The picks
- Toggl Track — Best for freelancers and simple tracking
- Clockify — Best free option for teams
- Timely — Best for automatic time tracking
- Hubstaff — Best for team monitoring
- Harvest — Best for invoicing integration
#1 Pick
Toggl Track is the obvious choice for freelancers and anyone who wants time tracking without friction. The extension sits in your browser bar, you click to start, click to stop. That’s it. No setup, no learning curve.
The free plan includes everything a solo worker actually needs: unlimited time entries, task categorization, Pomodoro timer, and reports. I’ve used the free tier for years. Unless you need team features or fancy integrations beyond Zapier, you won’t need to upgrade.
Why I picked this
Toggl nails the basics better than anyone else. The browser extension integrates with 100+ web apps—Asana, GitHub, Jira, Notion, Trello, and basically every project management tool you’re already using. Hit the Toggl button inside those apps and it pulls in the task name automatically.
The idle detection is genuinely useful. Walk away from your computer and forget to stop the timer? Toggl notices. When you come back, it asks if you want to keep that time or discard it. Small feature, saves a lot of manual cleanup.
Critically for my workflow, Toggl integrates with Zapier on the free plan. That means you can push time data to spreadsheets, invoicing tools, or anywhere else without upgrading. Most competitors lock this behind paid tiers.
The reporting is clean and easy to export. When clients ask for breakdowns, I can pull a PDF in seconds. When I need to invoice, the data is already organized by project and client.
The tradeoff: Toggl is manual. You start the timer. You stop the timer. If you’re the type who forgets to track consistently, you’ll end up with gaps in your data. Timely handles this better with automatic tracking—but that costs money.
Key features for time tracking
- One-click timer — Start tracking from browser bar or inside integrated apps
- Idle detection — Prompts you when you’ve been away from the computer
- 100+ integrations — Works inside Asana, Jira, GitHub, Notion, Trello, and more
- Zapier on free tier — Automate exports and syncs without paying
- Pomodoro mode — Built-in work/break intervals if that’s your style
Skip this if…
- You forget to start/stop timers—you’ll have gaps in your data
- You need more than 5 users on the free plan—Clockify is unlimited
- You want automatic tracking—Timely does that, Toggl doesn’t
- You need built-in invoicing—Harvest integrates billing directly
#2 Pick
Clockify is what I recommend when teams need time tracking and budget is the constraint. The free plan has no user limit. Your entire 50-person agency can track time without paying a cent. That’s rare.
The browser extension works the same as Toggl—timer in the toolbar, integrations with popular project tools. The core experience is nearly identical. Clockify differentiates on pricing and team features, not the individual tracking experience.
Why I picked this
Clockify’s free tier is genuinely generous. Unlimited users, unlimited projects, unlimited time entries. You get basic reporting, project tracking, and the browser extension. For most small teams, that’s enough.
The team features on free are what make this stand out. You can see what your team is working on in real-time. Managers can assign tasks and track project progress across the team. Toggl’s free plan caps you at 5 users—Clockify doesn’t.
When you do need to upgrade, the paid tiers are cheaper than Toggl. The Pro plan at $4.99/user adds time rounding, required fields, and scheduling. Enterprise features like GPS tracking, screenshots, and custom branding come at higher tiers.
Fair warning: the UI is slightly less polished than Toggl. It’s functional but not beautiful. If you’re the only person using it and aesthetics matter to you, Toggl looks better. If you’re rolling this out to a team and need to minimize cost, Clockify wins on value.
The honest answer: Clockify is the right call if you’re a small agency or startup that needs everyone tracking time and can’t justify per-user costs. For solo freelancers, Toggl’s free tier is enough and the experience is slightly better.
Key features for time tracking
- Unlimited free users — Entire team can track without paid seats
- Real-time dashboard — See what team members are working on now
- Project budgets — Track time against estimated hours
- 80+ integrations — Works with major project management tools
- Kiosk mode — Shared device time clock for hybrid teams
Skip this if…
- You’re a solo freelancer—Toggl’s free tier is enough and nicer to use
- UI polish matters to you—Clockify is functional but not beautiful
- You need automatic tracking—this is manual like Toggl
- You need invoicing built-in—Clockify focuses on tracking, not billing
#3 Pick
Timely solves the biggest problem with time tracking: forgetting to do it. Instead of starting and stopping timers, Timely runs in the background and automatically logs what apps, websites, and documents you’re working on. At the end of the day, you review the timeline and assign time to projects.
If you’ve ever looked at your timesheet on Friday and tried to reconstruct what you did on Tuesday, this is for you. Timely already knows.
Why I picked this
Timely’s automatic tracking changes how you think about time management. The app records everything—which browser tabs were open, which documents you edited, which meetings you attended. It doesn’t share this raw data with anyone. It stays on your machine until you choose what to log.
The timeline view is genuinely beautiful. You see your day laid out visually—color-coded by app and project. Drag entries to the correct project, adjust durations if needed, and you’ve got accurate time logs without the constant interrupt of manual tracking.
For writers, consultants, and agency workers who switch contexts constantly, this is a revelation. You don’t have to remember to switch timers when you jump from a client call to research to drafting. Timely catches it all.
The AI features help categorize time automatically once it learns your patterns. After a few weeks, it starts suggesting which project time belongs to. Not perfect, but better than starting from scratch.
The catch: Timely costs money. No free tier for ongoing use. The cheapest plan is $11/user/month annually. That’s significantly more than Toggl or Clockify’s free tiers. You’re paying for the automatic capture—if that feature isn’t valuable to you, it’s hard to justify the cost.
The honest answer: Timely is worth it if you genuinely struggle with manual time tracking. If you’re disciplined about starting and stopping timers, Toggl does the job for free.
Key features for time tracking
- Automatic capture — Logs apps, websites, and documents without manual input
- Memory timeline — Visual view of your day for easy categorization
- AI suggestions — Learns your patterns to suggest project assignments
- Privacy-first — Raw activity data stays local until you share it
- Team dashboards — See capacity and logged hours across the team
Skip this if…
- You’re disciplined about manual tracking—you’re paying for a feature you don’t need
- Budget is tight—$11+/user/month adds up fast for teams
- You want a free option—Timely has no free tier after the trial
- You’re uncomfortable with activity monitoring—even if it’s private
Honorable mentions
#4
Hubstaff is what I’d pick if you need visibility into what your team is actually doing—not just how long they say they worked. Activity levels, optional screenshots, app tracking, and GPS for field workers. It’s corporate-grade monitoring with a UI that doesn’t look like it was built in 2005.
Choose this if: You manage a remote team and need accountability beyond self-reported hours.
Skip it if: Your team will resent being monitored—screenshotting breeds distrust with knowledge workers.
#5
Harvest connects time tracking directly to invoicing. Track time, set hourly rates per project, and generate invoices in a few clicks. If billing clients for time is your core use case and you want tracking and invoicing in one tool, Harvest removes the export-to-spreadsheet step.
Choose this if: You bill clients hourly and want to invoice directly from your time logs.
Skip it if: You just need to track time—Toggl or Clockify do that for free.
How to choose
Choose Toggl Track if you’re a freelancer or solo worker who wants simple, reliable tracking with a generous free tier. It’s the default choice for most people.
Choose Clockify if you’re a team that needs time tracking and can’t justify per-user costs. Unlimited free users is hard to beat.
Choose Timely if you’re bad at remembering to track manually and want automatic capture. Worth the cost if it solves your problem.
Choose Hubstaff if you manage a team and need accountability metrics beyond self-reported hours. Just be thoughtful about team morale.
Choose Harvest if your main goal is billing clients for time. Tracking flows directly into invoices.
The decision tree:
- Solo freelancer? → Toggl Track
- Team on a budget? → Clockify
- Forget to track? → Timely
- Need team accountability? → Hubstaff
- Need invoicing? → Harvest