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Last modified date

Sep 27, 2023

Best Employee Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses

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Alexandra Martin

Blog average read time

21 min

Last modified date

September 27, 2023


Employee time tracking software is used by many top-performing small businesses and companies that focus on employee productivity and efficiency. When employees track their work time, you know what tasks they are working on. You can make better estimates, prevent bottlenecks, and accurately bill your clients. A free version means you can test it unlimitedly before deciding which suits you best.

If you’re wondering what software should be used to track employee hours, we’ve written this post for all you managers, team leaders, and business owners.

In this article, we’ve gathered, carefully analyzed, and tested the best employee time-tracking software of 2023. Out of the 23 tools we reviewed, 13 are free of charge, like yours truly:

  • Paymo – native automatic time tracker for stress-free work
  • TimeCamp – a simple attendance tracker for your employees
  • Clockify – an employee monitoring tool with GPS tracking
  • Everhour (max. 5 users) – an employee monitoring tool with screenshots
  • Hubstaff (one user) – intensely-close employee monitoring app
  • Toggl Track (max. 5 users) – an intuitive time tracker with color-coded entries
  • Harvest – time tracking with other pm features
  • RescueTime – a time-tracking tool with analytics
  • connecteam (max. 10 users) – employee attendance with digital geofencing
  • homebase (one location) – the best solution for hourly work
  • MyHours – a timesheet-like time tracking solution
  • Tick (one project) – a basic time tracker mostly for Mac users
  • TrackingTime (max. 3 users)

Everhour, Hubstaff, Toggl Track, TrackingTime, etc. are also free but with limitations, which is not bad if you want to test the tool yourself before you adopt it for your team. Paymo will remove the user limitation this coming month, so be sure to give it a test run.

We try to update this list as often as possible. However, please double-check whether their free plan is still in effect, in case pricing plans change after the publishing of this article.

Criteria in review

  • Strong time tracking capabilities: native time trackers, automatic time tracking, timesheets, active timers, idle detection, etc.
  • Business needs: does your business also need project management capabilities, strong reporting features or even employee monitoring?
  • Team-oriented: is the app suitable for teams, do employees find it useful—this one is more like a hypothetical question, since we’ll allow you to decide for yourself.
  • Pricing. Is it affordable for your team or business?

Before we start the review, we need to state our case against employee monitoring. We hate any surveillance tactics, spyware, or hidden processes that infringe employee privacy. We believe in psychological safety, dignity, trust, and the right for privacy. Respect and empathy.

You shouldn’t go policing your employees, but empower them using the right tools and a safe company culture. We know how important trust is to every team, distributed or not, and the digital tools you use should foster it.

Surely, the benefits of time tracking cannot be dismissed, from accurate estimates and billing, to proof of work, to efficiency and productivity and other insights; however, we don’t encourage incentivizing employee time tracking or using pure time metrics for performance review without a qualitative assessment of your employees’ performance.

Time tracking helps to create healthy work rhythms and cadences, to make sure you’ve got a healthy work-life balance and get to do significant and deep work that furthers your career or bolsters your goals.

Without further ado, let’s inspect some of the best employee time tracking software out there.

1. Paymo

Paymo is one of the best employee time-tracking software for small businesses. It’s great value for money, as it incorporates much needed functionalities for any small and medium business to thrive. Paymo has native automatic time tracking, project management, resource scheduling, and invoicing, and integrates with Google, Zapier, and Slack, to name a few.

Best for: small businesses that need employee time tracking, timesheet reporting, project management, and billing for their clients.

Paymo is a modern and intuitive agency time tracking software for project-based businesses that helps your team manage projects through their entire lifecycle. Plan and schedule your projects, collaborate with your team, share files, track time, and ensure you stay on budget.

Would employees find Paymo useful?

What makes it appealing is that you can track time in your way: either manually, through the web timer, adding time in bulk, or logging time through a dedicated desktop app, Paymo Track, which automatically tracks time as employees are doing their work diligently. User data is stored locally on their devices and they have full privacy and control over what gets logged. The Pomodoro technique is also available for fans who want to timebox their efforts.

Paymo’s desktop time tracker

All the time records are automatically recorded in a standard timesheet, so admins and project managers receive all the necessary insights to run a team effectively.

Note: You can even bill clients, thanks to Paymo’s native invoicing module, which turns timesheet data into an invoice at a click of a button. This is a step up from using an invoice generator, a simple online tool. It’s cheap as it cuts down on the need for accounting services and is also professional.

Another great feature is the Active Timers, which allows you to see who’s tracking time for which task and for how long already at the same time. This is a more discrete way to check with your team instead of using random screenshots or intentional shoulder peeking.

Note: Paymo launched in 2022 a useful project profitability feature, which calculates your internal costs against billed hours. Suppose you’re not sure how to calculate it. In that case, you don’t even have to—this project profitability analysis is an excellent example of how tracking your time is crucial to accurate profit estimates.

Automatic time tracker

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop: Windows, Mac, Linux

Price:

  • Free plan available for 1 user (unlimited users coming soon)
  • Starter – $5.95/user/month (for one user)
  • Small Office – $11.95/user/month
  • Business – $24.95/user/month (minimum five users)

Try out Paymo today free of charge.

2. TimeCamp

TimeCamp is a time tracker tool that monitors productivity, desktop activities, does attendance tracking, and integrates with other apps. The downside is that you need to pay for TimeCamp Planner (formerly HeySpace) if you need to manage tasks, projects, or anything related to project management. There is a free plan for up to 5 users that integrates with TimeCamp, so that might work out if you don’t mind using two products.

Tip: Mark your calendar for deep work and learn how to manage a project with this simple-to-follow guide.

Tracking time is as simple as a few clicks, even for its manual stopwatch, and you can easily edit or copy entries. There’s also an automatic timer for which certain keywords can be set, connecting your employees’ time entries with relevant tasks.

All these you can do in Paymo—and more, such as detecting idle time, adding time in bulk, or switching to Pomodoro Mode for all your employees who thrive on this technique.

Would employees find TimeCamp helpful?

Besides geofencing tracking multiple locations, TimeCamp does attendance tracking, meaning it will signal whether employees are working remotely, are on paid leave, working in-office, or simply not working that day, through a simple punch-in-and-out dashboard.

I find it curious that they track data such as “Active Computer Usage” and “Total time between computer turn on/off” since people might have different work patterns or might use their personal device for work—which can render that data useless.

Employee tracker with geofencing 

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome, Microsoft Edge
  • Time Clock Kiosk available for download.

Pricing

  • Free plan available.
  • Starter: $3.99/user/mo.
  • Basic: $7.99/user/mo.
  • Pro: $10.99/user/mo (most popular).
  • Enterprise plan available.

For a detailed review of TimeCamp, read this subsection covering TimeCamp’s features.

3. Clockify

Clockify is a time tracking solution for managers and business owners to manage schedules, approve employee timesheets, create invoices, track expenses, and control budgets and hourly rates.

As for time tracking, there’s a simple start-and-stop timer to track work hours. You may also edit hours manually and mark them as billable. There’s a “Force Timer” feature, which won’t allow your employees to edit or enter time manually.

Would employees find Clockify helpful?

There’s a Time Kiosk that can make it easy for employees to tap in and out of work and break time, aggregating the time logged during that work day or shift. There’s a GPS tracking capability to display your team’s location while on the clock, along with employee monitoring through screenshots—that’s one every five minutes.

Some users complained of inaccurate reporting, deeming it “borderline useless, at best incredibly confusing,” while others noted that “sometimes the program is a bit slow and unresponsive.” Also, If only the UI didn’t look outdated—let’s just say the interface needs a facelift.

Employee monitor

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox
  • Time Clock Kiosk available for any device.

Pricing

  • No free plan available.
  • Basic: $4.99/user/mo.
  • Standard: $6.99/user/mo.
  • Pro: $9.99/user/mo (most popular).
  • Enterprise 14.99/user/mo.

Check out this subsection for a longer conversation on Clockify and its time-tracking features.

4. Everhour

As soon as you land on their homepage, Everhour positions itself as an in-house and remote employee time-tracking software built for teams. And for good reasons. It connects with several task and project management tools, pulling all projects and tasks into the platform so you can forget about data migration.

Indeed, when working remotely and full-time, not just a side gig, you need an easy tool to help you track time.

What I liked were the project budgeting options. Each user has a unique rate/project, so senior and junior employees can be paid in direct proportion to their level of skills and contributions.

At the same time, the project budget can be reset daily/weekly/monthly, which is an excellent addition if you run retainer projects as part of your business.

Would employees find Everhour helpful?

Besides its attendance tracker, Everhour has an employee monitoring capability via screenshots (taken randomly every 10 minutes), for which your employees will have to install its native screenshot recording app.

Where Everhour excels, though, is team availability. You can set a weekly capacity for each team member and compare their time logs against their schedules on a visual timeline. Available hours will appear in green, breaks/leave days in gray and overtime in red.

The tool also comes with a native invoicing module, although a bit light if you ask me compared to other bespoke solutions.

Note: In my experience, keeping track of your time and getting paid for it has been a breeze starting these 2020s. Plus, almost all invoicing tools are free, regardless of whether you’re a small business or a freelancer. If you’d like, read our selection of the best invoicing software for small businesses we’ve managed to test and review.

Clock app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS (beta)
  • Plugins: Chrome
  • Screenshot app: Windows, Mac.

Pricing:

  • Free plan available for up to 5 users.
  • Lite – $6/user/mo (min. 2 users).
  • Team – $10/user/mo (min. 5 users).

All in all, it’s best for teams who want visibility across workloads. For more info, read this subsection covering Everhour.

5. Beebole

Split into two products, Project Time Tracking and Time Clock, Beebole can be a reliable timesheet solution. Administrators can access a team overview to check project status, team performance, and overtime in one glance. Beebole’s approval flow allows project managers and admins to bulk review, approve timesheets, request changes, and lock time entries.

Tip: If you plan to or want to become a project manager but don’t know how to learn or what to study first, get started by reading this guide. Here’s another guide if you’re interested in learning more about project management methodologies and types of work styles.

Besides its ease of use for employees and administrators, Beebole offers highly customizable and powerful reporting on employee time, budget, margin, and profit. Build the exact report you and your team need, or use one of the custom KPI dashboards Beebole offers to unlock powerful business intelligence insights.

Would employees find Beebole useful?

Beebole can be set up for employees to clock in and out or to track time for clients, projects, and sub-projects using a one-click timer or manual entry. Time tracking can be done on both desktop and the free mobile app, with or without an Internet connection.

It’s also easy to log attendance, vacations, and leaves of absence. Some users may complain of lack of customization or a steeper learning curve, but overall like the simple time tracker that does its job.

Time tracking app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS

Pricing:

  • No free plan available.
  • Paid: $6.99/user/month.
  • Volume discounts and 10% off for NGOs and educational institutions.

Beebole is great for employee time clocking or project time tracking, both of which come with flexible reporting. For a more detailed analysis, read this subsection of Beebole.

6. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is by excellence an employee monitoring software with time tracking capabilities that allows managers and business owners to closely manage their employees.

By close monitoring features, I mean screenshots, URL and app tracking, keystroke and mouse click tracking, scheduling, GPS and location monitoring, idle time, etc. The whole gamut of surveillance features. Hubstaff tracks hours worked by employees and monitors their productivity, which is measured by keystrokes and mouse clicks.

Would employees find Hubstaff useful?

Hubstaff is suitable for those teams who want to see what everyone is working on, and that’s done with screenshots and activity rates.

Hubstaff’s employee monitoring randomly takes up to three screenshots every 10 minutes. Plus, Hubstaff calculates activity levels based on the percentage of keyboard and mouse strokes over time.

Users complained about how this close monitoring is mentally taxing and even denting their overall performance since tracking keystrokes and clicks might not reflect productivity, especially when various factors, from a slower internet connection to work away-from-keyboard, might skew said “activity and productivity levels.”

Employee time monitor

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux.
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Google Chrome
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS X, Linux, Chromebook.

Pricing

  • Free for one user only.
  • Starter: $7/user/mo (min. 2 users)
  • Grow: $9/user/mo (min. 2 users)
  • Team: $12/user/mo (min. 2 users)
  • Custom plan available

Read a more detailed review of Hubstaff in this subsection.

7. Toggl Track

Toggl Track is an easy-to-use time tracking solution for teams who need flexible time tracking for their projects. Indeed, I found it easy to onboard and add my first project and tasks.

Time can be tracked in multiple ways, from manually adding time entries to turning on to the timer directly in the web tab where you’re working with the help of the Chrome or Firefox extension. There’s also Toggl Track Timeline meant to automate some of that time tracking by assigning time entries to tasks.

Also, one feature that really stands out is its powerful reporting with pie charts to help users visualize their time spent.

Would employees find Toggl Track useful?

Users find Toggl Track easy to use and unintrusive, with simple reminders throughout the workday to track their time. Overall, users of Toggl Track find it an intuitive app that does its job.

If employees only find the color scheme problematic, namely the complicated color system to classify projects or clients (especially for reports or invoices), or some time sync issues but don’t complain about close monitoring, then it’s safe to say that it’s an app worth considering.

Employee time tracker

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome, Firefox
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • Free plan available for up to 5 users.
  • Starter: $10/user/mo
  • Premium: $20/user/mo
  • Enterprise plan available with custom pricing.

Here’s a more detailed explanation of Toggl Track and its time tracking capabilities.

8. Harvest

If you’ve been in the productivity space long enough, you will stumble upon Harvest. It’s a time-tracking tool with a Team Overview for managers to keep an eye on who’s working on what and who’s overworked, making sure employees aren’t burnt out.

As for managing your team, Forecast, their sister company, builds itself on top of the current app to help you schedule resources in advance – although it’s sold separately. Harvest also integrates with several tools, most of which are project management software.

Would employees find Harvest useful?

This versatile employee time-tracking software is excellent for businesses requiring a stricter work discipline, partly due to the automatic reminders that nudge team members to clock in. But also, there’s a timesheet approval system through which project managers review and approve time entries, thus preventing potential errors.

This is not to say that the software is not intuitive. On the contrary, the team overview comes with analytics to see which projects take most of their efforts and whether they’re working on the right ones—I’m talking about the billable vs. non-billable time breakdown.

All in all, Harvest is a simple time tracking software for those who value insight.

Time Tracker

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Price:

  • Free plan for 1 user with two projects.
  • Pro – $12/user/month

Here’s a more detailed review of Harvest when it comes to time tracking.

9. Timely

Timely is a powerful time tracking solution for all kinds of teams and businesses that need automated timesheets and cost tracking. Timely promises it’ll help users find time sinks, balance workloads, and get a detailed record of work done across the organization—all without the hassle of manual timesheet creation.

Timely is by no means affordable – for teams of at least three, the price per employee is either $20 or $28 per month—most of the tools in this article are half this price.

Would employees find Timely useful?

There’s an automatic time tracker, Memory App, that’s private to the user and has no screenshots or mouse tracking. The same care for privacy is shown by Paymo with its automatic time tracker, where data is stored locally and can be deleted at any time. Users have more psychological safety when their privacy is protected.

Time tracking app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • No free plan available.
  • Starter: $11/user/mo (for max. 3 teams and 50 projects).
  • Premium: $20/user/mo.
  • Unlimited: $28/user/mo.
  • Unlimited+ plan available for a custom quote.

There’s a detailed review of Timely should you need more info.

10. QuickBooks Time

QuickBooksTime (it was T-Sheet before its acquisition in 2017) was added to Intuit’s offering of mostly bookkeeping and accounting software. It helps teams keep track of time and coordinate projects besides managing their expenses and invoices by integrating it with QuickBooks for payroll and invoicing.

Would employees find QuickBooks Time useful?

What I’ve noted about QuickBooks is that it’s an accounting software first and foremost, though they’d like to offer workforce management for their customer base, as well, which is why their time tracking capabilities and simple timesheet functionality revolve around employee monitoring. Take, for example, their GPS tracking, geofencing, and “Who’s working?” features.

Employee monitoring app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • No free plan available.
  • Premium: $20/mo (base fee) + $8/user/month for 1 admin
  • Elite: $40/mo (base fee) + $10/user/month for 1 admin

If you need more info, here’s a dedicated subsection of QuickBooks Time about its tracking features.

11. RescueTime

RescueTime is a personal time and productivity tracking software that provides self-working analytics to evaluate one’s work and motivate them to be on the right track. It can be used as a personal productivity tracker as well as a team performance analyzer. In a nutshell, RescueTime helps you understand where your time goes each day so that you may optimize your energy and take back control of your day.

Would employees find RescueTime useful?

RescueTime helps employees understand how they spend their time, block distractions, and focus on the work they want to get done. This time management and analytics tool can be highly useful for employees of a small company since it limits monitoring—so, no screenshots or GPS tracking—yet it promotes accountability by tracking the time spent on different applications, documents, and websites, providing users with an accurate picture of their day. From what I’ve seen, RescueTime provides privacy options that allow users to control what gets tracked, ensuring that sensitive or personal information remains private.

Time clock app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome, Firefox
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • Free plan available.
  • Premium: $12/user/month.

RescueTime is by excellence a time tracking app, so don’t expect robust project management features or cost tracking and invoicing, etc. Read this subsection of RescueTime for a detailed explanation of its time tracking features.

12. TimeDoctor

TimeDoctor is an employee time tracking software that helps individuals and businesses improve productivity and understand how time is spent. It offers features such as time tracking, productivity insights, and performance monitoring.

Would employees find TimeDoctor useful?

The software provides productivity insights and analytics based on the tracked time, helping employees understand their work habits and identify areas for improvement, leading to better time management and increased efficiency. RescueTime also promotes accountability by providing employees with valuable knowledge about their strengths, weaknesses, and utilization of time.

However, there’s also a degree of employee monitoring – managers can see what employees are doing in real time, whether there’s idle time tracked, how long they spend on “unproductive websites and apps” and how much time was added manually.

Time tracking app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome, Firefox
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS, Linux

Pricing

  • No free plan available.
  • Basic: $7/user/month
  • Standard: $10/user/month
  • Premium: $20/user/month

Here’s a detailed explanation of TimeDoctor’s time tracking features.

13. Insightful.io

Insightful.io is recognized as a great employee monitoring solution and time tracking app. The software offers a range of monitoring features, including automatic and manual time tracking, productivity labeling, web/app usage tracking, and productivity trends. The software allows tracking billable hours against team hourly rates, helping small businesses keep projects within budget and protect profits.

Would employees find Insightful.io useful?

Insightful.io is more like a workforce analytics software with time tracking abilities. Its productivity analysis ensures employees get up-to-date charts of their working style which they can adjust for increased performance. With productivity tracking, employees understand how they allocate their time and identify areas for improvement.

At the same time, Insightful.io has intrusive monitoring features, like regular screenshots (up to 30/hour), time and attendance, and computer monitoring to spot abnormal usage patterns. The core issue with Insightful.io is that there’s a Stealth Mode, which automatically tracks activities in the background without the user’s knowledge or input—which is illegal within the European Union.

Employee tracker

  • Web: Windows, Mac
  • Mobile: n/a
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • No free plan available.
  • Employee Monitoring: $8/user/month
  • Time Tracking: $10/user/month
  • Automatic Time Mapping: $15/user/month
  • Enterprise plan available with a custom quote

Read this subsection of Insightful for more info on time tracking capabilities.

14. connecteam

Connecteam offers a full range of features such as scheduling, task management, time clock, and other work management features. In addition, there’s an employee messaging system—direct messages, chats, voice calls, bulletin boards, social feeds—to help employees and teams communicate easily.

Would employees find connecteam useful?

Employees will find it easy to clock in and out right from their smartphone, and their entries will sync with the job scheduler, leaving little room for inaccuracies. Depending on the nature of the business, connecteam can be useful or not. As a manager you’ll get notifications when employees clock in late, or not at all, and can set up a digital geofence to ensure employees clock in/out on-site. If employees are out on the field, you’ll get full visibility of your employees on the go, during work hours or whether commuting.

Time clock app

  • Web: Windows, Mac
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • Free plan available (up to 10 users)
  • Basic: $29/user/month for the first 30 users (+$0.5/user/month for each extra user)
  • Advanced: $49/user/month for the first 30 users (+$1.5/user/month for each extra user)
  • Expert: $99/user/month for the first 30 users (+$3/user/month for each extra user)
  • Enterprise offering available

Here’s more info on connecteam with regards to time tracking.

15. DeskTime

DeskTime is a time-tracking software with a focus on employee monitoring that’s been designed for teams and freelancers needing a little bit of project management as well. DeskTime has some resource management features, such as shift scheduling, leave management, and bookings.

Would employees find DeskTime useful?

DeskTime automatically tracks employee activity on apps, websites, and programs, categorizing them as productive or unproductive, giving them detailed reports and insights into employee productivity and time insights, ranking their performance, aka “Productivity calculation”.

DeskTime’s automatic time tracking includes idle time and URL and app tracking—everything from email subjects to document titles. Paid plans have a “Private time option,” which employees may toggle for off-the-clock computer use. Optionally, managers can keep an eye on their team via automatic screenshots.

Employee monitoring app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS, Linux

Pricing

  • Free plan available for one user.
  • Pro: $7/user/month
  • Premium: $10/user/month
  • Enterprise: $20/user/month

16. homebase

Homebase is an employee management software with time tracking capabilities, focused on employee scheduling, time clocks, payroll, HR, and more. It is designed for teams working in shifts, flexible hours, or for managers who need to manage people on an hourly basis, such as bookings and appointments. Their customers are in hospitality, beauty & wellness, medical & veterinary, caregiving, etc.

Would employees find Homebase useful?

Homebase is a great tool for shift management with GPS-enabled time tracking. There’s also a reporting feature with milestones and performance metrics, such as on-time arrivals vs. tardies, shifts worked, missed breaks, and a team roster where managers can keep employee data—think birthdays and anniversaries—and team contributions.

It’s safe to say employees find homebase useful due to the nature of their work, especially as there’s an in-app messenger, a feedback system, plus employees can manage their finances directly in app—for example, access some of their earnings before payday.

Employee time clock

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS, Linux

Pricing

  • Free plan available for one location.
  • Essentials: $24.95/location/mo.
  • Plus: $59.95/location/mo.
  • All-in-one: $99.95/location/mo.

All plans include time tracking and allow unlimited employees.

17. My Hours

My Hours offers essential task management, an advanced time-tracking module, invoicing, and cool-looking reports. Profitability is another neat feature, and it’s a core part of their unique selling proposition: to run profitable projects from start to finish. Honestly, the interface looks a bit outdated compared to the competition. Not necessarily the most intuitive either, but it does its job.

One feature that some would find helpful is the import data, which allows you to easily import clients, projects, tasks, and time entries from Excel. Only two integrations are available (Quickbooks and Zapier), but those with coding skills can use their public API to create their own integrations.

Would employees find MyHours useful?

MyHours looks and feels like a timesheet-style task management tool and it provides a simple and easy way to track time spent on different projects and tasks. Managers can generate detailed reports that provide insights into employee productivity and time usage, helping employees understand their work habits and identify areas for improvement. It’s worth noting that there’s no employee monitoring, such as screenshots or URL tracking.

My Hours Time Tracking

Employee time tracker

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop apps: n/a

Pricing:

  • Free plan available for unlimited team members
  • Pro – $9/user/month

Check out this subsection of My Hours for a detailed review.

18. Float

Float is a resource management platform that helps teams make the most of their time by planning capacity and scheduling project work. With basic time tracking, Float is a power tool for capacity planning, forecasting, and scheduling work.

From what I’ve tested, it provides reporting tools that allow managers to compare estimates with actual hours or combine logged time with future scheduled hours to predict budget consumption, which can be great for employees to understand their work habits and ensure productivity.

Would employees find Float useful?

I wouldn’t say Float is the ultimate time tracking tool, but it does the basics. It allows employees or team members to log hours in a single click or pre-fill timesheets based on a schedule, which makes it easy for business owners or managers to ensure accurate billing.

Float sends automated reminders via Slack, email, and mobile to ensure that employees log their hours on time, helping employees stay on top of their time tracking.

Time tracker

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop apps (beta): Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • No free plan available.
  • Starter: $7.50/user/month (max. 30 users)
  • Pro: $12.50/user/month
  • Enterprise plan available on demand

19. Tick

Tick is a time tracking software that allows users to track their time against their budgets, offering basic task management features. It integrates with project management tools, like Basecamp or Trello, and with accounting software, like QuickBooks. As for its UX/UI, I’d say Tick needs a face lift and major improvements to catch up with the competition. All in all, it can be a useful tool for time tracking, but it may have some limitations in terms of customization and features.

Would employees find Tick useful?

Tick is useful for users on the go thanks to Apple Watch integration and mobile versions for Android and iOS. Time tracking happens on a card level, where you have to select your project and task, and then enter your time. You may leave multiple timers as you move between tasks. There’s also a macOS desktop app, Tick Mac App, which can run in the background to capture work in real time.

However, Tick may not offer the level of customization that some users require; for example, some users may want to track time in different formats or with more detailed descriptions. While Tick offers time tracking and reporting features, it may not have the same range of features as other time tracking software. For example, it may not offer project management or team collaboration features.

Time tracking app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome extension
  • Desktop apps: macOS
  • Apple Watch

Pricing

  • No free plan available
  • Basic: $19 per month for 1 project and unlimited users
  • Standard: $49 per month for 10 projects and unlimited users
  • Pro: $79 per month for 30 projects and unlimited users
  • Unlimited: $149 per month for unlimited projects and users

20. Replicon

Replicon is an all-in-one solution for project time tracking, time attendance, and professional services automation. Replicon’s online timesheets and cloud clock are an alternative to paper timesheets or punch cards. Replicon has partnered and integrated with a number of HR, accounting, and payroll software, and features an open API that allows developers to integrate Replicon with their existing applications and software.

Would employees find Replicon useful?

ZeroTime is a new feature offered by Replicon that provides AI-powered automatic time tracking for employees, designed to save time for employees by eliminating the need for manual time tracking and reducing the time spent on administrative tasks.

The tool automatically tracks employee activity and consolidates entries for the same type of work, with the help of AI, reducing the number of entries workers have to manage. Some users complained of inaccuracies and data jumps between tasks, however. Before submitting timesheets, employees have the flexibility to review their time entries.

ZeroTime uses data collectors, which are apps that integrate with ZeroTime, to gather information on an employee’s activities throughout the day. At least ZeroTime doesn’t store any employee data across apps.

Employee time tracker

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome extension
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • No free plan available.
  • Time & Attendance: $6/user/month
  • Project Time Tracking: $12/user/month
  • PSA & PPM: $29/user/month

Replicon was acquired by Deltek in 2023, so stay tuned for its further development.

21. TrackingTime

TrackingTime is a time tracking software that helps companies manage their projects, track working times, and measure productivity. Its interface is user-friendly and has a modern feel, and it allows customization –  users may personalize how they want to see the stats of time spent at work with 100+ colors, e.g., different ones for each client project or task.

Would employees find TrackingTime useful?

TrackingTime allows users to set up multiple trackers, making it easy to track time for specific tasks or general ones, and schedule repeating events. There’s also automatic data sync with Calendar apps. TrackingTime supports Gmail, Outlook, Mail, and all the other major email clients for syncing due dates for tasks and projects.

One helpful feature is “Working On!,” where managers can see what tasks are being tracked from the activity tab to avoid unnecessary interruptions and empty time slots in the team’s schedule. One con is that there is no idle time detection—which users will have to edit out manually.

Overall, TrackingTime can be a useful tool for employees in a small company, providing them with an easy and efficient way to track their time and improve productivity. The multiple trackers, visual capabilities, and mobile access features make it convenient for employees to track their time from anywhere and ensure accurate billing.

Employee time tracker

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: Chrome, Firefox, Safari
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • Free plan available (max. 3 users)
  • Pro: $7/user/month
  • Business: 12/user/month

22. Timeular

Timeular is an all-in-one time tracking solution that helps individuals and teams track and increase their billable hours, improve estimations, and become more productive thanks to their custom reports and insights. Timeular kicked off its context tracking (beta), which automatically fills your timesheet with the apps and websites you’ve used throughout your work day.

Would employees find Timeular useful?

Employees have multiple time tracking options to choose from, such as the classic stopwatch with a Quick Track, to its mobile app and automatic tracking.

Timeular has an interesting concept for time tracking, which is using a physical time-tracking device called ZEIº. The device is tangible, fitting in the palm of one’s hand, and it looks like a die (an 8-sided polygon) that users can personalize, connect, and use to keep track of their time.

Timeular’s time tracking gadget, ZEIº. It’s a tangible, tactile device that connects with Timeular and automatically switches between tasks as you flip sides.

By flipping the device, the timer starts tracking time for specific tasks. Some users find the setup of ZEIº “too much work,” especially if they forget to flip the device, and others found that the device poses connectivity issues, and its battery gets quickly depleted.

Time tracking device

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS, Linux

Pricing

  • No free plan available.
  • Personal: €8/user/month
  • Personal Pro: €12/user/month
  • Team: €18/user/month
  • Custom pricing available for more than 10 users

Timeular’s ZEIº Tracker costs €57.50 (excl. taxes) and works with any active subscription.

23. ClockShark

ClockShark is a comprehensive time tracking tool that offers a range of features—GPS tracking, time attendance, scheduling—to help businesses track employee hours, manage schedules, and improve productivity. All for the sake of accurate payrolls.

Would employees find ClockShark useful?

ClockShark is an employee monitoring tool, so it makes sense that there’s GPS tracking to see the location of employees in real time. ClockShark’s ‘Digital Time Stamping’ feature helps businesses calculate effective working hours of employees and generate accurate payrolls for them at the end.

There’s also a Clock-In and Out for attendance tracking, especially in fields like hospitality or constructions, and a scheduling feature. ClockShark is designed for field service and construction businesses with mobile time tracking, timesheets, location tracking, and geofencing in any environment.

Employee time tracking app

  • Web: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • Mobile: Android, iOS
  • Plugins: n/a
  • Desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Pricing

  • No free plan available
  • Standard: $20/mo base fee + $8/user/month
  • Pro: $40/mo base fee + $10/user/month

Final thoughts

Here’s a word of advice for all the managers reading this. As with any software, don’t dive in headfirst. Test a couple of tools first and see which one fits your current and future business needs. Luckily, Paymo offers a two-week free trial to experience the full-featured app without strings attached.

Start tracking your employee work time right away.

Regardless of your chosen solution, you’ll get something much more valuable in return than just metrics: a stress-relieved environment where everyone is free to manage their time and express their genuine self—a true hallmark of a happy culture.

Send this page to your employees who would like to work stress-free with Paymo.

Alexandra Martin

Author

Drawing from a background in cognitive linguistics and armed with 10+ years of content writing experience, Alexandra Martin combines her expertise with a newfound interest in productivity and project management. In her spare time, she dabbles in all things creative.

Laurențiu Bancu

Editor

Laurențiu started his marketing journey over 18 years ago and now leads a marketing team. He has extensive experience in work and project management, and content strategy. When not working, he’s probably playing board games or binge-watching mini-series.

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