The 6 top time tracking tools for freelancers

In the changing world of freelance jobs, workers need to focus on managing their time well to succeed. Checking your work hours isn’t just about being good at jobs, it’s also a big part of making your freelance business successful. As digital solutions have grown, many time tracking tools are now here to meet the different needs of freelancers. This comprehensive guide explores the importance of time tracking for freelancers and evaluates the top six-time tracking tools that can enhance productivity and profitability. 

1. Why Should Freelancers Track Time?

1.1. Accurate Billing

For people who work for themselves, every minute matters because their money often comes from the time they spend on a job. Keeping track of time accurately is important to make sure clients pay fairly and freelancers get properly paid for their work. It removes guessing and encourages openness in client connections.

1.2. Gain Valuable Insights

Time tracking shows us habits in work that could otherwise not be seen. Freelancers can find out where time is used well and spot activities that waste a lot of time. These ideas are very important for making work processes better and raising total output.

1.3. Increases Focus

When freelancers make a note of time spent on work, it helps them stay focused and responsible for what they’re doing. Starting a timer can make it psychologically easier to focus on a task, block out distractions, and create an environment that’s good for deep work.

2. What are the various ways to track time?

2.1. Manual Timesheets

The traditional method of using paper timesheets or spreadsheets to log hours is tried and true. While straightforward, it is susceptible to human error and often time-consuming, taking up valuable hours that could be better spent on billable activities. 

2.2. Time Tracking Software

Nowadays, freelancers are using digital tools. Time tracking software has become very important for them. These apps give you automated stuff and fancy things that make writing down work hours, checking productivity levels, and charging customers easier.

3. Top Qualities to Consider in a Freelancer Time Tracking Programme.

Time tracking software has many tools that help freelancers manage their time and projects well. Now let’s explore some of these key attributes:

3.1. Time Trackers

The main part of any time tracking program is that these tools let freelancers count how long they work with just a few taps. This is an easy way to measure their work hours.

3.2. Timesheet

Digital schedules use automatic systems instead of handwriting, making it simple for freelancers to add up their paid hours and create reports for customers.

3.3. Invoicing Clients

Many times tracking tools can make invoices. This means that the time tracked turns into accurate and professional-looking bills.

3.4. Expense Tracking

Keeping track of spending and time used is important for running a successful freelance business. It gives you a complete view of your money situation.

3.5. Reports

Strong report tools can help us understand how work is done and make smart choices about time and pay.

Popular reports include:

• Productivity Reports: Check how well time is being used.
• Expense Reports: Monitor outgoings related to projects.
• Client Budget Reports: Record expenses compared to what the client has set aside.

3.6. Integrations

Using project tools and other software together can put all the work in one place and save time on information entry.

3.7. Compatibility

A good tool for tracking time should work on many types of systems and gadgets. This helps freelancers to record time no matter if they are at their desks or moving around.

4. Best 6 Tracking Software For Freelancers To Use Today!

For freelancers looking for the best tools to manage their time, some software is a top choice because of its strong features and easy-to-use designs. In this post, we will talk about the best six tools for tracking time. We’ll learn about each one’s history, important features, cost, and what people think of them.

Time Champ: A Comprehensive Solution for Freelance Time Tracking 

In a world where freelance workers need to handle many customers and jobs at the same time, Time Champ comes up as a complete tool made for making it easier to track time, analyze how productive you are, and make bills for clients. This computer program is made to understand the special problems freelancers have every day.

Features of Time Champ 

• Interactive Time Tracking: Time Champ offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies the time tracking process to a matter of clicks. Starting and stopping the timer as you switch between tasks is streamlined, ensuring accuracy without interrupting the flow of work.
• Tasks and Projects: Freelancers can set up time-limited sessions for certain tasks under different projects. This group helps to study time spent on each job or task easily. It makes project management better and reporting for clients easier.
• Insightful Productivity Reports: Time Champ’s strong reporting features allow freelancers to create many detailed reports. These give them an understanding of their work habits. These reports can evaluate productivity, analyze business growth, and more:
• Activity Summary Report: This report shows active minutes, handwritten time entries, and any idle time. It gives a complete picture of how working hours are used.
• Hours Tracked Report: Freelancers can see exactly how many hours they’ve worked in a certain time. This makes it clear for billing and managing workload.
• Project And Tasks Report: Understanding the time spent on each project or job helps to judge how good they are and guess future time needs for them.
• Timeline Report: A picture of time tracking helps freelancers to quickly see their work schedule. It is useful for checking how well they manage time and planning future work.
• 5 Web And App Usage Report: By knowing which apps and sites use up the most time, freelancers can change their habits to work better.
• Invoicing: Time Champ is more than just a timer-watcher. It has features to make invoices that change the time you track into bills. You can adjust these and send them to customers. This makes it easy to move from finishing work to getting paid. 
• Integrations: Time Champ becomes more powerful by connecting with around 20+ other programs like Trello, Asana, and Basecamp which many freelancers use to manage tasks. This connection lets everything work together on different systems and makes all activities happen in one place.
• Platform Compatibility: Time Champ was made to work on many types of computer systems like Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It is also friendly for phones so it can help freelancers work in all kinds of places they might need to use different devices.

Pros of using Time Champ: 

People who use Time Champ praise the easy-to-understand software, its complete reporting features, and the helpful ideas it gives. It’s also famous for the choice it gives. This means that freelancers can adjust the program to fit what they need exactly.

Time Champ Pricing: 

Time Champ offers a free 7-day trial. Its paid plans start as low as $5/user per month. 

For more details visit Time Champ.

Customer Ratings: Time Champ is liked by many customers because it helps people work faster and earn more money. People regularly talk about how reliable this tool is, the helpful and detailed reports they get from it, and how great of a deal you get for its cost.

To get the most from Time Champ and improve your freelance work, try using it.

• G2: 4.7/5 (75+ reviews) 
• Capterra: 4.9/5 (11+ reviews)

4.2. Clockify

Clockify is an app made to help freelancers and teams keep track of the hours they work on different projects. It’s famous for its easy-to-use design and strong features like keeping track of time, creating reports and controlling teams.

Key Features

• Time Tracking: Clockify is easy to use because it has a simple start/stop timer and lets you enter information by hand.
• Reporting: You can make full reports to find out where your time goes and for what project.
• Calendar: A picture of the time you’ve spent, shown on a calendar. This is useful for seeing how much time you use each week or month.

Clockify Pricing

Clockify has a free version with basic time-tracking features. It’s great for new freelancers starting. Their paid plans give extra bonuses like quick help, control over team jobs, and detailed reports. They start at 9.99$ every month and come in different price levels to fit what everyone needs.

Customer Ratings for Clockify

People often like Clockify because it’s easy to use and you don’t need to spend any money on it. The free level is very liked by freelancers who are new and want to decrease costs.

• G2: 4.5/5 (70+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (1400+ reviews)

4.3. Toggl Track

Toggl Track is a popular app for tracking time that many freelancers who want ease and freedom. It’s well-liked for giving hints on how to use time and making it easier to handle workload.

Key Features of Toggl Track

• One-Click Time Tracking: A basic layout for setting up and ending time tracking quickly.
• Insights and Reporting: Gives helpful reports to check and improve time use.
• Flexible Setup: Fits different ways of working and is okay with many kinds of job styles.

Toggl Track Pricing

Freelancers can use Toggl Track’s free plan for unlimited time recording with basic tracking. Their top plans cost 10$ each month for one person. These plans have special features like project forecasting and time checks. There’s a free trial period available too.

Toggl Track Customer Ratings

Toggl Track gets good scores for being easy to use and having helpful support. People often suggest it for freelancers who handle many clients or tasks at the same time.

• G2:  4.5/5 (1000+ reviews)
• Capterra:  4.6/5 (1000+ reviews)

4.4. Harvest

Harvest is a tool that helps with time tracking and bill making. It also works as a helper for managing projects. It’s made for free workers who want to watch time, handle bills, and check project money all in one spot.

Key Features of Harvest

• Time and Expense Tracking: Record hours you can bill for and write down costs.
• Invoicing: Make and send bills right from the program using tracked time and costs.
• Project Budget Alerts: Alerts that help keep your project spending in check.

Pricing of Harvest

Harvest offers a free plan that gives you two projects to work on and full access to all features. Paid plans start at $12 per month to unlock unlimited projects and extra features.

Harvest Customer Ratings

Harvest is often praised for its complete features and ability to work with other programs. But, freelancers especially like how everything is together. This makes them not need various tools anymore.

• G2: 4.3/5 (600+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (300+ reviews)

4.5. TopTracker

TopTracker is made just for freelancers and remote teams, letting them track time easily without costs or limits.

Key Features of TopTracker

• Freelancer-Friendly: It’s completely free and made for single freelancers or groups.
• Screenshot and Activity Tracking: You can take pictures and check how active you are. This is useful for in-depth job efficiency study.

Pricing of TopTracker

TopTracker is free to use without any limits, making it a cheap choice for freelancers. This especially helps those who are new or working on a tight budget.

TopTracker Customer Ratings

People like TopTracker because it’s free and they think it’s a basic tool for simple tracking needs.

• Capterra:4.7 (6 reviews)

4.6. Apploye

Apploye is a newer company that tracks time. It helps freelancers manage their hours better by watching what they do with time.

Key Features of Apploye

• Time Tracking With Screenshots: Keeps track of time and takes regular pictures to help you remember the work done.
• Online and Offline Tracking: Make sure every minute you bill is counted, no matter if you’re connected to the internet or not.
• GPS Tracking: An extra feature for finding your location that could be helpful when working on-site as a freelancer. 

Apploye Pricing

Here are the costs for Apploye if you decide to pay each month:

• Solo: $4/user/month
• Standard: $5/user/month
• Premium: $6/user/month
• Elite: $7/user/month

User Ratings for Apploye

• G2: 4.7/5
• Capterra: 4.9/5

Wrapping Up

There are many time-tracking tools online and freelancers can pick the best one for their work, project needs, and how much they want to spend. Time Champ is a strong, detailed reporting tool while Toggl Track offers a simple and easy-to-use interface. Each one has its unique features.

Don’t forget, that using your time well as a freelancer is not just about adding up hours. It’s also important to know how you spend your effort and ensure every minute counts towards being productive and making money.

To explore the full capabilities of Time Champ and take your freelancing to the next level, why not book a demo today? Experience how this comprehensive time tracker can streamline your work, boost your productivity, and simplify your billing process. Click here to book your demo with Time Champ and start transforming the way you manage your time! Book a Demo with Time Champ

FAQS on Freelancer Time Tracking Solutions