you unproductive or the opposite – so you can replicate your strengths or remove what makes you waste time.
  • Anti-surveillance policy allows managers to check the tracked data of an employee only at midnight, not in real-time, to offer 100% privacy.
  • Stores your data securely – only locally on your computer, while it’s 100% GDPR compliant;
  • Tracks up to 1000 activities with the physical gadget and works offline;
  • You can track time the way you want – whether you want to track with a calendar view, keyboard shortcuts, or the time tracking cube – it makes it easy to build a time-tracking habit;
  • Flexible setup with folders, activities, and tags lets you track time across your clients and projects the way you need it;
  • Easy-to-digest automated reports don’t require manual work;
  • Integrates with over 3000 other tools, from project management software to payroll and others;
  • Easy-to-use user interface ensures seamless navigation – Timeular allows tracking time without losing focus or opening the app.

“Since we started using Timeular and tracking our time, we’ve never made another mistake in planning, creating accurate proposals, or budgeting for clients. It’s so easy to use. Everyone uses it, and it shows.” – AC Coppens, Founder of THE CATALYSTS

Whether you need to collaborate with a team or just track your own time, Timeular is definitely the best choice for you.

Timeular is the automatic time tracker to go for if you want to invest in an easy way to track time, which is secure and versatile, too. It is a reliable choice if you’re looking for constantly updated software available through a monthly subscription.

Most of all, it’s the tool that offers the perks of AI features that come up with simple, done-for-you methods of tracking and the perks of a physical gadget, too.

If you prioritize features like billable time, automation, security, and responsive customer support, then Timeular is the right fit for you.

TRAITSTOGGLTIMEULAR
Features No physical device
Billable tracking
Editable time entries
Individual and multi-user collaboration and tracking
Pomodoro timer
Add notes in time entries
AI-powered time entries
Leave and overtime tracking
Automatic tracking
Billable tracking
Editable time entries
Tracks also without the device
Infinite private and shared folders
Custom Reminders, also for Pomodoro
Add notes, tags, and mentions in time entries
Drag and drop time entries
Copy-paste time entries
QuickTrack: Keyboard shortcuts
Custom Reminders
Unlimited projects
Import time entries from a calendar
Work collaboratively in teams
Permission management
Dark mode 
Platform compatibility iOS, Android, Web app    iOS, Android, Web app, Mac, Windows, Linux

Is Toggl the right tool for you?

Toggl is a popular time-tracking tool that tracks your time on different projects, tasks, and clients.

It offers an extensive range of features, including time tracking, project management, and reporting. It offers basic time tracking and project management features that allow you to track your time and manage projects.

Its key features leave users unsatisfied and on the hunt for better Toggl alternatives.

However, Toggl is a great option for anyone looking for a basic time-tracking tool. It’s simple to use, features an intuitive interface, and is available on multiple platforms.

Nonetheless, currently, it doesn’t have AI-powered automation that would speed up the time-tracking process.

time tracking tips

It’s time! Learn how set up your Timeular and Toggl integration with just a few clicks

Toggl offers a range of features that will help you track your time and manage your projects effectively, such as creating projects, tagging, and starting and stopping the timer with just a few clicks. You can also track billable hours and generate reports on your time usage. 

However, while Toggl is a great tool for basic time tracking, it may not be the best option for those looking for more accurate time tracking and reporting. Due to the way you track time within the app, it’s easy to forget to switch between activities, which leads to inaccurate reports. This can lead to poor project management application, too, as the starting premises of a project are poorly forecasted.

Its main time tracking features, reporting, and analytics are rather limited, preventing project managers from gaining access to insightful, comprehensive reports. Additionally, Toggl does not offer integration with physical time-tracking devices. So, if you’re looking for a more accurate time-tracking solution, you should identify Toggl alternatives.

In summary, Toggl is a good option for those looking for a simple and basic time-tracking tool, but it may not meet the need for more advanced use cases. If your needs are more complex, Timeular is one of the best Toggl alternatives.

Toggl vs. Timeular scores on customer reviewing platforms

These are Toggl’s and Timeular’s ratings on very popular software comparison sites. As you can see, Timeular has a higher rating than Toggl.

PlatformTogglTimeular
Product Hunt4.85
Capterra4.74.6
Apple Store3.24.6
Average4.234.73

Methods of tracking Timeular vs. Toggl

Timeular

Timeular makes time tracking effortless with its intuitive interface and multiple tracking methods, available on its mobile or desktop app.

In Timeular, you can track time in many ways, based on what one suits you best:

  • You can flip the physical time tracker gadget to start tracking up to 1,000 activities. Allowing users to track up to 1,000 activities with a simple flip of the cube. Unlike other devices, Timeular’s app works independently from the tracker, making time tracking easy to remember and engaging.
time tracker

Track your time with a physical Tracker

Capture 100% of your time with a simple flip using the Tracker. A powerful eight-sided die that serves as a physical reminder to track your time

  • Automated time tracking – just do your tasks. Timeular records time spent working in the background and automatically adds AI suggestions to your calendar. Suggestions are created based on tool and app usage or past calendar events.
Timeular - best AI tools

  • QuickTrack – use keyboard shortcuts to start an activity with just one click, contrary to just a few clicks in Toggl.

Toggl

Toggl Track offers the following tracking methods:

  • Timeline auto-tracking – allow Toggl to record your work automatically, either in the app or in the browser, and then choose what turns into time entries;
  • Favorite time entries – choose an activity from your most frequently used time entries to start tracking easily. Your favorite activities are available only in the Toggl Timer on the web app.
  • One-click timers – you can start tracking for a client project or in other applications and edit details later.

Reporting: Insights, Statistics, and Export

 TOGGLTIMEULAR
ReportingTime entries statistics
Export: .csv, .xlsx, PDF
Custom filters
Calendar picker    
AI-generated personal productivity insights
Time entries statistics
Export: .csv, .xlsx, PDF
Custom filters
Productivity trends comparison
Calendar picker
Rounding values

Timeular reporting

Take reporting to the next level with Timeular’s advanced time reporting system

  • The insights area gives an overview of tracked hours broken down by activity, category, team member, folder, and customizable time frames. You can also save your customized filters for easy access the next time you need them.
  • Additionally, the reporting feature offers detailed information on billable hours, including the total value of billable hours and a breakdown per activity.

Generate automated time reports in Timeular

“I love the reporting tool. It’s very graphic and the visuals really help me understand how things are going. The colours make it easy to digest too. I can filter, export and share as I wish and that’s really important” – Richard Wingfield, Head Geek at Envision Design

  • You can also see the percentage of billable hours for each activity, providing you with valuable insights to improve your productivity and profitability.
  • Round time entries: make sure your data is precise with data entry granularity – Data entries in Timeular can be rounded in three levels of granularity: down to, to nearest, or up to.
Timeular time tracking insights

Timeular’s smart productivity report

Have you implemented a new tool in a project, but you are not sure about its impact on project cost calculation or progress? Did it impact your productivity positively or negatively?

You can identify what is stifling your project progress with Timeular’s productivity dashboard.

Understand work habits and identify productivity patterns and time sinks that lead to inefficiency.

Note: The data in this dashboard is accessible only to you.

Timeular - best AI tools

Toggl reporting

Toggl offers a variety of reporting features to help users analyze and understand their time-tracking data. Some of the key reporting features include detailed reports, time audits, and custom reports.

  • With project reports, users can see how much time was spent on each project, compare actual time spent to the estimated time, and also see how much billable time was tracked.
  • With Toggl’s team reports, users can view team members’ time entries, check how much time is spent on each project by each team member, and also generate reports to compare team members’ productivity. All these features allow users to better understand their time-tracking data. At the same time make informed decisions about managing their time and resources more effectively.

Billable time tracking

Billable tracking in Timeular

Stay on top of budgets and keep track of costs with Timeular’s automatic billable time tracking.

Here is how it works:

  • Easily add and edit time entries and use copy, paste, drag, and drop commands or
  • Use keyboard shortcuts
  • Your tracking with notes, tags, and mentions

Rest assured that all your data remains securely within Timeular. You can also choose to export it to your calendar (as detailed in the integrations & API section below).

Timeular’s billable time-tracking feature allows you to assign different hourly rates for different activities. Simply switch between billable and non-billable activities with a toggle, taking full control of your time.

Maximize your billing efficiency by being able to track the same activity multiple times — sometimes as billable and others as non-billable — and setting an hourly rate to fit your needs, available in multiple currency options.

Billable tracking in Toggl

Toggl’s billable tracking feature allows users to track billable hours and bill clients for their work. This feature allows users to mark specific time entries as billable and non-billable and also provides a way to associate a rate with each billable entry.

This way, when generating invoices, Toggl can automatically calculate the total amount due based on the hours worked and the rate associated with each entry.

Users can also set up different rates for different clients or projects. Additionally, Toggl provides a report that breaks down billable hours by client, project, or task, allowing users to easily see how much time was spent on billable work and how much revenue was generated. 

Timeular’s shared folders

Whether you’re working individually or with a team, in Timeular, you can create countless Private and Shared folders to manage unlimited projects. Timeular’s shared folders feature enhances team accountability, making it a great collaboration tool. By using shared folders, you can effortlessly keep track of the time of multiple team members and choose whether to view your own tracked activities. These folders give team leaders an overall view of their team’s tracked time.

In Timeular, you also have flexible permission management options to ensure everyone can access the necessary information.

Custom reminders and goals in Timeular

reminders feature timeular

Let’s keep it real. It’s easy to forget to track time. With Timeular’s custom reminders, that will not happen again! Set up the reminders according to your schedule, and never forget to track time again with personalized reminders.

You can even use this feature to put productivity hacks into practice, such as the Pomodoro technique. All you have to do is set reminders to stop tracking every 25 minutes, allowing you to have your 5-minute break before restarting.

Easily set and monitor time-related goals for yourself or your team within Timeular. For instance, if you want to achieve a daily goal of 2 hours of deep work, you can track that goal in the main calendar view and set multiple goals.

This function helps you to stay on top of your time usage, achieve project progress faster, and schedule tasks so that you make the most of your time.

Tracking: work time, overtime, and other types of leaves

Timeular

In Timeular, beyond work hours, you can effortlessly track overtime and all types of leaves, providing comprehensive control over your work schedule.

Having all types of leaves included as time-tracking features at no added cost allows better task management. On top of that, for an optimized project management application.

All PTO requests in Timeular can be done in one click.

Toggl Track

Unlike Timeular, Toggl Track does not include a time off feature but requires an upgrade to the Toggl Plan, which comes us with either $8 per user/month for a smaller team or $13.35 per user/month for a larger business.

Toggl Plan indeed includes features to manage projects in more detail and task management. However, if you’re looking for time management software that includes all types of leaves with no cost added, Timeular is the best Toggl alternative.

Integrations & API

 TOGGLTIMEULAR
IntegrationsGoogle Calendar
Outlook Calendar
Apple Calendar
API
Harvest
Jira
Zapier    
Google Calendar
Outlook Calendar
Apple Calendar
API
Harvest
Trello 
Asana
Toggl
Jira
Zapier
GitLab time tracking integration

Timeular integrations

Timeular’s comprehensive integrations allow you to experience the ultimate flexibility in time tracking.

Enjoy two-way integration between Timeular and your calendar, allowing you to effortlessly export time entries from Timeular to Google, Apple, or Outlook Calendars or import calendar events into Timeular and view them in Timeular’s main calendar view in read-only mode.

Timeular also seamlessly integrates with popular productivity tools such as Harvest, Toggl, Jira, and Zapier. The Zapier integration enables the connection to over 3000 different applications for free. Additionally, Timeular offers an API for users to create a custom time-tracking solution that fits their specific needs.

Combine your favourite tools with Timeular to track time automatically

Sync data with 3000+ tools so you can streamline payroll, 
billing, reporting, and other workflows

Toggl integrations

Toggl offers a wide range of integrations to make time tracking more seamless and efficient. It can integrate with various project management and task management tools such as Trello, Jira, Asana, GitLab, Basecamp, and Todoist. But also with team communication apps like Slack and Google Calendar. 

The 100+ integrations allow users to start and stop timers, see time tracked on a project and also to access data from different tools.

When comparing both, Toggl seems to have more integrations (on their website, they say they have more than 100 integrations). However, Timeular’s integrations are focused more on time tracking, such as integration with invoicing and reporting tools.

Data privacy and surveillance

Timeular stores data only locally

In Timeular, your data is stored solely on your computer rather than on the cloud. Only you, as a user, have access to your data on the computer where you’re tracking. If you’d use another computer, you wouldn’t be able to find that data, that’s how much Timeular cares about your privacy.

Your data is stored with 100% GDPR compliance in mind and doesn’t allow surveillance. Employees shouldn’t feel spied on when they track time, so in Timeular; managers can see their employee’s timesheets at midnight on a specific day.

Toggl stores data locally and in the cloud

Toggl Track stores some of your data on your device, while some will be sent to their servers – namely, to the public cloud. While Toggl mentions they are using multiple storage technologies to store a user’s data, the data is still stored in the public cloud, exposing it to threats.

Once more, when comparing both tools in terms of privacy, Timeular is one of the better Toggl alternatives, as it offers 100% data privacy.

Support and Onboarding

 TOGGLTIMEULAR
Support and OnboardingE-mail
Chat in App
Help Center
Live Demo
Community forum    
E-mail
Chat in App
Help Center
Live Demo with Timeular’s co-founder
Onboarding call with a software wizard 

Timeular onboarding and support

Timeular’s onboarding starts with a user-friendly software wizard that guides users through a step-by-step process of setting up the tool for quick team adoption.

Furthermore, teams looking to utilize the tool fully can schedule a free demo with one of Timeular’s founders.

Timeular’s support is highly responsive, providing a wealth of touchpoints across all time zones for users to seek troubleshooting assistance. In addition to traditional channels such as email and in-app chat, Timeular offers a comprehensive and regularly updated Help Center page.

Toggl support

Toggl provides various support options to help users with their needs. The tool has a help center with articles, tutorials on how to use the software, and a searchable FAQ section. Toggl also has a support team that can be reached via email or live chat during business hours for more specific questions or issues.

In terms of onboarding, Toggl provides a step-by-step guide to help users set up and start using the software.

Pricing model

 TOGGLTIMEULAR
Pricing plans30-day free plan (trial) of the Premium plan
Free plan
Monthly or yearly subscription
Starter: $9/user/month
Premium: $18/user/month
Enterprise:
 price/user/month unavailable ((unlimited users)
30 days free plan (trial)
Tracker $61,15 (€57.50)+2 months free
Monthly or yearly subscription
Personal: €6.30/user/month
Personal Pro: €9.60/ user/month
Team: 
€14.60/user/month (unlimited users)

Both Toggl and Timeular offer a free 30-day trial.

Timeular offers a variety of pricing plans to make it accessible to all. The users who purchase a new Tracker receive an additional two-month subscription. Additionally, each Tracker comes with a one-year warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee. The Tracker costs €57.50 (approximately $61.15), and multiple subscription plans are available to suit different needs and budgets. 

In fact, if you compare the prices of both software options, Timeular has more affordable options and more advanced features.

Start tracking you time automatically with zero effort

Try Timeular, which provides frictionless, automated, and secure time-tracking

Toggl vs Timeular: What is the best?

Toggl pros and cons

Pros

  • Free version available
  • Cross-platform compatibility
  • Comprehensive reporting
  • 100+ integrations
  • Can be used offline

Cons

  • Limited functionality in the free version
  • Limited team management features
  • Limited budget tracking
  • Not all integrations are available in the free version.
  • Difficult setup and customization

Timeular pros and cons

Pros

  • 30-day free trial
  • Automatic tracking
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Tracking time with Calendar, Keyboard shortcuts, or a Physical device
  • The physical device that helps build a habit
  • Helpful and responsive customer support
  • Powerful, detailed analytics and statistics
  • Flexible, customizable reporting options
  • The software can be utilized independently of the device
  • Collaborative teamwork features, such as shared folders
  • Extensive integration capabilities
  • Dark mode option available
  • Goal tracking functionality
  • Offline tracking

Cons

  • 30-day free trial but no free plans
  • Mandatory software subscription

Why is Timeular a great Toggl alternative?

  • Includes AI capabilities, making time tracking a done-for-you automatic process, which reduces time wasted on manual tracking;
  • Includes all types of leave tracking, from PTO to sick to parental leave, as well as overtime tracking, without an additional cost, while Toggl Track requires upgrading to Toggl Plan ( conversely, a higher cost);
  • Has an optional physical tracking gadget, which helps in faster team adoption and makes tracking time more enjoyable;
  • Comes with multiple tracking methods, which we’ll explore further;
  • Smaller price, while it has more advanced functionalities powered by AI;
  • And others mentioned below.

In essence, both tools offer a range of features that make them great options for tracking your time, but they differ in how they operate.

If you would prefer these key features, you’d easily make your decision.

You might be interested in:

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10 Best Planner Apps for Mac

planner apps for mac

Are you trying to manage the chaos of your daily tasks to stay organized? Well done! Searching for the best planner app for Mac is the right step!

Planning apps for Mac will help you manage your projects effectively. With daily planners, you can create tasks, sub-tasks, and to-do lists, set deadlines, and integrate with other Apple devices, such as your Apple Watch or iPad.

Looking to better manage your time? First, discover where your time actually goes.

“I’ve doubled my revenue thanks to Timeular and managed to halve how much I work. Timeular helped me understand where I needed to make changes to become more efficient and this has allowed me to cut down my time spent working.” – Valdemar Alfred, Owner of Valdefar

Navigating the plethora of planner apps akin to having a personal assistant is the key to optimizing your daily routine. Whether you’re tackling work commitments, school assignments, personal projects, note-taking, or assisting family members with their tasks, we’ve got you covered.

This article is your compass in the world of best Mac planner apps, paving the way for enhanced productivity and streamlined management. Let’s dive in!

Methodology: How did we choose the top planners for Mac

Amidst the multitude of planner and productivity apps, our emphasis lies in pinpointing key attributes that enhance effectiveness and user utility. Our evaluation centers on features, functionalities, integrations, and usability.

The spotlight is on apps we’ve personally used and rigorously tested, placing a premium on those with stellar user recommendations and reviews. This meticulous approach ensures a robust compilation of top-notch planner apps for Mac users.

What are the best planners for Mac?

Google Calendar template

Google Calendar

Nothing beats a good old calendar when we think of planning. Google Calendar is widely recognized and highly useful because it manages schedules, events, and appointments, making it a popular option for both individuals and businesses.

Google Calendar stands out with its multiple calendar views, offering day, week, month, and agenda views for users to adapt their schedule visualization to their preferences. The app also simplifies scheduling with recurring events, allowing users to set up weekly or monthly meetings and automatically update the calendar even in a different time zone.

Integration is also a key strength since it has a very good sync with various productivity apps like Slack, Dropbox, Salesforce, and Timeular. The app is free if you own a Google account.

Read also: Google Calendar time tracking

Connect Google Calendar to your time tracking app and get AI productivity insights

“I love how robust Timeular is. It’s increased our ability to see what’s going on in the business and helped us understand what changes are needed to maintain profitability.” – Kaitlin Snow Seamons, Executive Creative Director at Harmon Brothers

Notion app

Notion

Notion is one of the most versatile apps on the list that provides powerful features as a planner and as a project management tool.

With multiple templates and features, the app suits different kinds of demands, from professionals to students, or even if you’re just looking for an app to arrange your to-dos and personal tasks. 

Integration is seamless, with Notion syncing with various productivity apps like Google Calendar, Slack, and Zapier. This ensures smooth collaboration and workflow coordination. The app also excels in project management, providing Kanban boards for visual project tracking and timelines for a chronological view of events.

Notion’s page-based interface offers a flexible and customizable workspace. Users can create a hierarchical structure by nesting pages and incorporating diverse content types, such as text, images, tables, checklists, and code, which enhances the organization and accessibility of information within the app.

Notion paid plans start at $15 per user, but you can also use it for free with fewer features.

Read also: Time tracking in Notion

Connect Notion to your time tracking app and get real-time AI productivity insights

Todoist

Todoist stands out as a practical planner or to-do app because it simply delivers task management. You can plan your daily tasks through a to-do list according to what makes sense to your needs.  Todoist’s versatility extends to facilitating effective collaboration among individuals and team members, enabling the assignment of deadlines and prioritization of tasks.

The to-do app’s organizational prowess shines in handling projects and subtasks, simplifying task management with a hierarchical structure. Todoist further streamlines workflow with recurring tasks, automating the addition of repetitive actions at regular intervals.

A key feature lies in Todoist’s rich customization options, with themes, labels, reminders, and integrations with other productivity apps. This flexibility empowers users to personalize the app and each to-do list according to their preferences. 

Todoist is not a to-do list app available exclusively on Mac since it’s also available for Android and Windows users. The app offers a free version and paid plans starting at $5 per month.

TIP: Learn our post to learn everything about Todist time tracking.

Structured

Structured presents a user-friendly and minimalist interface designed for efficient day organization and task management. Its minimalist design prioritizes essential features, making it ideal for those preferring a clutter-free planning experience.

The app integrates Habit Tracking, allowing users to monitor progress toward personal goals, categorize habits for organization, and set target frequencies for effective habit formation. Structured can also silence notifications and distractions during deep work sessions.

One of Structured’s strengths lies in Cross-Device Syncing, ensuring accessibility across Mac, iPad, and iPhone without the need for manual updates, providing consistency and synchronization, which is especially beneficial for Mac users. It also integrates with popular calendars like Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and Outlook, facilitating the importation of events for better planning convenience.

The app offers many features for free, but some advanced ones are premium features that require an upgrade. Prices start at $2.99 per month.

Evernote

Evernote is a robust note-taking app that lets you capture, categorize, and share information effectively. It allows versatile creation of text, audio, images, handwritten notes, and even something simple as a to-do list, which can be easily organized into notebooks, tagged for swift searching, and shared collaboratively.

Task Management is seamlessly integrated into Evernote, empowering users to craft a to-do list, set reminders, take notes, and monitor progress on goals. The app’s collaboration tools enhance teamwork, with real-time editing and commenting features facilitating efficient planning activities and to-do lists.

Evernote’s rich media support, allowing embedded images, audio, and video files within notes, makes it a versatile tool for capturing and storing multimedia content, ideal for a variety of tasks like grocery lists and work assignments. The powerful search functionality ensures quick retrieval of any note or project, even when they contain handwritten text, images, or audio recordings.

Evernote app is available for iOS and Android. It has a free version with limitations on note-taking and uploads and a paid version starting at €8.33 per month.

Mindlist

Mindlist is a good planner for MacOS users and a reliable choice for those who seek a highly organized and customizable approach to managing their plans and new tasks.

Recognized for its adaptability, attention to context-based task management, and integration with other productivity apps, Mindlist is available as a native app for both Mac and iOS devices, which ensures coordination across various platforms and a shallow learning curve.

A strong feature is the focus mode, designed to temporarily conceal all tasks except the one currently selected, promoting distraction-free deep work sessions. Mindlist offers extensive customization alternatives, allowing users to tailor views, set up recurring tasks, and create personalized perspectives according to their specific needs and preferences.

Additionally, the app includes a habit tracker, enabling users to monitor progress toward forming new habits or breaking existing ones, fostering self-improvement, setting reminders, and aiding in the accomplishment of personal goals.

This planner app can be used for free but offers premium features at $6.99.

Any.Do interface

Any.Do

Any.Do is designed for users who want to organize and customize their plans and goals. Noteworthy for its adaptability, focus on context-based task management, and integration with other productivity apps, Any.Do is available as a native app for iOS devices, ensuring synchronization across platforms like iPhone and iPad.

It also provides a focus mode, which temporarily hides all but the currently selected task, fostering undistracted deep work sessions for your current to-dos. Any.Do software excels in customization, allowing users to tailor views, set up recurring tasks, and create personalized perspectives based on individual needs and preferences.

The app also integrates a habit tracker, empowering users to monitor progress toward forming new habits or breaking existing ones, promoting self-improvement, and helping users organize their plans better and achieve their goals.

The planner app offers a free version with key features and premium plans starting at $5 monthly.

Timepage planner app

Timepage

Timepage blends the traditional features of a calendar with an emphasis on contextual awareness and intelligent scheduling. Crafted to aid effective day planning, organization, and time management, Timepage sets itself apart by leveraging contextual awareness.

It suggests relevant tasks, appointments, to-dos, and events based on the user’s current location, time of day, and past activities, helping improve focus and productivity throughout the day according to what makes sense to the user.

Incorporating intelligent scheduling algorithms, Timepage recommends optimal times for tasks and events by considering factors such as availability, preferences, and past performance. This ensures users can avoid scheduling conflicts and maintain a well-balanced and effective daily schedule.

The app can also sync with Apple Calendar, providing a centralized hub within the app for users to view, manage, and edit all their events and tasks. This integration enhances accessibility and streamlines the overall scheduling experience.

Trello webpage

Trello

Trello is a very solid alternative for a good planner. It is very effective for overall project management activities and planning since it allows you to be more visual through the use of Kanban boards, share tasks, customize, track, and arrange them.

Businesses and organizations drawn to Trello for its simplicity, flexibility, and collaboration features find it a popular choice across various sizes.

In Trello, tasks are represented by cards containing descriptions, due dates, attachments, and checklists for detailed breakdowns. The use of labels and due dates helps users categorize and prioritize assignments, ensuring timely completion.

The platform further supports collaboration through comments and attachments, allowing users to share ideas and add tags and files seamlessly. Trello’s efficiency is complemented by pre-built templates for various projects, such as marketing campaigns or product development, saving users time and effort when setting up new boards.

Both teams and individuals can use Trello for free, but you can always have an upgrade starting at $5 per month.

Read also: Does Trello have time tracking?

OmniFocus app

OmniFocus

OmniFocus is designed for those who need a highly organized and customizable way to manage their plans and goals. It is known for its flexibility, focus on context-based task management and integration with other productivity apps.

OmniFocus excels as a native Mac and iOS app, ensuring seamless synchronization across iPhone and iPad devices.

The focus mode is a standout feature of the app, which temporarily hides all but the selected task, fostering undistracted deep work sessions. OmniFocus stands out for its extensive customization and appealing design, allowing users to tailor views, set up recurring tasks, and create personalized perspectives.

Additionally, the app integrates a habit tracker, supporting users in monitoring progress toward forming new habits or breaking existing ones, facilitating self-improvement and goal achievement.

The app offers a free trial period and paid versions according to the chosen plan. Prices start at $4.99 per month.

Features on a planner app

Features to look for when choosing a good planner for Mac

Overall usability and interface

One of the strongest features to look for when choosing a planner app is usability. The app should have a clean and easy-to-use user interface that is intuitive and straightforward to help users quickly add, edit, and view appointments, dos, reminders, and notes without unnecessary complexity.

Integrations

Consider apps that can integrate seamlessly with other productivity tools and apps you already use daily. When we talk about apps for Mac, look for those that have better integrations with the iOS system. This can help you streamline your workflows, stay organized, and avoid switching between multiple apps while adding tasks to your planner.

Syncing across devices

As mentioned before, integrations are very important, especially for Mac users, so ensure the app you choose allows you to sync your schedule and tasks seamlessly across your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and other devices. This ensures you always have access to your information, regardless of your device.

Task management capabilities

A good planner app should be able to integrate task management features, such as the ability to categorize tasks into a different project, assign due dates and priorities, and enable you to create, access, and manage lists, set reminders, and track your progress. It is a strong feature to help you stay on top of your commitments.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this list will help you decide when choosing the right planner app for Mac.

Choosing the most suitable one will improve your routine, daily tasks, and to-do lists. Remember to consider the factors we mentioned above, from interface and usability to multiple integrations, but more importantly, the one that suits you perfectly.

Of course, many other apps didn’t make it to this list. However, we strongly believe that the preselection provided in this article will help you make the right choice.

FAQ

How can I plan time manually?

If you don’t want to automate planning your schedule with a planner app, use one of the free schedule templates provided by Timeular. They are available in three different formats: in Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, and as a printable PDF file.

What is the best planner app for Mac and iPhone?

There isn’t a right answer because the best app planner for Mac and iPhone will depend on your personal needs and what makes more sense in your routine and daily tasks. It is important to analyze the app’s core features, how it can help you organize daily tasks and complex projects, and how it can sync with apps and lists you may already use.

Is Microsoft Planner available for Mac?

Yes, it is. Microsoft Planner is a collaborative task management tool that facilitates teamwork, task organization, and progress tracking. It is part of Microsoft 365 and is available for Mac users.

You might be interested in:

How Context Switching Wrecks Your Productivity

Context switching wreaks havoc on productivity, slashing it by up to 40%. In today’s tech-infused work environment, a TechSmith survey reveals that half of the workforce finds meetings, emails, and messages counterproductive.

Beneath this digital chaos lies the stealthy culprit – context switching, where juggling tools and tasks come at a hefty cost.

Key takeaways:

  1. Context switching can diminish productivity by 40%.

  2. Mental exhaustion, eroded memory, and scattered focus are its side effects.

  3. There are battle-tested strategies to defy context switching and boost productivity.

It’s time. Start tracking where your time goes with an effortless automatic time tracker

“We have become 20% more profitable because everyone is in the habit of time tracking.” – Richard Wingfield, Head Geek at Envision Design

What is context switching at work?

Context switching refers to the frequent shifting of focus between various unrelated tasks during a workday.

For example, while working on a presentation slide deck, one may also frequently divert attention to checking emails. This is followed by transitions to tasks such as analyzing weekly sales reports, all while periodically interrupting workflow to respond to instant messages.

The truth is, that what many perceive as multitasking is a phenomenon known as context switching. But what exactly does that mean?

” From a human workforce perspective, context switching is the process of stopping work in one project and picking it back up after performing a different task on a different project. Just like computing systems, human team members often incur overhead when context switching between multiple projects.”

Todd Waits in the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute blog.

How does a context switch work?

Well, we’ve all been there: in the hustle and bustle of our work life, we often find ourselves juggling many tasks simultaneously.

Whether it’s responding to emails, checking messages, staying updated, or urgently addressing a crucial task for the boss, right now. Our daily routine involves navigating through a sea of responsibilities.

Asynchronous communication, multiple tasks, and the nature of work management can all contribute to the frequency of context-switching within a work environment.

Why do we context switch?

It’s not as if we consciously decide to do it: context switching is often an unconscious, almost trivial, part of our daily routine. This global phenomenon is fueled by the demands of our ever-changing work environment.

In the current work ecosystem, adapting and seamlessly switching between different contexts becomes imperative for staying agile and responsive to the demands of contemporary work environments.

What are the top problems with context switching?

Content switching brings various challenges that affect productivity, mental resilience, and cognitive functions. 

Balancing multiple tasks can be challenging, especially when time is scarce, and the consequences of context switching are substantial.

Here are some crazy statistics:

So, let’s break down in detail some of these issues to understand the nuanced problems linked with context switching.

More insights:

Reduced productivity

Context switching disrupts the smooth flow of focused work, significantly affecting overall productivity.

As previously mentioned, research in psychology highlights that multitasking, closely related to context switching, can lead to a notable decrease in productivity, potentially reaching up to 40%.

This close relationship between task-switching dynamics and reduced productivity underscores the vital necessity of addressing the broad influence of context-switching on work efficiency.

According to a 2022 Harvard Business Review research report, employees lose around 5 working weeks per year, accounting for 9% of their total work time, due to the need to reorient themselves after switching to a new task.

The statistics are remarkable: On an average day, users switch between different apps and websites nearly 1,200 times, leading to a loss of approximately 4 hours per week due to context switching.

Mental exhaustion

Frequent task-switching takes a toll on your brain, making you feel extremely tired. Imagine it like running a marathon – if you keep changing tasks, it’s like sprinting and then suddenly stopping, over and over again.

This constant switch depletes your mental energy, leaving you drained. Adapting to new situations or tasks feels overwhelming because your brain needs to gear up for something different.

Scientific studies back this up, showing that each switch between tasks uses up a significant amount of mental energy. It’s like your brain’s fuel is running out faster because of all the changes.

Understanding how these factors work together is crucial. Think of it as recognizing the connection between pushing your brain too hard and feeling mentally exhausted. The more you switch between tasks, the more you drain your mental resources, affecting your overall well-being.

top causes of stress at work

Negative impact on memory and focus

Context switching disrupts this delicate balance, throwing a wrench into short-term memory processes. This disruption not only complicates the retention of crucial information but also poses a challenge to maintaining a deep focus on tasks.

Unraveling the cognitive consequences of this interplay between task-shifting and memory retention provides a profound insight into the intricate cognitive maze navigated by individuals constantly grappling with context switching.

Ways to combat context switching

Don’t be scared. To deal with context switching effectively, you need a thoughtful plan and a proactive approach, and we will help you with that.

Here are 11 simple ways to cut down on context switching and create a more focused work environment:

Identify your context switches

Begin by recognizing the triggers that make you switch between tasks and projects. Whether it’s emails, impromptu meetings, or chat messages, identifying both passive and active switches empowers you to defend against them throughout your workday.

Set your priorities

Streamline your workflow by prioritizing tasks using methodologies like the Eisenhower Matrix. Instead of simultaneously juggling multiple ‘important’ tasks, categorize them based on importance and urgency, ensuring a more structured and focused approach to become more productive and efficient.

Read:

Use a time-tracking software

One effective strategy to combat context switching is using time-tracking software, such as Timeular.

You gain insights into your work patterns by tracking the time spent on different tasks.

Ineffective time management brings about various psychological effects, including heightened stress, a sense of being overwhelmed, and the feeling of never catching up.

Use it to track time spent on different tasks and gain a clear and objective view of your daily activities. This insight helps you identify context-switching patterns and pinpoint tasks contributing to mental fatigue.

Armed with this knowledge, you can implement targeted strategies to minimize interruptions and optimize your workflow. The real-time visibility provided by a time tracking app acts as your self-awareness companion, enabling you to make informed decisions that enhance your focus, streamline tasks, and ultimately regain control over your productivity.

“I’ve doubled my revenue thanks to Timeular and managed to halve how much I work. Timeular helped me understand where I needed to make changes to become more efficient and this has allowed me to cut down my time spent working.”

– Valdemar Alfred, Owner of Valdefar

Read more:

Implement day theming and time-blocking

Structuring the workday with themes and time blocks helps prioritize tasks. This time management technique allows individuals to allocate specific time slots to different types of work, minimizing the need for constant context switching.

Practice deep work

Deep work is the opposite of context switching. It allows you to focus entirely on one thing for a longer period of time, which has plenty of benefits. You not only perform your task faster, but you also do it more diligently.

As you allow yourself to dedicate your entire focus to a single task, and your brain doesn’t need to waste energy on context switching, more resources are spent on problem-solving and creative thinking.

Use “Do Not Disturb” (DND) mode

Tailor the “Do Not Disturb” setting for specific events to eliminate distractions and prevent constant chat interruptions by synchronizing your chat status with your calendar.

This feature lets your colleagues know when you’re engaged in meetings, focused on other tasks, or committed to personal commitments.

pomodoro technique

Get a Pomodoro app

Install a Pomodoro app or use an online Pomodoro timer for more productivity. This incredible technique involves working in short, focused bursts with breaks in between.

Some Pomodoro apps integrate seamlessly with workflows and provide analytics features to help you identify areas of improvement in your schedule.

Group similar tasks together

Enhance focus and efficiency by grouping similar tasks. Task batching is a productivity strategy in which similar tasks are grouped and tackled during specific time blocks.

Use software integrations

Streamline your workflow by integrating key apps, minimizing the need to switch between tools continually.

This integration enhances task efficiency, allowing you to stay focused on your work without unnecessary disruptions.

Establish no-meeting days

Try to reduce interruptions caused by meeting-related context switching by setting specific “no-meeting days” for your team. This decision provides more focused time on the calendar for task-oriented work.

Limit distractions and embrace deep focus

Create an environment conducive to focused work by minimizing distractions and time wasters. You can also install a focus and concentration app to avoid constant notifications and distractions from other platforms.

By incorporating these strategic measures into your work routine, you can not only recognize and mitigate the challenges of context switching but also foster an environment conducive to sustained focus and productivity.

Conclusion

Mastering context switching is imperative in the quest for productivity and mental well-being.

While juggling multiple tasks is a common challenge, giving in to constant context-switching disrupts focus and heightens stress.

However, by prioritizing key tasks, implementing time-blocking strategies, time-tracking, and minimizing interruptions, you can effectively mitigate the adverse effects of context switching.

Embracing these proactive approaches not only optimizes individual work routines but also contributes to a culture of focused collaboration, benefiting both professionals and the overarching success of teams and organizations in achieving their ultimate goals.

FAQ

What is the difference between context switching and multitasking?

Multitasking involves simultaneously handling multiple tasks, while context switching refers to the sequential switching between tasks. Both can cause switching costs, but context switching specifically refers to the mental adjustment and effort required when moving from one task to another.

Does context switch kill productivity?

Yes, definitely. Context switching can significantly reduce productivity. According to the study “The True Cost of Multi-Tasking, context and task switching can decrease your productivity by 40%.

How can I prioritize tasks effectively to minimize context switching?

Effective task prioritization involves identifying high-priority tasks, grouping similar activities, and allocating specific time blocks to each category.

As we mentioned, the Eisenhower Matrix can help in making informed decisions about task urgency and importance.

What are the cognitive consequences of multitasking?

Multitasking can lead to cognitive overload, decreased performance, and impaired memory.

According to The National Library of Medicine, several scientific studies of multitasking over the past few decades have revealed important principles about the operations, and processing limitations, of our minds and brains.

Can context switch lead to mental exhaustion?

Yes, context switching can lead to mental exhaustion. The constant shifting between different tasks and activities can strain cognitive resources and contribute to feelings of fatigue and overwhelm.

As explained by Sophie Leroy, an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Washington Bothell School of Business: “Attention residue is when thoughts about a task persist and intrude while performing another task.”

How long does it take to regain focus after a context switch?

This phenomenon, known as the “resumption lag,” highlights that after being interrupted, it takes over 20 minutes for individuals to regain the same level of focus and efficiency they had before the interruption. This delay underscores the substantial impact interruptions can have on workflow and overall productivity.

Are there any tools or apps available to help manage context switching?

Yes, several tools and apps can aid in managing context switching. A great way to fight context switching is a time-tracking software, such as Timeular.

Timeular enhances focus and productivity by visually tracking time, prioritizing tasks, and providing real-time insights, reducing the impact of context switching. Try it now for free!