As our society grows in complexity and diversity, an increasing number of private and public institutions are seeing the need for highly specialized consulting services. This holds for many fields including IT, healthcare, government, and even sports.
This has fueled the rise of the consulting industry and increased its importance in the global economy. However, as the demand for their services increases, so does the need for consultants to manage the increased workload.
This is why time tracking is so crucial.
Time tracking tools allow you to track the amount of billable time spent on projects, monitor employee productivity, monitor progress, and manage project deadlines.
The best time-tracking software tools offer all of these services plus some additional features such as project management, invoicing, and reporting. This article breaks down our top picks and how each one shines in its own way.
Let’s take a look!
What Is the Best Time Tracking Software?
Time-tracking software services offer a variety of services that may be suited for different fields. This means there are several features to look out for when choosing a service. This includes taking a close look at the features they offer, cost and pricing models, customer support services, data security, integration with other platforms, and user-friendliness.
Here are some of the best time-tracking software for consultants in 2024:
Toggl Track
Overview
Toggl Track is a cloud-based time-tracking tool that allows users to track a wide range of activities but has found widespread success among consultants due to its wide range of features.
One key feature offered by the platform is its add-on app extensions which can be integrated across a range of browsers and devices, allowing you to track which websites and apps you use throughout the day.
Toggl Track also offers detailed reports through its main dashboard, allowing you to effectively track and allocate your time properly. The platform also supports reliable algorithms which allow you to perform regular “Time Audits”, as well as recognize when you’ve been away from your device using its “Idle Detection” feature.
Highlights
- Toggl Track is available on a wide range of devices, with desktop, mobile, and web-based versions. This accessibility makes it easy to track your projects and work hours anywhere you happen to be.
- The platform integrates with invoicing services such as Xero, QuickBooks, and FreshBooks to help you track your billable hours. This data can be filtered according to the project, client, or date range and exported to other platforms.
- Toggl Track integrates with several other platforms such as project management tools, invoicing services, productivity platforms, developer tools, and so on. Some popular examples include platforms like Trello, Asana, Visual Studio Code, Xero, GitHub, BaseCamp, ClickUp, and so on.
- Toggl Track allows you to set up a collection of useful reminders and notifications. Some examples include the “Idle Detection” feature which has been mentioned earlier and the “Pomodoro Timer” which allows you to set a specific amount of time for a task, including short breaks.
- The platform offers robust reporting tools which are customizable, and detailed, and can be made into graphical representations. These reports are exportable in various formats such as pdf, CSV, and Excel spreadsheets.
Pricing
Toggl Track has a four-tier pricing plan with different features.
- Freemium Service: The first level is a freemium service that offers a variety of services such as idle detection, offline time tracking, editing, and weekly reports.
- Starter Plan: The second level costs $10 per account per month or $108 per account per year.
- Premium Plan: The third level is the Premium plan which is billed at $20 per account per month or $216 per account per year.
- Enterprise Plan: This offers custom billing and tailored solutions for large organizations.
Bottom Line
Toggl Track is a great time-tracking service that offers a range of useful features and top-notch services. Take advantage of the 30-day free trial to test all these features and much more.
RescueTime
Overview
Rescue Time is a powerful time-tracking and productivity tool that offers valuable insights and analytics to help users manage their time more effectively. It runs silently in the background and keeps track of the amount of time spent on different activities, such as work-related tasks, social media, and entertainment.
The platform then compiles this information into detailed reports which give you insights on where you spend most of your time. This allows you to improve productivity by dedicating more time to work-related activities and reducing distractions.
The service even categorizes these activities into different productivity levels, such as very productive, productive, neutral, distracting, and very distracting.
Highlights
- The service is quite easy to set up and runs seamlessly in the background of your desktop or mobile device. It can also be used across a number of different popular browsers and operating systems too.
- RescueTime allows you to set goals and reminders, even going as far as setting goals and alerts for specific activities, such as spending less time on social media or working on a specific project.
- The platform offers detailed reports which allow users to understand their productivity patterns and focus their energy on more high-yielding tasks.
- RescueTime also allows you to block distracting applications and websites using its “FocusTime” feature.
- The service offers several useful integrations with other productivity platforms such as Asana, Trello, Todoist, Google Calendar, and Zapier.
- RescueTime also allows you to track your time spent on offline activities, such as meetings and phone calls. This feature helps you get a complete picture of how you spend your time throughout the day.
- The platform allows you to create unique categories and tags to help you track your time in a way that makes sense for you and your work. This feature allows you to get even more granular insights into how you spend your time.
Pricing
Let’s take a look at the pricing plan for the RescueTime platform.
- RescueTime Lite: This is the free model and offers basic functions like a daily Focus Work goal, real-time tracking, and weekly reports.
- RescueTime Package: This offers all the above, plus some extra features such as distraction-blocking Focus Sessions, a wider range of integrations, Focus Zone forecasting, and much more.
Bottom Line
RescueTime is a great service for both individuals and companies aiming to boost their productivity. The platform offers a free trial for its paid service so there is no reason for you not to check out the full range of available features.
Harvest
Overview
Harvest is a well-known web-based time-tracking software that helps professionals such as consultants manage their time effectively and boost productivity. In addition to time tracking, the platform also offers features such as invoicing, scheduling, team collaboration, and project management.
The platform is designed to help users streamline their workflow and increase productivity by automating time-consuming tasks, keeping track of their most productive activities and periods, and integrating seamlessly with other productivity-boosting platforms.
Highlights
- Harvest has a very user-friendly interface that makes it easy to track the amount of time spent on projects. This makes the platform easy for even novices to quickly grasp.
- The service is also quite flexible, allowing you to manually enter the number of hours worked or use a timer to track time spent on different tasks.
- Harvest allows users to create and send invoices directly from the platform. It also allows you to integrate with a number of third-party invoicing services like Xero, Stripe, PayPal, and Square. The platform also has a feature that sends automated reminders to clients for unpaid invoices.
- Though not primarily a project management tool, Harvest has several useful project management features that help users keep track of various projects and easily assign tasks to team members.
- Harvest provides detailed reports on time spent on projects, invoicing, and team performance. The software also allows users to export data in various formats such as Excel, CSV, and PDF.
- Harvest integrates with several popular business tools such as Trello, Asana, and Quickbooks, making it easy for users to time-manage their existing workflows without having to switch platforms.
Pricing
Harvest offers pricing plans to suit businesses of all sizes:
- Free Plan: This allows one user to track time on two projects.
- Pro Plan: This costs $12 per month (or $10.80 per month if billed annually) and allows one user to track time on unlimited projects.
These plans also come with a 30-day free trial.
Bottom Line
Harvest is an excellent time-tracking software that offers a range of features to help businesses manage their time effectively. Its user-friendly interface and powerful reporting tools make it a standout choice for businesses of all sizes. The pricing plans are also flexible, allowing businesses to choose the plan that best fits their needs and budget.
Time Doctor
Overview
Time Doctor is another cloud-based time-tracking software designed specifically to enable remote teams, freelancers, and consultants to monitor their time usage and increase productivity.
The tool was designed to allow team members to track the time they spend on various tasks, websites, and applications. This means that the platform also supports a host of communication and collaborative features, as well as invoicing services.
Time Doctor also offers weekly reports outlining the amount of time spent by team members on various projects, clients, and tasks.
Highlights
- Time Doctor allows consultants to track the time spent on different applications, websites, and tasks and provides a detailed report on user productivity and time usage through a series of customizable reports.
- The service integrates with several project management and collaboration tools such as Trello, Asana, and Slack, making it easier to track different projects.
- Time Doctor also offers payroll and invoicing features that help consultants calculate their billable hours accurately.
- The platform even has an offline time-tracking feature that enables users to track time without an internet connection.
- The service works on several different platforms and devices such as iOS, Androids, tablets, desktops, and even mobile devices.
- Time Doctor offers a range of customizations, allowing for more flexibility. This includes allowing users to set work hours, disable or enable certain features and create custom reports.
- Time Doctor also offers screenshots and webcam shots to give proof of unproductive activities.
Pricing Plan
Here are the most recent pricing plans for the Time Doctor platform:
- Basic Plan: This costs $7/month per user (or $5.90 per month if billed annually) for time tracking, screenshot monitoring, and activity level tracking.
- Standard Plan: This is billed at $10/month per user (or $8.40 per month if billed annually) for all the basic plan features plus payroll and invoicing, over 60 integrations, and work-life balance metrics & reporting.
- Premium Plan: This costs $20/month per user (or $16.70 per month if billed annually) for standard plan features plus client login access, concierge onboarding, screen recording, real-time email notifications, and VIP support.
Each plan comes with a 14-day free trial.
Bottom Line
Time Doctor is an excellent time-tracking software that provides accurate tracking and monitoring of employee productivity. Its integration with other tools makes it easy to track time on different projects, and the payroll and invoicing features are ideal for freelancers and managers.
Time Analytics
Overview
Time Analytics is a time-tracking software specifically designed to help businesses and consultants effectively manage their time and improve productivity.
It offers a range of features that helps track the amount of time spent on various tasks, projects, websites, and applications. This enables users to gain valuable insights into how their time is spent, generate invoices for their billable hours, as well as identify gaps between their planned and actual performance.
Time Analytics allows you to design unique and actionable reports, download comprehensive timesheets, as well as export your reports and invoices. There are also features for identifying and tracking times spent away from work like vacations, sick leaves, and breaks.
Highlights
- Time analytics provides an intuitive interface that makes it quite easy to track time spent on various activities. Users can start and stop timers effortlessly, switch between tasks, and even add notes for better context.
- The platform creates detailed reports that offer comprehensive insights into time allocation, project progress, billable hours, and productivity. These reports can be customized to match specific requirements, allowing users to analyze data effectively and create actionable reports.
- Time Analytics seamlessly integrates with popular project management tools such as Asana, Slack, Basecamp, Trello, and so on. This makes it convenient to track time within existing workflows and ensures accurate time tracking and billing.
- The platform can be used on Android, iOS, desktops, and tablets.
- Time Analytics offers unique productivity analysis tools which identify areas of possible improvement by analyzing time usage patterns allowing you to optimize workflows, eliminate bottlenecks, and increase overall productivity.
- Time Analytics streamlines the invoicing process by automatically generating accurate invoices based on your logged-in billable hours. It does this by integrating with several invoicing services such as Xero, QuickBooks, Zoho Invoice, and FreshBooks.
Pricing Plans
Here is how the platform is priced:
- Starter Plan: This is billed at $5.99 per month (or $4.99 per month if billed annually).
- Optimum Plan: This is billed at $8.45 per month (or $6.99 per month if billed annually).
Both plans come with a 14-day free trial.
Bottom Line
Overall, Time Analytics is a feature-rich time-tracking software that empowers consultants to optimize their time management practices and accurately track their billable work hours. Take advantage of the free trial to try out these features for yourself.
Clockify
Overview
Clockify is a versatile and user-friendly cloud-based time-tracking software that enables consultants to track time spent on various tasks, projects, and clients.
Aside from simply tracking time, it has integrated invoicing systems that allow you to create accurate client invoices based on the number of billable hours worked and your hourly rate. You can also set additional features for time off such as vacations and sick leave, as well as calculate time spent on overtime.
The reporting system allows you to prioritize certain features as well, to get a unique view of how your time is spent. The platform has both free and paid plans, making it accessible to a wide range of users.
Highlights
- Clockify makes time tracking effortless with its user-friendly interface. Users can easily start and stop timers, assign tasks to projects, and add detailed descriptions to ensure accurate time logging.
- The software allows users to organize their work by creating unique projects and tasks. This feature enables better project management, task prioritization, team collaboration, enhanced productivity, and improves efficiency.
- Clockify provides comprehensive reports and analytics, offering valuable insights into time allocation, project progress, and individual productivity. Users can generate detailed reports based on specific periods, clients, or projects, facilitating data-driven decision-making.
- Clockify seamlessly integrates with popular project management tools like Trello, Asana, and Jira, allowing users to synchronize time tracking with their existing workflows. This integration ensures a streamlined experience and minimizes the need for manual data entry or duplicating data.
- Clockify offers mobile and desktop apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, enabling users to track time from any device.
- Clockify supports team collaboration by providing features like shared project dashboards, team timesheets, and real-time updates. This fosters transparency and enables teams to work together efficiently.
Pricing Plans
Here are how the plans on Clockify are priced:
- Free Plan: This offers basic time-tracking functionality for individuals and small teams.
- Basic Plan: Priced at $4.99 per user per month (or $3.99 if billed annually).
- Standard Plan: This option is priced at $6.99 per user per month (or $5.49 if billed annually).
- Pro Plan: This plan is priced at $9.99 per user per month (or $7.99 if billed annually).
- Enterprise Plan: This is priced at $14.99 per user per month (or $11.99 if billed annually).
Bottom Line
Clockify is a reliable and user-friendly time-tracking software that empowers individuals and teams to effectively manage their time. With its intuitive interface, extensive reporting capabilities, and integration options, Clockify is a valuable tool for boosting productivity and maximizing time utilization.
Quickbooks Time
Overview
QuickBooks Time is a robust time-tracking software that simplifies the process of tracking and managing employee hours for businesses. With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, QuickBooks Time offers efficient time-tracking solutions, making it an ideal choice for consultants in various industries.
The software allows users to clock in and out easily, tracks time for different projects and generates detailed reports for accurate payroll processing. With its seamless integration with the QuickBooks ecosystem, QuickBooks Time streamlines the entire time management process, saving businesses time and effort.
Highlights
- QuickBooks Time provides an intuitive platform for employees to track their working hours accurately. They can easily clock in and out, add breaks, and switch between projects seamlessly.
- The software offers mobile apps for iOS and Android devices, enabling employees to track their time on the go. This feature is especially useful for remote workers or those frequently traveling.
- QuickBooks Time allows users to allocate time to specific projects, providing a clear overview of how time is being spent on different tasks. This feature helps you monitor project progress and identify areas for improvement.
- QuickBooks Time generates comprehensive reports that offer valuable insights into employee hours, project costs, and labor expenses. These reports can be customized to fit specific requirements and can be exported to other software for further analysis.
- As part of the QuickBooks ecosystem, QuickBooks Time seamlessly integrates with other QuickBooks products, simplifying payroll processing and ensuring accurate billing and invoicing.
Pricing Plans
QuickBooks Time operates using a three-tier pricing plan:
- Simple Starter Plan: Priced at $17 per month (or $15.3 per month if billed annually), this plan includes basic time tracking and invoicing features, mobile access, and the ability to connect your accountant.
- Essentials Plan: The Essentials plan starts at $26 per month (or $23.4 per month if billed annually) and offers advanced time and project tracking capabilities, the ability to support 3 users, and more detailed reports.
- Plus Plan: The Plus plan is priced at $36 per month (or $32.4 per month if billed annually), and includes all the features of the Essentials plan along with additional team management tools and overtime calculations.
Bottom Line
With its intuitive interface, mobile accessibility, and integration with the QuickBooks ecosystem, QuickBooks Time is a reliable tool for consultants looking to streamline their time management and billing processes. Try out the 14-day free trial to test out all these great features.
What Is a Time Tracking Software Tool?
Time tracking software is a tool that helps individuals and organizations monitor and record the time spent on various tasks and projects. It enables users to track their work hours, analyze productivity, and manage time effectively, ultimately improving efficiency and performance.
Conclusion
As the consulting industry continues to evolve, embracing and utilizing these time-tracking software tools will be essential for consultants to stay competitive and meet the evolving demands of their clients. With the right software at their disposal, consultants can enhance their productivity, deliver exceptional results, and further contribute to the growth and success of both private and public institutions across various sectors.
