Are Time Tracking Extensions Worth It? Best Ones Reviewed

Whether you like it or not, time is like slime. It's slippery, almost liquidy: one moment, you're focused and on task, and the next, you're 143 LinkedIn comments deep into a rabbit hole on "how your thoughts shape your reality". And that's probably why you use time tracking browser extensions that promise to help manage your time better.

Holding yourself accountable is amazing.

But let’s be real, most of these extensions are Big Brothers that keep a watchful eye over what you do only in browsers—most likely Chrome.

And (work) life doesn’t happen exclusively in Chrome. You also juggle between Slack/Teams, spreadsheets, various project management apps, and local files and documents.

So, you probably need something more than a time tracker extension.

Something like a handy time assistant to track everything you do and help you focus.

Hmm… I am getting ahead of myself.

For now, all I’m asking is two things.

First, before you install another Chrome extension that claims to “save your time”, consider whether that tool covers the full scope of your work. After all, effective time management isn’t just about tracking activity in Chrome or other browsers—it’s about ensuring your time doesn’t keep slipping away.

And second, please read or at least skim through this article. This blog post explores the best timer extensions and the pros and cons of installing an extension. We also provide you with a dedicated time tracking solution that doesn't just peek into what you're doing in browsers.

So, if you are ready to talk about time tracking browser extensions and a tool that can actually keep up with you, just keep going.

How time tracking browser extensions work

I’m pretty sure you know what time tracking extensions are, but let’s go over the definition briefly.

In the simplest terms, they are tools, like time tracking plugins, you add to your web browsers (like Chrome, Firefox, or Edge) to monitor how much time you spend on different websites and web applications. They count how many hours and minutes you have spent on all web applications you visited.

They track your online activity一not your entire activity一often categorizing time based on the websites you visit, the tasks you're working on, or the type of content you're interacting with. 

They run in the background, recording your browsing habits and offering insights into your productivity so you can see where and how you spend your time during workdays.

Some of these extensions also offer additional features like reminders, reports, or even the ability to block distracting sites. Many time tracking browser extensions are marketed as tools to improve time management, help you stay focused, and track billable hours.

Pros and cons of time tracking plugins

Time tracking browser extensions can be beneficial for productivity and project management, but they come with several drawbacks. Here’s a breakdown of their pros and cons.

✅ Pros:

• They give you insight into your productivity. Time tracking extensions can help you visualize where your time goes, often through charts or reports, so you understand your daily patterns and identify productivity slumps.
• They can help you improve focus. Knowing your time in browsers is being tracked can encourage you to stay on task and avoid distracting sites and other productivity killers.
• They can help you become more efficient at project management. Extensions can help you manage multiple tasks by breaking down how much time is spent on each, which is useful when you’re billing clients, estimating project timelines, or setting more realistic goals.
• They can help you improve your overall workflow, to some extent. Time tracking browser extensions often integrate with project management tools (like Asana) to help you be more efficient and have a centralized view of your productivity.
• They can track personal and work-related tasks. Some extensions allow you to set custom tags or labels to quickly spot the difference between personal and business tasks so you can improve organization.

⛔ And here are the cons:

• You could be worried about your privacy. Having your browser data collected can be pretty uncomfortable, as you might be concerned about the risk of data leaks.
• Your well-being might be at risk. If installing such time trackers gives you a feeling of being monitored, you’ll start to get anxious and create counterproductive working habits.
• You won’t get 100% accurate information on your productivity. Browser extensions can collect your time in browsers, so even if you are checking your personal email or shopping online on a break, that data will be included, leading to not 100% accurate data on your productive work hours.
• You aren’t able to track offline activities. If you want to track meetings or phone calls, you’ll have to track these offline tasks separately.
• You have to use a manual start/stop timer. Many browser extensions that integrate with project software prompt you to use a start/stop timer to track tasks. Manual timers are distracting and undermine productivity.

Why we at Memtime have issues with time tracking browser extensions

It’s not that we don’t support tracking time in browsers; we do.

It’s that, in our humble opinion, using these extensions creates more chaos than convenience. And there are two reasons for that.

The first reason

If you have been tracking time for a while, you know there are three basic time tracking methods:

1. Retroactive time tracking, in which you fill out timesheets after you’re done working on tasks. You could edit them daily, weekly, or monthly, and such time tracking brings inaccurate results because you find it hard to remember which tasks exactly you’ve completed and when.
2. Real-time time tracking. This method suggests using a start/stop timer and making notes of what you’re doing when you start a new task. This method is somewhat precise because the data is current (collected in real-time) but requires you to actually remember to start and stop the timer.
3. Automatic time tracking. This method involves a dedicated tool that registers all your computer activity for you. Some of these automatic time trackers are more invasive than others and may come with screen monitoring features. Either way, you get an application that remembers all your time without pressing the Start and Stop buttons on a timer.

Now, the issue with using time tracking browser extensions and their methods for tracking time is that they require you to either manually track your activity or offer semi-automatic time tracking. (Some extensions provide both, so you can switch between modes.)

The extensions that require you to manually track time promote this method as the most reliable, as it gives you “full control” over when time tracking begins and ends, allowing you to log time only for intentional work. We say: time might slip through your fingers again if you don’t remember to start and stop the timer for every small task.

In the domain of automatic time tracking and browser extensions, the extension runs in the background, recording your time spent on various sites or applications without any intervention. 

Such extensions typically categorize time by websites or applications. With this method, you reduce the likelihood of forgotten entries but get less control over what gets logged, and you might have to review and categorize activities afterward.

From all the previously mentioned, we came to this conclusion: no matter which type of time tracking browser extension you choose一the one with a start/stop timer, or an automatic one一you are bound to lose time.

With manual tracking, you’ll have to remember to start and stop the timer, and with automatic, you’ll have to review all your logged time to ensure accuracy.

What a bummer.

The second reason

Browser-based trackers are just that: trackers that work in browsers, tracking all your time in browsers.

If you want to track your offline activities, you’ll have to use another tool for that.

Now, imagine having:

• Two different tools for online and offline time tracking.
• Having to press the start and stop buttons each time you start working on a task, both online and offline.
• Having to do all that while juggling multiple interruptions like Slack pings, email notifications, colleague walk-ins and drop-bys, last-minute meetings, context switching, scope creep, personal to-do reminders, etc. And the list goes on.

It’s all a bit too much.

How Memtime can help

Well, first and foremost, Memtime is not a time tracking browser extension.

It’s a desktop tool, an application, that keeps your life in check.

I use it in my personal and professional life. In fact, I don’t even separate Memtime “for personal” and “for professional use” because it has such a comprehensive, well-rounded, and privacy-first approach to time tracking.

Memtime is designed to give you answers on how you spend time. It’s like a very detailed and organized friend who knows exactly how you spent each moment of your day—without asking for your input or being intrusive.

Think of Memtime as the Marie Kondo of time tracking.

Kondo’s attention to detail and focus on organization aligns perfectly with how Memtime can help you track and optimize your time. Memtime helps you sort through the chaos, giving you clarity and insight so you can have a more organized, productive day. 

It’s efficient, reliable, and always there when you need to assess, adjust, and improve how you spend your time.

Here’s how Memtime works:

• It’s an automatic time tracking desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux, which tracks your time in all browsers AND offline apps.
• It remembers everything you did and for how long, so your day and time in programs (including browsers!) are displayed in 1-60 minute intervals (meaning even the shortest activities will be tracked).
• Looking at your captured activities, you can create time entries.
• You can then export those time entries to a project management tool or log them under Memtime Projects if you don’t use such software.
• Plus, if you don’t want Memtime to remember everything, you can delete the captured activity (like scrolling on LinkedIn or watching YT videos) or tell Memtime to ignore this type of activity in the future. No one has to know. 🤫

Now, the big question surrounding time tracking apps is privacy. Who can view your time tracking data? Can you share them with your coworkers? Can your manager or client get a peek at your productivity?

With Memtime, your data is stored securely offline, visible only to you. Your time tracking information is private and FULLY under your control.

With our app, there’s no such thing as cloud breaches or external access—everything stays local and safe. And if your client or team lead wants to know how you spend time, you can download productivity reports and email them so they can get insight into how you use your time.

Note: If you need an in-depth look at what websites you’ve visited over a particular period, all you need to do is navigate to Memtime’s “Reporting” tab. There, you’ll find the “Visited Websites” pie chart.

If Memtime sounds like your slice of cake, you can sign up for our two-week free trial, without having to type in your credit card details. 🍰

You can create an account in less than 30 seconds, download the app, and let it run in the background as long as your computer is turned on.

A list of time tracking extensions

Now that we’ve gone through all the pros and cons of using time tracking browser extensions and provided you with a solution that evidently has superiority over such extensions, it’s time we list some of these browser plugins.

And if you decide to use any of them from the list, please be careful. They can be useful tools, but many of them rely on cloud storage, which means your data could be exposed to third-party access.

Here’s the list, ordered by the number of active users, from most to least.

#1 Toggl Track: Productivity & Time Tracker

The Toggl Track browser extension comes with one-click functionality. You can track time directly in the browser by pressing the start button, getting tasks done, and pressing the stop button afterward. Your tasks will be reflected in the timesheet.

Here are some useful features and options this extension offers:

• Users can manually edit tracked tasks.
• There’s the option to start time tracking upon opening the browser, and to stop it once the browser is closed.
• You can get notifications for idle time and Pomodoro timer.
• You can set automated reminders to improve your focus.
• You can determine when you want to start auto-tracking, e.g., after 2 seconds of activity.

Chrome Web Store ranking: 4.4 (1.5K ratings)
Number of users: 400,000

#2 Clockify Time Tracker

With 300,000 active users, Clockify time tracking extension is worth checking out.

Like almost any other extension, it promises to track your time spent on tasks, projects, or clients. It comes with a one-click timer (which needs to be started and stopped manually). 

Here are some additional settings you can configure within the extension:

• You can choose to start the timer when you open Chrome and stop the timer once you close it.
• You can enable the Pomodoro timer to track your time within intervals between work and breaks.
• You can choose idle time detections that remove periods of your browser inactivity from the time entries.
• The extension offers automatic sync between platforms, so you can start tracking time on one device and stop it on another.

Please ignore the fact that there are over 165 hours logged. This is what happens with manual start and stop timers. As soon as you focus on work, you forget that they’re running and end up with nonsense data. 🙂

Chrome Web Store ranking: 3.6 (189 ratings)
Number of users: 300,000

#3 Jibble

Jibble is a manual time tracking browser extension that doesn’t have much of a learning curve.

To start tracking, users need to press the start button on any tab. When they want to clock out, they can also do it manually or by setting an automatic clock out. The good thing about this extension is that it allows you to set reminders for more focused tracking.

Here’s what Jibble extension can do:

• It automatically syncs across all platforms, meaning users can start tracking time on one device and stop it on another.
• Time entries can be viewed in the Chrome extension without having to access a Jibble account.
• Timesheet data can be easily exported.
• As Jibble highlights, their time tracking extension operates with minimal resource usage, meaning it doesn't slow down your browser performance.

‍

Chrome Web Store ranking: 4.5 (36 ratings)
Number of users: 9,000

#4 actiTIME’s Time Tracking & Project Management

actiTIME offers a Google Chrome extension that allows you to track time directly from the websites and apps you’re using for work.

actiTIME markets this plugin as an automatic tracker, but it requires you to start the timer when you begin work and stop it when you're done. However, you can configure the extension to stop the timer automatically: all you need to do is enter the number of hours after which the timer should be automatically stopped.

actiTime tracker extension can also:

• Sync captured time across devices automatically.
• Allow users to modify time entries, add comments, and even round time entries to the nearest 5-30 minutes.

Chrome Web Store ranking: 4.7 (6 ratings)
Number of users: 2,000

Conclusion

It's time we wrap it up.

While time tracking browser extensions can give you valuable insights into your time tracking data and somewhat enhance productivity, they come with limitations.

They don't have a comprehensive approach to time management as most extensions track browser-based activities, leaving gaps when it comes to offline tasks or multitasking across platforms. Additionally, the need for manual start/stop tracking really doesn't say much about extensions' reliability and accuracy.

Memtime addresses ALL these issues by offering you an all-in-one time tracking solution that works across applications—browsers and offline—without ever needing your manual input. Memtime brings a more holistic and secure approach to time management.

Whether you choose a simple time tracking browser extension or a complete tool like Memtime, please ensure that the tool fits your workflow so you can improve focus and productivity. 

Because, let's face it, if time keeps slipping through your fingers, maybe it's time to get a grip. 😉