Time Tracking Solutions - Free and Low Cost

We all need to measure how much of our life is spent working. Thus, time tracking is one of those features that we all can make use of. The good news is that this is a problem that can be solved at a low cost and in less intrusive fashion than in the past. There may be a few "do you want to allow application X to do Y" questions to answer but otherwise, these tools can be quickly installed and utilized.

Clockify.me

Address: https://clockify.me/

This is free to get started and easy to set up. I registered, created a project and was tracking time in minutes. It is team focused, so a lot of the features make it easy to add team members and see their time as well. The free option allows for unlimited team size and some fairly useful reports. Thus, this could be perfect for a team just starting that wants to start tracking time.

Toggl

Address: https://toggl.com/

The free version of this solution provides good time tracking and features to help you stay on track. It will detect sleep or inactivity and stop without you having to figure out when you got pulled away from your desk. The paid versions add features and reports mostly useful in team environments. Thus, the $9 and $18 per person per month prices are steeper than some of these other solutions. Toggl is a popular and easy to use solution worth a look.

Get Harvest

Address: https://www.getharvest.com/

This is free for one person and up to two projects. The paid version runs $12 per user per month. The reports and tracking features for Harvest are among the best. It includes integrations with browsers and tools that make it easy to slip into your regular work processes. Although the free version can be a bit limiting, it may be perfect for a side hustle where you are only working on one or two things at a time. Larger teams will find this a good solution for tracking hours and reporting on the same.

My Hours

Address: https://myhours.com

The free option for a single user is perfect for common consulting hour tracking. The next step up is a mere $6/month and adds reports and other features although the free version may often be all that is needed. This provides one of the easiest ways to switch back and forth among projects and clients for time tracking. That has proven to be a need when I find myself on multiple projects per day as I often do.

TopTal Tracker

Address: https://tracker.toptal.com/tracker/

This is the timer provided by Toptal for users of their system. However, it is also provider agnostic so you can use it for tracking time against other sites as well. It lacks some of the tight integrations timers like the UpWork one provides (regular screenshots to prove you are working) but is simple, free, and easy to use. It requires a desktop application which is a potential downside. On the other hand, the reporting is all web-based, and they are clean reports that are easy to read and use for billing purposes.

Tracking Time

Address: https://trackingtime.co/

The free version of this covers teams up to three members and then it moves to $4.99 per user per month ($4.16 billed annually). It has a great start that allows you to get tracking time on a project in under a minute. The reports are what one would expect, and it helps that the estimates for a task are always asked up front. It helps push you to estimate, and then your reports will highlight how good (or bad) those estimates are upon completion.

Rescue Time

Address: https://www.rescuetime.com/

A free option is available forever, or the premium is $6/month if you choose the annual payment option. This tool is not as much a project time tracker as it is a detailed application and browser activity tracker. If you want details about how you spend your time, then this is what you are looking for. It provides some excellent reports and graphs while the premium version helps you avoid distractions.

Focus Me

https://focusme.com/

The cost is $2.50/month annually, and there is a free trial. This solution is not as much a time tracker application as one that is for time management. Think of it as a Pomodoro timer on steroids that helps block you from activities that are distractions. It does provide a sort of micromanagement report of your time which can be helpful if you bounce around a lot. It is application/website focused and does not allow you to link work to a customer or project.