Time Tracking

Time Tracking Software for Small Business: 11 Top App Picks

16 min

Time tracking software for small business

Whoever thinks that time tracking is for big companies and fancy consultants doesn’t understand the concept of a service business. Which is, you buy time from people in bulk and resell it at a profit.

For this reason, tracking time is just as important for small businesses as it is for big corporations. Maybe even more so, given that small teams have fewer combined work-hours and should, therefore, be even more strategic about allocating them.

In this blog post, we’re diving into the best time tracking software for small business operations. We’ll be comparing time tracking features, integrations, and prices.

DISCLAIMER: At Memtime, we take a stance against employee monitoring. That’s why we call out all software vendors that offer screenshots for employee surveillance.

Without further ado, let’s get into the best time tracking software for small businesses.

Table of contents:

11 best apps for small business time tracking
1. Memtime: fully automatic & privacy-oriented
2. Toggl Track: in-cloud tracking tools with some manual input
3. Timely: for SMBs offering on-site services
4. Everhour: manual time tracking with screenshots
5. Clockify: affordable, semi-automated time tracking
6. Clockodo: stopwatch-based app with SMB features
7. Harvest: start/stop timer app with easy timesheets
8. TrackingTime: affordable and simple time tracking tools
9. TMetric: budget-friendly, manual solution for SMBs
10. My Hours: simple app for manual time tracking
11. RescueTime: automated productivity app
Wrapping up

11 best apps for small business time tracking

Depending on what your most pressing time tracking issue is, you might prioritize any of the following aspects.

How time is captured (manually or automatically).
What devices are supported.
What features and integrations are available.
How data privacy is protected.
Pricing and implementation (free trial, onboarding, etc.)

Manual/automatic: automatic
Compatibility: Windows, macOS & Linux
Calendar integrations (import events): 5
Project software integrations (sync time entries): 47
Employee monitoring features: 🚫
Pricing from: $12/mo

‍Manual/automatic: manual or automated
Compatibility: Windows, macOS, browser extension, Android, iOS‍
Calendar integrations (import events): 1‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): 4‍
Employee monitoring features: 🚫‍
Pricing from: $9/mo

‍Manual/automatic: automatic‍
Compatibility: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS‍
Calendar integrations (import events): 2‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): 5‍
Employee monitoring features: 🚫‍
Pricing from: $9/mo

‍Manual/automatic: manual‍
Compatibility: browser extension, Windows (screenshots), macOS (screenshots), iOS (Beta)‍
Calendar integrations (import events): 3‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): 21‍
Employee monitoring features: ✅‍
Pricing from: $8.50/mo

‍Manual/automatic: manual or semi-automatic‍
Compatibility: Windows, macOS, Linux, browser extension, Android, iOS
‍Calendar integrations (import events): 2
‍Project software integrations (sync time entries): 1‍
Employee monitoring features: ✅‍
Pricing from: $4.99/mo

Manual/automatic: manual‍
Compatibility: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
‍Calendar integrations (import events): 0‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): 9‍
Employee monitoring features: 🚫‍
Pricing from: $5/mo

‍Manual/automatic: manual‍
Compatibility: Windows, macOS, browser extension, Android, iOS
‍Calendar integrations (import events): 2‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): 2‍
Employee monitoring features: 🚫‍
Pricing from: $10.80/mo

‍Manual/automatic: manual or automated‍
Compatibility: Windows, macOS, browser extension, iOS, Android‍
Calendar integrations (import events): 2‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): via Zapier‍
Employee monitoring features: 🚫‍
Pricing from: $8/mo

‍Manual/automatic: manual‍
Compatibility: Windows, macOS, Linux, browser extension, Android, iOS
‍Calendar integrations (import events): 2‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): 2‍
Employee monitoring features: ✅‍
Pricing from: $4.16/mo

‍Manual/automatic: manual‍
Compatibility: browser extension, iOS, Android‍
Calendar integrations (import events): 0‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): 1‍
Employee monitoring features: 🚫‍
Pricing from: $8/mo

‍Manual/automatic: automated‍
Compatibility: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, browser extension
‍Calendar integrations (import events): 2‍
Project software integrations (sync time entries): via Zapier‍
Employee monitoring features: 🚫‍
Pricing from: $6.50/mo

1. Memtime: fully automatic & privacy-oriented

Memtime is a fully automated time tracker for Windows, macOS, and Linux, which makes it popular with software development companies, law firms, and marketing agencies alike.

Fully automated means that Memtime runs 24/7 in the background and doesn’t require any input whatsoever to track your time in programs. It captures any computer activity, be it a browser tab, file, document, or desktop app. Memtime is all about reclaiming the value of every minute in a small business setting, and it won't add another chore to your already packed to-do list!

Below is an overview of Memtime’s core features.

Automatic activity timeline – chronologically displays your day and time in programs; 100% offline and stored only on your computer.
Time increments – for visualizing your day in 1-60 minute intervals; 6-minute increments are available out-of-the-box. This is especially important for small law firms and solo practitioner lawyers.
Calendar sync – automatically pulls events from connected Google, Outlook, iCloud, macOS, or CalDav calendars.
Local projects – allows you to create unlimited Memtime projects for free and log time entries there.
Time sync integrations – for importing project structure and syncing time entries into connected software (47 out-of-the-box integrations + unlimited custom integrations).
Analytics and reporting – for unlimited historical reports and productivity insights.

What makes Memtime stand out from other automatic time trackers is its privacy guarantee. Being a desktop app, it keeps your activity data offline. All automatically captured activities are only visible to you and never uploaded to the cloud.

Another thing about Memtime is that it works as an add-on for any project software with time tracking features. I.e., you can automate any time tracking solution you’re currently using by simply connecting it to Memtime.

Memtime pricing

Memtime offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. You can get started with no risks for your small business, knowing there won’t be any auto-charges once your trial expires.

If you decide to proceed with a paid plan, Memtime charges from $12/mo per user with a 24-month subscription. There are no paid add-ons or hidden fees.

2. Toggl Track: in-cloud tracking tools with some manual input

Toggl Track is a family of time tracking apps for desktop and mobile, as well as browser extensions. You can install one on each of your devices and enjoy seamless sync of your time tracking data (which also means your activity data is uploaded to the cloud).

Toggl Track offers both ways of tracking time – manually and automatically in the background. Please note that if you opt for automated time tracking with the desktop app, activity recording will only start on the second day after installation.

Let’s review Toggl Track’s key features.

Desktop app – for automatic time tracking of any activity longer than 10 seconds.
Mobile app – featuring start/stop timers, suggestions, widgets, and a QR code scanner.
Browser extensions – boasting a Pomodoro Timer, idle detection, and reminders for focused work.
Google Calendar integration – for importing events into Toggl Track.
15-minute time increments – for easy visualization of the past 7 days.
Browser extension – for manual time tracking inside your favorite tools with start/stop timers.
Automated export of project times to 4 third-party tools – to be exact: Salesforce, Jira, Asana, and QuickBooks (BETA).
Toggl Plan – a free tool for local project management.

As you can see, Toggl Track offers a variety of time tracking tools but many of them require a fair share of manual input. Moreover, with data sync enabled across devices, you allow your team’s activity data to be uploaded to the cloud, which is not ideal for privacy-focused organizations.

Toggl Track pricing

You can test Toggl Track’s Premium features for 30 days for free. Afterward, you’re downgraded to the Free plan with limited features for up to 5 users. If you want to use billable rates and project templates, the Starter plan will cost you $9/mo per user (annual subscription).

3. Timely: for SMBs offering on-site services

Timely is an AI-powered automatic time tracker for desktop and mobile. Its Memory app is a fully automated activity recording solution that runs in the background and remembers your day.

Please note that Timely’s Memory app lacks a desktop interface, i.e., you’ll need to log into the web app to see your time in programs, projects, reports, etc.

Below is a brief overview of Timely’s key features.

Autonomous Memory app – for computer activity recording in the background.
AI timesheets – for semi-automated time entries where AI matches your time entries to relevant projects with 80% average accuracy.
Project Dashboard – for streamlined management of your projects and tasks inside Timely’s web app (up to 20 projects for Starter users).
People Dashboard – for planning, Tasks (paid add-on), overtime and undertime tracking, etc.
Manual timer – for manually tracking time on a task when creating a time entry.
GPS location tracking for iOS and Android.
Google and Office 365 Calendar integrations – for importing events.
Sync integrations with 10 project management and time tracking systems, including ClickUp, Asana, Jira, and QuickBooks Online.

Timely is a robust solution for automating time tracking on a budget as a small business. Its GPS tracking features for mobile make it a good option for field service businesses and other businesses that have a lot of on-site work events.

Timely pricing

Timely offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Paid subscriptions start at $9/mo (annual contract) per user, with 5 users max. The Tasks add-on is another $5 per user/mo.

4. Everhour: manual time tracking with screenshots

Everhour is a manual time tracker that can be embedded into a project management tool of your choice, e.g. Asana, ClickUp, Jira, etc. It facilitates real-time tracking of work, including tracking other employees.

It must be said that Everhour falls into the category of employee monitoring tools as it allows taking screenshots of contractors and freelancers. This is done via Everhour’s desktop app for Windows and macOS.

Let’s review the key time tracking features available in Everhour.

Time tracking browser extension – for embedding a manual timer into 40+ apps.
Web app – for online timesheets, budgeting, invoicing, etc.
Desktop app – for taking screenshots of employees.
Google, Outlook, and iCloud Calendar integrations – for importing events.
Time tracker app for iOS (Beta).
Reports – for project management, team hours, billability vs utilization, etc.

Even though Everhour can only offer an embeddable manual timer, it has rules you can set up to make the most out of it. For example, you can forbid logging time after a set number of days or automatically stop a running timer after a specified number of hours.

Everhour pricing

Everhour has a Free plan available to teams of up to 5 people. If you want to use the embeddable timer integrations or billing & budgeting, you’ll need the Team plan that costs $8.50/mo per user with an annual contract.

5. Clockify: affordable, semi-automated time tracking

Clockify is a suite of time tracking and employee monitoring tools with both manual and semi-automated solutions. Semi-automated means that while you can have your time in programs tracked for you in the background, you still need to press start for activity tracking to begin.

Clockify’s main tool for tracking time is a manual timer that can be embedded into third-party tools. Much like Everhour, Clockify offers this type of embeddable time tracking via its browser extension.

Let’s take a closer look at the key features Clockify has to offer.

Desktop app – for semi-automated time tracking.
Browser extension – for embeddable manual time tracking inside project tools like Jira, Trello, Asana, etc.
Mobile app – for tracking time and managing assignments.
Weekly timesheet – including the option to see and fill other team members’ timesheets, as well as see a trace of all changes made to a timesheet.
Calendar – for visualizing your day in 5, 15, 30, or 60-minute increments.
Kiosk – add-on for clocking in/out with a PIN code from a shared device.
Screenshots – for taking screenshots every 5 minutes while on the clock.

To help you compare planned vs actual duration of scheduled appointments and events, Clockify connects to Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar.

Clockify pricing

Clockify has a free version with core time tracking features. Paid plans start from $4.99/mo per user with an annual contract. If you wish to use the QuickBooks integration for syncing time entries, you’ll need the Standard plan that costs $6.99/mo per user with an annual contract.

6. Clockodo: stopwatch-based app with SMB features

Clockodo is a stopwatch-based time tracking tool for teams that track time for payroll purposes. Its features, therefore, extend beyond project time tracking and cover things like schedules and shift planning, holidays, sick days, etc.

Clockodo was built with billing tools in mind, streamlining invoice creation with easy integrations. It connects to 9 invoice and payroll accounting tools, including QuickBooks and Zoho, to help teams populate invoices with time entries.

Let’s now go over the core time tracking features in Clockodo.

Stopwatch timer – for tracking your work in real time.
Manual time entries – for entering project hours retrospectively based on memory.
Timesheets – for keeping track of project budgets.
Employee reports – for managing overtime, breaks, holidays, etc.
Team calendar – for keeping track of absences and scheduling shifts.
Absence approval – for time off requests and vacation days.

Clockodo’s desktop app for Windows and macOS can also detect offline times, i.e., the time you’re away from your computer. You can also set up an integration between Clockodo and Google Calendar, but this can only be done via Zoho Flow.

Clockodo pricing

Clockodo is free for freelancers. Otherwise, it charges per month per user. The cheapest subscription is $5/mo per user. If you wish to link your invoicing software, you’ll need the Pro subscription or higher (starts at $10/mo per user).

7. Harvest: start/stop timer app with easy timesheets

Harvest is a timesheet app with an embeddable start/stop timer for real-time project and task tracking. The timer can be added to 50+ tools or used independently as part of Harvest’s desktop and mobile apps.

In addition to embeddable tracking inside project management tools, Harvest integrates with 2 accounting platforms – QuickBooks Online and Xero – to facilitate time export and speed up invoice generation and payments.

We’ll briefly review Harvest’s time tracking features.

Desktop apps for macOS and Windows – for a handy manual timer that can be optimized with shortcuts.
Mobile apps for iOS and Android – for time tracking on the go, invoices, and reports.
Embeddable start/stop timer – for manual time tracking inside project management tools as well as some browsers.
Google and Outlook Calendars integrations – for importing events into Harvest.
Timesheet – for a daily or weekly view of your team’s time and utilization.
Projects – for simple project management inside Harvest.
Reports – for a quick overview of projects, billable hours, and invoices.

With Harvest, you can automatically turn timesheets into invoices and streamline your payment process. Using the Harvest mobile app for iOS and Android, you can take photos of receipts on the go and attach them to invoices to get reimbursed for any extra expenses.

Harvest pricing

Harvest has a free version for freelancers (1 seat and 2 projects max). The Pro plan tailored for teams costs $10.80/mo per user with an annual subscription. You can also try Harvest for free for 30 days.

8. TrackingTime: affordable and simple time tracking tools

TrackingTime is a set of time tracking tools, ranging from an embeddable manual timer that works inside other tools to a fully automated activity recording software for desktop. Automatic activity recording can run 24/7 or during working hours specified in your work schedules.

TrackingTime can send time entries directly to QuickBooks and ClickUp, but that’s only possible via Zapier. For other tools like Asana, you can use an embeddable timer available with the TrackingTime browser extension.

Let’s go over the main time tracking features that you can find in TrackingTime.

Manual timer – for tracking time in tasks using a start/stop timer.
Desktop app – for automatic activity recording on Windows and Mac.
Time increments – 1-, 5-, and 10-minute intervals available for easy visualization of your activity and time in programs.
Browser extension – for embeddable time tracking in 50+ tools.
Integration with Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook Calendar – for syncing events.
Scheduled time entries – for recurring tasks.
Time off and holidays – for team management and payroll.
Time cards – for clocking in and out, generated automatically based on time entries.

When it comes to time entries, TrackingTime not only offers recurring tasks for scheduling time entries but also allows file attachments to make sure you can add photos.

TrackingTime pricing

TrackingTime has a Free app for up to 3 users. If you wish to make use of automatic time tracking with TrackingTime’s desktop app, you’ll need the Freelancer subscription ($8/mo per user with an annual contract) or higher.

9. TMetric: budget-friendly, manual solution for SMBs

TMetric is a manual timer for project and task tracking available through and synced across the desktop app, mobile app, or browser extension. It’s a straightforward solution for freelancers and small teams tracking billable hours or simply trying to improve productivity.

Even though TMetric is positioned as a budget-friendly alternative to other time tracking software vendors, it offers a number of features available as paid add-ons. These features range from billable hours and invoicing to screenshots for employee monitoring.

Below is a brief overview of TMetric’s time tracking solutions.

Desktop app – for easily accessible stopwatch-based time tracking.
Browser extension – for embeddable time tracking inside project software like Asana and ClickUp.
Mobile app – for manual time tracking on the go.
Notifications – for keeping track of running timers, breaks, and times of inactivity.
Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar integrations – for syncing events.
Project management – for tracking project budgets and profitability.
Projects and team summary – for a brief overview of all ongoing projects and team members’ activity.

Even though TMetric integrates with many project management tools, it’s mostly an embeddable timer available through a browser extension. The two third-party apps integrated with TMetric for time entry export are QuickBooks and Jira.

TMetric pricing

TMetric has a Free version with unlimited clients and projects. If you wish to use calendar integrations, you’ll need to go with the Professional plan for $50/year per user. If you wish to export time entries to QuickBooks or Jira, you’ll need the Business subscription that costs $70/year per user.

10. My Hours: simple app for manual time tracking

My Hours is a simple timesheet and start/drop timer app available through the web version, browser extension, or mobile app. It offers 2 ways to track time on projects: by manually entering hours or by starting a timer on each task.

My Hours is used by freelancers and teams that manage multiple clients and projects at once. It can generate invoices and simplify billing for those who don’t use dedicated billing software.

The time tracking tools available in My Hours are very simple.

Start/stop timer – for real-time task tracking.
Timesheet – for retroactive, manual project time entries.
Mobile app – for manual time tracking, project management, and reporting on the go.
Reminders – for keeping track of manual timers and hour logging.
Reports – for sharing time tracking data with all types of stakeholders.

My Hours can also be used for attendance and absence tracking, as well as payroll by exporting time tracking data into Excel spreadsheets. You can also use Zapier to connect My Hours to 2,000+ apps and further streamline your workflow.

My Hours pricing

My Hours is free for teams of up to 5 users with unlimited clients and projects. If you require features like budgets or extended reports, you’ll need the Pro subscription that costs $8/mo per user with an annual contract.

11. RescueTime: automated productivity app

RescueTime is automatic time tracking software that’s quite renowned for its focus work features. It not only passively tracks your time in web apps and websites, but also allows you to proactively create a more focused work experience. Please note that RescueTime doesn’t track your time in desktop apps.

You can block specific websites and apps that typically break your focus streaks. RescueTime’s automatic time tracking is built for productivity first and project management second, if at all.

Let’s quickly go over the main features of RescueTime.

Automatic time tracking – for insights into where your time on the Internet is going.
Offline time tracking – for making sense of absence times, i.e., the time you’re away from your device.
FocusTime – allows you to block websites and apps that break your focus.
RescueTime Assistant – for alerts of calendar events and focus times.
Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar integrations – for syncing events.
Timesheets AI – intelligent time entries based on past project time logging.
Reports – for uncovering insights and spotting trends in your productivity.

All in all, RescueTime is a robust productivity management solution with very straightforward solutions for improving focus through removing distractions. When you integrate it with your other software, you can combine RescueTime’s focus tools with project time tracking.

RescueTime pricing

RescueTime offers a 14-day free trial. The Premium plan, if billed annually, will cost you $6.50/mo per user.

Wrapping up

Time tracking apps may look similar and rely on very similar features. A manual timer is a manual timer, and automatic activity recording works more or less the same way across tools.

However, there are key distinctions to consider when investing in time tracking software as a small business. You may want to consider the cheapest option or the most private version, depending on what’s more important to you.

I hope this listicle of the best time tracking apps for small business operations gives you insight into the timer trackers available on the market. Ultimately, it boils down to trying out several of the most appealing tools and seeing the impact each has on your operations.

The free trial period is more than enough to understand how smoothly a piece of software integrates into your toolbox and see the first results. And if you want to give Memtime a shot, here's your link to activate the 100% free of charge period 🤫 (no card details needed, and it lasts 2 weeks).

Yulia Miashkova

Yulia Miashkova is a content creator with 7 years of hands-on experience in B2B marketing. Her background is in public relations, SEO, social listening, and ABM. Yulia writes about technology for business growth, focusing on automated time tracking solutions for digital teams. In her spare time Yulia is an avid reader of contemporary fiction, adamant runner, and cold plunge enthusiast.