Five of the Best Free Time Tracking Tools

Do you offer a service, but are not sure if you’re accurately billing your customers? Are you struggling with tracking employees/contractors who have performed their work? Discovering how to properly bill time can be a tricky concept to master. In this article, I uncover five of the best free time tracking software options. They provide a great alternative to manual time sheets. Free options are great for freelancers. For multiple users, you have an option of paying a fee.

1. Paymo

Paymo is great is great time tracking tool. It also allows for project management and online invoicing. Paymo is a cloud-based solution so you can access from any device connected to the internet. The mobile app which can also offline and sync once you reconnect. Efficiency and time spent are the two major concepts Paymo focuses on. Google Apps integrates with Paymo and you are able to accept payments online (Paypal, Auth.net, Google Checkouts). A free account allows for one user with unlimited clients and projects, but only one invoice. You also receive 50MB of online storage. The paid accounts increase users and storage space.

2. AccountSight

AccountSight is an easy, affordable & most comprehensive time tracking. Track billable or non-billable time via web or mobile or timer with automatic reminder for time. Multi-level approval workflows. Lots reports on time, attendance, utilization, budget & profitability & skills. Their time tracking processes stand out too, for businesses and consultants alike. Users can submit their timesheets in bulk via Excel, or simply track their time online. Managers can approve or reject timesheets straight from the app.

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3. Todo.vu

todo.vu is a comprehensive system that not only includes time tracking but also has CRM, project management and billing capabilities. It is ideal for freelancers, consultants and teams. You can enter time directly to the tasks that you are working on; multiple people can enter time for the same tasks. todo.vu has nice detailed reports so that you can stay on top of the progress being made on a project or task as well as find any unbilled time. You can use todo.vu to bill your customers or attach it to your existing billing system. todo.vu integrates with a number of systems, including Xero, FreshBooks and Zoho Books.

4. Hubstaff

Users praise its random screenshotting feature (which managers and clients can use to make sure work is getting done when the team says it is), time clock system, and reporting features. Hubstaff bills itself as “most accurate desktop timer,” and works hard to keep up that reputation.Hubstaff is a great time tracking tool to keep track of employees that are remote as well as in the office. Time can be added manually or automatically using integrated apps. Managers can control whether or not an employee is able to enter time manually.

You can view time in 3 ways: Daily, Weekly or Calendar view. The Daily view allows you to see the exact times work was started and stopped throughout the day; the weekly view makes it easy to see the amount of time worked each day of the week and the calendar view allows you to see the amount of time worked across multiple projects. Not only does Hubstaff allow you to track time but it has a built-in payroll and invoicing features, so you don’t need to worry about exporting the time to another program to pay your employees or bill customers.

5. Homebase

Homebase is a free multi-platform (desktop, mobile app, web app) time tracking and scheduling software. Your employees can clock in with their mobile phones, and you will have a record of their time and location. Through the mobile app, employees can also check their schedules, trade shifts, request time off and communicate with their coworkers.

Homebase helps you stay compliant as well by tracking paid and unpaid breaks, and by keeping a running list of missed shifts, breaks and and clock-outs. It will even notify you if an employee is about to hit overtime. With Homebase, you can then export your timesheets directly to popular payroll providers, like Gusto, to include all this information without any data entry.