Best Time Tracking Apps for Freelancers | 2024 Edition

I researched and found some of the best time-tracking apps you can get right now.

While these apps are best for individual freelancers, some of them are also designed for teams in a corporate environment. Give them a try and see what works for you.

If I were to use any, I would go back to Clockify and give Forest a try to see how it boosts my productivity.

What Isn’t Included

I won’t include apps that only track app usage or stopwatch apps. You can access the latter function in your clock app already. Instead, the apps I cover will include features like report generation, timesheets, invoices and more. There’s only one exception at the end.

The Best Time Tracking Apps for Freelancers

These are some of the best apps to record your work hours or activities. I’ll include links for the Android and iOS apps unless one of the operating systems isn’t available. Without further ado, let’s get into the time-tracker apps.

You might find these business tablets compatible with the apps I covered above. Otherwise, you can pick from these iPad models.

Clockify

Clockify is an app I used extensively when I first started writing. Long story short, I was in the U.S. and was allowed to work full-time for a year while submitting work hours regularly. I decided on Clockify because it was free to use, and the free plan had all the functions a freelancer needed. There are also no ads at all.

While Clockify works well for solo freelancers, it can also help teams track workloads and tasks. The free plan already supports unlimited users, so freelancers and their clients can all be on the same page. Some handy functions I particularly like are manually adding time if you forget, rapid report generation, and offline mode in case your internet connection fails.

The wealth of customization Clockify offers is what made me gravitate to it. I don’t use the app now, but I still like it and will recommend it to anyone. Whether you need a simple time-tracker app or an advanced tool, Clockify will work for anyone. Get the iOS version here.

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Toggl Track

Toggl Track (Apple users click here) takes time seriously and claims to help you save 40 hours a month. It’s free to use for up to five users. If you need more, a paid subscription will unlock more slots. Paid users enjoy advantages like unlimited data storage periods, time rounding and billable rates. There are zero ads, which is another good sign.

Something that caught my eye was Toggl Track offering the Pomodoro technique. This working style advocates working in 25-minute increments before taking a five-minute break. Toggl Track will count these increments and tell you when to take a break.

After using Toggl Track for a while, the app will offer suggestions on what projects you might want to track time for. If you aren’t a fan of keeping the app in the foreground, you can place a widget on your home screen that lets you start tracking time or stop. The manual time-adding mode is there for precision users who want every second accounted for.

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Paymo

While some time-tracking apps work for individuals and teams, Paymo was explicitly designed for teams. Managers can create projects and assign tasks to members before setting time budgets. Of course, the simple stopwatch tracker is available, and you can manually add lost minutes later. Besides the stopwatch, Paymo also records how long you spend on various apps to help you understand your work habits.

The free plan includes perks like unlimited users, unlimited time tracking and unlimited invoices. You’re limited to five clients and 10 projects at a time, but you can create as many tasks as necessary. The app also confines you to the standard task list view.

Users who upgrade will gain access to unlimited projects and clients while also being able to request in-app tech support. Kanban board and calendar task list views become available, too.

Get Paymo from the Apple Play Store if you need to work on the go using iOS.

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aTimeLogger

Let’s take a step back from apps aimed toward teams and return to apps like aTimeLogger. This app isn’t strictly for work, but I included it because having a healthy work-life balance is crucial for success as a freelancer.

Users can select what type of activities to track time for and tap on a button to start. You can swap activities and review your whole day in a pie chart. The goal function lets you set daily or weekly goals to reach, and you can quickly check your progress later or find out in real time as the app sends notifications. The app lets you export reports in CSV or HTML formats for those who want to keep records. What I like about aTimeLogger is how simple the layout is despite having several functions.

You can download aTimeLogger for iOS devices here, but the app is also available for smartwatch users running Wear OS. Wear OS used to be called Android Wear.

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My Hours

My Hours is a time-tracking app from Spica for individuals and teams. It’s free, but the Pro version has plenty of extra features. As a time-tracker app, My Hours doesn’t disappoint, as the free plan ships with unlimited projects and clients while allowing rather detailed reports and billable rates, which are features often locked behind a paywall.

Among the apps I’ve seen so far, My Hours shines in report generation and project analytics. There are several types of reports, including Detailed, Dashboard, Detailed, Timesheet and Team Pivot. Detailed and Dashboard reports are free, but the others are only usable if you upgrade. All of these can be downloaded as PDFs or exported as XLS files.

Time-tracking apps may come with screen monitoring or action-tracking features, but My Hours promises managers cannot tell what you’re doing. If you agree with this philosophy, this app is perfect. Additionally, Spica ensures My Hours is Microsoft Azure certified and meets stringent security standards. I’m impressed at how generous the free plan’s feature set is.

There is an iOS version on the Apple App Store.

Read: Best Writing Apps For Android

TimeCamp

TimeCamp offers many standard time-tracking features on the free plan, but there are paid plans for users who want premium features like Excel file reports, attendance-taking, overtime and even scheduled email reports. There’s even a geofencing feature that lets managers track time globally, available for free. The free forever plan will suffice for most freelancers since it supports unlimited users and projects, but not tasks.

While you can tap a button to start tracking time or add your hours manually, TimeCamp has an automatic time-tracking feature. By setting up keywords, the app will track if you’re using a specific site or other apps and organize these statistics into a report. It’s useful for teams and individual freelancers who want to fine-tune their workflow and time management.

Another simple but effective function you may like from TimeCamp is the ability to copy time entries. This is perfect if the next day’s schedule is identical to today’s, so you can instantly copy and paste before continuing with your day. If you’re interested, grab TimeCamp for iOS here.

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Forest

Forest is more of a productivity app than the ones we covered, but I find its concept helpful for time tracking if you don’t need any complex functions. It works by placing an on-screen timer on your phone that looks like a tree. When you want to start the timer, tap “plant.” Eventually, the more trees you plant, the more your virtual forest grows, giving you a sense of accomplishment.

The app also stores these records and lets you access them later on. These reports can range from daily work to a pie chart. What I find interesting is you can even challenge friends to see who stays the most focused.

If you happen to be environmentally conscious, Forest has your back. While you plant a virtual forest of productivity, the company works with Trees for the Future to plant real ones. Users who spend virtual coins earned from using the app will be pleased to know they go to planting real trees.

Get Forest for iOS here.

Read: iPad vs. Samsung Tablets: Which Side Should You Be On?

Before You Go

Accurate time tracking requires you to remember to start and stop the clock and we find it very useful if you owned a separate monitor where you can leave the clock running. Why not find out how you can use your Android tablet as a monitor?