Time Tracking Software Comparison: 12 Tools (2026)
This page is the data behind the time tracking review: twelve tools on fourteen criteria, pricing, free plans and minimums as published in October 2026, and a filter that removes anything that cannot run where you need it, costs more than you will pay or lacks a feature you need. It does not rank. The review pages in this series rank for particular situations; this one is here so you can check their reasoning.
Two things the matrix cannot show: which plan carries each feature, which the cards below list as a plan ladder, and how a tool feels to use every day, which is in the review pages and the verified user reviews the evaluation drew on.
Filter the field
Set the platform you need, the most you will pay per user, and which features are required or unwanted.
Entry price is the cheapest paid plan per user per month on annual billing in October 2026, before base fees, minimums and add-ons.
The 12 tools, alphabetically
One line each; the matrix and plan ladders carry the detail.
- Clockify: free for five, cheapest paid ladder.
- DeskTime: cheapest automatic tracker with scheduling.
- Everhour: tracking inside the tools you already use.
- Harvest: time to invoice to payment in one flow.
- Hubstaff: time, proof and payment in one.
- Jibble: free for unlimited users with GPS and a kiosk.
- QuickBooks Time: the time clock that feeds QuickBooks.
- Time Champ: automatic attendance and time from $3.90.
- Time Doctor: remote tracking with payroll and balance reports.
- TimeCamp: free for unlimited users, then a cheap ladder.
- Timely: automatic, private capture with AI timesheets.
- Toggl Track: the tracker people keep using.
Comparison at a glance
Fourteen criteria. Yes means the capability exists on some plan; the plan ladders below say which.
| Tool | Entry price per user | Free plan | Minimum seats | Platforms | Automatic tracking | Approvals | Invoicing | Payroll | GPS | Screenshots | Offline | Budgets | Attendance | Kiosk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Clockify | $3.99 | Free for up to 5 users | None | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, kiosk | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
 DeskTime | $6.42 | Free Lite plan for one user | None | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
 Everhour | $8.5 | Free for up to 5 users, no integrations | 5 | Web and browser extension inside Asana, Jira, ClickUp, monday, Trello, GitHub, Notion and others; iOS | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
 Harvest | $9 | Free for 1 seat and 2 projects | None | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, browser extensions | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
 Hubstaff | $4.99 | 14-day trial, no free plan | 2 | Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebook, iOS, Android | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
 Jibble | $4.49 | Free with unlimited users | None | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, kiosk, Slack and Teams | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
 QuickBooks Time | $10 | 30-day trial, no free plan | None | Web, iOS, Android, kiosk | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
 Time Champ | $3.9 | Free trial without a card | None | Windows, macOS, Linux; iOS and Android for GPS | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
 Time Doctor | $6.7 | 14-day trial, no free plan | None | Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
 TimeCamp | $3.99 | Free with unlimited users (basic timesheets) | None | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, kiosk | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
 Timely | $9 | No free plan; trial | None | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
 Toggl Track | $9 | Free plan for very small teams | None | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, browser extensions | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
The tools in detail
Clockify
Free for five, cheapest paid ladderPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Free covers five users with timers, timesheets, auto tracker, calendar, apps and reports. Basic ($3.99) adds entering time for others, kiosk, bulk edit and project templates. Standard ($5.49) adds time off, invoicing, approvals, attendance and overtime and QuickBooks sync. Pro ($7.99) adds scheduling, forecasting, expenses, labour cost, budgets, GPS, activity monitoring and custom fields. Enterprise ($11.99) adds SSO, SCIM, audit logs and a custom subdomain. Monthly billing is $4.99, $6.99, $9.99 and $14.99.
In one line
Clockify is the value column: free for five, the cheapest ladder, and almost every feature somewhere on it.
Where it falls short
- Approvals and time off start at Standard; GPS and scheduling at Pro
- Interface is dense once every module is on
- Support is slower on the lower tiers
DeskTime
Cheapest automatic tracker with schedulingPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Lite is free for one user. Pro ($6.42) adds URL and app tracking, productivity calculation, project tracking, offline time and calendar integrations. Premium ($9.17) adds screenshots, shift scheduling, the absence calendar, integrations and API. Enterprise is quoted for 200-plus users. Monthly billing is $7 and $10.
In one line
DeskTime is the automatic-and-cheap column: productivity scoring, private time, shifts, screenshots on Premium.
Where it falls short
- Screenshots only on Premium
- Productivity scoring needs tuning
- No invoicing or approvals
Everhour
Tracking inside the tools you already usePlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Free covers five users with tracking, projects, reports and export but no integrations. Team ($8.50, five-seat minimum, $10 monthly) includes every integration, budgets and alerts, invoicing, time off and accruals, scheduling, SSO and permissions. Custom is quoted from 50 seats with volume pricing and an account manager.
In one line
Everhour is the integration column: time and budgets inside the project tool, five-seat minimum, no offline or GPS.
Where it falls short
- Five-seat minimum on the paid plan
- Useless without one of its integrations
- No desktop automatic tracking or GPS
Harvest
Time to invoice to payment in one flowPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Free covers one seat and two projects with time, invoicing and expenses. Teams ($9) adds unlimited seats and team reporting. Enterprise ($14) adds profitability reporting, timesheet approvals, unlimited custom reports and SAML SSO. Enterprise Plus is quoted. Monthly billing is $11 and $17.50, and usage above the plan's included invoices, projects and clients can be billed.
In one line
Harvest is the billing column: time to invoice to payment, approvals and profitability on Enterprise, no automatic tracking.
Where it falls short
- Approvals and profitability need Enterprise at $14
- Usage-based billing can grow with invoices and projects
- No automatic tracking, GPS or attendance
Hubstaff
Time, proof and payment in onePlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Starter ($4.99) covers time, timesheets, limited screenshots and activity with a two-seat minimum. Grow ($7.50) adds projects, budgets, reports and integrations. Team ($10) adds unlimited screenshots, app and URL tracking, payroll, scheduling, idle timeouts and expenses. Enterprise ($25, annual) adds SSO and provisioning. Monthly billing is $7, $9 and $12.
In one line
Hubstaff is the proof-of-work column: screenshots, activity, GPS and payroll on every platform.
Where it falls short
- Activity scores reward input
- Two-seat minimum
- Monitoring is the point, which not every team wants
Jibble
Free for unlimited users with GPS and a kioskPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Free covers unlimited users with timesheets, GPS, projects, overtime rules, the kiosk and integrations. Premium (roughly $4.49 per user on annual billing) adds geofencing, custom permissions, work schedules and payroll exports. Ultimate (roughly $7.99) adds live location, advanced reports and project costing. Enterprise is quoted. Jibble does not publish a fixed table and the figures vary by source; get the quote in writing.
In one line
Jibble is the free attendance column: unlimited users, GPS, facial recognition kiosk, unpublished paid prices.
Where it falls short
- Paid pricing is not published as a fixed table
- Reporting and project tracking are lighter than the project tools
- Facial recognition raises Illinois and Texas biometric law obligations
QuickBooks Time
The time clock that feeds QuickBooksPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Premium is a $20 monthly base fee plus $10 per user, with mobile clock-in, GPS, scheduling, time off, kiosk, photo attachments and alerts. Elite is $40 plus $12 per user and adds geofencing, mileage, project deadlines, budget-versus-actual and timesheet signatures. Introductory base fees of $10 and $20 apply for three months. Both are sold with QuickBooks Online and carry a 30-day trial.
In one line
QuickBooks Time is the payroll column: a time clock with GPS and kiosk that feeds QuickBooks, priced with a base fee.
Where it falls short
- Base fee plus per-user pricing is expensive for small teams
- Tied to QuickBooks Online
- Not a project time tracker for knowledge work
Time Champ
Automatic attendance and time from $3.90Plans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Starter ($3.90) covers automatic attendance, app and website tracking, productivity classification, timesheets, offline tracking and time zones. Professional ($6.90) adds silent tracking, screenshots, idle timeouts, shifts, hierarchies and more reports. Enterprise ($13.90) adds live views, alerts, custom reports and SSO. Project management and HR are add-ons.
In one line
Time Champ is the attendance column: automatic attendance with time zones and offline tracking at the lowest full-plan price.
Where it falls short
- Short detailed history below Enterprise
- Project management and HR are add-ons
- Smaller review base than the leaders
Time Doctor
Remote tracking with payroll and balance reportsPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Basic ($6.70) covers tracking, screenshots, timeline, offline sync and projects. Standard ($11.70) adds web and app use, attendance, breaks, payroll, the Office versus Remote report and 60-plus integrations. Premium ($16.70) adds screen video, AI reporting, two years of history and a success manager. Monthly billing is $8, $14 and $20.
In one line
Time Doctor is the remote-team column: attendance, payroll, integrations and overwork reporting from Standard.
Where it falls short
- Payroll and integrations start at $11.70
- Screenshots and activity draw objections
- Interface shows its age
TimeCamp
Free for unlimited users, then a cheap ladderPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Free covers unlimited users with timesheets, apps and the AI tracker. Starter ($3.99) adds the attendance calendar, invoicing, exports, time off and overtime. Premium ($6.99) adds the resource planner, billable time, budgets and estimates, app and website tracking and one integration. Ultimate ($9.99) adds custom fields, remote work detection, approvals, billing rates, expenses, screenshots and unlimited integrations. Enterprise is quoted from 50 users with self-hosting, geofencing, SLA and audit logs. Monthly billing is $5.49, $9.99 and $13.99.
In one line
TimeCamp is the free-for-unlimited column with attendance, budgets, screenshots and self-hosting up the ladder.
Where it falls short
- Approvals and screenshots need Ultimate at $9.99
- Geofencing only on Enterprise
- Reporting is weaker than Harvest's for billing
Timely
Automatic, private capture with AI timesheetsPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Starter ($9) covers up to five users and twenty projects with automatic Memory capture and AI timesheets. Premium ($16) lifts the cap to fifty users and unlimited projects and adds project management and accounting integrations and team administration. Unlimited ($22) removes the caps and adds capacity management and overtime and undertime monitoring. Enterprise is quoted. The Tasks module is a $5-plus add-on. Monthly billing is $11, $20 and $28.
In one line
Timely is the privacy column: automatic capture visible only to the user, AI timesheets, capacity, the highest price.
Where it falls short
- The most expensive tracker here per seat
- User caps on Starter (5) and Premium (50)
- No approvals, invoicing or GPS
Toggl Track
The tracker people keep usingPlans and add-ons
Plan ladder. Free covers very small teams with timers, the desktop timeline, reports and integrations. Starter ($9) adds billable rates, team reports, PTO and public holidays, timeline views, tags and milestones. Premium ($16) adds labour costs and profitability, fixed-fee projects, project dashboards, timesheet approvals, data accuracy features, Jira and Asana integrations and SSO. Enterprise is quoted with onboarding, custom roles and multiple workspaces. Monthly billing is $12 and $24.
In one line
Toggl Track is the adoption column: timers on every platform, a private timeline, no monitoring, approvals only on Premium.
Where it falls short
- Approvals and labour cost need Premium at $16
- No invoicing, payroll or GPS
- The free plan has become smaller over time
How to read the matrix
Cross out first: a platform you need that is missing, a minimum above your team, a price above your ceiling. Then decide what must be absent as well as present; a team that wants no monitoring should prefer the tools that cannot take screenshots (Toggl, Harvest, Everhour, Timely, Jibble, QuickBooks Time) over those that can but are switched off. Then check the free plan column carefully, because "free" ranges from one seat and two projects (Harvest) to unlimited users (Jibble, TimeCamp). Only then compare the yeses.
Price at 5, 15 and 50 users
| Tool and plan | 5 users | 15 users | 50 users | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jibble Free | $0 | $0 | $0 | Unlimited users |
| TimeCamp Free | $0 | $0 | $0 | Unlimited users, basic timesheets |
| Clockify Free / Basic ($3.99) | $0 | $59.85 | $199.50 | Free to five users |
| Time Champ Starter ($3.90) | $19.50 | $58.50 | $195 | |
| TimeCamp Starter ($3.99) | $19.95 | $59.85 | $199.50 | Attendance and invoicing |
| Hubstaff Starter ($4.99) | $24.95 | $74.85 | $249.50 | Two-seat minimum |
| Clockify Standard ($5.49) | $27.45 | $82.35 | $274.50 | Approvals, time off, invoicing |
| DeskTime Pro ($6.42) | $32.10 | $96.30 | $321 | |
| Time Doctor Basic ($6.70) | $33.50 | $100.50 | $335 | Standard at $11.70 is the realistic plan |
| Everhour Team ($8.50) | $42.50 | $127.50 | $425 | Five-seat minimum |
| Toggl Starter ($9) | $45 | $135 | $450 | Premium $16 for approvals |
| Harvest Teams ($9) | $45 | $135 | $450 | Enterprise $14 for approvals |
| Timely Starter ($9) | $45 | Premium $240 | Premium $800 | Starter capped at 5 users |
| QuickBooks Time Premium ($20 + $10) | $70 | $170 | $520 | Base fee included |
Monthly totals on annual billing at October 2026 prices. At five users the free plans and the $4 tier dominate; at fifty the spread is about $195 to $800 a month, and the plan with approvals is usually a tier above the one shown.
Three ways to shortlist
- By kind: billing trackers (Toggl, Harvest, Everhour, Timely), time clocks (QuickBooks Time, Jibble, Clockify and TimeCamp in attendance mode), automatic trackers (Timely, DeskTime, Time Champ), trackers with monitoring (Hubstaff, Time Doctor).
- By situation: the employer page, the teams page and the remote employees page each rank a subset for one case.
- By what the hours become: an invoice (Harvest, Everhour, Toggl), a payroll run (QuickBooks Time, Hubstaff, Time Doctor, Jibble), a capacity report (Timely, Toggl, Clockify Pro), or an attendance record (Time Champ, Jibble, TimeCamp, Clockify).
How these tools were evaluated
I evaluated each tool against the same checklist: what it captures and how configurable that is, which platforms it runs on, how it treats the employee (visible or silent agent, access to their own data, screenshot blurring and private time), what the published pricing is and what the minimum commitment really costs, how long data is kept, where it can be deployed, and what the vendor's own documentation and verified user reviews say about reliability and support. Pricing was taken from each vendor's pricing page in October 2026; where a vendor publishes no price, the page says so rather than guessing. Free plans and trials were used where they exist. I did not run a formal benchmark, and the page does not claim one.
Disclosure. I have done work for Time Champ. It appears here because it belongs in this category, it is held to the same criteria as every other product, its drawbacks are listed like everyone else's, and it bought no placement. There are no affiliate or vendor links on this page.
Key takeaways
- Twelve tools, fourteen criteria, no ranking; filter by platform, price and features before reading anything else.
- Free ranges from one seat and two projects to unlimited users; read the free plan column, not the word.
- Entry prices run from free to $9 per user plus QuickBooks Time's base fee; the plan with approvals is usually a tier up.
- Shortlist by kind, by situation, or by what the hours become.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare time tracking software?
Cross out tools that miss a platform you need, have a seat minimum above your team or cost more than your ceiling; decide which features must be absent as well as present; read the free plan limits carefully; then compare features. The filter and matrix on this page follow that order.
Which time tracking software has the best free plan?
Jibble (unlimited users with GPS, timesheets, overtime rules and a kiosk) and TimeCamp (unlimited users for basic timesheets) are the most generous. Clockify is free for five users with a full tracker. Toggl Track is free for very small teams, Harvest for one seat and two projects, DeskTime for one user. Everhour's free plan has no integrations.
Which time tracking tools have no screenshots or monitoring?
Toggl Track, Harvest, Everhour, Timely, Jibble and QuickBooks Time do not take screenshots on any plan. Clockify, TimeCamp, DeskTime, Time Champ, Hubstaff and Time Doctor offer screenshots on some plan; on Clockify, TimeCamp and DeskTime they are upper-tier features that are off unless bought.
Which time trackers include payroll?
QuickBooks Time feeds QuickBooks payroll directly; Hubstaff and Time Doctor have payroll modules; Jibble and Clockify export to payroll providers. Toggl, Harvest, Everhour, Timely, DeskTime and Time Champ track hours but do not run payroll.
Which time tracking software works on Linux?
Toggl Track, Clockify, TimeCamp, Hubstaff, Time Doctor, DeskTime and Time Champ have Linux desktop apps. Harvest, Timely and Jibble do not (web access works); Everhour is a browser extension; QuickBooks Time is web and mobile.
What does the entry price leave out?
Base fees (QuickBooks Time's $20 or $40 a month), seat minimums (Hubstaff two, Everhour five), the plan that actually carries approvals, invoicing or payroll (often one or two tiers up), add-ons, and monthly versus annual billing, which differs by 15 to 30 per cent across these tools.