Best Time Tracking Software in 2024

Both large and small business holders would agree that time is a billable category, which makes it equally important success as amounts and prices. Time makes for one of the most critical assets of every company and individual, and it is, therefore, often the distinctive money-maker with a decisive impact on the productivity of every project.

How does time make money? To start with, tracking time helps you stay in control of your performance, foresee and respect deadlines, and give every online activity the attention it deserves. Unfortunately, hard-working managers often neglect the cost of copying Excel hours or rely on their memory to evaluate billing activities, and struggle to identify just afterward why an awesome idea didn’t work out. Further on, time is critical to transparency, since once tracking of all your activities is over, you have your hands full of usable data to evaluate engagement profitability.

There is no such strategy as time tracking to ensure insight into customer behavior. Another distinctive advantage of time tracking is that you get the maximum from your staff, as you can easily calculate utilization rate, and reward the ones being most productive to your mission. Finally, time is an indispensable resource for projecting long-term goals, as making decisions without a clear timeframe equals walking on thin air.

The best time tracking software programs can cost an arm and a leg, so you better check them out before making a final decision. Major time tracking software providers offer an average of 30 unpaid trial days, and full access to the product’s features, so accept nothing less than this. To start, you can register for the free trials or demo of the following platforms that have received impressive SmartScore rankings and user satisfaction ratings and choose the best time tracking software for enterprises or SMBs: monday.com, Time Doctor, Project Manager, Clarizen, and Zoho Projects. You can do knowledgeable comparisons of these solutions to shortlist the best ones for your needs. 

• Freelancers and small business owners can use time tracking tools to bill their clients and capture employee work hours.
• Medium-sized companies and large organizations can also use the software to streamline billing and convert time into money.
• HR departments, workforce administration buyers, and self-employed/solopreneurs use time tracking solutions to utilize their time efficiently.

• monday.com: This platform allows you to manage all the tasks and projects you need to get done. It lets you keep track of each employee’s working status, whether they’re on break, working from home, or out sick.
• Time Doctor: Time Doctor is a time tracking software that helps you capture work hours in real-time. It comes with powerful reporting and analytics features that ensure everyone from your team is working diligently.
• Project Manager: ProjectManager combines collaboration tools, project planning, and scheduling features in one platform. It helps you manage and track down tasks from start to finish.
• Clarizen: This software is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies as it merges robust project management with social engagement.
• Zoho Projects: Zoho Projects offers project management and time tracking features, allowing you to monitor the progress of your projects and the number of hours spent on each task.
• Mavenlink: It is a simple and intuitive product for small business and large companies that enables them to manage all project and team activities.
• Workfront: Formerly called AtTask, Workfront is a widely used project and work management solution.
• Harvest: Harvest is a web-based business management software that offers a useful time tracking tool to individuals and businesses.
• Paymo: Paymo is an easy-to-use online project management, invoicing, and time tracking application.

There are two main types of time tracking software:

• Timesheet – Allows users to manually record time spent on doing tasks.
• Time tracking/recording – Automatically records work done on a computer.

Time tracking software can be standalone systems used to record timesheets and produce reports or integrated with accounting, billing, project management, payroll, and resource scheduling systems.

This is your current situation: there is a multitude of online time-tracking services for you to touch and go, trying to prod you into long-term subscriptions with marvelous promises. Obviously, we cannot go that deep into the necessity of every business out there, and point out a single program as being “the one,” but we can certainly make a list of essential features and components that are common to best time tracking software systems. Below, you’ll find more about the key features to look for in a time tracking software:

Time tracker/timesheets: Time tracker is the most prominent feature you’ll find in most time tracking applications. Most of these tools can track work hours in real-time, while some offer timesheets where you can freely input the number of hours worked on a certain task.

Scalability: You can’t expect time tracking software to match your business if you’re the size of Coca Cola, but you’re absolutely entitled to it anywhere below Coca Cola’s requirements. The first recognition stamp of great software is configuration, underlining that they have thought of every business out there, be it two partners launching their design brand, or an automotive giant with 10,000 employees. When it comes to scalability, one just doesn’t compromise.

Solid integration: Using time-tracking software that is not integrated with the rest of your apps is a paradox: you’re wasting time entering data in order to save time calculating it, which brings you exactly nowhere. Therefore, check whether the tracker you like so much can handle your CRM, HR, payroll and similar tools.

A strong reporting capacity: The biggest benefit of gathering whatever data under one roof is being able to use it in the future, which is why we emphasize the need for a time-tracker to do reporting. By reporting, we don’t only mean producing schedules and graphics, but summarizing them on comprehensive templates, which you wouldn’t have to do on your own. Isn’t it all about saving time?

Tasks segmentation: Instead of projects, the tool is supposed to plan, manage, and process work on the task level, calculated in units or hours, and scheduled with exact starting/ending points. You should be able to categorize and prioritize tasks in groups, and to add references and tags when necessary.

Manual and smart timing: You should be able to enter your starting/finishing times manually, and to record the pauses you’re making to know how much time exactly you spent per task. Smart timers, on the other hand, will provide you with reminders which detect these times.

Robust database and search filters: The mere fact that you’re analyzing your business through the prism of time means that you intend to reuse the data the system is going to detect, as for instance the number of overdue invoices, weekly/monthly working hours, expenses per time unit, employee productivity, etc. The role of your time-tracker is to summarize and keep this data in a secure database, with a functional filter to help you locate any piece of information.

Mobile-friendliness: Mobile-friendliness is not just desirable, but obligatory. Why would you run to the office each time you need information when you can simply login on your mobile device and find it? It is a good way to keep schedules with you, instead of remembering when somebody left the office or came back, and could mean the world when working in the field.

Meet deadlines accordingly: With a time tracking software, you’ll be able to monitor the number of hours you spend on each task. This way, you can make sure that you are not under- or overspending your time to finish your projects. By keeping track of time, you can easily complete tasks and meet your deadlines.

The competitive spirit between proven software providers is warming up, and they’re becoming aware of the fact that they need to add extra benefits to basic scheduling in order to stand out from the crowd. Therefore, it might be a good idea to look for a program that generates invoices, manages contacts, and tracks several activities (events, meetings, expenses, etc.).

Many time tracking tools are flawed, to say the least, due to a batch of common mistakes that occur when a time counter is developed by a team that never counted time for personal purposes. This market is crowded with undercover risks which you have to examine:

They call in real-time tracking, but the format is not standardized

Don’t be diluted by “almighty” programs that offer access even on platforms you’ve never heard of, because designing a single app to perform the same on all instances is practically unfeasible. These programs are based on “guessing” tasks and average duration, which is why they’re vastly inaccurate.

The difference between “Automated” and “Manual” is not mentioned at all

You get to track time, and to report, and that’s good, but they’ve smartly avoided mentioning that you only get to track the time you’ve entered manually. Unless you submit the admin to polygraph testing, you won’t convince anybody that your periods are accurate.

You know for how long somebody is working, but you have no idea on what

There are no notes and references, so staying on top of your employee’s head to see if he’s meeting deadlines doesn’t mean anything. You won’t be able to verify what he has done, and you’ll most likely give credit to someone whose skills you don’t even know.

On average, solid time tracking software is supposed to cost somewhere between $50 and $1500. Note that most programs allow you to track as many employees as you need, and the price rather depends on the number of licenses you want to purchase. The approximate number of licenses is 10 for standard (cost-effective) payment plans, while every additional license is paid separately.

FinancesOnline.com’s time tracking software reviews and articles provide in-depth analyses and comparisons of the leading apps in this category to help you make an informed choice for your needs.

The time tracking solutions you’ll find in the market are not created with equal standards. If you want to find the perfect fit for your company, here are some factors you need to consider before making a purchase.

• Business size: Before hitting that “Buy Now” button, consider first the number of users who will be using the time tracker application. Are you a small company simply needing to record work hours, or do you have a bigger team that needs payroll solutions as well? Some platforms offer great features, but you may find that they can only allow a limited number of users. On the other hand, you could end up paying for a time tracking solution that has too many features you don’t even need. By considering your team’s size, you’ll have a better idea of which plan is perfect for your company.
• Onboarding: Some businesses make the mistake of purchasing a platform that is too complicated to use. The idea behind using a time tracking tool is to easily monitor work hours, not complicate it. Thus, onboarding is an important process to get your team used to the platform. To do this, you have to make sure that the software provider can offer you various onboarding options, such as tutorials, step-by-step guides, resources, training, or customer support.
• Mobile compatibility: As you look for which time tracking tool to purchase, you may also want to consider if it has a mobile version. Mobile versions of time tracking tools are extremely useful, especially when you have a team working outside the office. With a mobile app, employees can easily clock in and out regardless of where they’re working from. This also allows you to monitor your employees’ work-related activities in real-time.

A time tracking software works seamlessly with other business applications, such as project management, payroll, task management, and business intelligence software. More often than not, you’ll even find a time tracking tool that combines one or more of these functions. Here are more details about the other solutions related to time tracking platforms:

• Task management: Offers greater visibility over all the tasks your team is working on. It lets you see each task’s progress, who is assigned to it, and the total duration until the task is completed.
• Project management: Allows you to set realistic deadlines and goals. It also helps you manage and organize multiple projects at once.
• Payroll software: Streamlines payroll processes and ensures that all employees are getting paid on time. Combined with a time tracking tool, a payroll software helps you automate payment calculations.
• Business intelligence software: Transforms business data into actionable insights. By using the data generated by a time tracking platform, businesses can analyze employee productivity patterns.