Best Time Tracking Software for Designers: 9 Tools Compared

Website: https://www.getharvest.com/

Best for: Invoicing from tracked time

Starting price: $9 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Built-in invoicing with Stripe and PayPal; project estimates and budgets

Cons: Free plan covers 1 seat and 2 projects; Flex usage fees can add to the seat price

Harvest is built around one idea: tracked time should turn into money with as few steps as possible. The timer sits on web, desktop and mobile, and hours flow into weekly timesheets, project estimates and invoices. Designers can set billable rates per person and per project, log expenses next to hours, and send invoices through Stripe or PayPal. Integrations with QuickBooks and Xero keep the books in step with the work.

The Teams plan costs $9 per seat per month billed annually, or $11 billed monthly, and covers unlimited projects with team reporting. Enterprise at $14 per seat per month billed annually adds profitability reporting, timesheet approvals and SAML-based single sign-on. The free plan covers 1 seat and 2 projects. Harvest moved to Flex usage fees in 2026, so active projects, clients, tasks and invoicing can add charges on top of the seat price. Forecast, the resource planning add-on, costs $5 per person per month extra.

Website: https://toggl.com/

Best for: Simple one-click timers

Starting price: $9 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: One-click timer on web, desktop and mobile; calendar and timeline views

Cons: Billable rates need the Starter plan; Premium at $16 per user/month adds approvals and profitability reports

Toggl Track has the simplest timer in this list, and that is the point. One click starts it, one click stops it, and entries sync across the browser, desktop and mobile apps. A calendar view shows the day as blocks of time, and idle detection prompts designers when a timer has been left running. The free plan covers a limited number of users with unlimited projects and time entries, which is enough for a solo designer or a very small studio.

Starter costs $9 per user per month billed annually, or $12 billed monthly, and adds billable rates, project estimates, saved reports and time rounding. Premium at $16 per user per month billed annually, or $24 monthly, adds timesheet approvals, labor costs, profitability reports and single sign-on. Toggl states a clear anti-surveillance position and does not offer screenshots or keystroke capture. A 30-day trial opens the full Starter or Premium feature set with no card required.

Website: https://clockify.me/

Best for: Low-cost tracking for small teams

Starting price: $3.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free plan covers up to 5 users; low entry price

Cons: Invoicing needs Standard at $5.49 per user/month; scheduling and labor cost need Pro at $7.99 per user/month

Clockify is the low-cost default for design teams that want solid tracking without a large monthly bill. The free plan covers up to 5 users with unlimited time entries, projects, timers and reports, plus web, desktop and mobile apps. Designers can log time by timer, timesheet or calendar view, and tag entries by client, project and task so reports show where each hour went.

Basic costs $3.99 per seat per month billed annually, or $4.99 billed monthly, and adds billable rates, CSV and Excel export, shared reports and project templates. Standard at $5.49 per seat per month billed annually adds invoicing, timesheet approval, time off and QuickBooks sync. Pro at $7.99 adds scheduling, expenses, labor cost and forecasting. Invoicing sits on Standard rather than Basic, and reports on the free plan cover a limited date range, so teams that bill from Clockify itself should budget for Standard.

Website: https://www.paymoapp.com/

Best for: Freelancers who want projects and invoices in one place

Starting price: $5.90 per month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Built-in project management with Kanban and calendar views; Paymo Track records desktop app time

Cons: Solo plan covers 1 user and 5 projects; team features start on Plus at $10.90 per user/month

Paymo combines project management, time tracking and invoicing in one workspace, which suits freelance designers who want a single place for tasks, hours and client billing. The stopwatch timer, manual entries and Pomodoro mode cover the ways designers actually log work, and Paymo Track can record time spent in desktop apps so it can be matched to tasks later. Kanban and calendar views keep tasks visible next to the hours they consume.

The free plan covers 1 user with 1 client and 2 projects. Solo costs $5.90 per month billed annually, or $9.90 billed monthly after the first three months, and covers 1 user with 3 clients and 5 projects. Teams start on Plus at $10.90 per user per month billed annually, which adds timesheet reports, estimates, expenses, proofing and integrations. Pro at $16.90 per user per month billed annually adds Gantt charts, scheduling and timesheet approvals. The single-user limit on Free and Solo is the key constraint for studios.

Website: https://everhour.com/

Best for: Teams tracking inside Asana, Trello or Jira

Starting price: $8.50 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Timer lives inside Asana, ClickUp, Trello, Jira and Notion; budgets with alerts and invoicing included

Cons: Team plan has a 5-seat minimum; free plan has no integrations

Everhour is the pick for design teams whose work already lives in Asana, Trello, Jira, ClickUp, Linear or Notion. Its timer appears inside those tools, so time gets logged against real tasks without opening another app. Billable rates, project budgets with alerts, invoicing and expense tracking all sit in the same place, and reports show cost and profit per project.

The free plan covers up to 5 seats with basic tracking, projects, tasks and reports, but no integrations. The Team plan costs $8.50 per seat per month billed annually, or $10 billed monthly, and includes every feature with no tier above it except a Custom plan for 50 or more seats. Team has a 5-seat minimum, so a team of 2 or 3 people pays for 5 seats, which makes the smallest Team account $42.50 per month on annual billing. A 14-day trial opens all features with no card required.

Website: https://www.timely.com/

Best for: Automatic capture for people who forget timers

Starting price: $9 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Memory AI drafts timesheets from app and website use; entries stay private until approved

Cons: No free plan, only a 14-day trial; Starter caps at 5 users and 20 projects

Timely suits designers who forget to start a timer. Its Memory tracker records which apps, documents and websites are used through the day, then drafts complete time entries for review. Nothing is logged as billable until a person approves it, and entries stay private until that point. A manual timer is included for designers who prefer to track in real time, and the project dashboard shows health, budgets and billable hours.

There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial. Starter costs $9 per user per month billed annually, or $11 billed monthly, and covers up to 5 users and 20 projects with automatic tracking, AI timesheets and basic reporting. Premium at $16 per user per month billed annually adds team management, budgets, cost rates and accounting integrations for up to 50 users. Unlimited at $22 adds capacity management and overtime tracking.

Website: https://hubstaff.com/

Best for: Studios that want activity levels with timesheets

Starting price: $4.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Activity levels, screenshots and app tracking; scheduling, payroll and payments on Team

Cons: No free plan, only a 14-day trial; screenshots capped at 500 per user/month on Starter

Hubstaff pairs time tracking with activity levels, screenshots and app tracking, which fits studios that manage remote designers and want a record of how work hours are spent. The timer feeds automated timesheets, and reports show activity, budgets and project costs. Higher tiers add scheduling, attendance, time off and payroll, so the same tool can run from tracking through to paying the team.

Starter costs $4.99 per seat per month billed annually, or $7 billed monthly, with a 2-seat minimum. It includes the timer, timesheets, activity levels, up to 500 screenshots per user each month, app and URL tracking, and client invoicing. Grow at $7.50 per seat per month billed annually raises the caps and adds project budgets, expenses and one integration. Team at $10 adds timesheet approvals, scheduling, payroll and unlimited integrations. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial.

Website: https://www.avaza.com/

Best for: Small studios that want projects, time and invoices together

Starting price: $9.96 per month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Flat monthly price with unlimited project collaborators; quotes, expenses and resource scheduling included

Cons: Startup covers 2 timesheet users and 20 active projects; extra timesheet users cost $7 each per month

Avaza is unusual in this list because it charges per account, not per person. The Startup plan costs $9.96 per month billed annually, or $11.95 billed monthly, and covers 2 timesheet users with unlimited project collaborators, so clients and contractors can follow tasks without taking a seat. Time tracking, expenses, quotes, invoices and resource scheduling sit in one subscription, and reports cover projects, clients and team capacity.

The free plan covers 1 timesheet user, 5 active projects and 5 invoices a month. Basic at $19.96 per month billed annually covers 5 timesheet users and 50 active projects, while Business at $39.96 covers 10 timesheet users and unlimited projects. Extra timesheet, admin and scheduling users cost $7 each per month, and chat users cost $2 each per month. A team where everyone tracks time should do the seat math first.

Website: https://trackingtime.co/

Best for: Visual calendar-based tracking for teams

Starting price: $4.50 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free plan covers unlimited users, projects and clients; AutoTrack and calendar views

Cons: Billing rates and invoicing need Pro at $6.50 per user/month; Freelancer plan covers exactly 1 user

TrackingTime shows time on a calendar, which matches how many designers plan their week. Entries sit next to meetings and deadlines, and the month, week and team calendar views make it easy to spot gaps and overlaps. AutoTrack records app use so it can be turned into entries, and the Chrome extension adds timers inside more than 50 connected apps. Task management, priorities and deadlines are built in, so small teams can run projects without a second tool.

The free plan covers unlimited users, projects, tasks and clients with basic tracking, which is rare in this list. Starter costs $4.50 per user per month billed annually, or $6 billed monthly, and adds client reports, exports, scheduled reports and AutoTrack. Pro at $6.50 per user per month billed annually adds billing rates, invoicing, expenses, retainers and timesheet approvals. Business at $10 adds time-off accrual, SSO, audit logs and a 99.9 percent uptime SLA. A Freelancer plan for 1 user costs $8 per month billed annually.