Author: Anna Hankus

“Did anyone log Tuesday’s client call?” “I think so. Check the sheet.”

It’s Monday morning at a 25-person services firm, and two deadlines are reading the same spreadsheet. Payroll needs hours worked by Wednesday. The client invoice needs billable hours by Friday. The sheet has three tabs, two versions, and a row someone typed from memory. Half the team uses a free time tracking app, and the other half doesn’t use anything.

Time tracking software for small business fixes that Monday, as long as you pick the kind that matches how you make money. Below, you’ll see how payroll tracking differs from client billing, what should happen to tracked time after the timer stops, and how 8 time tracking tools compare for 2027.

What Is Time Tracking Software for Small Business?

Time tracking software for small business is software that records the hours your team works, ties each entry to a client, project, or task, and turns that tracked time into timesheets, payroll data, and invoices.

Each entry holds who worked, when, for how long, on which project and task, and whether the time is billable. It collects them through timers, typed entries, or a calendar, then routes them to approval and rolls them into reports. Team members see their own timesheets. Managers see their team’s time and approve it. The owner or finance lead sees hours worked for payroll, billable hours for invoicing, and how much time each client really takes.

The best setups for small businesses capture time once and use it everywhere. Nobody retypes hours into a payroll form, an invoice, or an accounting file.

Payroll Time Tracking vs Client Billing Time Tracking

Search for time tracking software for small business and you’ll find two kinds of products in the same results. They solve different problems, so it’s worth knowing which one you need before you compare prices.

• Payroll and attendance tracking answers one question: how many hours did each person work, and what do we owe them? This is what most employee time tracking software for small business is built for. Staff clock in and out, the system counts breaks and overtime, and the totals go to payroll. Attendance, PTO, employee scheduling, GPS checks, and shared kiosks belong here. Vendors often sell this category as workforce management.
• Project and billing tracking answers a different question: which client and project did each hour go to, and what can we bill for it? Here, time is logged against projects and tasks, marked billable or non-billable, priced at the right rate, and turned into invoices. Approvals matter more than geofences. The data ends up in accounting as well as payroll.

	Payroll and attendance	Project and billing tracking
Main question	How long did each person work?	Which client does each hour belong to?
Typical users	Hourly staff, shift teams, field crews	Consultants, IT staff, engineers, agencies
Must-have features	Clock-in times, breaks, overtime rules, PTO, employee scheduling	Project and task tracking, billable flag, rates, approvals, invoicing
Where the data goes	Payroll provider	Invoices, project reports, and accounting
Typical tools	Time clock apps and workforce management platforms	Time tracking apps with invoicing, and PSA platforms

Plenty of small businesses need a bit of both. A firm with salaried consultants still needs accurate timesheets for overtime, and a field team still bills clients. Pick the tool for the job that carries your revenue, then check that it covers the other job well enough. If you bill clients for the hours your people put in, the rest of this guide is written for you.

Time Tracking Features Small Businesses Actually Use

Most products list dozens of time tracking features. These are the ones that decide whether your team keeps logging time after the first month.

Timers, Manual Entry, and Automated Timesheets

A timer is the easiest way to log time as people move between different tasks. Typing time in by hand covers the call that ran long or the hour someone forgot to start. Automated timesheets fill in the week from tracked time, so people review and submit instead of starting from a blank grid. Look for a way to create time entries in a few clicks and fix them later without a support ticket.

Mobile App, Web App, and Desktop Access

Your team won’t log time if the tool sits in one place. A web app covers office work, a desktop app handles focused work, and a mobile app catches site visits and travel. Remote teams depend on all three. Check that the mobile app supports the same projects and tasks as the web version.

Calendars and Other Integrations

Meetings are where untracked hours hide. A calendar integration lets people turn calendar events into time entries, so a 45-minute client call doesn’t vanish. Integrations with other tools, such as project management apps, payroll, and projects accounting, matter just as much. The fewer places someone copies data by hand, the more accurate your timesheets get.

Approvals Before Payroll and Billing

Approval is the step between “someone logged it” and “we can bill it or pay it.” A manager reviews the week, checks the billable flag, and locks the entries. Several vendors keep approvals for their higher paid plans, so check the tier before you buy.

Billable Rates and Invoicing

If you invoice clients, the tool has to know what each hour is worth. That means rates by person, role, client, or project, plus a clear billable or non-billable flag on every entry. Without rates, you export hours and do the math in a spreadsheet, which brings back the Monday problem.

Detailed Reporting and Real-Time Reporting

Detailed reporting shows the time spent on each client, project, and person. Real-time reporting shows it while you can still act on it. You should be able to export reports to a spreadsheet or PDF for clients who ask.

Expense Tracking and Project Budgeting

Client projects carry more than hours. Logging expenses in the same place puts receipts, mileage, and travel next to the time they belong to. Project budgeting compares tracked time and costs to the budget, so you see a project going over in week three instead of at the final invoice. Project templates save setup time when you run similar work for several clients.

Are Free Time Tracking Apps Enough for Small Businesses?

For many small businesses, free time tracking apps are the right first step. A free tier replaces paper and spreadsheets, costs nothing, and shows whether your team will log time at all. Several vendors also offer free tools such as timesheet templates and time card calculators. If you only need to know who worked how long, free timesheet software may be all you need.

The limits show up as you grow. Common catches include a five user limit, short report history, no approvals, and invoicing locked behind a paid tier. Some free versions allow unlimited projects but no integrations, so the data can’t reach payroll, accounting, or other apps. Limited free plans also tend to cap clients or projects, which bites the moment you add team members.

Free time tracking apps usually stop fitting when one of these happens:

• A second person needs to approve time before it’s billed or paid
• You bill clients at different rates for different people
• Your bookkeeper asks for invoices in QuickBooks instead of exported files
• Keeping track of project budgets turns into its own spreadsheet

At that point, compare paid plans on the advanced features you actually need. Moving from free timesheet software to a paid tool, or to other tools built for billing, is easier while your team is still small.

From Timesheet to Invoice to QuickBooks: What Happens After You Log Time

Most comparisons stop at the timer. For small businesses that bill clients, the timer is only the first step. Here’s the path your time tracking data should take, and where it usually breaks.

1. Approve. A manager approves the week’s time entries. Approved time locks, so nobody changes an hour after it’s billed.
2. Price. Each entry picks up the right rate for the person, role, or client. Non-billable time keeps its cost, so you still see what the project really consumed.
3. Invoice. The invoice is built from approved time under the project’s billing terms: hourly, fixed fee, or a monthly retainer. Notes on each entry become the line descriptions clients read.
4. Sync to accounting. The invoice goes to QuickBooks or another ledger through an integration, with no retyping. Payments recorded in accounting come back to the project.

Our guide to PSA time tracking shows how that path works when time, projects, and billing share one system.

The sync step deserves a closer look, because “integrates with QuickBooks” can mean very different things:

What syncs	Why it matters	Question to ask the vendor
Customers and projects	Invoices land on the right customer without duplicate records	Do new clients flow in both directions?
Invoices	Billing happens once, in one system	Do invoice lines keep the project and task detail?
Payments	You see collected revenue next to billed hours	Do payments recorded in QuickBooks update the project?
Hours for payroll	Payroll runs from the same approved time	Does it send approved hours only?
Expenses	Billable costs reach the invoice and the books	Are receipts attached when they sync?

Also check which edition is supported. Some tools connect to QuickBooks Online only, and some sync one way. If your firm runs QuickBooks Desktop, ask before you sign. Our guide to QuickBooks time tracking goes deeper on that setup.

How to Choose Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses

Before you open a pricing page, answer these questions with whoever runs payroll and whoever sends invoices:

• Which job comes first, payroll or client billing? It decides the whole shortlist.
• How many people will log time a year from now? A free tier that fits 4 people won’t fit 12.
• Do you bill by the hour, by fixed fee, or by retainer? Hourly billing needs rates. Fixed fee needs budgets, or you can’t see margin.
• Who approves time, and when? If nobody owns approvals, the tool won’t fix accuracy.
• Which QuickBooks edition do you run, and what has to sync? Ask which records sync, and in which direction.
• What will the paid plans cost for your whole team? Multiply the per-user price by your headcount and add the plan you’ll need once approvals and invoicing matter.

If most of your answers point to client work, choose a tool that connects time to invoices and accounting. If they point to shifts and hourly pay, timesheet software built for payroll or a workforce management tool will serve you better. Small business owners often start with a free timer and move up as the business journey adds clients, approvers, and a bookkeeper who wants clean data. Consulting firms can find a narrower comparison in our guide to time tracking software for consultants, and our broader time tracking software ranking covers the wider market.

How We Evaluated

We compared 8 time tracking tools on six criteria, weighted for small businesses that bill clients for their time:

1. Client billing fit: rates, billable flags, approvals, and invoicing
2. Accounting integration: QuickBooks support, edition, and sync direction
3. Ease of capture: timers, mobile access, calendar integration, and quick edits
4. Payroll and attendance support: clock in and clock out, overtime, and PTO
5. Cost for a small team: the free plan’s limits and what paid plans add
6. Reporting: reports by client and project, plus profitability visibility

Ratings come from G2 and Capterra, and prices come from each vendor’s pricing page. We compared published pricing, review-site sentiment, and documented integrations. Because billing and invoicing carry the most weight, some tools with higher review scores rank lower than tools that connect time to the invoice.

Best Time Tracking Software for Small Business in 2027: Comparison Table

Tool	Best For	Free Plan	Starting Paid Price (as of Oct 2026)	Invoicing	QuickBooks Sync	G2 / Capterra (Oct 2026)
BigTime	Growing professional services firms that bill clients	No	$20 per user/month (Essentials)	Every plan	Two-way, Online and Desktop	4.4 (1,807) / 4.6 (658)
Harvest	Simple time tracking and invoicing	1 seat, 2 projects	11perseat/month(9 annual)	Every plan	Online only, one-way invoices and payments	4.3 (881) / 4.6 (646)
QuickBooks Time	Hourly payroll inside QuickBooks	No	$20/month base + $10 per user	None of its own	Online, native (Online required)	4.5 (1,448) / 4.7 (7,021)
TimeCamp	Free plan with unlimited users	Unlimited users and projects	5.49peruser/month(3.99 annual)	Starter and up	Online, Premium and up	4.7 (392) / 4.7 (599)
Clockify	Low-cost payroll and project tracking	Up to 5 users	4.99peruser/month(3.99 annual)	Standard and up	Online, time entries, Standard and up	4.5 (204) / 4.8 (9,258)
Paymo	Agencies that want task and project management	1 user, 2 projects	9.90/month,1user(5.90 for 3 months)	Every plan	Online, invoices out, payments back	4.6 (594) / 4.7 (686)
My Hours	Easy time tracking with budgets	5 active users	5peruser/month(4 annual)	Yes, plan not stated	Customers in, invoices out	4.6 (267) / 4.8 (986)
Everhour	Time tracking inside project tools	Up to 5 seats	$8.50 per seat/month, annual, 5-seat minimum	Team plan	Online, draft invoices, payment status	4.7 (179) / 4.7 (432)

Ratings come from G2 and Capterra (review counts in brackets); prices come from vendor pricing pages. Both were checked in October 2026 and change often.

BigTime

Rating: G2 4.4/5, 1,807 reviews · Capterra 4.6/5, 658 reviews

Pros

• Time, expenses, approvals, invoicing, and payments on every plan
• Two-way QuickBooks Online and Desktop integration
• Rates by person, role, and project, with billable and non-billable time on every entry
• Time and materials, fixed fee, and project milestone billing
• Auto-fill, auto-save, and smart lookups speed up daily time entries

Cons

• More setup than a free timer: rates, approval rules, and the QuickBooks connection take planning
• No free plan; pricing starts above budget time tracking apps
• Built for client work, so there’s no GPS, kiosk, or shift scheduling for hourly crews

BigTime is a PSA platform for IT, engineering, and consulting firms that bill clients for every hour. Every hour starts a financial record. Each entry picks up the right rate, passes through approval, and flows into an invoice under the project’s billing terms. The invoice and payment then sync both ways with QuickBooks Online or Desktop, so finance doesn’t retype anything at month-end. QuickBooks keeps the ledger, and BigTime keeps the project-level numbers behind it.

For small businesses that are starting to feel like real firms, that link matters most. You see unbilled time before the invoice run, budget burn while the project is still open, and which clients take more hours than they pay for. Team members log time from the web or the mobile app with one-tap timers. Auto-fill, auto-save, and smart lookups cut the typing, so people keep accurate timesheets without much effort. BigTime projects and tasks can also show up in Google Calendar through its integration.

BigTime is more than a five-person shop needs if all it wants is a timer. Setting up rate tables, approval steps, and the accounting connection takes planning, and the team needs time to adjust. For firms that are hiring, adding clients, or tired of reconciling spreadsheets, that setup is what replaces the month-end cleanup.

Key Features

• Timers, quick edits, and auto-filled timesheets on web and mobile
• Billable and non-billable time with rates by person, role, client, or project
• Timesheet and expense approvals, with multi-level approvals on Premier
• Project invoicing from approved time and expenses, plus online payments
• Two-way QuickBooks Online and Desktop sync, plus HubSpot on every plan
• Project budgeting and custom cost and rate management on Premier
• Real-time reporting on hours, billable work, and project financial health

Pricing

BigTime Essentials starts at $20 per user/month. Every plan includes time tracking, invoicing, expense management, and payments. Advanced, Premier, and Enterprise pricing is available on request. To see how it would work with your projects and your QuickBooks file, book a personalized demo.

Harvest

Rating: G2 4.3/5, 881 reviews · Capterra 4.6/5, 646 reviews.

Pros

• Invoicing on every plan, including the free one
• Clean timer and mobile apps
• Expenses and project budgets sit next to tracked time
• Unlimited seats on paid plans

Cons

• The free plan covers one seat and two projects
• Timesheet approvals only on the Enterprise plan
• QuickBooks Online only, with one-way sync
• Scheduling is a separate product

Harvest is one of the most familiar names in time tracking for agencies, consultants, and other small teams that bill by the hour. A team member starts a timer, adds a note, and the entry is ready to go on an invoice. Invoices are built from tracked time and expenses, and clients can pay online. Project budgets show how much of the estimate is gone. Its user-friendly interface keeps training short. For small businesses that want to stop billing from spreadsheets, it’s an easy first step.

The gaps appear as the team grows. Timesheet approvals are only available on Enterprise, so most small teams invoice time nobody has reviewed. The QuickBooks integration works with QuickBooks Online only and isn’t on the free plan. It copies invoices and, optionally, payments from Harvest to QuickBooks, but edits made in QuickBooks don’t sync back. Cost is also the most common complaint in Capterra reviews. Picture a 20-person firm with two project leads approving time and a bookkeeper on QuickBooks Desktop. It ends up paying for Enterprise and still exporting files at month-end.

Key Features

• Timers on web, desktop, and mobile, plus a Slack extension
• Invoices built from tracked time and expenses
• Online invoice payments
• Project budgets with time and cost tracking
• Reports by client, project, and team member
• QuickBooks Online integration on paid plans

Pricing

Free for 1 seat and 2 projects. Teams costs $11 per seat/month, or $9 billed annually. Enterprise costs $17.50 per seat/month, or $14 billed annually. Enterprise Plus pricing is custom.

QuickBooks Time

Rating: G2 4.5/5, 1,448 reviews · Capterra 4.7/5, 7,021 reviews (listed as TSheets)

Pros

• Built for QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll
• Mobile app, kiosk, scheduling, and time off on both plans
• Managers approve time from a phone
• Very high review volume

Cons

• Requires a QuickBooks Online subscription
• Monthly base fee on top of per-user pricing
• No invoicing of its own; billing happens in QuickBooks
• Project tracking only on the Elite plan

QuickBooks Time is the natural pick when your main job is payroll. Employees clock in from the mobile app or a shared kiosk, managers approve timesheets on the go, and approved hours flow straight into QuickBooks Payroll. Scheduling and time off are part of both plans. For a field team, a cleaning business, or any company with hourly staff and a QuickBooks file, it’s among the strongest employee time tracking software for small business.

Client work is where it gets thinner. QuickBooks Time doesn’t create invoices. Time goes to QuickBooks Online, and you bill from there, so rates, write-downs, and invoice detail live in a second system. Project tracking, mileage, and timesheet signatures need Time Elite, at a $40 monthly base fee plus $12 per user. Geofencing and GPS mileage are listed only for the Workforce Elite bundle, at $134 a month plus $17 per employee. Intuit’s pages don’t describe QuickBooks Desktop support. A consulting firm that bills fixed fee projects will see hours against a budget, but not the margin on each engagement.

Key Features

• Clock in from mobile, web, or a kiosk
• Timesheet approvals and edits from the mobile app
• Employee scheduling by job or shift
• Time off tracking
• Budgeted vs actual hours by project (Elite)
• Hours sync to QuickBooks Online for payroll and invoicing

Pricing

No free plan. Time Premium costs $20/month base plus $10 per user/month. Time Elite costs $40/month base plus $12 per user/month. Both require QuickBooks Online.

TimeCamp

Rating: G2 4.7/5, 392 reviews · Capterra 4.7/5, 599 reviews

Pros

• Free plan with unlimited users and unlimited projects
• Low-cost paid plans with invoicing from Starter
• QuickBooks Online sync of clients, taxes, and rates in both directions
• GPS tracking on every plan

Cons

• Approvals and expenses only on Ultimate
• AI time tracking is billed separately
• No QuickBooks Desktop integration
• Reviewers report glitches and instability

TimeCamp gives small businesses more for free than most tools in this list. The free plan allows unlimited users and projects, so a whole team can start tracking time without a budget conversation. Paid plans stay inexpensive, with invoicing from Starter and attendance tracking alongside project time. TimeCamp also markets an AI time tracker that suggests entries from what people work on. For a growing team that wants one place for project hours and attendance, the entry cost is hard to beat.

The catch is how much sits in the top tier. Approvals, expenses, and screenshot-based employee monitoring are all on Ultimate, at 13.99peruser/month(9.99 billed annually). The QuickBooks integration needs Premium or higher and works with QuickBooks Online only. TimeCamp says plainly that it doesn’t integrate with the desktop app. The AI tracker runs on credits, which TimeCamp estimates at about $6 per user/month. Capterra reviewers also mention bugs. Small businesses that want approved time, invoices, and accounting sync end up on the most expensive plan, plus AI credits.

Key Features

• Automatic and manual time tracking on desktop, web, and mobile
• Attendance tracking and GPS tracking
• Invoicing from tracked time (Starter and up)
• Project budgets (Premium and up)
• QuickBooks Online integration (Premium and up)
• AI time tracker, billed by credits

Pricing

Free for unlimited users and projects. Starter costs $5.49 per user/month ($3.99 billed annually), Premium $9.99 ($6.99), and Ultimate $13.99 ($9.99). Enterprise pricing is available on request.

Clockify

Rating: G2 4.5/5, 204 reviews · Capterra 4.8/5, 9,258 reviews

Pros

• Free plan with unlimited projects
• Some of the lowest paid plans in the category
• Google Calendar and Outlook calendar import
• Kiosk, GPS, scheduling, and time off on paid tiers

Cons

• Approvals, invoicing, and QuickBooks start at Standard
• GPS, scheduling, and expenses need Pro
• QuickBooks Online only, and it sends time entries rather than invoices
• Reviewers mention a cluttered interface and mobile bugs

Clockify is the budget pick that covers both jobs small businesses track time for. Clockify’s free version includes unlimited projects and enough features to replace a spreadsheet. As you add paid tiers, you get a kiosk for shared devices, time off, GPS, and resource management, so it can handle hourly staff and project work in one app. Calendar import from Google Calendar and Outlook helps teams log meetings they’d otherwise forget.

The feature list is wide, but it’s spread across five tiers. Approvals, invoicing, and the QuickBooks integration start on Standard, at $6.99 per user/month ($5.49 annually). GPS, scheduling, and expenses need Pro. The free plan card says up to five users, while the pricing FAQ says you can invite four people, so confirm the limit before you plan around it. The QuickBooks connection works with QuickBooks Online only, sends time entries as time activity, and doesn’t work when QuickBooks payroll is turned on. A firm that bills clients from approved time will still build and reconcile invoices by hand.

Core Features

• Timer, manual time, and calendar import
• Kiosk clock-in (Basic and up)
• Approvals, invoicing, and time off (Standard and up)
• GPS tracking, scheduling, and expenses (Pro)
• Budgets and estimates by project
• QuickBooks Online time sync (Standard and up)

Pricing

Free for up to five users, with unlimited projects. Basic costs $4.99 per seat/month ($3.99 annually), Standard $6.99 ($5.49), Pro $9.99 ($7.99), and Enterprise $14.99 ($11.99).

Paymo

Rating: G2 4.6/5, 594 reviews · Capterra 4.7/5, 686 reviews

Pros

• Task management with list, board, calendar, and Gantt views
• Invoicing on every plan, including free
• QuickBooks Online payments sync back to Paymo
• Workload and scheduling on Pro

Cons

• The free plan is for one user and two projects
• Introductory prices rise after three months
• Approvals and scheduling only on Pro
• Reviewers find the mobile app less polished

Paymo combines project management, time tracking, and billing for small creative and marketing agencies. Tasks carry their own timers, so tracked time lands on the right task without extra steps. Teams can switch between list, board, calendar, and Gantt views, and invoices come straight from tracked time. Even the free plan includes invoicing, which is rare. For a small agency that runs on tasks and bills by the hour, it covers a lot in one place.

Pricing needs a careful read. Paid plans start with a three-month introductory price, then rise. Plus goes from $10.90 to $15.90 per user/month, and Pro goes from $16.90 to $23.90. Approvals, scheduling, and workload planning are all on Pro. The QuickBooks Online integration exports invoices and syncs payments back, but invoice status changes in QuickBooks don’t update Paymo. Paymo is built around task management, so financial reporting stays light. A consulting firm that needs approved time, rates by role, and a clean QuickBooks file will hit those limits quickly.

Core Features

• Task management with list, board, calendar, and Gantt views
• Timers built into each task
• Invoices from tracked time, with recurring invoices on Plus
• Expense tracking (Plus and up)
• Approvals, scheduling, and workload (Pro)
• QuickBooks Online invoice and payment sync

Pricing

Free for 1 user, 2 projects, and 1 client. Solo costs $9.90/month for 1 user ($5.90 for the first 3 months). Plus costs $15.90 per user/month ($10.90 introductory), and Pro $23.90 ($16.90 introductory). Annual billing saves up to 40%.

My Hours

Rating: G2 4.6/5, 267 reviews · Capterra 4.8/5, 986 reviews

Pros

• Free for up to five active users
• Intuitive interface with a short learning curve
• Budgets, budget alerts, and expense tracking
• QuickBooks integration for customers and invoices

Cons

• Approvals and budgets only on Pro
• The pricing page doesn’t say which plan includes invoicing
• Google Calendar only through Zapier
• Reviewers call reporting clunky

My Hours keeps time tracking simple, which is why many small businesses pick it. Its intuitive interface makes daily logging quick on web, desktop, and mobile. Team members track billable and non-billable time across clients and projects, and managers set budgets with alerts before a project runs over. The free plan fits five active users, and paid plans stay low. It’s a good match for a small team that wants clean timesheets without much training.

The limits show up in the finer print. Approvals with an audit log, and project budgets, are on Pro, at 9peruser/month(8 annually). The pricing table lists invoicing, but it doesn’t say which plan includes it. The QuickBooks integration imports customers and sends invoices back, and the edition isn’t stated. Google Calendar works only through Zapier, and G2 reviewers call reporting “a bit clunky.” My Hours suits teams that need hours and budgets. A firm that needs rates by role, billing terms per project, and payment status from QuickBooks will need more.

Core Features

• Timers and typed entries on web, desktop, and mobile
• Billable and non-billable time by client, project, and task
• Budgets and budget alerts (Pro)
• Approval workflow with audit log (Pro)
• Expense tracking
• QuickBooks customer import and invoice transfer

Pricing

Free for up to 5 active users. Basic costs $5 per user/month ($4 billed annually), and Pro costs $9 ($8). Enterprise pricing is custom.

Everhour

Rating: G2 4.7/5, 179 reviews · Capterra 4.7/5, 432 reviews

Pros

• Free for up to five seats
• Timers that work inside project tools such as Trello and Jira
• Approvals, expenses, time off, and budgets on the Team plan
• QuickBooks Online draft invoices with payment status sync

Cons

• The free plan doesn’t include integrations
• Team plan has a five-seat minimum and shows annual pricing only
• The features page mentions an iPhone app only
• AI features are still in development

Everhour fits teams whose work already lives in project management tools. Instead of asking people to open another app, it adds timers to the tools they use, such as Trello and Jira. Everhour’s free version covers up to five seats. The Team plan adds invoicing, approvals, expenses, time off, budgets, and resource planning, which is a broad set at its price. For a small team that plans in boards and wants time attached to each card, it’s a tidy setup. Everhour also publishes free tools, such as a time card calculator and an invoice generator.

The free plan is less useful than it looks, because it includes no integrations, and integrations are the reason to choose Everhour. The Team plan costs $8.50 per seat/month billed yearly, with a five-seat minimum, and the pricing page doesn’t show a monthly price. The QuickBooks Online integration mirrors customers into Everhour and copies invoices to QuickBooks as drafts, with payment status kept in sync. Plan requirements and sync direction aren’t stated. Everhour’s numbers depend on the project tool behind it. A firm that wants rates, approvals, invoices, and accounting in one financial record will still be stitching tools together.

Core Features

• Timers inside project management tools
• Timesheets with approvals
• Budgets by project
• Invoicing and expenses (Team plan)
• Time off and resource planning
• QuickBooks Online customer and invoice integration

Pricing

Free for up to 5 seats, without integrations. Team costs $8.50 per seat/month, billed yearly, with a 5-seat minimum. Custom plans start at 50 seats.

Which Is the Best Time Tracking Software for Small Business?

Task management tools and timers coordinate the work. They don’t run the financial side of a client business: rates by role, approvals before billing, invoices under different billing terms, and a two-way link to the books.

That’s where BigTime fits. For growing professional services firms that bill clients and run QuickBooks, BigTime is the strongest choice for 2027:

• Time, expenses, approvals, invoices, and payments in one PSA platform
• Two-way sync with QuickBooks Online and Desktop
• Hourly, fixed fee, and milestone billing from the same tracked time
• Real-time visibility into unbilled time, budgets, and project margins

If your hours are your revenue, book a personalized demo to see BigTime with your own projects.

FAQ About Time Tracking Software for Small Business

What Is the Best Free Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses?

It depends on team size. TimeCamp’s free plan allows unlimited users and projects. Clockify’s free version and Everhour’s free version cover up to five users, and My Hours is free for five active users. Harvest and Paymo limit their free plans to one user. Once you need approvals, invoicing, or accounting sync, plan for a paid tier.

How Do Small Businesses Track Employee Time?

Most use a time tracking app where employees clock in and out or log hours against projects and tasks. Hourly teams often add a kiosk, GPS checks, and overtime rules. Teams that bill clients mark each entry billable or non-billable. Either way, a manager approves timesheets every week before the hours reach payroll or an invoice.

What Is Small Business Timekeeping?

Small business timekeeping is how you record the time your employees work, so you can pay them correctly and bill clients accurately. It covers start and end times, breaks, time off, and the work done on each project. Free timesheet software handles the basics. Paid timekeeping software adds approvals and exports to payroll or accounting.

What Should Small Businesses Look for in Time Tracking Software?

Start with the job it has to do: payroll, client billing, or both. Then check mobile and web capture, timesheet approvals, billable rates, invoicing, and the QuickBooks integration’s direction. Compare the full cost for your whole team, on the plan where approvals and invoicing start.

What Is the Best Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses That Bill Clients?

For growing professional services firms that run QuickBooks, BigTime is the strongest choice for 2027. It connects time entries, approvals, rates, invoices, and payments in one PSA platform, with two-way QuickBooks Online and Desktop sync. Very small teams that only need a timer and simple invoices can start with Harvest or Paymo.

Which Time Tracking Software Integrates With QuickBooks?

All 8 tools in this ranking connect to QuickBooks, but the depth varies. Some send time entries only, some copy invoices one way, and some sync payments back. BigTime syncs both ways with QuickBooks Online and Desktop. QuickBooks Time is built for QuickBooks Online and requires a subscription to it.

11:40 PM on the last business day of the month. The client’s e-billing portal sends your invoice back with 14 line items rejected: block-billed entries, missing task codes, and one rate above the approved one. Fixing them means reopening entries from three weeks ago and asking lawyers what they did on a Tuesday afternoon.

Below, we compare eight options for 2027, from free timers to legal time tracking software with secure client portal access and LEDES billing. You’ll also see how lawyers record time in tenths of an hour and what should happen to each entry before it’s billed.

Key Takeaways

• Six-minute increments are the norm in legal billing. Set rounding once in the software so every lawyer follows the same rule.
• Pre-bill review, write-downs, and e-billing formats decide how many of your billable hours get paid.
• Practice management software runs matters, a PSA platform runs firm economics, and some law firms need both.
• Automatic and AI capture save hours only when every suggested entry is reviewed before it’s billed.
• Choose by the stage where your hours leak: capture, review, billing, or reporting.

What Does Legal Time Tracking Software Do?

Time tracking software for law firms records the time lawyers and staff spend on client matters, codes each entry by matter, task, and activity, applies the right rate and rounding, and moves approved time to the invoice.

It holds time entries tagged by client, matter, and timekeeper, plus task and activity codes, a billable flag, the rate, and a short narrative. With that data, it rounds each entry to the firm’s increment and sends draft bills to pre-bill review. It also builds invoices, including LEDES files for e-billing clients, and produces detailed reports by matter and timekeeper.

Lawyers and paralegals record time from a computer or mobile device. The billing partner reviews and adjusts it. The firm administrator or finance team sends the invoices and tracks what’s collected. Some vendors call the category legal time management software, others timekeeping software. Either way, the best systems make the right entry the easy one, because codes come from the matter and rates come from the engagement.

How Attorney Time Tracking Works: 6-Minute Increments and Billing Rules

Most law firms bill in tenths of an hour, so the smallest billable unit is six minutes. Some firms and clients use 15-minute increments instead, and some client guidelines set their own rules. Whatever the increment, set it once in the software so every entry rounds the same way.

Minutes Worked	Billed As (Rounding Up)
1-6	0.1
7-12	0.2
13-18	0.3
19-24	0.4
25-30	0.5
31-36	0.6
37-42	0.7
43-48	0.8
49-54	0.9
55-60	1.0

Under round-up rules, 45 minutes is billed as 0.8 hours, and a two-minute call is billed as 0.1. That’s why short phone calls and quick emails add up fast in legal work.

Billable vs Non-Billable Time

Billable activities are the client work your engagement letter lets you charge for: research, drafting, calls, court time, and travel where agreed. Non-billable time covers intake, marketing, training, and firm administration. It still matters, because it shows where capacity goes. Our guide to billable and non-billable hours covers the definitions in depth.

Block Billing vs Task-Based Entries

Block billing lumps several tasks into one entry with one total, for example “research, draft motion, call with client: 3.4.” Corporate clients’ outside counsel guidelines often reject it, because nobody can see the time spent on each task. Task-based entries split the same work into separate lines, each with its own time, task code, and narrative. Good attorney time tracking software makes separate entries faster to log than one block.

Spreadsheet, Timer App, Case Management or PSA Platform: Which Fits Your Firm?

There are four common ways to track time in a law firm, and each one breaks at a different point. The right choice depends on how many legal professionals record time, how you bill, and who your clients are.

Spreadsheets and Templates

A spreadsheet works for a solo practice with a few hourly matters. Columns for date, client, matter, task, time, rate, and narrative are enough to bill from. It breaks at the second timekeeper, the first rate change, or the first client that wants LEDES files, because a spreadsheet has no rounding rules, approvals, or audit trail. Manual data entry also sends every typo straight to the invoice. That’s usually when firms move to dedicated timekeeping software.

Time Tracking Apps

A standalone time tracking app adds timers, mobile capture, and rates. It suits smaller practices that bill simple hourly work and invoice from another system. It stops fitting when you need UTBMS codes, LEDES output, trust balances on invoices, or a pre-bill review, because those live outside the app.

Legal Practice Management Software

All-in-one legal software for lawyers brings matters, documents, calendars, trust accounting, and project billing into one place. It’s the natural home for many solo and small law firms. The trade-off is on the business side. Reporting tends to center on the matter and the bill, while utilization rates by timekeeper, profitability by practice area, and forecasting get less attention.

PSA Platforms

A professional services automation (PSA) platform is built around firm economics: rates, fee arrangements, approvals, invoicing, accounting sync, utilization, and profitability. It fits growing law firms that run QuickBooks and want those numbers in one place, as legal time tracking and billing software with a financial core. A PSA platform doesn’t manage documents, court dates, or conflict checks, so some firms run it next to a practice management system.

What Happens After the Hour Is Logged

Logging hours starts the billing cycle. Six steps decide how many billable hours turn into cash:

1. Pre-bill review. The billing partner reviews draft bills before they go out. Write-ups and write-downs should be recorded as adjustments to time entries, so the original time stays visible.
2. Realization. Compare what you billed and collected with the value of the time worked at standard rates. Low realization on one client or one timekeeper is a pricing or staffing signal. Our guide to the utilization rate covers the related formulas.
3. Unbilled time. Entries that never reach an invoice are the quietest loss. A weekly report of unbilled time by matter catches them before the billing cycle closes.
4. E-billing. Corporate clients and insurers often require LEDES files with UTBMS codes, for example task code L120 (analysis and strategy) with activity code A104 (review and analyze). Portals reject entries with missing codes, block billing, or rates above the approved ones.
5. Fee arrangements. On fixed-fee, contingency, hybrid, and retainer matters, you still need to track time spent. It’s the only way to see whether the fee covered the work.
6. Accounting sync. Approved invoices and payments flow to the general ledger, such as QuickBooks. Client funds stay in the trust ledger until they’re earned, which keeps cash flow reporting accurate.

Example (illustrative numbers): a firm quotes a fixed fee of $6,000 for a business formation package. Tracked time shows 30 hours at a blended standard rate of $300, or $9,000 of work. The fee covered two-thirds of the effort. That’s the data you need to reprice the package or change who does the work.

Features to Look For in Attorney Time Tracking Software

These time tracking features separate a timer from a system you can bill from.

Timers, Mobile Capture, and Automatic Tracking

Look for timers on desktop and web, a mobile app for court days and travel, and optional automatic capture that suggests entries from email and calendar. Several timers running at once help on days full of short calls across matters. The goal is to efficiently track the day as it happens, so nobody rebuilds it on Friday. Accurate time tracking starts with capture that takes seconds.

Rounding Rules Set by the Firm

Rounding should be a firm setting applied to billable entries, with the option to keep actual minutes for internal reporting. Lawyers shouldn’t round by hand, and they shouldn’t round differently from each other.

LEDES Invoices for E-Billing Clients

If you bill insurers or corporate legal departments, check which LEDES formats the software exports and whether it validates codes before export. Client-ready invoices in the right format save a round trip with the portal.

Rates by Timekeeper, Client, and Matter

Engagement letters set different rates for partners, associates, and paralegals, and some clients negotiate discounts. The software should apply the right rate to billable activities automatically, so client billing matches what you agreed.

Pre-Bill Review and Approvals

Draft bills should go to the responsible attorney for review, with every adjustment logged and a clear status for each matter. This is where billing accuracy is won or lost.

LEDES Invoices for E-Billing Clients

If you bill insurers or corporate legal departments, check which LEDES formats the software exports and whether it validates codes before export. Client-ready invoices in the right format save a round trip with the portal.

Flexible Fee Arrangements

Hourly, fixed-fee, contingency, hybrid, and retainer billing should work in the same system, with time tracked on all of them. If more than half of your matters aren’t hourly, test this first in any demo.

Accounting Integration and Profitability Reporting

Invoices and payments should sync to your accounting system without double entry. For reporting, look for realization, utilization, and profitability by matter, client, practice area, and timekeeper. Those numbers give partners valuable insights and turn time data into data-driven decisions about pricing and staffing.

Trust Accounting, Client Portals, and Security

Trust accounting usually lives in practice management software or in accounting software built for law firms. If your time tracking software doesn’t hold trust balances, check how it hands off to the system that does. Client portals let clients view and pay invoices securely. Role-based permissions and audit trails protect client data.

How We Evaluated

We compared the eight software solutions on six criteria, weighted to what happens after the entry:

1. Time capture and rounding: timers, mobile, passive or AI capture, and firm-level increments
2. Legal billing formats: LEDES export, UTBMS codes, and controls against block billing
3. Fee flexibility: hourly, fixed-fee, contingency, hybrid, and retainer work
4. Time-to-invoice connection: pre-bill review, approvals, and write-downs
5. Accounting and profitability: accounting integration and reporting on utilization and profitability
6. Fit and adoption: ease of use, firm size, and how trust accounting is handled

Ratings come from G2 and Capterra, and prices from each vendor’s pricing page. We compared published pricing, review-site sentiment, and documented features. We didn’t run hands-on tests. The order favors billing and firm economics over capture alone, which is why BigTime leads a list that includes higher-rated legal timekeeping software.

Legal Time Tracking Software Comparison for 2027

Software	Best For	Time Capture	LEDES / UTBMS	Fee Types	Accounting	Case Management	Starting Price (October 2026)	G2 / Capterra (October 2026)
BigTime	Growing law firms on QuickBooks	Timers, mobile, timesheets	LEDES export with activity codes	Hourly, fixed, hybrid, contingency	QuickBooks Online and Desktop, two-way	No	$20/user/month (Essentials)	4.4 (1,813) / 4.6 (658)
Clio Manage	Firms that want one legal system	Timers, mobile, AI from Core up	UTBMS and LEDES on all plans	Hourly, flat rate, contingency	Built-in legal accounting	Yes	$49/user/month (Starter)	4.6 (997) / 4.7 (1,742)
MyCase	Solo and small practices	Timers, Smart Time Finder	LEDES 1998B	Hourly, fixed, mixed	Add-on accounting ($39)	Yes	$50/user/month (Basic, annual)	4.4 (390) / 4.6 (807)
TimeSolv	Legal billing depth	Timers, mobile	LEDES 1998B and 2000	Hourly, fixed, contingency, hybrid	QuickBooks, Xero	Partial (conflict check plan)	Not published	4.5 (429) / 4.6 (118)
Bill4Time	Published legal pricing	Timers, mobile	LEDES export (Legal plans)	Hourly, fixed, contingency	QuickBooks, one-way	No	$59/user/month (Legal Pro, annual)	4.7 (36) / 4.8 (210)
Smokeball	Automatic capture	AutoTime (Prosper+, add-on on Grow)	LEDES 1998B with UTBMS	Hourly, fixed	QuickBooks Online, one-way	Yes	Quote only	4.7 (388) / 4.8 (360)
Toggl Track	Simple timers	Timers, calendar, desktop timeline	No	Hourly, fixed (Premium)	Not listed	No	Free (3 users); $9/user/month (annual)	4.6 (1,580) / 4.7 (2,592)
Clockify	Free tracking	Timers, manual, idle detection	No	Hourly	QuickBooks (Standard and up)	No	Free; $3.99/seat/month (annual)	4.5 (204) / 4.8 (9,234)

BigTime

Rating: G2 4.4/5, 1,813 reviews; Capterra 4.6/5, 658 reviews

Pros

• LEDES export with activity codes, plus client-specific rates and billing rules
• Hourly, fixed-fee, hybrid, and contingency billing in one system
• Two-way QuickBooks Online and Desktop sync
• Billable rounding set by the firm, separate from timesheet rounding
• Utilization and firm performance dashboards next to billing

Cons

• No matter intake, conflict checks, document management, or court calendaring
• Trust accounting isn’t part of its documented features, so trust funds stay in another system

BigTime is a PSA platform built around firm economics. For a law firm, that means time capture, rates, approvals, invoicing, payments, and reporting sit on one record that syncs both ways with QuickBooks. Billable entries round to the firm’s increment, rates follow the timekeeper, client, and matter, and LEDES invoices export with the codes your e-billing clients expect. Hourly, fixed-fee, hybrid, and contingency matters run side by side, so you can see whether a fixed-fee package paid for the work.

It fits growing law firms of 20 to 250 people that already keep their books in QuickBooks. If you run case management software for matters and documents, BigTime can sit next to it and handle the business side: billable time, invoicing, utilization, and profitability. Firms outgrowing a spreadsheet or a simple time tracking tool get the most from it, especially when they don’t want to migrate to a full legal suite. You can see more on BigTime’s law firm billing page.

BigTime is more than a solo lawyer needs. It doesn’t manage matters, documents, court dates, or conflict checks, and trust accounting isn’t in its documented feature set, so firms that hold client funds keep the trust ledger elsewhere. Setup takes longer than a timer app, because rates, codes, and approval rules are configured up front. That setup is also what keeps invoices from bouncing later.

Key Features

• Timers on web and mobile, with daily and weekly timesheet views
• Billable entry rounding set at firm level
• LEDES billing export with activity, labor, and expense codes
• Client-specific rates, fixed fees, and billing rules
• Approvals before project invoicing, with multi-level approvals on Premier
• Invoicing, online payments, and a self-service client portal on Advanced
• Two-way QuickBooks integration and an AI Assistant on every plan

Legal Billing Support

BigTime exports LEDES invoices with one line per time and expense entry, including matter ID, activity code, hours, rate, and staff member. Activity codes can match industry-standard values, and ABA task codes are supported. Hourly, fixed, hybrid, and contingency fees run in one place, and a built-in calculator handles retainer invoices.

Pricing

Essentials starts at $20 per user/month and includes time tracking, invoicing, payments, rate management, approvals, the mobile app, and QuickBooks integration. Pricing for Advanced, Premier, and Enterprise is available on request. Book a personalized demo to see your fee arrangements and LEDES setup in BigTime.

Clio Manage

Rating: G2 4.6/5, 997 reviews; Capterra 4.7/5, 1,742 reviews

Pros

• UTBMS coding and LEDES billing on every plan
• Hourly, flat rate, and contingency billing
• Built-in legal accounting with trust and operating reconciliation
• Secure client portal and online payments
• High marks for ease of use and integrations

Cons

• Only the Starter plan has a published price
• Clio Grow and Clio Work are paid add-ons, and advanced features such as split billing start on Signature
• Reviewers ask for more customizable reports and workflows

Clio Manage is the reference point in legal practice software, and its review counts show it. Every plan covers matters, calendars, documents, time and expense tracking, invoicing, and legal accounting, including trust reconciliation. Billing handles hourly, flat-rate, and contingency fees, UTBMS codes, and LEDES files. AI is included from the Core plan up. For a firm that wants one system for its legal practice and its billing, it’s the default entry on the shortlist.

Starter is the only plan with a published price, $49 per user/month. Core, Signature, and Elite are quoted, and split billing and multi-currency billing start on Signature. Clio Grow for intake and Clio Work for legal AI are add-ons, so the real cost depends on the package you build. G2 reviewers ask for more customizable reports and workflows, and Capterra reviewers rate value for money lowest among its scores. Your firm may keep its general ledger in QuickBooks and want utilization and profitability by timekeeper and practice area. If so, check how much of that Clio’s dashboards cover before you commit to a higher tier.

Key Features

• Matter, contact, and task management with two-way Google and Outlook calendar sync
• Time and expense tracking with Timekeeper
• UTBMS coding and LEDES billing
• Hourly, flat rate, and contingency fees, plus payment plans
• Trust and operating reconciliation with financial reporting
• Client portal, text-to-pay on Core and up, and online payments
• AI included from Core up

Legal Billing Support

UTBMS and LEDES billing are on all four plans. Clio handles hourly, flat-rate, and contingency fees, payment plans, and automated bill reminders. Split billing across several payers starts on Signature. Trust requests and reconciliation run inside Clio’s own accounting, so trust and billing stay in one system.

Pricing

Starter starts at $49 per user/month. Core, Signature, and Elite pricing is on request. Card payments cost 2.95% per transaction (3.75% for Amex), and eCheck and ACH cost 1%.

MyCase

Rating: G2 4.4/5, 390 reviews; Capterra 4.6/5, 807 reviews

Pros

• Time entry, invoicing, and trust accounting from the Basic plan
• LEDES 1998B export, one bill at a time or in bulk
• Smart Time Finder surfaces time you may have missed
• Client portal that reviewers single out

Cons

• Full accounting is a $39 per user/month add-on, on Pro and Advanced only
• Contingency matters need a mixed billing workaround
• Reviewers ask for deeper reporting for multi-attorney firms

MyCase, part of the 8am family alongside LawPay, is built for solo and small practices that want one system for cases, clients, and billing. Basic already includes time entry, invoicing, and trust accounting, and its client portal is a common reason reviewers pick it. Smart Time Finder surfaces billable time you may have missed. Invoices export as LEDES 1998B files, one at a time or in a bulk ZIP file.

Pricing climbs quickly. Basic is $50 per user/month billed annually, Pro is $100, and Advanced is $130, and premium billing and reporting start on Pro. MyCase Accounting adds three-way trust reconciliation for another $39 per user/month. Contingency matters are set up as a mixed fixed-and-hourly structure, a workaround MyCase’s support center documents step by step.

Key Features

• Case, contact, and calendar management
• Time entry and expense tracking
• Invoicing with premium billing on Pro and split billing on Advanced
• Trust accounting on every plan
• LEDES 1998B export, single and bulk
• Client portal with secure messaging
• LawPay payments with no monthly fee

Legal Billing Support

LEDES 1998B export is set up in Client Billing & Invoice Settings, with timekeeper classifications and LEDES client and matter IDs. Fixed-fee and mixed cases are supported, but time entries on a fixed-fee case must be marked non-billable, or MyCase bills them. Contingency billing runs through the mixed structure and trust withdrawals.

Pricing

Basic costs 50peruser/monthbilledannually(60 monthly), Pro 100(120), and Advanced 130(150). MyCase Accounting is $39 per user/month on Pro and Advanced. LawPay payments have no monthly fee, with processing rates per transaction.

TimeSolv

Rating: G2 4.5/5, 429 reviews; Capterra 4.6/5, 118 reviews

Pros

• LEDES 1998B and LEDES 2000 support
• Hourly, fixed-fee, contingency, and hybrid billing
• Trust accounting with automatic trust transfers and holds
• QuickBooks Online and Desktop sync, described as two-way
• Support team that reviewers call quick and patient

Cons

• No published per-user prices
• Reviewers cite invoice formatting limits and limited customization
• Reporting stops short of firm-level profitability views

TimeSolv has focused on time and billing for law firms for years, and its billing features read like an e-billing checklist. It supports LEDES 1998B and 2000, trust accounting with automatic transfers and holds, and hourly, fixed, contingency, and hybrid billing. A client portal, Xero and QuickBooks connections, and an optional conflict check plan round it out. Reviewers on G2 and Capterra praise the support team more than any single feature.

TimeSolv doesn’t publish per-user prices. Its pricing page lists Pro, Legal, Project Management, and Conflict Check plans and sends volume pricing to sales. G2’s summary of reviewer complaints points to missing features, invoice formatting limits, and limited customization and reporting. The QuickBooks sync is described as two-way for Online and Desktop, but TimeSolv’s pages don’t say how fixed-fee or contingency invoices map to accounts. A growing firm that wants utilization by timekeeper and profitability by practice area may find the reports stop at billing and collections.

Key Features

• Time and expense tracking on web and mobile
• LEDES 1998B and 2000 e-billing
• Hourly, fixed-fee, contingency, and hybrid invoices
• Trust accounting with automatic transfers and holds
• Client portal and LawPay payments
• QuickBooks and Xero integrations
• Optional conflict check plan

Legal Billing Support

TimeSolv is the most e-billing-focused option on this list after BigTime. It covers both common LEDES formats, fixed-fee and contingency invoicing, and trust transfers and holds. What it doesn’t document is how those invoice types land in QuickBooks, so test that with your accountant before you switch.

Pricing

TimeSolv doesn’t list per-user prices on its pricing page; pricing is on request. Annual plans get 25% off the first year.

Bill4Time

Rating: G2 4.7/5, 36 reviews; Capterra 4.8/5, 210 reviews

Pros

• Published prices for every plan
• LEDES export and trust accounting on the Legal plans
• Contingency billing, plus fixed-amount projects that still track time
• Client portal and payment processing on every plan
• Capterra reviewers rate it highly for ease of use

Cons

• QuickBooks sync is one-way and sends totals, not line items
• Reviewers say the mobile app trails the desktop version
• Small G2 review base

Bill4Time sells two families of plans: Time & Billing for professionals, and Legal Pro and Legal Enterprise for law firms. The legal plans add LEDES export, trust accounting, and contingency billing on top of time tracking, a client portal, and payment processing. Fixed-amount projects track time while billing a single, recurring, or phased amount, and hourly and fixed fees can mix on one project. Capterra reviewers rate it highly for ease of use.

Still, the QuickBooks integration is one-way: finalized invoice totals, payments, and adjustments flow into QuickBooks without line-item detail. Bill4Time’s support article describes a QuickBooks Connector for Windows-based PCs. Reviewers say the mobile app lags the desktop version, which matters for lawyers who record time at court. When the managing partner asks which matters, clients, or timekeepers made money last quarter, the answer has to be rebuilt from exports.

Key Features

• Time and expense tracking with timers
• Invoicing with client portal and payment processing
• LEDES export on Legal Pro, custom LEDES on Legal Enterprise
• Trust accounting on the Legal plans
• Contingency billing
• Fixed-amount and mixed projects
• QuickBooks integration

Legal Billing Support

LEDES export and trust accounting arrive with Legal Pro, and custom LEDES formats with Legal Enterprise. Contingency billing is included on both legal plans. The QuickBooks sync sends totals only, so matter-level detail stays in Bill4Time.

Pricing

Legal Pro costs $59 per user/month billed annually, and Legal Enterprise 89(99). The Time & Billing plans for other professionals start at $39 per user/month billed annually.

Smokeball

Rating: G2 4.7/5, 388 reviews; Capterra 4.8/5, 360 reviews

Pros

• AutoTime records activity in the background and drafts entries every night
• Trust accounting on every plan
• LEDES 1998B invoices with UTBMS codes
• Client portal from the Boost plan up
• Very high support scores on G2

Cons

• No published prices
• AutoTime is only in Prosper+ (an add-on on Grow)
• Turning on UTBMS billing for a matter switches AutoTime off for that matter

Smokeball’s AutoTime is the clearest example of passive capture inside a legal practice suite. It records work on documents, emails, calls, and tasks during the day, creates draft time entries each night, and leaves them for review before anything is billed. Work outside Smokeball can be added as a manual activity. Trust accounting comes with every plan, LEDES 1998B invoices support UTBMS codes, and G2 reviewers rate its support highly.

However, AutoTime is included only in Prosper+ and sold as an add-on on Grow. The bigger catch for firms with corporate clients: enabling UTBMS billing on a matter turns AutoTime off for that matter, so e-billed work goes back to manual entry. The QuickBooks Online integration sends monetary transactions one way. Some G2 reviewers report renewal fees nearly doubling after a 36-month contract, and others want billing reports such as hours billed per client.

Key Features

• AutoTime automatic time and activity tracking
• Matter management with documents, email, and calendar
• Billing, invoicing, and online payments
• Trust accounting and reporting
• LEDES 1998B with UTBMS task and expense codes
• Client portal on Boost and up
• Smokeball AI for client communications on Boost and up

Legal Billing Support

Smokeball produces LEDES 1998B invoices with ABA task codes once UTBMS is enabled for the firm and the matter. Entry descriptions don’t appear on LEDES invoices, so details go in the subject line. Fixed-fee matters default AutoTime entries to non-billable, and trust stays inside Smokeball.

Pricing

Smokeball doesn’t publish prices; quotes depend on users, plan, contract term, and options. Capterra lists a starting price of $49 per user/month.

Toggl Track

Rating: G2 4.6/5, 1,580 reviews; Capterra 4.7/5, 2,592 reviews

Pros

• One-click timers on web, desktop, mobile, and browser
• Calendar events turn into entries
• Reports round to six-minute tenths
• Free plan for up to three users

Cons

• No LEDES export, UTBMS codes, or trust accounting
• Approvals and fixed fees start on Premium
• Toggl now sells a combined time tracking and planning offering

Toggl Track is one of the most popular time tracking apps, and its legal page shows Toggl courting law firms directly. Lawyers can track time with one click, turn calendar events into entries, and round reports to six-minute tenths. Billable rates can be set by person, project, or project member. A private desktop timeline helps rebuild a day without screenshots, and utilization reports show team productivity across matters. It’s lawyer time tracking software that people adopt quickly.

Toggl Track’s time tracking features cover capture and rates, and then it hands off. There’s no LEDES export, no UTBMS codes, and no trust accounting, and QuickBooks isn’t listed on the pricing page. Timesheet approvals and fixed fees start on Premium at $16 per user/month. Toggl’s site now sells a combined time tracking and planning offering, and a banner says Toggl Track stays available and supported for existing users. For a firm whose clients start asking for LEDES files, Toggl Track becomes the first system in a chain of three: timer, billing software, and accounting.

Key Features

• Timers on web, desktop, mobile, and a browser extension
• Google Calendar and Outlook integration
• Private desktop activity timeline
• Billable rates at several levels
• Rounding in reports, including six-minute tenths
• Timesheet approvals and fixed-fee alerts on Premium
• Detailed reports with PDF export

Legal Billing Support

Toggl Track has no LEDES, UTBMS, or trust features. It handles rates, rounding, and estimates versus actuals, and Toggl’s legal page notes that billing can stay in another system. Firms with e-billing clients usually add one of the billing systems in this list.

Pricing

Free for up to three users. Starter costs $9 per user/month and Premium $16 on annual billing, or $12 and $24 billed monthly. Enterprise is custom.

Clockify

Rating: G2 4.5/5, 204 reviews; Capterra 4.8/5, 9,234 reviews

Pros

• Free plan and low-cost paid seats
• Rounding, approvals, invoicing, and QuickBooks from Standard
• Required fields from Basic, so entries can’t skip a matter
• Huge Capterra review volume with strong scores

Cons

• No LEDES export, UTBMS codes, or trust accounting
• The audit log is an Enterprise feature
• Every active or invited user takes a paid seat

Clockify is popular with lawyers for a simple reason: it’s the cheapest way to start. The free plan covers timers and timesheets, and paid seats start at $3.99 per month. Its attorney page walks through setting up clients and projects, tracking billable and non-billable time, rounding to a minimum billable increment, and watching budgets per client. Standard adds rounding, approvals, invoicing, and a QuickBooks integration, and Basic adds required fields so nobody saves an entry without a matter.

Clockify is a general timer with legal setup instructions. There’s no LEDES export, no UTBMS code library, no trust accounting, and no conflict checks. The audit log, which records who changed what and when, is an Enterprise feature at $11.99 per seat/month. The free plan’s limit is listed as five users on the plan card and as four invites in the FAQ. Every active or invited user takes a paid seat, so cost grows with every paralegal. Once a corporate client sends billing guidelines, the firm needs a second system for e-billing and a third for trust.

Key Features

• Timer, manual timesheet, and kiosk entry
• Billable rates by user and project
• Rounding to a minimum billable increment
• Approvals and invoicing on Standard
• QuickBooks integration on Standard
• Budget alerts and client profitability reports
• Audit log on Enterprise

Legal Billing Support

Clockify has no LEDES, UTBMS, or trust features. It can round entries and apply rates, and its invoicing features on Standard cover simple hourly billing. Firms with e-billing clients need a separate legal billing system.

Pricing

Free for up to five users (the FAQ says four invites). Basic costs $3.99 per seat/month, Standard $5.49, Pro $7.99, and Enterprise $11.99, all billed annually(4.99, $6.99, $9.99, and $14.99 monthly).

How to Choose Attorney Time Tracking Software for Your Firm

Start with your firm’s profile, then test the stage where your billable hours leak today.

Firm Profile	What Matters Most	What Fits
Solo practice	Low cost, mobile capture, simple invoices	A spreadsheet or a free time tracking tool
Small law firm (2-10 lawyers)	Matters, trust accounting, simple billing	Legal case management with billing
Firm with corporate or insurance e-billing clients	LEDES, UTBMS codes, block-billing controls	Legal billing software or a PSA platform such as BigTime
Growing firm on QuickBooks	Rates, fee arrangements, profitability, forecasting	A PSA platform such as BigTime
Firm that already runs case management	Firm economics without a migration	A PSA platform such as BigTime, next to your current system

Ask every vendor of time tracking software for attorneys to show your own billing setup in a demo: one hourly matter, one fixed-fee matter, and one e-billing client. Watch how time moves from entry to review, invoice, and accounting. That one test tells you more than any feature list.

Which Legal Timekeeping Software Is the Best?

The right choice depends on where your hours leak. If lawyers forget to track billable hours, automatic capture fixes it. If invoices bounce, rates drift, or nobody can say which practice area makes money, you need time tracking software for attorneys that follows each hour all the way to cash.

For growing law firms that run QuickBooks and want time, LEDES billing, flexible fee arrangements, and firm profitability in one PSA platform, BigTime is the strongest choice for 2027. It can run next to your case management system or without one, and it keeps every invoice line tied to the hour behind it. Book a personalized demo to see your own matters and fee arrangements in BigTime.

Legal Time Tracking Software FAQ

What Do Lawyers Use to Track Time?

Lawyers use spreadsheets, timer apps, all-in-one software for lawyers with built-in billing, or PSA platforms. The time tracking software legal teams choose usually depends on firm size and billing complexity. Solo lawyers often start with a timer. Firms with e-billing clients or several fee types move to software that handles codes, rates, and pre-bill review.

Is There a Free Attorney Time Tracking App?

Yes. Several general time tracking tools offer free plans with timers, timesheets, and basic reports, usually with a cap on users. Free plans rarely include rounding rules, approvals, or invoicing, and none in this comparison includes LEDES export or trust accounting. Free lawyer time tracking software suits a solo lawyer billing simple hourly work.

How Is 45 Minutes Billed in Tenths of an Hour?

In six-minute increments with rounding up, 45 minutes is billed as 0.8 hours, because 43 to 48 minutes rounds to eight tenths. Some firms round to the nearest tenth instead, and some client guidelines set their own rules. The firm should set one rule in its software and apply it to every timekeeper.

What Is LEDES Billing?

LEDES (Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard) is a file format for electronic legal invoices. Each line carries the matter ID, timekeeper, date, hours, rate, and UTBMS task and activity codes. Corporate legal departments and insurers use it to review bills in their e-billing portals, and they can reject lines that break their guidelines.

Can Lawyers Bill for Time Saved by AI?

Not on an hourly basis. ABA Formal Opinion 512 says lawyers who bill by the hour must bill for the time they actually spent, including reviewing AI output. Flat fees must still be reasonable when AI shortens the work. Any charge for AI tools should be explained to the client before the work begins.

Can QuickBooks Handle Law Firm Time Tracking?

QuickBooks can record time and add billable time to invoices on some plans, but it has no UTBMS codes, LEDES export, or legal trust accounting rules built in. Many law firms pair it with legal timekeeping and billing software that sends invoices and payments to QuickBooks, so the general ledger stays the single source for the books.

What Is the Best Legal Timekeeping Software for a Growing Law Firm?

For growing law firms of 20 to 250 people that run QuickBooks, BigTime is the strongest choice. It combines time tracking, LEDES billing, hourly, fixed-fee, hybrid, and contingency fees, approvals, and two-way QuickBooks sync in one PSA platform. Firms that need trust accounting run it next to their practice management system.

“Quick question on line four: what were the 11 hours of ‘project support’?”

That’s the email a client sends three weeks after the invoice went out. You open the entry. Someone logged it on a Friday afternoon, from memory, under a general code. There are no notes, nobody approved it, and the rate on the invoice doesn’t match the rate card for the person who did the work. You can defend the hours or write them off, but from now on the client reads every line.

A billable hours tracker exists so that question takes 30 seconds to answer. Below, you’ll find how to keep track of billable hours without the Friday scramble, what should happen to an hour once it’s logged, and how 8 tools compare for 2027.

What Is a Billable Hours Tracker?

A billable hours tracker is software that records the time your team spends on client work, marks each entry as billable or non-billable, and prices it at the right rate so it can move to an invoice.

It holds time entries tagged by client, project, task, and person, plus the rate behind each one. With that data, it routes entries to approval, applies rates, builds the invoice, and reports where the hours went. Each team member logs hours, project managers approve them, and finance turns approved time into project invoicing. Some firms call it billable hours tracking software, others a time tracking platform. Either way, the record should follow the hour from timer to invoice.

Spreadsheet, Time Tracking App, or PSA Platform: Which Billable Hours Tracker Fits Your Firm?

There are three ways to run billable hours tracking, and each one fits a different stage of growth.

Option	Fits when	Breaks when
Spreadsheet or template	One person, or a two-person shop with a few clients	Rates change, a second approver joins, or two versions of the file exist
Time tracking app	A small team wants easy capture and simple reports	Hours have to become invoices, rates vary by role, and finance needs the data in accounting
PSA platform	Billable hours drive revenue, and rates, approvals, invoices, and accounting have to agree	You need it running tomorrow, because setup takes planning

Spreadsheets and Templates

A spreadsheet is the cheapest billable hours tracker you can build. Columns for date, client, project, task, work hours, rate, and a billable flag are enough for a freelancer. A formula multiplies hours by rate, and the total goes on the invoice.

The problems arrive with growth. People track time manually from memory, so entries lag the work. A shared sheet allows unlimited users, and rates live in cells any of them can overwrite. There’s no approval step and no audit trail. Without a link to project accounting, it’s hard to maintain accurate financial records once more than one person touches the file.

Time Tracking Apps

A time tracking app solves capture. Some time tracking tools stand alone, and others come built into project management tools. Timers, browser extensions, a desktop app, and mobile entry make it easy to track time as the work happens. Their detailed reports split billable and non-billable hours by client and project, and many add basic project management features.

Most apps also offer a free plan for smaller teams. Check the limits, though, because a free plan with unlimited users may keep only a month of report history.

Also, time tracking apps fall short on what happens after the timer stops. Many have basic rates and no approval workflow. Some create invoices, but few sync both ways with accounting, so finance re-keys data or imports files every month.

PSA Platforms

A professional services automation (PSA) platform treats each hour as the start of a financial record. It combines project management, project time tracking, and billing in one system. Entries pick up the right rate by role or client, pass through approval, and flow into invoices under the project’s billing model. Invoices and payments then sync with the general ledger.

Project managers see budget burn and project progress while the work is running, and finance sees unbilled time before month-end. Some platforms also handle resource allocation, so you can see who’s free before you staff the next project. It’s the most comprehensive time tracking setup, and our broader ranking of time tracking software covers the rest of the market. The trade-off is setup. Rate tables, approval rules, and integrations take planning, and pricing sits above budget timers.

How to Keep Track of Billable Hours in 6 Steps

Knowing how to track billable hours is mostly about decisions you make before anyone starts a timer. Get them right and you’ll track billable hours accurately from the first week. These six steps for tracking billable hours work with any tool, in the order most firms set them up.

1. Decide What Counts as Billable

Write down which activities you bill: client meetings, travel, revisions, and project management. Agree on what stays non-billable, such as proposals, internal training, and rework caused by your own errors. Pick a billing increment, usually 6 or 15 minutes, and apply it the same way for everyone. Decide whether people log all work hours or only time on client projects. Then build those rules into the tracker as project tasks with a billable flag, so nobody has to remember them.

2. Set Rates Before Anyone Logs Time

Rates are where billing accuracy is won or lost. Set bill rates by role, person, or client, and a cost rate for each employee, before the first entry. When a senior consultant covers a junior task, the tracker should know which rate applies. Cost rates turn hours worked into project costs, so margin is visible from day one. Keep a rate history too, so a rate change in June doesn’t rewrite March.

3. Capture Time as the Work Happens

Accurate time tracking starts with entries made on the same day. Give each role the time tracking method that fits its day: a timer for focused work, calendar import for meetings, a mobile app for site visits, and automatic time tracking for people who switch between multiple projects. Keep manual time entry for corrections, so people track time as it happens. Our guide to PSA time tracking shows how capture connects to the rest of the project.

4. Approve Timesheets Every Week

Weekly approval catches errors while people still remember the work. The project manager checks hours against the project plan, confirms the billable flag, and asks about entries with no notes. Approved time locks, so nobody edits an entry after it has been billed.

5. Review Before You Invoice

Before the invoice goes out, someone reviews billable time by project. This is the step that protects accurate client billing, and it’s where you decide on write-ups and write-downs. Record each adjustment in the tracker instead of deleting the entry. The hours stay visible, and your reports show where value was given away.

6. Invoice From Approved Time and Sync to Accounting

Build the invoice from approved entries under the project’s billing model: hourly, fixed fee, or project milestone. Then send it to accounting through an integration instead of re-keying it. With two-way sync, payments recorded in accounting show up against the project, so you see collected revenue next to billed hours.

What Happens to an Hour After It’s Logged

Most billable hours tracker reviews judge tools on how easy their time tracking is. The money is decided later, as each hour passes four handoffs.

Stage	Where the hour leaks	What the tracker should do
Logged	Entered late, under a general code, with no notes	Require a project task and notes, and flag missing days
Approved	Approval skipped, or done after billing	Route entries to the project manager weekly and lock approved time
Billed	Wrong rate, hours left unbilled, write-downs not recorded	Apply rate tables automatically, show unbilled time by project, and keep adjustments on the entry
Paid	Invoice and accounting disagree, or a payment never reaches the project	Sync invoices and payments with accounting in both directions

Fixed-fee work needs the same discipline. You don’t bill the hours, but you still need them. Actual hours against the fee show project profitability and set the price of the next proposal. Without them, a fixed-fee project that ran far over budget looks the same as one that came in under.

Two ratios show how well your hours survive the trip. Utilization tells you how much of the available time was billable. Realization tells you how much of that billable time you actually invoiced at standard rates. Low utilization is usually a staffing question. Low realization usually means hours are leaking at one of the four stages, the problem behind most revenue leakage.

Common Mistakes in Tracking Billable Hours

Most problems with tracking billable hours come from habits that any of the time tracking tools on the market will copy.

1. Logging at the end of the week. Memory rounds everything. Short calls disappear, long tasks shrink to round numbers, and the actual time spent on a client never reaches the invoice.
2. One “general” code for everything. A general code hides which project task the time belongs to and blurs project tracking across client projects. It also makes the client’s question about line four impossible to answer.
3. One rate for everyone. When a partner and an analyst bill the same rate, you either overcharge for junior work or give senior time away. Accurate billable hours are worth little at the wrong rate.
4. Skipping approvals when things get busy. Busy months are when errors pile up. An approval step that only runs in quiet weeks doesn’t protect billing accuracy.
5. Ignoring hours on fixed-fee work. If nobody records hours on fixed-fee projects, you can’t tell which ones made money or how to price the next one.

Features That Matter When You Bill by the Hour

These are the features that set a billable hours tracker apart from a simple timer.

Billable Flags and Project Tasks

Every entry should carry a client, a project, a task, and a billable flag set by default from the task. Tracking billable time starts with that flag. When it comes from the project setup instead of the person logging time, billable and non-billable hours stay consistent across the team. Accurate time and expense tracking depends on good defaults. If you plan work in project management tools, import the task list so time lands on the same tasks.

Rate Tables and Cost Rates

Look for bill rates by role, person, client, and project, with overrides and a rate history. Cost rates matter as much. They turn hours into project costs, which is how you see margin while the work is still in progress.

Approval Workflows

Approvals protect billing accuracy. They should route time entries to the right manager, allow comments and rejections, remind a team member when a timesheet is late, and lock approved time. Firms with larger projects may need multi-level approvals, for example the project manager first and then finance.

Invoicing From Approved Time

The tracker should build invoices from approved entries, under hourly, fixed-fee, and milestone billing models. That keeps the billing process short and the invoice tied to the record behind it, so you can answer any line in seconds.

Two-Way Accounting Sync

A one-way export pushes invoices to accounting and stops. A two-way sync also brings payments and customer changes back, so both systems agree. Check which accounting editions are supported, such as QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, and whether the connection is native or runs through a third-party connector.

Billable Hours Reporting

You need detailed reports on billable vs non-billable time, utilization by person, and budget against actual by project. Real time visibility into those numbers lets project managers act on project performance mid-month instead of after the close. Project tracking reports should also show progress against the budget.

Automated Time Tracking and Mobile Capture

Automated time tracking records app and document activity in the background, then lets each person turn it into entries. An AI-powered time tracker goes a step further and drafts entries from your calendar or activity. Mobile apps cover travel and site work. Both help distributed teams across time zones log time the same day.

Work Hours and Payroll in the Same Record

Many firms use one timesheet for two jobs. Employee work hours feed payroll, overtime, and leave, while billable hours feed invoices. Payroll accuracy needs all the hours worked, and client billing needs the right hours at the right rate. A tracker that handles both from the same time entries saves double entry, as long as the reports stay separate. If you only need to monitor employee work hours for attendance, a basic app will do. Once work hours also drive project costs, you need a cost rate for each person.

How We Evaluated

We ranked eight time tracking tools on how well they handle tracking billable hours from capture to cash. Each billable hours tracker was scored on six criteria, weighted toward what happens after an hour is captured:

1. Time tracking: timer, calendar, mobile, and automatic capture, with the billable flag set at entry
2. Rates: bill and cost rates by role, person, client, and project
3. Approvals: review and lock before billing
4. Time to invoice: native invoicing from approved time and support for different billing models
5. Accounting: QuickBooks and Xero integrations, and whether sync runs both ways
6. Reporting: billable vs non-billable time, utilization, and budget vs actual

We compared published pricing, review-site sentiment on G2 and Capterra, and documented integrations. Because the criteria weight billing over capture, a higher-rated timer can sit below a time tracking platform that carries the hour all the way to the invoice.

Time Tracking Software for Billable Hours: 2027 Comparison

Tool	Best For	Billable Rates	Timesheet Approvals	Invoicing	Accounting Integration	Starting Price (October 2026)	G2 / Capterra (October 2026)
BigTime	Firms of 20 to 250 people that bill by the hour or fixed fee and run QuickBooks	Rate management on all plans; custom cost and rate management on Premier	All plans; multi-level on Premier	Native, all plans, with payments	QuickBooks Online and Desktop, two-way; Sage Intacct on Premier	$20 per user/month	4.4 / 4.6
Productive	Agencies that manage budgets and billable time together	Rate cards (Professional)	Billable time approvals (Professional)	Native, from budgets	QuickBooks Online and Xero (Professional); invoices out, payment status back	$10-12 per user/month, 3-seat minimum	4.7 / 4.6
Harvest	Small teams that want a simple timer with invoices	By project, person, or task	Enterprise plan	Native, all plans	QuickBooks Online and Xero, one-way	Free plan; Teams $9 per user/month	4.3 / 4.6
Clockify	Budget-conscious teams	From Basic	From Standard	From Standard	QuickBooks Online, one-way; Xero as a paid add-on	Free plan; Basic $3.99 per user/month	4.5 / 4.8
TMetric	Teams that want rates and invoices at a low price	By project, person, or work type	Business plan	From Professional	QuickBooks Online time sync (Business)	Free plan; Professional $5.83 per user/month	4.6 / 4.5
actiTIME	Teams that need timesheet approvals on a budget	By type of work	Paid plans	Yes	QuickBooks Online, one-way	Free plan; $6 per user/month	4.6 / 4.6
Toggl Track	Teams that want the easiest capture	Workspace, member, project, task	Higher tiers	PDF invoices from reports	QuickBooks Online (legacy integration)	Free plan; Starter $9 per user/month	4.6 / 4.7
Memtime	People who forget to log time	No	No	No	Sends hours to QuickBooks and Xero Projects (Connect plan and up)	$14 per user/month	4.7 / 4.4

Prices are the lowest paid tier billed annually, as published by each vendor.

BigTime

Rating: G2 4.4/5, 1,807 reviews; Capterra 4.6/5, 658 reviews

Pros

• Rate management, approvals, invoicing, and payments come with every plan
• Native QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop integration that syncs in both directions
• Timesheets with auto-fill, auto-save, and smart lookup
• Alerts for underbilled time and overdue invoices
• Hourly, fixed-fee, and milestone billing in one platform

Cons

• Setup takes planning, because rate tables, approval rules, and integrations have to match how you bill

BigTime is a PSA platform built for IT, engineering, and consulting firms that run on QuickBooks or Sage. It treats every logged hour as part of the project’s financial record. Entries pick up the right rate, go through approval, and become invoices under the project’s billing model, then sync with QuickBooks. Because time and expense tracking, invoicing, and payments live in one place, you can trace any invoice line back to the entry, the person, and the approval behind it.

Project managers see project performance, including budget burn and planned vs actual utilization, while the work is still running. Finance sees unbilled time, overdue invoices, and revenue leakage alerts before month-end. BigTime is modular, so you can start with time and billing and add quoting or resource management later. QuickBooks keeps the ledger, and BigTime keeps the project-level view of what each hour earned.

BigTime is more platform than a solo consultant or a three-person team needs. Getting value from it means setting up rate tables, approval rules, and the QuickBooks connection with care. For a firm of 20 to 250 people, that setup is the point. Once rates and approvals live in the system, the invoice no longer depends on one person’s spreadsheet. Firms that need deeper financial controls can move up to Premier for multi-level approvals, project budgeting, and custom cost and rate management without changing systems.

Key Features

• Project time tracking with auto-fill, auto-save, and smart lookup, plus smart task management
• Mobile app to track time and expenses
• Rate management, with custom cost and rate management on Premier
• Approvals, with multi-level approvals on Premier
• Invoicing for time and materials, fixed fee, and milestone billing, with BigTime Payments
• Project financial health executive dashboard with underbilled-time and revenue leakage alerts
• QuickBooks and HubSpot integrations on every plan; Salesforce, Jira, and Sage Intacct on higher plans

From Hours to Invoice

Approved time flows into invoices under the project’s billing model, with rates applied automatically. Invoices and payments sync both ways with QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, so the project view and the ledger agree. Underbilled-time alerts flag hours that never made it onto an invoice.

Pricing

BigTime Essentials starts at $20 per user/month and includes time and expense tracking, invoicing, and payments. Advanced, Premier, and Enterprise pricing is available on request (as of October 2026). To see how your rates and billing models would work, book a personalized demo.

Productive

Rating: G2 4.7/5, 65 reviews; Capterra 4.6/5, 108 reviews

Pros

• Billable time counts toward the budget only after it’s approved
• Invoices built from uninvoiced time, a remaining amount, or a share of the budget
• Fixed-price, time and materials, and non-billable billing types for each service
• Calendar import, with AI conversion of calendar events into time entries in beta

Cons

• Rate cards, approvals, and accounting integrations start on the Professional plan
• QuickBooks Online and Xero receive invoices, but only payment status syncs back
• Three-seat minimum and no free plan
• Reviewers mention a learning curve during onboarding

Productive is an agency management platform that combines project management, budgeting, and billable hours tracking. Each service on a budget carries a billing type, and approved time burns against the budget as the work happens. That gives agencies an early read on project profitability. Its focus is delivery: the strongest project management features sit in budgets, resource allocation, and project progress.

The billing chain only comes together on the Professional plan. Rate cards, billable time approvals, and the QuickBooks Online and Xero connections all start there, so the entry price says little about what a billing-focused firm will pay. The accounting link is also mostly one-way. Invoices and expenses go out, and only payment status comes back, so changes made in accounting don’t flow back into Productive. We found no QuickBooks Desktop support, and the pricing page quotes two different figures for the same plans. For an agency that lives in its project budgets, these are fair trade-offs. For a consulting or IT firm whose finance team works in the ledger every day, they’re where reconciliation work creeps back in.

Key Features

• Task management, with time tracked from inside each task, plus daily and weekly timesheets and a desktop timer
• Google and Outlook calendar import
• Rate cards by client on Professional
• Billable time approvals on Professional
• Project tracking against budgets with spend warnings, plus recurring budgets on Professional
• Native invoicing from budgets
• Desktop and mobile apps on all plans

From Hours to Invoice

Time becomes billable once it’s approved, then feeds an invoice built from the budget. On Professional, invoices and expenses go to QuickBooks Online or Xero, and payment status comes back. We didn’t find QuickBooks Desktop support.

Pricing

Essential costs $10 to $12 per user/month depending on the billing period, and Professional $25 to $29 per user/month. Ultimate is custom. Every plan needs at least three seats.

Harvest

Rating: G2 4.3/5, 843 reviews; Capterra 4.6/5, 655 reviews

Pros

• Invoicing on every plan, including the free forever plan
• Billable rates by project, person, or task, plus cost rates on paid plans
• Project budgeting by hours or fees, with email alerts
• Browser extensions and Google or Outlook calendar import

Cons

• Timesheet approval and profitability reports need the Enterprise plan
• The QuickBooks Online and Xero sync runs one way and copies invoices only
• No automatic time tracking
• Price is the most common complaint on G2

Harvest is a time tracking app that has paired a clean timer with invoicing for years. Projects can be time and materials, fixed fee, or non-billable, and rates can sit at project, person, or task level. For smaller teams that bill client projects by the hour, it covers the basics from timer to invoice with very little setup.

The ceiling shows up as headcount grows. Timesheet approval, the step that protects billing accuracy once several people bill one client, is reserved for Enterprise at $14 per user/month billed annually, $5 more per seat than Teams. Project profitability reports sit on the same tier, and the Free and Teams plans are limited to four custom reports. The accounting sync is thin as well. Harvest copies finished invoices, and optionally payments, to QuickBooks Online or Xero, but later edits aren’t pushed across, so corrections are made twice. There’s no native QuickBooks Desktop connection. A five-person studio rarely notices any of this. A 40-person consultancy with three project managers and a controller usually does.

Key Features

• Time tracking by timer or manual entry on web, desktop, and mobile
• Browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge
• Calendar import from Google or Outlook.com
• Time and materials, fixed-fee, and non-billable project types
• Budgets with alerts at a set percentage
• Team reports on capacity and utilization (Teams plan)
• Harvest AI, a beta assistant that can log time or draft an invoice

From Hours to Invoice

Tracked hours go onto a Harvest invoice on any plan. Invoices, and optionally payments, then copy to QuickBooks Online or Xero, but later edits aren’t pushed across. There’s no native QuickBooks Desktop connection.

Pricing

The free forever plan covers one seat and two projects. Teams costs 9peruser/monthbilledannually(11 monthly) and allows unlimited users. Enterprise costs 14peruser/monthbilledannually(17.50 monthly), and Enterprise Plus is custom.

Clockify

Rating: G2 4.5/5, 204 reviews; Capterra 4.8/5, 9,271 reviews

Pros

• Low prices, with billable rates from the Basic plan
• Rates at workspace, member, project, task, and project-member level
• Timesheet approvals and invoices from the Standard plan
• Desktop auto tracker, browser extension, and calendar import

Cons

• Billing features are split across the Standard and Pro plans
• QuickBooks Online sync pushes time entries one way, and QuickBooks Desktop isn’t supported
• Xero is a paid add-on
• The free plan now caps users and keeps one month of report data

Clockify built its name on a generous free plan that once allowed unlimited users. It now covers up to five. Paid plans add the pieces billable hours tracking needs, one tier at a time: rates on Basic, approvals and invoices on Standard, and cost rates, budgets, and fixed fees on Pro. That keeps it affordable for smaller teams that mostly need a reliable timer.

The entry price can mislead a billing-focused buyer. A firm that needs rates, approvals, invoices, cost rates, and budgets ends up on Pro at $7.99 per user/month billed annually, and Xero costs an extra $4.99 per month on top. The QuickBooks Online integration pushes time entries one way. Per Clockify’s help center, it doesn’t support QuickBooks Desktop, Simple Start, or payroll-enabled accounts. Profit shows as billable amount minus cost, but we didn’t find a dedicated utilization report. The ratio that tells you whether people are busy on client work has to be built outside the app. Since the 2026 cap, the no-cost tier also keeps only one month of report data, which limits how far back a growing team can look.

Key Features

• Timer and manual timesheet, with a desktop app for Windows, Mac, and Linux
• Mobile app and browser extension
• Google and Outlook calendar integration
• Desktop auto tracker for automated time tracking
• Billable rates from Basic, cost rates on Pro
• Timesheet approvals and invoices from time entries and expenses on Standard
• Money budgets and budget alerts on Pro

From Hours to Invoice

On Standard and above, Clockify turns tracked time and expenses into invoices. It pushes time entries to QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus, or Advanced, and the Xero add-on sends invoices and brings payments back. Neither connection covers QuickBooks Desktop.

Pricing

Free for up to five users. Basic costs $3.99, Standard $5.49, Pro $7.99, and Enterprise $11.99 per user/month billed annually. Monthly billing costs more.

TMetric

Rating: G2 4.6/5, 123 reviews; Capterra 4.5/5, 260 reviews.

Pros

• Rates by project, person, or work type, with workspace and client defaults
• Client invoicing and project budgets with alerts from the Professional plan
• Fixed-fee project type
• Desktop app with idle detection, mobile apps, and extensions for five browsers

Cons

• Timesheet approvals and QuickBooks sync need the Business plan
• We didn’t find a dedicated utilization or profitability report
• The live pricing page doesn’t show dollar amounts
• Reviewers mention limited customization

TMetric is a project time tracking app that covers billable rates, budgets, and invoicing at a low price per seat. Activity tracking on the Business plan adds productivity insights. Managers can gain valuable insights into the time employees spend across apps and multiple projects during work hours. It suits teams that want billing basics without a big setup project.

The pieces a growing firm leans on sit on Business. Timesheet approvals, the QuickBooks Online time sync, and activity tracking all need that plan, and TMetric’s live pricing page doesn’t show what it costs. TMetric’s own pages also differ on whether invoices sync to accounting or only tracked time does, so check before you rely on it. We didn’t find a separate cost-rate setting outside the payroll section, or a dedicated utilization or profitability report, so margin questions end up in a spreadsheet. Reviewers praise the price and mention limited customization and occasional timer glitches. For a small team billing a handful of clients, it’s good value. For a firm that has to defend margins project by project, the reporting runs out early.

Key Features

• Time tracking by timer or manual entry, with idle detection on desktop
• Desktop app for Windows and macOS, plus iOS and Android apps
• Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari
• Billable rates with workspace and client defaults
• Client invoicing and project budgets with alerts (Professional)
• Timesheet approvals and activity tracking (Business)
• Detailed reports on projects and teams, with billable amounts and costs

From Hours to Invoice

Billable time feeds client invoices on Professional. On Business, a time-sync integration sends tracked time, or billable time only, to QuickBooks Online. TMetric says it also integrates with Xero, but its pricing page doesn’t list the plan.

Pricing

Free for up to two seats. Professional costs 5.83peruser/monthbilledannually(7 monthly), and Business costs 7.50 per user/month billed annually. Enterprise is custom.

actiTIME

Rating: G2 4.6/5, 50 reviews; Capterra 4.6/5, 111 reviews.

Pros

• Low price per user, lower again above 40 users
• Cost rates per person for regular hours, overtime, and leave
• Timesheet approval and invoices generated from time and rates
• Mobile apps that work offline

Cons

• Billing rates attach to types of work, so rates by person or client take workarounds
• No native desktop app or calendar sync
• QuickBooks Online sync runs one way, and there’s no native Xero integration
• Reviewers call the interface dated

actiTIME is a timesheet-first time tracking tool with a long track record. People track time in weekly timesheets. Billable and non-billable time is set through types of work, and cost rates cover regular employee hours, overtime, and leave. That makes it useful when employee work hours have to support payroll and client billing. Cost reports show project costs, and profit and loss reports by customer, project, or task show which work pays. A self-hosted license is also available for firms that keep data on their own servers.

The trade-off is flexibility. Billing rates attach to types of work, so rates by person or client have to be modelled as extra work types. If a senior and a junior consultant do the same kind of task for one client, you need two work types to bill them differently, and the list grows with every rate change. Capture runs through the web, a Chrome extension, and mobile apps, with no desktop app, and calendar sync needs Zapier. Time records go one way to QuickBooks Online, there’s no native Xero integration, and reviewers call the interface dated. It’s a solid fit for a cost-conscious team that bills by activity. Firms with rate cards by role will spend real time on workarounds.

Key Features

• Weekly timesheets and time cards
• Chrome extension with a timer and automatic online tracking
• iOS and Android apps with offline mode
• Billable and non-billable types of work
• Cost rates for regular hours, overtime, and leave
• Time, cost, and billing budgets with overage alerts
• Profit and loss reports by customer, project, or task

From Hours to Invoice

Approved time and rates generate invoices inside actiTIME. Time records then go one way to QuickBooks Online through the actiTIME QuickBooks Integrator, which isn’t available on the free plan.

Pricing

Free for one to three users, with limited functionality. The online plan costs $6 per user/month billed yearly for 1 to 40 users and $5 per user/month for 41 to 200 users. A self-hosted license is a one-time payment.

Toggl Track

Rating: G2 4.6/5, 1,690 reviews; Capterra 4.7/5, 2,590 reviews.

Pros

• One-click billable flag on every entry
• Billable rates at workspace, member, project, project-member, and task level
• Timer, browser extension, desktop and mobile apps, and calendar auto-tracking
• Billable vs non-billable split in reports on every plan

Cons

• Invoices are PDFs generated from reports and aren’t stored in the app
• The QuickBooks integration is listed as legacy, and there’s no native Xero integration
• Utilization and profitability reports need Toggl Track’s Premium plan
• New customers are now offered “the new Toggl”; Toggl Track stays supported for existing users

Toggl Track is one of the most popular time tracking apps, and its ratings reflect how easy it is to track time with it. Desktop activity tracking on Windows and macOS fills gaps in the work hours people forget to log, and Toggl AI can log time on request. The Summary report splits billable from non-billable hours on every plan, and rates can be set at five levels.

Its limits show once hours have to become revenue. An invoice is a PDF generated from a report, so the app keeps no record of what was billed or paid. The QuickBooks integration is listed as legacy, and there’s no native Xero integration, so the accounting side of every hour lives somewhere else. Utilization and profitability reports need Premium at $16 per user/month billed annually. Reviewers also mention reporting that thins out and costs that climb as teams grow. Toggl now sells a combined time tracking and planning product to new customers. Check which version you’re buying and how long the legacy integrations will stay in place.

Key Features

• Timer, manual entry, and a browser extension
• Desktop apps for Windows and macOS with activity tracking
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android
• Calendar integrations that auto-track events
• Billable rates at five levels
• Summary and detailed reports with billable vs non-billable splits
• Utilization and profitability reports on Premium

From Hours to Invoice

You can generate a PDF invoice from a Summary or Detailed report, but Toggl Track doesn’t save it. Existing users can still send invoices to QuickBooks Online through the legacy integration. Xero needs Zapier or a third-party connector.

Pricing

Toggl Track’s free plan covers up to three users. Starter costs 9 per user/month billed annually (12 monthly), and Premium costs 16 per user/month billed annually(24 monthly). Enterprise is custom.

Memtime

Rating: G2 4.7/5, 254 reviews; Capterra 4.4/5, 125 reviews

Pros

• Automated time tracking of computer activity on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Activity data stored locally on the device
• Calendar integrations with Microsoft, Google, and iCloud
• Rule-based suggestions for turning activity into time entries

Cons

• No billable rates, manager approvals, or invoicing, so it needs a second system
• No free plan and no monthly billing
• Integrations require the Connect or Premium plan
• We didn’t find a mobile app

Memtime solves the first problem on the list: people who forget to track time. It records computer activity in the background during work hours and shows a timeline of time spent in each app, which each person turns into time entries. Memtime describes itself as automated yet AI-free, so its suggestions come from rules you set. Everything after time tracking happens in other tools, which is why it pairs with a billing system instead of replacing one.

That pairing has a cost. Memtime has no rates, approvals, or invoices, so you pay for it alongside a billing tool. Its own price is high for a capture-only app: $14 to $29 per user/month billed annually, with no monthly option and no free version. Integrations, which carry hours to the billing side, start on Connect at $21. Capture is desktop-based, and we didn’t find a mobile app, so site visits and calls away from the computer still need manual entry. It’s a strong fix for consultants who lose hours between meetings. As a firm’s only tracker, it covers one of the four stages an hour has to pass.

Key Features

• Automated time tracking of apps, documents, and calls
• Offline, locally stored activity timeline
• Calendar integrations
• Rule-based time entry suggestions
• Reports with billable vs non-billable graphs and productivity insights
• Integrations with project management and accounting tools, including QuickBooks and Xero Projects (Connect and Premium)

From Hours to Invoice

Memtime doesn’t price or invoice time. On Connect and Premium, it imports project structures from tools such as QuickBooks or Xero Projects and sends logged hours back, where rates, approvals, and invoices take over.

Pricing

There’s no free plan. Basic costs $14, Connect $21, and Premium $29 per user/month billed annually, with quarterly and two-year options. Enterprise is custom for 50 or more seats.

Which Billable Hours Tracker Is the Best?

The best app to track billable hours depends on where your hours leak. If the problem is forgotten time, an automated time tracking app fixes it. If the problem is rates, approvals, or invoices that don’t match accounting, you need billable hours tracking software that follows each hour all the way to cash. Of all the time tracking software for billable hours in this list, only the platforms do that without a second system.

For professional services firms of 20 to 250 people that bill by the hour or by fixed fee and run QuickBooks, BigTime is the strongest choice for 2027. Every plan includes rate management, approvals, invoicing, and payments, and the QuickBooks integration syncs in both directions. You can trace every invoice line back to the hour behind it, which is the question this article started with. Book a personalized demo to see your own billing models in BigTime.

Billable Hours Tracker FAQ

Can You Track Billable Hours in Excel or Google Sheets?

Spreadsheets handle billable hours tracking for one person. A template with columns for date, client, project, task, hours, rate, and a billable flag is enough. Formulas total hours and multiply them by rate. It gets harder once several people share the file, rates change, or someone has to approve entries, because a spreadsheet has no approval step or audit trail.

Should You Bill in 6-Minute or 15-Minute Increments?

Both are common. Six-minute increments (a tenth of an hour) suit work made of short calls and emails, and they’re standard in legal billing. Fifteen-minute increments are simpler to log and review. Whichever you choose, write it into your billing rules, apply it to everyone, and let the tracker round entries the same way.

Does QuickBooks Track Billable Hours?

At a basic level, yes. QuickBooks Online Essentials and Plus let you mark timesheets as billable to a customer or project and add them to an invoice. Firms that need rates by role, approval routing, and billable hours reporting by project usually add dedicated software to track billable hours. A PSA platform that syncs with QuickBooks is a common choice.

Should Your Team Track Non-Billable Hours Too?

Yes. Non billable hours show the time spent on sales, internal projects, training, and rework, so you see where work hours go. Without them you can’t calculate utilization. Tracking billable time and non-billable time in the same tool, with tasks flagged by default, keeps both sides consistent.

How Do You Track Billable Hours on Fixed-Fee Projects?

Log time against the project exactly as you would for hourly work, but don’t bill the entries. Compare hours worked and cost against the fee as the project runs. That shows whether the fee covers the work, warns you early about overruns, and gives you real data for pricing the next proposal.

What’s the Best Automatic Time Tracking Software for Billable Hours?

For capture alone, Memtime records computer activity in the background, and time tracking tools such as Clockify, TMetric, and Toggl Track add activity tracking to a timer. Automated time tracking fixes forgotten hours, but it doesn’t price, approve, or invoice them. Check that captured entries flow into a system that applies rates and builds the invoice.

What’s the Best Time Tracking Software for Billable and Non-Billable Hours?

For professional services firms of 20 to 250 people, BigTime is the strongest choice when billable and non-billable hours need to reach invoices and accounting. Every plan includes rate management, approvals, invoicing, and a two-way QuickBooks integration, and reports show utilization and time billed by project. Solo professionals may be fine with a free time tracking app.

Research has found that professional services firms routinely leave 10% to 20% of their work unbilled, lost to late timesheets, forgotten receipts, and scope that never reaches an invoice. In 2026, with clients reading every line and rate structures growing more complex, spreadsheets can’t keep up.

This guide shows you what separates a basic time tracker from time and expense tracking software that protects your margins, and which platforms fit your business needs.

What Is Time and Expense Tracking Software?

Time and expense tracking software is a system that captures work hours and business expenses, routes them through approval processes, and turns the approved data into invoices, payroll inputs, and project reports. It replaces separate time tracking software and a standalone budget tracking tools with one platform, so tracked hours and receipts follow the same rules. You may also see it called time expense tracking software or PSA time and expense.

Firms use it to track time and receipts as work happens, compare billable hours and spend against project budgets, apply bill rates automatically, and send clean data to accounting software. The same time data also feeds utilization reports and PTO tracking.

The Benefits of Time and Expense Tracking Software

Firms rarely switch systems to get more features. They switch because month-end keeps breaking. Whether you’re one of the many small businesses moving off spreadsheets or a firm of 200, here’s what a connected platform changes:

1. More of your work gets billed. When consultants track time and track expenses as they happen, the unlogged calls and forgotten receipts behind revenue leakage stop piling up.
2. Invoices go out faster. Approved entries become professional invoices with the right rates and clear backup, which cuts disputes and protects cash flow.
3. Margin is visible mid-project. Billable hours and costs post against project budgets in real time, so you can fix a project that’s burning too fast while it still matters.
4. Expense policies enforce themselves. Good expense management applies limits, receipt rules, and approvals automatically, so managing expenses stops being a monthly cleanup.
5. Your team saves hours every week. Consultants save time on admin, and finance stops reconciling three systems. Small businesses feel this most, because the person fixing the data is often the owner.
6. Decisions rest on trusted data. When time data, expense reporting, and billing share one source, you get valuable insights into utilization rates and client profitability.

What Features Should the Best Time and Expense Tracking Software Have?

Plenty of apps can start a timer or store a receipt. Look past the essential features every vendor lists and focus on the capabilities that decide whether your numbers hold up at month-end.

Flexible Time Entry Your Team Will Actually Use

Late entries are where billable time goes missing, so adoption comes first. Strong time tracking offers timesheets, timers, mobile apps, and browser extensions behind a user friendly interface. An intuitive interface and automated reminders help your team track billable hours without being chased, while locked periods protect approved time.

Approval Processes With Real Controls

The best platforms route time and expenses to the right approver, support multi-level approval for larger amounts, and flag policy breaks before they reach an invoice. Mobile and delegated approvals help everyone save time, and every decision leaves an audit trail.

Rate Logic and Billing Built on the Same Data

This is where time and expense tracking software earns its place. Look for rates by role, client, or project, plus fixed-fee, time and materials, retainer, and markup support. When billing software sits on the same data as your timesheets, approved entries become draft invoices, and built-in online payments and payment processing shorten the trip to cash.

Real-Time Reporting on Budgets, Utilization, and Margin

You shouldn’t need a reporting sprint to spot an over-budget project. Look for detailed reports on hours and costs versus estimates, billable utilization by person, and executive dashboards with real-time insights that let you trace a margin drop to its cause.

Two-Way Integration With Your Accounting Software

Your general ledger is the system of record, so look for a two-way sync with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Sage, Xero, or NetSuite rather than a one-way export. Connections to payroll tools, HR systems, and project management apps cut double entry for PTO balances and other employee management tasks.

Room to Grow Without Re-Platforming

The system that fits 15 people should still fit at 150. Look for roles, permissions, single sign-on, and advanced features like resource planning that you can add later. For small businesses especially, the platform you pick should still match your business needs, project management workflows, and expense management policies when headcount doubles.

2026 Time and Expense Tracking Software Ranking

To build this list, we looked at the leading providers through one practical question: how well does each platform carry an hour or a receipt from entry to invoice to ledger without manual cleanup? We scored the tools on adoption, expense capture, approval controls, rate and billing depth, reporting, accounting integration, and how well each one scales with a growing firm. Some of the platforms below handle both sides of the equation. Others are excellent at one job, time or expenses, and leave you to connect the rest yourself. We’ve noted that clearly in every review, because the gap between two specialized apps is often where the money goes missing.

Time and Expense Tracking Software: Comparison

The table below gives you a quick view of how the best time and expense tracking software options compare on scope, ideal customer, cost, and user ratings. Use it to narrow your shortlist, then read the full reviews for the details that matter to your firm.

Tool	Key features	Best for	Pricing	G2/Capterra Rating
BigTime	Time & expense tracking, rate logic, approvals, invoicing, budget tracking, two-way QuickBooks sync, online payments, AI assistant	Professional services firms (IT, engineering, consulting) that need time, expenses, and billing in one financial flow	From $20 per user/month (Essentials); higher tiers and Enterprise available; free trial	4.5 / 4.6
Harvest	Timers, timesheets, basic expenses, simple invoicing, budget alerts	Freelancers and small agencies with straightforward billing	Free plan for one user; Teams from $9 per seat/month (annual) plus usage fees	4.3 / 4.6
QuickBooks Time	Mobile time clock, GPS location, geofencing, scheduling, payroll sync	Hourly and field teams already running QuickBooks payroll	$20/month base + $10 per user (Premium); $40 base + $12 per user (Elite)	4.5 / 4.7
Replicon	Time capture, time-off management, compliance rules, project time, expense module	Larger organizations with labor compliance and global time-off needs	Modular, quote-based per-user pricing	4.5 / 4.5
Zoho Expense	Receipt scanning, mileage, policy rules, corporate cards, travel	Small businesses inside the Zoho ecosystem focused on expense reporting	Free plan for up to three users; paid tiers from a few dollars per user/month	4.5 / 4.6
Expensify	SmartScan receipts, expense reports, corporate card, reimbursements	Teams that mainly need receipt capture and reimbursement	Per-user plans that vary with card usage	4.5 / 4.5
Clockify	Timers, timesheets, basic expenses, invoicing on paid tiers	Budget-conscious teams that want a free plan for everyone	Free plan; paid plans from a few dollars per user/month	4.5 / 4.7
Toggl Track	One-click timers, browser add-ons, reports, project estimates	Small teams that want simple time tracking with minimal setup	Free plan for up to five users; Starter from $9 per user/month (annual)	4.6 / 4.7
Time Doctor	Activity monitoring, screenshots, productivity analytics, payroll	Remote teams focused on monitoring work hours and productivity	From about $6.70 per user/month (annual)	4.4 / 4.5

BigTime

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.6.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• One financial flow from timesheet to ledger. BigTime keeps time entries, expenses, rates, approvals, invoices, and payments on the same data, then syncs both ways with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Sage, and other accounting systems.
• Adoption that doesn’t depend on reminders alone. The Excel-like timesheet, mobile apps for time and receipts, and manager-level compliance views make daily entry the easy path for consultants.
• Billing logic that matches how professional services firms really charge. Rates by role, person, client, or project, plus fixed-fee, time and materials, retainer, and markup support, apply automatically to approved entries.
• Live margin and budget visibility while projects are running. Every hour and expense posts against the project budget as it’s approved, so you can see burn rate, realization, and utilization in real time. Leaders catch scope creep in the middle of an engagement instead of finding it in the final invoice.
• Modular growth on the same foundation. You can start with time, expenses, and billing, then add BigTime Payments, Resource Management, Quotes, or Data Hub as your firm grows. Each layer inherits the same financial logic, so you never have to re-platform to get more capability.

Cons:

• Built for firms that bill for their time. BigTime’s value shows up most when hours and expenses connect to client work, budgets, and invoices. Very small businesses that only need a basic punch clock for hourly staff, with no project or billing context, may find it offers more than they’ll use.

BigTime is a PSA platform designed specifically for professional services firms in IT, engineering, and consulting that need time and expenses to feed billing without manual rework. Every hour and receipt moves through one chain: log it, apply the right rate, approve it, invoice it, collect payment, and sync it to the general ledger. For growing small businesses and mid-sized firms, that makes it an all-in-one solution that brings project management data and financial data into one platform.

Consultants snap receipts on mobile and submit them through approval chains that enforce your policies. AVA, BigTime’s AI assistant, answers questions about your data in plain language, and the Expense Agent, now in early access, automates much of the coding work. Together, they help you control spending, save time on managing expenses, and boost efficiency without adding headcount.

BigTime is also one of the only PSA platforms with bi-directional integration for both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, and BigTime Payments lets clients pay invoices by card or ACH. With a user friendly interface and 30 to 90 day implementations, leaders get real-time insights into margin and cash flow from the first billing cycle.

Key Features

• Time & expense tracking: Consultants log hours through timesheets, timers, or mobile, and capture receipts in the same app. Every entry ties to a client, project, and task, so reporting and billing start from accurate data.
• Approval workflows: Configurable, multi-level approval processes route time and expenses to the right reviewers. Policy rules flag exceptions before they reach an invoice.
• Rate & cost management: Flexible rate cards by role, person, client, or project apply automatically. Cost rates let you see true margin, not just revenue.
• Invoicing & billing: Approved entries become draft invoices with full backup detail and customizable templates. Fixed-fee, retainer, milestone, and time and materials billing are all supported.
• BigTime Payments: Built-in payment processing lets clients pay online by card or ACH. Payments reconcile back to invoices automatically, which helps reduce days sales outstanding.
• Project budgets & profitability: Budgets update as work is approved, with alerts when burn accelerates. Portfolio views show margin and utilization across every engagement.
• Accounting integrations: Two-way sync with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Sage Intacct, and other systems keeps your ledger and project data consistent. Data Hub connects your financial and operational data to BI tools like Power BI.
• AI assistance: AVA answers questions about your projects and financials in natural language. The Expense Agent automates expense submission and coding for faster, more accurate reporting.

Pricing

BigTime Essentials starts at $20 per user/month. Advanced, Premier, and Enterprise tiers add deeper rate controls, multi-level approvals, and resource planning, with Enterprise priced through a conversation with BigTime’s team. You can book a personalized demo that works like a free consultation on your workflows.

Harvest

Reviews: G2: 4.3, Capterra: 4.6.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Simple timers that people actually use. Harvest’s one-click timers, weekly timesheets, and desktop and mobile apps make time entry quick. For small teams that struggle with compliance, that ease of use alone can recover a meaningful number of billable hours.
• Fast setup with little training. Most small businesses can get Harvest running in an afternoon. There’s no heavy configuration, and the interface is user friendly enough that new users rarely need hand-holding.
• Basic invoicing from tracked time. Harvest can turn logged hours and expenses into invoices and send them to clients, which helps freelancers and small agencies bill without a separate tool.

Cons:

• Pricing became less predictable in 2026. After Bending Spoons acquired Harvest in 2025, the old flat per-seat model, which included unlimited projects and unlimited invoices, was replaced with plan fees plus usage-based charges for invoices, projects, clients, and tasks. Growing teams now need to model their real usage before committing.
• Shallow financial controls. Rate logic, approvals, and budget tracking cover the basics, but firms with blended rates, retainers, multi-level approvals, or complex expense policies quickly hit limits. Project profitability reporting sits on the higher Enterprise plan.
• Resourcing and deeper analytics live elsewhere. Capacity planning requires the separate Forecast product, and reporting doesn’t go far beyond hours and budgets. As headcount grows, finance teams often end up exporting data to spreadsheets to answer margin and utilization questions.

Harvest is a favorite among freelancers and small agencies, and it often appears on lists of the best time tracking software because it gets people logging hours with almost no friction. A basic expense tracker is included, and Harvest says it seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero, which works for simple billing models.

The limits show once billing gets complex. Harvest is lightweight time tracking software with invoicing attached, and it leans on outside project management and accounting apps for everything else. Rates stay simple, approvals are thin, and work in progress isn’t handled at all. Teams used to unlimited invoices on a flat fee should also model their 2026 usage charges. It suits freelancers and small businesses with a handful of people far better than firms of 30 or more.

Key Features

• Timers and timesheets: Track time with one-click timers or weekly timesheets on web, desktop, and mobile. Entries can be tagged to clients, projects, and tasks.
• Expense tracking: Log expenses and attach receipt photos against projects. Billable expenses can be added to client invoices.
• Invoicing: Create invoices from tracked hours and expenses and accept online payments through connected processors. Advanced billing scenarios need workarounds.
• Budgets and reports: Set project budgets by hours or fees and get alerts as they burn. Reporting covers time and cost basics but lacks deeper margin analysis.

Pricing

Harvest offers a free plan for one user and two projects. The Teams plan starts at 9perseat/monthwithannualbilling(11 billed monthly), plus usage fees for invoices, projects, clients, and tasks. The Enterprise plan starts at $14 per seat/month, with a custom Enterprise Plus option for larger accounts.

QuickBooks Time

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.7.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Strong mobile time clock for hourly and field teams. QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) handles clock-in and clock-out well, with GPS tracking, geofencing, and kiosk options that make it popular with crews who work away from a desk.
• Tight fit with Intuit payroll. Approved hours flow into QuickBooks Payroll with little effort, which helps small business owners who run payroll themselves save time and want fewer manual steps.
• Scheduling and overtime alerts. Managers can build shifts, see who’s working in real time, and get alerts before overtime piles up, which is useful for employee management in hourly environments.

Cons:

• Expenses aren’t really part of the workflow. QuickBooks Time is built around hours. Expense management, receipt policies, and reimbursements happen in QuickBooks Online or another app, so you still need a separate expense tracker and a way to tie costs back to projects.
• Costs climb faster than the sticker price suggests. Every plan carries a monthly base fee on top of per-user charges, and Intuit raised per-user pricing by $2 in July 2026. Intuit’s pricing page also notes that you need a QuickBooks Online plan to use it, which adds another subscription to the total.
• Limited support for project billing. Project tracking and estimates versus actuals exist on the Elite plan, but rate cards, approval chains for billable work, and margin reporting are thin. Professional services firms that bill clients by role or project usually outgrow it.

QuickBooks Time is built for paying hourly employees accurately. Field crews get a reliable clock, location data, and a direct path into payroll tools, and Intuit’s claim that it seamlessly integrates with the rest of its ecosystem mostly holds up for small businesses with hourly crews.

Project-based firms hit gaps quickly. Hours can move to QuickBooks Online for invoicing, but complex rates, retainers, and pass-through expenses still need manual work there. QuickBooks Online handles bills and recurring bills well, yet it was never meant to be a project time and expense system, so firms that bill every hour at the right rate usually add other apps and spreadsheets.

Key Features

• Mobile time clock: Employees clock in from phones, tablets, or a shared kiosk. GPS location and geofencing confirm where time was recorded.
• Scheduling: Build and share shifts and job assignments from one calendar. Managers see who’s on the clock in real time.
• Payroll integration: Approved timesheets sync with QuickBooks Payroll and other payroll services. This cuts double entry for hourly pay.
• Project tracking (Elite): Compare estimated hours against actuals by project. Reporting stays focused on labor rather than full project financials.

Pricing

Time Premium costs $20/month as a base fee plus $10 per user/month. Time Elite costs $40/month plus $12 per user/month and adds mileage tracking, project estimates, and timesheet signatures. A QuickBooks Online subscription is also required, and promotional discounts on the base fee are common for new customers.

Replicon

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.5.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Deep compliance and time-off rules. Replicon handles labor law rules, overtime policies, and global holiday calendars well, which makes it a common choice for organizations with hourly staff in several countries.
• Configurable time capture. Timesheets, mobile entry, and kiosk options can be tailored by role, region, or project, so different groups can work the way they need to.
• Broad module catalog. Beyond time, Replicon offers expense, project time, and PSA-style modules, so larger organizations can assemble the pieces they need.

Cons:

• Complex to set up and maintain. The flexibility that suits large enterprises often means long configuration cycles and a dedicated admin to keep rules accurate. Mid-sized firms and small businesses without that support can find the platform demanding.
• Modules can feel disconnected. Time, expenses, and project billing are sold and configured as separate pieces. Getting them to behave like one financial flow takes careful setup and, often, partner help.
• Pricing isn’t transparent. Costs depend on the modules you choose, user counts, and contract terms, which makes early comparisons hard and can hide the true total cost until late in the buying process.

Replicon is known for time intelligence across large, global workforces. It pitches its platform as a way to streamline processes around time capture, compliance, and time off, and its policy engine handles PTO tracking, overtime, and audit-ready timesheets well.

For professional services firms, it demands a lot of effort. The expense tracking module covers receipts and approval processes, but tying expenses to budgets, rates, and invoices takes extra modules and setup. The interface also feels less user friendly than newer platforms, and reviewers often mention a steep learning curve.

Key Features

• Time and attendance: Capture hours through web, mobile, or kiosks with configurable policies. Overtime and break rules apply automatically.
• Compliance engine: Built-in labor rules and holiday calendars support multi-country workforces. This reduces compliance risk but adds setup work.
• Expense module: Employees submit expenses with receipts for approval. Linking those costs to project billing requires extra configuration.
• Project time tracking: Track time against projects and tasks for costing and client billing. Advanced features for profitability sit in separate PSA modules.

Pricing

Replicon uses modular, per-user pricing that varies by product and contract. You’ll need to contact sales for a quote, and implementation services are typically priced separately.

Zoho Expense

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.6.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Affordable entry point for small businesses. Zoho Expense offers a free plan for small teams, low per-user pricing on paid tiers, and user friendly mobile apps, which makes it easy to replace spreadsheets without a big budget decision.
• Solid receipt capture and mileage tools. Receipt scanning, automatic expense creation, and GPS-based mileage logging cover the everyday needs of most expense reporting workflows.
• Good fit inside the Zoho ecosystem. Teams already using Zoho Books, Zoho People, or Zoho CRM can connect expenses to the rest of their Zoho data with little extra setup.

Cons:

• No real time tracking. Zoho Expense is an expense tracker, full stop. You’ll need separate time tracking software, such as Zoho Projects or another app, and a way to bring both data sets together for billing.
• Plan changes can shift key controls. Zoho has moved features between tiers over time. In 2026, for example, multi-level approval and split expenses were removed from the Standard plan, so firms that rely on layered approvals need to budget for a higher tier.
• Weaker outside the Zoho world. Zoho says the product seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks Online and other accounting software, but reviewers often find connections outside Zoho less smooth, with more manual mapping and reconciliation.

Zoho Expense suits small business owners who mainly need help managing expenses. Employees photograph receipts, log mileage with GPS tracking, and submit reports, while finance sets policies and reimburses staff. Zoho positions it as a way to streamline processes for travel and spend.

The catch for project-based firms is scope. Zoho Expense helps you track expenses, but it doesn’t track billable hours or show how spending affects margin. If you bill clients for time and costs, you’ll need separate time tracking and billing tools, then reconcile all three. For small businesses watching every cost, that may work for a while.

Key Features

• Receipt scanning: Upload or forward receipts and let Zoho Expense pull out amounts, dates, and merchants. Itemized OCR is available on paid plans.
• Mileage tracking: Log trips with GPS, map distance, or odometer readings. Mileage rates apply automatically.
• Policies and approvals: Set spending limits and receipt rules by policy. Multi-level approvals require higher plans.
• Corporate cards and travel: Import card feeds and manage travel requests on upper tiers. This helps finance control spending before trips are booked.

Pricing

Zoho Expense has a free plan for up to three users. Paid plans start at a few dollars per user/month for Standard and Premium, with rates that vary by region and billing cycle, and Enterprise pricing is available on request.

Expensify

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.5.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Quick receipt capture. SmartScan reads receipts from photos or email and builds expense entries automatically, which saves employees from typing up business expenses by hand.
• Familiar reimbursement workflow. Employees bundle expenses into reports, managers approve them, and reimbursements go out, often faster than with paper or email-based processes.
• Corporate card option. The Expensify Card ties card spend directly to the platform, which can reduce the number of out-of-pocket expenses that need reimbursement.

Cons:

• No time tracking for billable work. Expensify handles expenses only. Firms that bill clients for hours need a separate system, plus a process to bring time and costs together on invoices.
• Automation isn’t always reliable. Reviewers regularly mention scanning errors on edge cases, such as foreign receipts or itemized bills, which means someone still has to check entries before month-end.
• Project-level financials are an afterthought. Expenses can be tagged to clients or projects, but there’s no view of how those costs affect a project’s budget or margin. Finance teams often export data to spreadsheets to answer basic profitability questions.

Expensify is one of the best-known names in expense reporting. As a dedicated expense tracker, it made receipt scanning a mainstream habit, and for teams whose main headache is managing expenses and chasing receipts, it covers the basics most small businesses need. Expensify also says it seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and NetSuite for exports to accounting software.

The gaps appear when costs need to connect to project work. Expensify can’t show whether a project’s spend fits its budget or what you can bill back, and card-dependent pricing makes the total cost harder to predict. For small businesses and growing firms that want one place to track expenses, time, and billing, it still leaves you integrating the rest.

Key Features

• SmartScan: Snap or forward a receipt and Expensify extracts the details automatically. Results still need review when receipts are unusual.
• Expense reports: Group expenses into reports for submission and approval. Report status is visible to employees and managers.
• Expensify Card: Issue company cards with spend limits and automatic matching. Card adoption also affects your plan pricing.
• Accounting exports: Sync approved expenses to common accounting systems. Category mapping may need manual cleanup for complex charts of accounts.

Pricing

Expensify offers tiered per-user plans for small teams and larger organizations. The effective price per user drops when most of your spend runs through the Expensify Card, so check the current pricing page against your expected card usage.

Clockify

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.7.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Generous free plan. Clockify’s free plan supports unlimited users and unlimited projects for basic time tracking, which makes it one of the easiest ways for small businesses to get started without a budget request.
• Low cost per user on paid tiers. Even the paid plans are inexpensive compared with most PSA platforms, so teams can add invoicing, approvals, and expenses without a large jump in spend.
• User friendly apps across devices. Timers, timesheets, a kiosk mode, and a browser add-on make it simple for people to log hours wherever they work.

Cons:

• Key capabilities are spread across tiers. Expenses, invoicing, approvals, and scheduling unlock on different paid plans. Teams often start on the free tier and discover that the workflow they actually need requires several upgrades.
• Billing and rate logic stay basic. Clockify supports billable rates and simple invoices, but blended rates, retainers, markups, and complex fixed-fee billing push firms toward spreadsheets.
• Thin financial reporting. Reports cover hours, billable amounts, and simple budgets. There’s no real view of margin, work in progress, or revenue recognition, which matters once leadership starts asking hard questions about profitability.

Clockify makes time tracking accessible to almost anyone. Its free plan shows small teams where work hours go, and paid plans add expenses, invoicing, time off, and approvals, so it can grow into a lightweight time and expense tracker.

The financial depth doesn’t grow at the same pace. Expense policies are simple, costs don’t connect to rates and margin, and accounting software integration is limited. For small businesses tracking hours for internal visibility, it’s a smart, low-cost pick. For a 50-person consultancy that needs every hour and expense to land correctly in QuickBooks, it leaves too much work for finance.

Key Features

• Time tracking: Track time with timers, manual timesheets, a kiosk, or a browser add-on. Entries can be tagged to clients, projects, and tasks.
• Expenses: Log project expenses with receipts on paid plans. Costs can be included on invoices but don’t feed margin reporting.
• Invoicing: Generate invoices from billable time and expenses. Formatting and billing models are fairly basic.
• Time off and approvals: Manage PTO requests and timesheet approvals on higher tiers. This adds structure but increases per-user cost.

Pricing

Clockify offers a free plan with unlimited users. Paid plans start at a few dollars per user/month, with discounts when you pay yearly, and higher tiers unlock expenses, invoicing, approvals, and admin controls.

Toggl Track

Reviews: G2: 4.6, Capterra: 4.7.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• One of the easiest timers on the market. Toggl Track’s one-click timer, idle detection, and calendar integrations make logging time almost effortless, which is why it often appears on lists of the best time tracking software for small teams.
• Wide reach through integrations. Browser add-ons work inside more than 100 web apps, so people can start a timer from a ticket, a document, or a task without switching tabs.
• Clean, readable reports. Summary and detailed reports are easy to filter and share, giving managers a quick view of where time goes across projects and clients.

Cons:

• No built-in expense tracking. Toggl Track focuses on time. Receipts, reimbursements, and billable costs need a separate expense tracker, which brings back the integration problem this category is supposed to solve.
• Billing stays light. Billable rates and project estimates are available on paid plans, but invoicing, rate cards by role, and approval chains for billing are limited. Firms often export data to accounting or billing software to finish the job.
• Profitability views require higher tiers. Project profitability and fixed-fee tracking sit on the more expensive plans, and even there, they don’t account for expenses or full cost rates the way a PSA platform does.

Toggl Track is built for people who want time tracking to fade into the background. Its intuitive interface keeps logging effortless, and its free plan, which covers up to five users, is a popular starting point for freelancers and small businesses.

For firms that bill for time and expenses, its scope is narrower. There’s no receipt handling or expense policy support, and billing stops short of client-ready invoices from complex rates. Hours have to be exported and combined with expense data elsewhere, which becomes a recurring source of errors as teams grow.

Key Features

• One-click timers: Start and stop timers from desktop, mobile, or the web. Idle detection and reminders help keep entries complete.
• Browser add-ons: Track time inside project management tools like Asana and Jira, or in Google Docs. This keeps context switching to a minimum.
• Reports: Filter summary, detailed, and weekly reports by client, project, or team member. Reports can be scheduled and shared.
• Billable rates and estimates: Set hourly rates and project estimates on upgraded tiers. Financial depth is limited compared with dedicated billing platforms.

Pricing

Toggl Track’s free plan works for teams of five or fewer. Paid plans start at $9 per user/month for Starter with annual billing, with Premium and Enterprise tiers adding profitability tracking, timesheet approvals, and admin controls.

Time Doctor

Reviews: G2: 4.4, Capterra: 4.5.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Detailed productivity and activity data. Time Doctor tracks which apps and websites people use during work hours, with optional screenshots, so managers of remote teams get a clear view of how time is spent.
• Payroll support for distributed teams. Built-in payroll features and connections to payroll tools help companies pay contractors and hourly staff based on tracked time.
• Distraction alerts and focus reporting. Idle detection and off-track reminders encourage people to stay on task, which some operations leaders find useful for large remote workforces.

Cons:

• Monitoring can hurt trust. Screenshots and activity tracking are a poor cultural fit for many professional services firms, where senior consultants expect to be judged on outcomes, not keystrokes. Adoption often suffers as a result.
• No real expense management. Time Doctor doesn’t capture receipts, enforce expense policies, or handle reimbursements, so you’ll need a separate expense tracker.
• Weak link to billing and project finance. The platform is built around productivity analytics, not client billing. Rate logic, invoicing, and project budget tracking are minimal compared with tools built for firms that bill by the hour.

Time Doctor sits at the monitoring end of the market. Its reports on app usage, idle time, and focus suit call centers, back-office teams, and outsourcing providers, and higher tiers add integrations and priority support.

For professional services firms, it answers a different question. It shows how busy someone was, but not whether that work was billed at the right rate. With no expense capture and limited billing, firms that use it for client work often keep a second billing system and a separate expense tracker.

Key Features

• Automatic time tracking: Track time with a desktop app that records activity while people work. Manual edits can be restricted by managers.
• Activity monitoring: Capture app and website usage, with optional screenshots. Settings can be adjusted to respect employee privacy.
• Productivity reports: See focus time, idle time, and unproductive activity by person or team. These views suit operational oversight more than client billing.
• Payroll: Calculate pay from tracked hours and send payments through supported providers. This works best for hourly and contract workers.

Pricing

Time Doctor’s Basic plan starts at about $6.70 per user/month, billed annually. Standard and Premium tiers cost more and add payroll, integrations, and additional support, and a free trial is available.

Which Time and Expense Tracking Software Is the Best?

Looking at the full list, a clear pattern shows up. Most tools are very good at one half of the job. Some make time entry easy, some make receipts painless, and a few handle hourly payroll well. What they don’t do is carry an hour and a receipt all the way from entry to invoice to general ledger on the same financial logic. That handoff, between capture and cash, is where professional services firms lose the most money, and it’s the part you end up rebuilding in spreadsheets when your apps don’t talk to each other. Small businesses can live with a timer and a separate expense tracker for a while. Growing firms usually can’t.

BigTime is the best time and expense tracking software for professional services firms because it treats every hour and receipt as the start of your revenue. Consultants get a simple, fast way to log hours and receipts. Managers get approvals that enforce your rules. Finance gets rates applied automatically, invoices built from approved data, online payments through BigTime Payments, and a two-way sync with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Sage that keeps the ledger accurate. Leaders get real-time views of budgets, utilization, and margin while projects are still running. BigTime works as an all-in-one solution for your financial workflow, and because it’s modular, you can add Resource Management, Quotes, or Data Hub as your firm grows, without starting over on a new system.

If you’re ready to see how BigTime would handle your rate structures, expense policies, and accounting setup, book a personalized demo with our team.

Time and Expense Tracking Software: FAQ

What Is Time and Expense Tracking Software?

Time and expense tracking software records the hours people work and the business expenses they incur, ties both to clients and projects, and routes them through approvals into invoices and reports. For small businesses and growing firms alike, it replaces a separate timer, expense tracker, and invoicing tool with a single system.

What Is the Best Time and Expense Tracking Software?

BigTime is the best time and expense tracking software for professional services firms. It brings time, expenses, approvals, rates, invoicing, and payments into one PSA platform with a two-way QuickBooks and Sage sync, so every approved hour and receipt becomes an accurate invoice.

What Is the Best Time and Expense Tracking Software for Medium-Sized Companies?

BigTime is the best choice for mid-sized firms with 30 to 250 employees. Companies this size have outgrown the basic timers small businesses rely on, but don’t need a six- to 12-month enterprise rollout. BigTime offers a user friendly interface, goes live in 30 to 90 days, and scales past 100 people with resource management and Data Hub on the same foundation.

What Is the Best Time and Expense Tracking Software for Different Industries?

BigTime is the best option across industries where billable time drives revenue:

• IT companies: Project work, retainers, and support hours are tracked against the right contract and rate.
• Engineering firms: Hours and expenses tie to project phases, with your expense management rules applied and burn shown in real time.
• Consulting companies: Role, client, and engagement rates apply automatically and feed utilization and margin reports.
• Professional services firms in general: One platform links delivery, billing, and the general ledger.

What Is the Best Time and Expense Tracking Software That Integrates With QuickBooks?

BigTime is the best time and expense tracking software that integrates with QuickBooks. It’s one of the only PSA platforms with bi-directional sync for both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, which makes it a natural next step for small businesses that started on QuickBooks.

Friday afternoon is when most billable hours quietly disappear. Consultants rebuild a week of client work from memory, resulting in numerous write-offs, missing hours, and honest mistakes. Fortunately, the right timesheet software can change that.

With complex rate structures and remote teams now the norm, a spreadsheet or basic time tracking software can capture hours in 2026, but it can’t show which projects are burning budget or which billable hours never reached an invoice. By the end of this guide, you’ll know which features protect your billable hours and margins, and which nine platforms deserve a spot on your 2026 shortlist.

What Is a Timesheet App?

Paper and spreadsheet timesheets only record hours. They don’t check them, route them for approval, or connect them to an invoice. That’s the gap modern timesheet software was built to close.

A timesheet app is software that lets employees record the hours they spend on clients, projects, and specific tasks, then moves those time entries through approvals and turns them into reliable data for billing, payroll processing, and reporting. Most options run as online timesheet software on the web, desktop, and mobile devices, which is why the category is also called digital timesheet software or simply digital timesheets.

Firms use a timesheet app to capture billable time against the right client and project, generate invoices from approved hours, measure utilization rates across multiple projects, and give payroll accurate data for overtime, time off management, and labor costs. For remote workers in different time zones, digital timesheets also replace status emails as the shared record of who worked on what.

Unlike a basic time tracking app, free tools, or simple time tracking tools that only measure how long something took, timesheet software built for project-based businesses connects every hour to your rates, project budgets, and general ledger. That turns tracking work hours into a source of financial insight.

The Benefits of Timesheet Software

Moving from spreadsheets to a dedicated timesheet app looks like a small operational decision. In most firms, the impact shows up in the financials within the first few billing cycles. Here’s what teams typically gain once time entries live in a structured, digital system:

1. More billable hours make it onto invoices. SPI Research has repeatedly found that 10% to 20% of work performed by professional services firms is never billed. Daily reminders, mobile time tracking, and approval workflows make billable hour tracking far more reliable and close the gaps where hours get forgotten, which directly reduces revenue leakage.
2. Shorter billing cycles and steadier cash flow. When approved hours already carry the right rates, invoices can go out days after the period closes instead of weeks. Faster invoicing shortens the time between doing the work and getting paid for it.
3. Real-time visibility into project budgets. Every time entry updates actuals against the plan, so project managers see budget burn while there’s still time to adjust staffing or have a scope conversation with the client. That’s the difference between project budgeting and explaining why it was missed.
4. Better utilization and staffing decisions. Accurate employee time tracking data on hours worked by person, role, and client shows where capacity is being used well and where it’s being wasted. Leaders can rebalance work before burnout or bench time becomes a pattern.
5. Cleaner records for payroll, compliance, and audits. Locked periods, audit trails, and approval history make it easy to prove when time was entered and who approved it. That matters for payroll processing, overtime rules, and any client who asks to see the backup behind an invoice.

What Features Should the Best Timesheet App Have?

Almost every product in this category lets people log hours. Far fewer turn those hours into trustworthy financial data. When you compare timesheet software for a professional services firm, these are the essential features that separate a basic time tracker from a platform finance and delivery teams can both rely on.

Flexible Time Entry That Fits How People Work

Some consultants like a weekly grid, and some want to log hours from their phone between client meetings. The best timesheet app supports all of these without forcing a single habit on your team. Look for daily, weekly, and monthly views, start-and-stop timers, copy-forward options for recurring work, and smart suggestions based on calendar events or recent projects to ensure that your team’s needs are met in the tool from day one.

Approval Workflows & Locked Periods

Approvals are where time tracking data becomes billing data. You want configurable workflows that route timesheets to the right project manager or team lead, support multi-level approvals for larger engagements, and send gentle reminders when submissions are late. Once a period is approved, locking it protects the numbers your invoices and payroll depend on, and a full audit history shows exactly who changed what and when.

Billing Rules That Turn Hours Into Accurate Invoices

This is where most time tracking tools fall short. Professional services firms rarely bill a single flat rate: rates vary by client, role, person, and project, with discounts, caps, retainers, and fixed-fee project milestones layered on top. The best timesheet software stores those rules once and applies them automatically, separates billable from non-billable time, and lets you generate invoices directly from approved time entries. Strong invoicing capabilities reflect how businesses bill clients in the real world, and they include clear backup detail so clients don’t come back with questions.

Project Budgets & Real-Time Burn Tracking

Every hour logged should update the project’s financial picture immediately. Look for budgets by phase, task, and role, actuals versus budget in hours and dollars, and visual alerts when burn rates climb faster than planned. This turns project tracking into an early warning system, so managers can act on scope creep or overservicing while the project is still recoverable.

Advanced Reporting & Utilization Analytics

Basic reporting in most time tracking software shows total hours by person or project. Advanced reporting answers the questions leadership actually asks: Which clients are most profitable? How much time spent on internal work is crowding out billable projects? Where is realization slipping? How does billable utilization compare to target by role or office?

Customizable reports, drill-down from summary to individual time entries, and scheduled dashboards save hours of spreadsheet work. Detailed reporting also gives you the data to back up project management metrics with real numbers instead of estimates.

Accounting, Payroll & Workforce Integrations

Your timesheet app should fit into the stack you already run, including the project management tools your delivery teams use to manage projects and tasks. Native, bi-directional integrations with QuickBooks, Sage, or other accounting software keep invoices and payments in sync, while connections to payroll and HR systems carry approved hours into payroll processing without exports. Firms that also use a consulting CRM, BI dashboards, or other tools should check for an open API and reliable connectors, because every manual handoff is a place where data can drift.

Reminders, Compliance & Time Off Management

Adoption is a process, not a launch event. Automated reminders for missing timesheets, manager views that show who hasn’t submitted, and simple leave tracking all keep compliance high without constant chasing. Role-based permissions, single sign-on, and secure data handling round out the picture, especially as more people and more client data move through the system.

How to Choose the Right Timesheet App for Your Firm

The fastest way to narrow your shortlist is to start with what happens after the hours are logged. If time data only needs to feed payroll for an hourly workforce, a simple clock-in system or the time module inside your project management platform may be enough. If your revenue depends on billable hours, your timesheet app has to connect time to rates, budgets, invoices, and your general ledger, because that’s where margin is won or lost. Use these questions to pressure-test the essential features of every option:

• Map your billing complexity first. List your rate types, contract models, and approval rules, then ask each vendor to show how they handle them in a live demo using your scenarios, not theirs.
• Test adoption with real users. Have a few consultants and a project manager try the mobile time tracking experience and weekly grid during a trial. If it takes more than a couple of minutes a day, compliance will drop.
• Check the accounting connection in detail. Ask whether the integration is native and bi-directional, which version of QuickBooks or Sage it supports, and what happens when an invoice or payment changes on either side.
• Look beyond the per-user price. Free tools can look attractive, but factor in base fees, add-ons, implementation, and the cost of the extra tools you’d need for billing, resourcing, or reporting if the platform doesn’t cover them.
• Plan for the next two years. Consider whether you’ll need resource planning, quoting, or deeper analytics as you grow, and whether you can add those capabilities without switching platforms.

2026 Timesheet App Ranking

To build this 2026 ranking, we looked at each timesheet app and the strongest timesheet software options through the eyes of a growing professional services firm: a team of 20 to 250 people that bills clients for time, runs multiple projects at once, and relies on QuickBooks or another accounting platform as its system of record. We weighed how easy each option is for consultants to use every day, how well it handles approvals and billing rules, and whether time data connects to budgets, invoices, and financial reporting without manual work.

We also considered review scores on G2 and Capterra, pricing transparency, the strength of each mobile app, and how each platform handles employee time tracking for remote teams. We also checked whether options aimed at small businesses can scale with a growing team. Some of the platforms below come from the payroll or project management world and are excellent at what they were designed for, such as payroll-focused timekeeping software, standalone time tracking software, or activity monitoring for distributed staff. The ranking reflects how well each one fits firms whose revenue depends on accurate, billable time.

Timesheet Software Comparison

Before diving into the detailed reviews, here’s a quick look at how the leading timesheet software options compare on core capabilities, ideal use case, pricing, and user ratings in 2026.

Tool	Key Features	Best For	Pricing	G2/Capterra Rating
BigTime	Timesheets connected to billing, rates, budgets, and QuickBooks; approvals; mobile app; utilization reporting; AI assistant	Professional services firms (IT, engineering, consulting) that bill for time and need financial visibility	From $20 per user/month (Essentials); higher tiers available; free trial	4.5 / 4.6
QuickBooks Time	Clock in/out, GPS and geofencing, scheduling, kiosk, payroll sync with QuickBooks	Hourly and field workforces already running QuickBooks Online payroll	Premium $20/month + $10 per user; Elite $40/month + $12 per user	4.5 / 4.7
Harvest	Timers and timesheets, simple invoicing, expense tracking, integrations	Small agencies and consultancies with straightforward billing	Free plan (1 seat); Pro from $11 per seat/month	4.3 / 4.6
Clockify	Timers, timesheets, free plan with unlimited users, approvals and scheduling on paid tiers	Budget-conscious teams that need basic tracking at scale	Free; paid from $3.99 per seat/month (annual)	4.5 / 4.8
Toggl Track	One-click timers, browser extensions, background time tracking, reports	Freelancers and small teams focused on time awareness	Free for up to 5 users; Starter $9, Premium $18 per user/month (annual)	4.6 / 4.7
Hubstaff	Activity tracking, screenshots, GPS, payroll, timesheets	Remote and distributed teams that want work verification	From $4.99 per seat/month (annual); 2-seat minimum	4.4 / 4.5
Replicon	Project time, attendance, compliance rules, global labor policies	Large enterprises with complex compliance needs	Quote-based	4.6 / 4.5
TimeCamp	Automatic time tracking, timesheets, attendance, basic invoicing	Small teams that want low-cost automatic tracking	Free plan; low-cost paid tiers per user/month	4.7 / 4.7
Connecteam	Mobile time clock, scheduling, team chat, task management	Deskless and frontline teams	Free for small teams; paid plans priced by user bands	4.6 / 4.8

BigTime

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.6.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Timesheets that flow straight into billing. Every approved hour in BigTime already carries the right client, project, task, and bill rate, so invoices are built from the same data your team entered. Finance doesn’t have to re-key anything, and the billable hours your consultants log are the hours your clients see.
• A QuickBooks connection built for finance teams. BigTime offers bi-directional, audit-ready integration with both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, plus Sage. Time, expenses, and invoices move to the general ledger, while payments and AR status come back into BigTime, so project and accounting data never drift apart.
• Fast adoption for consultants. The Excel-like timesheet grid, timers, and mobile app make daily time tracking feel familiar from day one. Most firms go live in 30 to 90 days with BigTime’s in-house implementation team, which keeps the rollout focused on getting your people using the system rather than configuring it forever.
• Real-time visibility into margin and utilization. Because time, rates, and budgets live in one place, project managers and leaders can see budget burn, realization, and utilization as work happens. You can spot a project drifting off plan in week three instead of discovering it at invoice time.
• AI built into your financial workflow. AVA, BigTime’s AI assistant, lets users ask questions about their data in plain language and surface answers without building a report. AI-powered agents for expenses and resourcing extend that support into the workflows where firms lose the most time.

Cons:

• More platform than a solo freelancer needs. If you only want a stopwatch to track time for a handful of personal projects with no billing rules, budgets, or approvals, BigTime offers far more depth than you’ll use.
• Advanced controls sit in higher tiers. Capabilities such as multi-level approvals and more detailed cost and rate management come with the upper plans, so smaller teams should match their requirements to the right package during the demo and pay for only what they use.

BigTime is a PSA platform for IT, engineering, and consulting firms that need timesheets to do more than record hours. Every time entry is connected to the rate you’ll bill, the budget you’re tracking, and the invoice that lands in QuickBooks or Sage, so your team works from one set of trusted data instead of exporting and reconciling hours every month. For firms that have outgrown an accounting package plus basic time tracking, that removes the manual work that usually eats up month-end.

BigTime also grows with you. Start with time, expense, billing, and project profitability, then add BigTime Resource Management, BigTime Quotes, BigTime Payments, or BigTime Data Hub when your complexity calls for them, all on the same financial foundation. Consultants get a user friendly interface they actually adopt, and leaders get real-time insights into utilization and margin, with accurate time tracking feeding project tracking, resource planning, and AI-powered support.

Key Features

• Flexible time entry: Weekly grids, daily views, timers, and a full mobile app make time tracking flexible, so consultants and remote employees can track time the way they prefer. Reminders and manager dashboards keep submissions on schedule without constant follow-up.
• Approval workflows and locked periods: Route timesheets and expenses to the right approvers, with multi-level approvals available in higher tiers. Locked periods and audit history protect the data behind every invoice.
• Billing and invoicing: Generate invoices directly from approved time entries and expenses using custom invoice templates. Rate rules by client, role, person, or project are applied automatically, including fixed-fee and retainer models.
• Project budgets and profitability: Track actuals against budget by phase, task, and role in hours and dollars. Visual indicators flag budget burn early so managers can act before margin slips.
• Utilization and advanced reporting: Customizable reports and dashboards show billable utilization, realization, write-offs, and profitability by client or team. BigTime Data Hub gives firms raw data access for Power BI or Tableau.
• QuickBooks and Sage integration: Bi-directional sync with QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, and Sage keeps invoices, payments, and AR aligned. Additional integrations connect CRM, payroll, and other systems in the BigTime ecosystem.
• Expense tracking: Capture expenses with receipts alongside time entries, tied to the same clients and projects. Approved expenses flow into invoices and project costs automatically.
• AI-powered assistance: AVA answers questions about projects, time, and financials in plain language. AI agents for expenses and resourcing support the workflows where firms lose the most time.

Pricing

BigTime Essentials starts at $20 per user/month, with Advanced, Premier, and Enterprise tiers for firms that need deeper controls, resource management, and analytics. You can book a free personalized demo to see how it fits your workflows.

QuickBooks Time

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.7.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Natural fit for QuickBooks payroll users. QuickBooks Time syncs hours directly into QuickBooks Online payroll, which makes it convenient for firms that already run payroll and bookkeeping inside the Intuit ecosystem.
• Strong tracking capabilities for field and hourly teams. GPS tracking while clocked in, geofencing reminders, and a tablet time kiosk make it well suited to crews and shift-based employees who clock in and out from job sites.
• Accessible mobile experience. The QuickBooks Workforce app gives employees a simple way to clock in, switch jobs, and view schedules from their phones, which helps adoption among non-desk staff.

Cons:

• Designed for payroll, not project profitability. QuickBooks Time is excellent at capturing when people worked, but it offers limited support for complex bill rates, project budgets, or margin analysis. Professional services firms usually need other tools to turn hours into profitable invoices.
• Costs add up quickly. Pricing combines a monthly base fee with a per-user fee, and per-user rates rose by $2 in July 2026. For a 50-person team, the monthly bill grows fast, especially on the Elite plan.
• Project features are gated and require QuickBooks Online. Project tracking and estimates versus actuals sit in the Elite tier, and recent reviews note that QuickBooks Time now requires an active QuickBooks Online subscription. Firms on QuickBooks Desktop or Sage have fewer options.

QuickBooks Time, formerly TSheets, is Intuit’s timekeeping software for businesses that need to capture hours worked and move them into payroll. It shines with hourly workforces: construction crews, field service teams, and shift-based staff who clock in from mobile devices, need GPS verification, and get paid based on approved time. Project scheduling, PTO tracking, overtime alerts, and photo attachments round out a solid workforce management package for that audience.

For professional services firms, the fit is narrower. QuickBooks Time offers solid time tracking for billable work and can pass hours into QuickBooks for project invoicing, but the logic that matters most to consulting and IT firms, such as rate cards by role, fixed-fee milestones, budget burn, and utilization analytics, isn’t where the product focuses. Many firms end up pairing it with spreadsheets or other tools to understand project profitability, which brings back the very reconciliation work they were trying to escape. If your main goal is payroll accuracy for hourly staff, it’s a capable choice; if your goal is margin control on client engagements, it’s only part of the answer.

Key Features

• Mobile clock in and out: Employees handle time tracking through the QuickBooks Workforce app on phones or tablets. Job and customer codes help categorize hours for payroll and invoicing.
• GPS and geofencing: Location tracking while clocked in and geofence reminders support field teams. These features are useful for job sites but less relevant for office-based consultants.
• Scheduling and alerts: Managers can build schedules by job or shift and receive alerts for overtime or missed punches. This helps control labor costs for hourly teams.
• Payroll and invoicing sync: Approved hours sync into QuickBooks Online payroll and invoicing. The connection is convenient but limited to the Intuit ecosystem.
• Project tracking (Elite): The Elite tier adds project tracking, estimates versus actuals, and mileage tracking. Depth is modest compared with platforms built for project financials.

Pricing

QuickBooks Time plans combine a base fee with per-user pricing. QuickBooks Time Premium runs $20 per month plus $10 per user, and Time Elite runs $40 per month plus $12 per user (monthly billing, after the July 2026 increase). QuickBooks also bundles time tracking into its Workforce payroll plans.

Harvest

Reviews: G2: 4.3, Capterra: 4.6.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Very easy to start using. Harvest’s timers and timesheets are clean and intuitive, so small teams can roll out time tracking in a day and get consistent time entries without training.
• Simple invoicing from tracked hours. You can turn tracked time and expenses into invoices quickly, which is a real improvement over building bills manually in a spreadsheet.
• Popular integrations. Harvest connects with common project management tools and accounting platforms, which makes it easy to drop into an existing small business stack.

Cons:

• Billing logic stays basic. Harvest handles simple hourly rates well, but firms with blended rates, role-based rate cards, retainers, or complex fixed-fee arrangements quickly run into its limits.
• Resourcing lives in a separate product. Capacity planning requires Harvest Forecast, a separate subscription, which adds cost and another place for data to fall out of sync.
• Reporting depth is limited for leadership. Basic reporting covers hours and budgets, but leaders looking for utilization trends, realization, or margin by service line often end up exporting data to spreadsheets.

Harvest is one of the best-known names in time tracking software, and it earned that reputation by making time entry painless. For freelancers, small agencies, and lean consultancies that bill hourly and want a quick way to track hours alongside their project management stack and send invoices, it remains a sensible starting point for small businesses. The free plan supports one seat and a couple of projects, and paid plans unlock unlimited projects, team time tracking features, and approvals.

The challenge comes as firms grow. Once you’re managing 30 or more people across multiple projects with different rate structures, Harvest’s simplicity starts to feel like a ceiling. There’s no deep project accounting, resource planning requires another product, and profitability analysis usually happens outside the platform. Many firms that start on Harvest eventually move to a PSA platform when billing accuracy and margin visibility become high-stakes.

Key Features

• Timers and timesheets: Track time from web, desktop, mobile, and browser extensions. Entries can be edited and submitted in a weekly view.
• Invoicing: Create invoices from tracked time and expenses and accept online payments. Invoicing features work best for straightforward hourly billing.
• Expense tracking: Log expenses with receipt photos and attach them to projects. Expenses can be added to invoices.
• Budgets and reports: Set project budgets and view basic reports on hours and costs. Advanced analysis typically requires exports.

Pricing

Harvest offers a free plan for one seat and two projects. The Pro plan costs $11 per seat/month and Premium $14 per seat/month (billed annually), with a free trial available.

Clockify

Reviews: G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.8.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Generous free plan. Clockify’s free version supports unlimited users and unlimited projects, which makes it one of the most popular options for teams searching for free timesheet software.
• Low per-seat pricing on paid tiers. When you do upgrade, paid plans start at just a few dollars per seat, which keeps costs manageable as headcount grows.
• Broad feature list. Timers, timesheets, kiosks, scheduling, and expense tracking are available across the plan lineup, so teams can expand usage without switching vendors.

Cons:

• Important capabilities sit behind paid tiers. Timesheet approvals, time off requests, and scheduling start on paid plans, and labor cost tracking and screenshots require the Pro plan. The free version is a good test drive, but most firms end up paying per seat anyway.
• Accounting integration requires an upgrade. Connecting Clockify to QuickBooks requires a paid subscription, and the sync is not as deep as finance teams need for full billing and AR alignment.
• Not built for project financials. Clockify’s time tracking reports cover hours and basic costs, but it lacks the rate logic, budget controls, and profitability analysis professional services firms rely on.

Clockify has become a go-to time tracking app for teams that want to track time without a big upfront commitment. Its free plan is genuinely useful: unlimited users can track hours, run basic reporting, and organize work by client and project. For small businesses, nonprofits, and startups taking their first step away from spreadsheets, that’s an attractive offer and one of the strongest free timesheet software deals on the market.

The trade-off is depth. As soon as you need approvals, billable rates by role, labor costs, or stronger reporting, you move into paid tiers, and the platform still remains time tracking software first. For firms where every hour feeds an invoice and a margin calculation, Clockify usually becomes one more system to reconcile rather than the system of record.

Key Features

• Timers and timesheets: Track time with a timer, manual entry, or a weekly timesheet. Entries can be tagged to clients, projects, and tasks.
• Kiosk and GPS (paid): Shared kiosks and GPS tracking support teams that clock in on-site. These features sit in paid plans.
• Approvals and time off (paid): Managers can approve timesheets and handle time off requests on paid tiers. The free plan does not include them.
• Reports and invoicing: Summary, detailed, and weekly reports help teams understand time spent. Basic invoicing is available but limited for complex billing.

Pricing

Clockify offers a free plan with unlimited users. Paid plans include Basic (3.99),Standard(5.49), Pro (7.99),andEnterprise(11.99) per seat/month billed annually, or $4.99 to $14.99 billed monthly.

Toggl Track

Reviews: G2: 4.6, Capterra: 4.7.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Best-in-class timer experience. Toggl Track’s one-click timers, browser extensions, and integrations with many project management tools make it effortless to track time while you work.
• Background tracking for better recall. The desktop app can record which apps and websites you used, helping people fill in forgotten time entries without guesswork.
• Clean, approachable design. The user interface is friendly and modern, which helps adoption among teams that resist traditional timesheets.

Cons:

• Billing and invoicing are not the focus. Toggl Track is built around time awareness, so firms usually need separate tools for invoicing, rate management, and accounting sync.
• Free plan is limited to small teams. It supports up to five users, and advanced features such as approvals, billable rates, and project profitability require paid plans.
• Costs climb at scale. At $18 per user per month for Premium, a 50-person firm pays a substantial amount for what is still primarily a time tracking app.

Toggl Track is a polished, well-loved piece of time tracking software for individuals, small businesses, and small teams that want to understand where their time goes. Its strength is speed and personal time management: people can start a timer from almost anywhere, and features like idle detection and background time tracking help capture accurate time even on busy days.

For professional services firms, though, accurate time is only half the job. Toggl Track offers project estimates, billable rates, and profitability reports on higher tiers, but it doesn’t connect hours to invoices, payments, and the general ledger in the way full-featured timesheet software inside a PSA platform does. Most firms end up exporting data from tracking tools like this into accounting software and spreadsheets, which reintroduces the manual tracking and reconciliation work that slows down month-end.

Key Features

• Timers and integrations: Start timers from the web, desktop, mobile, or browser extensions inside other tools. This makes it easy to track time in context.
• Background tracking: The desktop app records activity so users can turn it into time entries later. Entries remain private until the user saves them.
• Reports and dashboards: Summary and detailed reports show time spent by project, client, and team. Profitability views require Premium.
• Timesheet approvals (paid): Managers can review and approve timesheets on paid tiers. Approval workflows are simpler than those in PSA platforms.

Pricing

Toggl Track is free for up to five users. Starter costs $9 per user/month and Premium $18 per user/month (billed annually), with custom pricing for Enterprise.

Hubstaff

Reviews: G2: 4.4, Capterra: 4.5.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Activity tracking for distributed teams. Hubstaff records activity levels, apps, and URLs alongside time, which some managers of remote employees use to verify work and track productivity.
• GPS and payroll support. Location tracking, geofencing, and automated payroll payments make it useful for field teams and contractors paid by the hour.
• Affordable entry point. Starter pricing is low per seat, which makes it easy to trial with a small team.

Cons:

• Monitoring can hurt trust. Screenshots and activity tracking may suit some outsourced teams, but many consultants and senior professionals see it as invasive, which can damage morale and adoption in professional services firms.
• Add-ons and seat minimums raise the real cost. Paid plans have a two-seat minimum, and teams rarely get all the features they need without per-seat add-ons for advanced insights or task management.
• Shallow project financials. Budgets and basic invoicing exist, but rate complexity, approvals tied to billing, and margin analysis are limited compared with a dedicated PSA platform.

Hubstaff positions itself as workforce management and time tracking software for remote and distributed teams, with team management features that help companies manage teams across locations. It’s strongest when the main goal is verifying that work happened: activity percentages, screenshots, app and URL tracking, and GPS check-ins give managers a detailed view of employee productivity and how employee time is spent. For agencies managing offshore contractors or companies running hourly remote workers, that level of oversight can be valuable.

For firms that sell expertise, the model is a less natural fit. Billing clients accurately depends on knowing which project and task time belongs to, applying the right rates, and protecting budgets. Hubstaff’s emphasis on monitoring doesn’t solve those problems, and its financial reporting stops well short of the profitability and utilization insights leaders need. Many professional services teams find they still need separate timesheet software or other tools for billing and project accounting.

Key Features

• Time tracking and activity monitoring: Desktop and mobile apps record hours along with activity levels, apps, and URLs. Screenshots are optional and capped on lower plans.
• GPS and geofencing: Mobile location tracking and job site geofences support field teams. This helps automate clock-ins for on-site work.
• Timesheets and payroll: Automated timesheets can feed payroll and contractor payments. Approvals are available on higher tiers.
• Budgets and invoicing: Set project budgets and create basic client invoices. These invoicing features suit simple billing rather than complex rate structures.

Pricing

Hubstaff plans start at $4.99 per seat/month for Starter, $7.50 for Grow, $10 for Team, and $25 for Enterprise (billed annually), with a two-seat minimum on paid plans and optional add-ons.

Replicon

Reviews: G2: 4.6, Capterra: 4.5.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Strong compliance capabilities. Replicon supports complex labor rules, overtime policies, and global compliance requirements, which matters for large multinational organizations.
• Modular time tracking products. Separate offerings for project time, time and attendance, and PSA let enterprises pick the pieces they need.
• Enterprise-grade configuration. Detailed approval routing, permissions, and policy controls suit organizations with strict governance.

Cons:

• Complex to configure and maintain. Replicon’s flexibility comes with a steep setup effort, and many organizations need dedicated admins or consultants to keep it running smoothly.
• Dated user interface. Reviews frequently mention a cluttered interface and a learning curve, which can slow adoption among busy consultants.
• Opaque, enterprise-oriented pricing. Pricing is typically quote-based with minimum user counts, making it hard for mid-sized firms to compare costs early.

Replicon is enterprise-grade time tracking software designed for organizations that need to manage time against strict compliance requirements across countries, unions, and labor laws. Large companies with thousands of employees and complex overtime or leave policies often value its depth, and its project time products support capitalization tracking and client billing at scale.

For a growing firm of 50 or 150 people, that depth can feel heavy. Implementation takes longer, administration requires more specialized knowledge, and the interface is less approachable than modern alternatives. Firms that want a fast rollout, strong QuickBooks integration, and clear visibility into project margins usually find Replicon more system than they need and look for lighter online timesheet software instead.

Key Features

• Project time tracking: Track time against projects, tasks, and clients for billing and cost reporting. Configuration options are extensive.
• Time and attendance: Manage shifts, overtime, and leave with compliance rules built in. This suits hourly and global workforces.
• Approvals and policies: Configure multi-level approvals and policy enforcement by group or region. Setup can be time-consuming.
• Reporting: Standard and custom reports cover time, attendance, and project costs. Advanced analysis may require additional configuration.

Pricing

Replicon pricing is quote-based and varies by product, number of users, and contract terms, with minimum user requirements on most plans.

TimeCamp

Reviews: G2: 4.7, Capterra: 4.7.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Automatic time tracking at a low price. TimeCamp’s desktop app records work automatically based on keywords and apps, which reduces forgotten hours for teams that dislike manual entry.
• Free version for small teams. The no-cost tier covers core tracking, making it a reasonable starting point for very small teams.
• Attendance and timesheet approvals. Paid tiers add attendance tracking, approvals, and billable rates.

Cons:

• Limited financial depth. Invoicing and budgets exist, but they’re basic, and firms with complex rate structures or fixed-fee work will outgrow them quickly.
• Automatic categorization needs ongoing tuning. Keyword-based assignment can misfile time if rules aren’t maintained, creating cleanup work before billing.
• Interface feels busy. Some users report the user interface is cluttered, with a learning curve for managers setting up projects and reports.

TimeCamp is an affordable time tracking app that leans heavily on automatic tracking. For small teams that want to track time without much manual effort, it’s an interesting option for anyone comparing free timesheet software, and it doubles as a personal time management aid, and its low per-user pricing makes it accessible to small businesses watching every dollar.

As a timesheet app for professional services firms, TimeCamp covers the basics but stops short of the billing and profitability controls finance teams need. Accounting integrations are limited compared with platforms built around the general ledger, and project financial reporting is relatively light. It works best as lightweight time tracking software rather than the system that runs your billing.

Key Features

• Automatic time tracking: The desktop app records activity and assigns time to projects based on rules. Users can review and adjust entries.
• Timesheets and approvals: Weekly timesheets and approval workflows are available on paid plans. This helps managers review hours before billing.
• Attendance: Track attendance, leave, and work schedules. Useful for small teams managing basic HR needs.
• Invoicing and budgets: Create simple invoices from billable time and set project budgets. Depth is limited for complex billing.

Pricing

TimeCamp offers a free plan, with paid tiers priced per user/month that unlock approvals, billable rates, invoicing, and integrations. Check the vendor’s pricing page for current rates.

Connecteam

Reviews: G2: 4.6, Capterra: 4.8.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Built for deskless teams. Connecteam combines a mobile time clock, scheduling, team chat, and task management in one app, which suits frontline and field workers.
• Free tier for very small teams. Small businesses with only a few employees can use core features at no cost.
• Strong communication features. Team collaboration tools such as chat, announcements, and surveys help managers stay connected with mobile staff.

Cons:

• Not designed for billable client engagements. Connecteam tracks shifts and hours but lacks project billing, rate cards, and client invoicing, so professional services firms will need other tools.
• Pricing by user bands can be confusing. Plans are priced by groups of users and by hub, so total cost depends on which modules you add.
• Limited project and financial reporting. Time tracking reports focus on attendance and payroll, not project profitability or utilization.

Connecteam is an all-in-one employee app for hourly and deskless workforces in industries like retail, hospitality, and field services. Its mobile time clock, GPS, scheduling, and communication tools make it a practical choice for managers tracking work hours for shift-based staff.

For firms that bill clients for expertise, Connecteam is a mismatch. It doesn’t connect time to projects, budgets, or invoices in a meaningful way, and its reports are designed for payroll and attendance rather than margin. It’s a solid workforce app, but it isn’t the right timesheet software foundation for billable hour tracking.

Key Features

• Mobile time clock: Employees track time by clocking in and out with GPS and geofencing. Timesheets of hours worked feed payroll exports.
• Scheduling: Build and share shift schedules with drag-and-drop tools. Employees can swap shifts and receive notifications.
• Task management and chat: Assign tasks, share updates, and chat with teams in the app. This supports frontline coordination.
• Time off and payroll exports: Handle leave requests and export hours to payroll systems. Project-based billing is not supported.

Pricing

Connecteam offers a free plan for small teams, with paid plans priced by user bands and by hub. Pricing varies depending on modules and team size.

Which Timesheet App Is the Best?

After comparing the options side by side, one pattern is clear: most timesheet apps are very good at capturing hours, and only a few help you turn those hours into revenue. Payroll-focused platforms like QuickBooks Time and Connecteam serve hourly workforces well. Time tracking tools like Toggl Track, Clockify, and Harvest make tracking easy for small teams. Monitoring platforms like Hubstaff and TimeCamp help verify activity. But for a professional services firm that lives and dies by billable hours, accurate rates, and healthy margins, capturing time is only the first step.

BigTime is the best timesheet app choice for professional services firms in 2026 because it connects every time entry to billing, budgets, utilization, and your general ledger in one PSA platform. Your consultants get a familiar, fast way to log hours on any device. Your project managers see budget burn while there’s still time to act. Your finance team gets invoices built from approved time and a bi-directional QuickBooks or Sage integration that removes month-end reconciliation. And as your firm grows, you can add resource management, quoting, payments, and advanced analytics without changing platforms or starting over.

If you’re ready to stop losing billable hours between spreadsheets and invoices, see how BigTime fits your firm. Book a free personalized demo with our team to try the timesheet experience with your own projects.

Timesheet Software: FAQ

What is timesheet software?

Timesheet software is a digital system that lets employees record time spent on clients, projects, and tasks, then routes those entries through approvals into billing, payroll, and reporting. Compared with paper timesheets, spreadsheets, or basic time tracking software, it reduces errors and gives managers real-time visibility into hours and budgets.

What is the best timesheet software?

BigTime is the best timesheet software for professional services firms. Every time entry carries the right rates and budgets into invoices, and bi-directional integration with QuickBooks and Sage keeps project and accounting data aligned from time entry to cash.

What is the best timesheet software for medium-sized companies?

BigTime is the best choice for mid-sized firms. Companies with roughly 30 to 250 employees have outgrown simple timers but don’t want enterprise cost and complexity. As employee timesheet software, BigTime goes live in 30 to 90 days and adds capabilities as you grow, so firms above 100 people get the depth they need without enterprise bloat.

What is the best timesheet software for different industries?

BigTime is the best timesheet software across the core professional services industries:

• IT companies: Flexible rates for project work and retainers, plus real-time utilization reporting.
• Engineering firms: Phase-based budgets and accurate cost tracking that protect margins on complex projects.
• Consulting companies: Role-based rate cards, fast mobile time tracking, and invoices built from approved hours.
• Professional services companies in general: One PSA platform that connects timesheets, billing, budgets, and accounting.

What is the best timesheet software that integrates with QuickBooks?

BigTime is the best timesheet software that integrates with QuickBooks. Its bi-directional, audit-ready integration with QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online syncs time, expenses, and invoices to the general ledger and brings payments back, so your time tracking and timesheets stay aligned with your books.