Top Time Tracking Tools for Teams: Budgets and Approvals
A team's time tracking has a different job from an individual's. The hours have to roll up into project budgets, the budgets have to warn before they are blown, a lead has to approve the week, and the result has to say something about capacity: who is overloaded, who has room, and whether the next project fits. The tools that do this well either live inside the project tool the team already uses or make the timer so painless that a whole team keeps using it, because team data is only as good as the least diligent member.
I reviewed eight tools for team use, with pricing checked in October 2026. The first three are the ones I would trial with a team; the rest fit particular team shapes. The general review covers the full field of twelve and the employer page covers time clocks and payroll.
Which tool fits your team
Five questions about where work is planned, what the hours become and how the team should record them.
Everhour drops out without a project tool to live in; Timely and Toggl drop out if proof of work is required.
The 8 tools for teams
Three to trial first, then five by team shape.
Everhour if the team plans in Asana, Jira, ClickUp or monday.com, Toggl Track if adoption is the problem, Harvest if the hours become client invoices.
Everhour
Time and budgets inside the project tool
See the detail
Toggl Track
The tracker teams keep using, with approvals on Premium
See the detail
Harvest
Budgets, approvals, invoices and profitability
See the detailThe rest, alphabetically:
- Clockify: approvals from $5.49, scheduling from $7.99.
- Timely: automatic capture, AI timesheets and capacity.
- TimeCamp: budgets and resource planning from $6.99.
- Hubstaff: project budgets with proof of work and payroll.
- DeskTime: automatic project tracking and scheduling.
Comparison at a glance
Pricing per user per month on annual billing as published in October 2026. For teams, the plan with approvals is the one to price.
| Tool | Positioned for | Pricing checked October 2026 | Where it falls short |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everhour | Teams working in Asana, Jira, ClickUp or monday | Free for up to 5 users without integrations; Team $8.50 per seat per month billed annually ($10 monthly) with a 5-seat minimum; Custom from 50 seats; 14-day trial | 5-seat minimum; needs an integration |
| Toggl Track | Teams that want adoption first | Free for very small teams; Starter $9 and Premium $16 per user per month billed annually ($12 and $24 monthly); Enterprise by quote | No invoicing; $16 for approvals |
| Harvest | Agencies and consultancies billing clients | Free for one seat and two projects; Teams $9 and Enterprise $14 per seat per month billed annually ($11 and $17.50 monthly); Enterprise Plus by quote; 30-day trial | Approvals and profitability at $14 |
 Clockify | Teams on a budget that want approvals and scheduling | Free for up to 5 users; Basic $3.99, Standard $5.49, Pro $7.99, Enterprise $11.99 per seat per month billed annually ($4.99, $6.99, $9.99, $14.99 monthly) | Features spread across tiers |
 Timely | Teams that want capacity planning without timesheets | Starter $9 (up to 5 users, 20 projects), Premium $16 (up to 50 users), Unlimited $22 per user per month billed annually ($11, $20, $28 monthly); Enterprise by quote; Tasks add-on from $5 | Expensive; user caps on lower plans |
 TimeCamp | Teams that want a resource planner cheaply | Free with unlimited users; Starter $3.99, Premium $6.99, Ultimate $9.99 per user per month billed annually ($5.49, $9.99, $13.99 monthly); Enterprise by quote from 50 users with self-hosting | Approvals at $9.99 |
 Hubstaff | Distributed teams paid by the hour | Starter $4.99, Grow $7.50, Team $10, Enterprise $25 per seat per month billed annually ($7, $9, $12 monthly); 2-seat minimum | Activity scores; 2-seat minimum |
 DeskTime | Small teams that want automatic tracking and shifts | Free Lite for one user; Pro $6.42 and Premium $9.17 per user per month billed annually ($7 and $10 monthly); Enterprise by quote | No approvals or budgets |
The tools in detail
Everhour
Time and budgets inside the project toolWhat it is
Time tracking embedded inside Asana, Jira, ClickUp, monday.com and the other project tools, with budgets, invoicing and time off.
Why it is on this list
Everhour leads for teams because the best time tracker for a team is the one nobody has to open, and Everhour adds timers, estimates and budgets inside Asana, Jira, ClickUp, monday.com, Trello, Notion and GitHub. Budgets and alerts live where the work is planned, so overruns show up in the sprint, not the invoice. The five-seat minimum and the dependence on an integration are the limits; without one of its host tools it is pointless.
Where it is strong
- Tracking inside Asana, Jira, ClickUp and the rest; no separate app
- Budgets and estimates where the work is planned
- Invoicing, time off and scheduling included
- SSO on the standard paid plan
Where it falls short
- Five-seat minimum on the paid plan
- Useless without one of its integrations
- No desktop automatic tracking or GPS
Toggl Track
The tracker teams keep using, with approvals on PremiumWhat it is
A timer-and-reports time tracker on every platform, with billable rates and budgets, approvals on Premium, and a principled refusal to add screenshots.
Why it is on this list
Toggl Track is second because team time data is only as good as the team's compliance, and Toggl's one-click timer, private timeline and project reports get the highest compliance in the category. Premium adds timesheet approvals, labour cost and profitability, project dashboards and Jira and Asana integrations, which is what a team lead needs; the lack of invoicing is the gap for agencies.
Where it is strong
- The simplest tracker to adopt; people actually use it
- No screenshots or activity scoring, by principle
- Every platform plus a private desktop timeline
- Approvals, labour cost and profitability 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
Harvest
Budgets, approvals, invoices and profitabilityWhat it is
Time and expense tracking that flows into invoices, online payment and accounting, built for businesses that bill clients.
Why it is on this list
Harvest is third for agencies and consultancies, where the team's time has to become budgets, approvals, invoices and a profitability report. Its integrations with Asana, Trello and Basecamp cover planning, and its accounting syncs cover the back end. The team features that matter, approvals and profitability, are on Enterprise at $14.
Where it is strong
- Time to invoice to payment in one flow
- Expenses, budgets and profitability reporting
- Deep integrations with project and accounting tools
- A 30-day trial and a free single-seat plan
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
Clockify
Approvals from $5.49, scheduling from $7.99What it is
The broadest free time tracker, five users at no cost, with the cheapest paid ladder adding time off, invoicing, approvals, scheduling and GPS.
Why it is on this list
Clockify is here for teams that want approvals, time off and invoicing at $5.49, and scheduling, forecasting, budgets and labour cost at $7.99, which no other team tool matches on price. The interface gets dense as modules are switched on, and the free tier covers a five-person team outright.
Where it is strong
- Free for five users with real features
- The cheapest paid ladder here, from $3.99
- Kiosk, time off, invoicing, approvals, scheduling and GPS as you climb
- Part of a bundle with chat and project tools
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
Timely
Automatic capture, AI timesheets and capacityWhat it is
Automatic time capture that stays private to the user until an AI-drafted timesheet is approved; capacity monitoring, no screenshots.
Why it is on this list
Timely is on the list for teams that want capacity planning and accurate time without asking anyone to run a timer: Memory captures the day privately, AI drafts the timesheet, the person approves, and the Unlimited plan reports capacity, overtime and undertime across the team. It is the most expensive option here and caps users on the lower plans.
Where it is strong
- Automatic capture that stays private until the user approves it
- AI-drafted timesheets that cut entry time
- Capacity and overtime monitoring
- No screenshots or activity scores
Where it falls short
- The most expensive tracker here per seat
- User caps on Starter (5) and Premium (50)
- No approvals, invoicing or GPS
TimeCamp
Budgets and resource planning from $6.99What it is
A free-for-unlimited-users tracker that adds attendance, invoicing, budgets, approvals, screenshots and self-hosting as you climb the plans.
Why it is on this list
TimeCamp is here because its Premium plan at $6.99 carries a resource planner, budgets and estimates and billable time, a combination that costs more everywhere else, with approvals and unlimited integrations arriving at $9.99.
Where it is strong
- Free with unlimited users
- Attendance, invoicing and budgets at low prices
- Kiosk, geofencing and self-hosting available
- AI tracker suggests entries from activity
Where it falls short
- Approvals and screenshots need Ultimate at $9.99
- Geofencing only on Enterprise
- Reporting is weaker than Harvest's for billing
Hubstaff
Project budgets with proof of work and payrollWhat it is
A time tracker for distributed and field teams with screenshots, activity, GPS, payroll and invoicing, on every platform.
Why it is on this list
Hubstaff is on the list for distributed teams paid by the hour, where project budgets need proof of work behind them and payroll at the end. It is a monitoring tool as well, which is a decision rather than a feature.
Where it is strong
- Time, proof of work, GPS and payment in one product
- Every platform including Linux and Chromebook
- Largest review base in the category
- Cheap entry plan
Where it falls short
- Activity scores reward input
- Two-seat minimum
- Monitoring is the point, which not every team wants
DeskTime
Automatic project tracking and schedulingWhat it is
Automatic tracking with productivity scoring, a private time switch, shift scheduling and an absence calendar; screenshots only on Premium.
Why it is on this list
DeskTime closes the list for small teams that want projects tracked automatically and shifts scheduled without approvals or invoicing, at the lowest price here; the private time switch keeps automatic tracking acceptable.
Where it is strong
- Automatic tracking with a private time switch
- Shift scheduling and absence calendar
- Low price and a free single-user plan
- Linux and mobile apps
Where it falls short
- Screenshots only on Premium
- Productivity scoring needs tuning
- No invoicing or approvals
What team time tracking has to do
- Roll up to projects and budgets, with alerts before the budget is spent. Everhour, Harvest, Toggl Premium, Clockify Pro, TimeCamp Premium and Timely all do this; the difference is where the budget lives.
- Approve the week. A lead's sign-off with an audit trail; on Toggl Premium, Harvest Enterprise, Clockify Standard, TimeCamp Ultimate, Everhour and Hubstaff.
- Report capacity. Hours against availability, by person and by week. Timely Unlimited, Toggl Premium, Clockify Pro and TimeCamp Premium have planning views; the capacity planning guide explains what to do with them.
- Integrate with the planning tool, so estimates and actuals meet. Everhour is built on this; Toggl, Harvest and Clockify connect.
- Get used by everyone. One lagging member breaks the budget maths. Toggl and Timely have the strongest adoption records; the rollout guide covers the introduction.
Budgets and estimates: where they should live
A project budget in hours is only useful if the people doing the work see it while they work. That is the case for Everhour inside Asana or Jira, where the estimate and the time logged sit on the task, and against it for a budget that lives in a separate tracker the team opens once a week. Harvest's budgets are visible to whoever runs the project and surface in the invoice; Toggl's and Clockify's are visible in the tracker's dashboards; Timely's are visible in capacity reports. Choose based on who needs to see the overrun coming: the person logging the time, the project lead, or the person sending the bill. The billable hours calculator covers the utilisation and realisation maths a team budget feeds.
Team tracking without surveillance
Team time tracking does not require monitoring, and most of the tools here do none. Toggl, Everhour, Harvest, Timely and TimeCamp's lower plans record what the person enters or approves and nothing else; Timely goes further by keeping its automatic capture private until the user releases it. Hubstaff and the upper tiers of Clockify and TimeCamp add screenshots and activity, which is a different purchase and should be made as one. For a knowledge team the evidence on output metrics and switching costs points at measuring the work rather than the worker, and the time data is most useful as capacity information, not as proof.
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
- Team time tracking has to roll up to budgets, be approved, report capacity, integrate with planning and be used by everyone.
- Everhour inside the project tool, Toggl Track for adoption, Harvest for client invoicing; Clockify is the budget option with approvals from $5.49.
- Put the budget where the person who must see the overrun will see it: the task, the dashboard or the invoice.
- Team tracking does not need screenshots; buy monitoring separately and deliberately if you need it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time tracking tool for teams?
Everhour if the team plans work in Asana, Jira, ClickUp, monday.com, Trello or Notion, because it tracks time and budgets inside those tools. Toggl Track if getting the whole team to track consistently is the problem. Harvest if the hours become client invoices. Clockify for approvals, scheduling and budgets at the lowest price, and Timely for capacity planning without timers.
Which time tracking tools integrate with Asana and Jira?
Everhour embeds timers and budgets directly in both. Toggl Track Premium, Harvest, Clockify and TimeCamp connect through integrations that sync projects and tasks. Timely syncs with project tools on its Premium plan. Check whether the integration shows time inside the task or only imports the task list.
How do teams track time against project budgets?
Set an hours or cost budget per project, log time against the project's tasks, and have the tool alert at thresholds (typically 80 and 100 per cent). Everhour, Harvest, Toggl Premium, Clockify Pro, TimeCamp Premium and Timely all support budgets; the difference is whether the person logging time sees the budget while working.
Do team time trackers need timesheet approvals?
If the hours feed invoices, payroll or client reports, yes. Approvals are on Toggl Premium, Harvest Enterprise, Clockify Standard, TimeCamp Ultimate, Everhour Team and Hubstaff. Trust-based internal teams using the data only for capacity can skip them.
Can a team track time without monitoring employees?
Yes, and most team tools do: Toggl, Everhour, Harvest, Timely and the lower tiers of Clockify and TimeCamp record only what the person enters or approves. Timely's automatic capture stays private to the user. Screenshots and activity scores are a separate product decision and only Hubstaff and the upper tiers here include them.
How much does team time tracking cost?
For the plan with approvals, in October 2026: Clockify $5.49, TimeCamp $9.99, Everhour $8.50 (five-seat minimum), Hubstaff $10, Harvest $14, Toggl $16, Timely $22 for the full capacity plan, per user per month on annual billing. A team of ten therefore pays roughly $55 to $220 a month.