Time Tracking · Researched comparison

Best Time Tracking Software for Remote Teams

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Key takeaways

  • Remote teams need timers that work across time zones, with reports a manager can read without chasing anyone for a timesheet.
  • Clockify and TrackingTime give the lowest entry prices, while Toggl Track and Everhour suit teams that bill clients by the hour.
  • Monitoring tools such as Hubstaff, Time Doctor, and DeskTime add screenshots and activity data, which changes the trust conversation with staff.
  • A free plan covers small remote teams on most tools here, but approvals, invoicing, and payroll links usually sit on a priced plan.

Comparison

How these compare
ToolBest forPrice rangeFree plan
Toggl TrackClient billing with a simple one-click timer$9 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
ClockifyBudget teams that need unlimited projects$3.99 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
HubstaffRemote teams that want activity proof$4.99 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
Time DoctorManagers who need distraction alerts$6.67 per user/month (billed annually)Free trial (14 days)
EverhourTeams already living in Asana, Trello, or Jira$5 per user/monthYes
DeskTimeAutomatic tracking with no timers to start$6.42 per user/month (billed annually)Free trial (14 days)
RescueTimeFocus and distraction reports for knowledge workers$10 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
TrackingTimeA free start with no cap on users$4.50 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
ConnecteamDeskless and frontline remote staff$29 per month per hub (billed annually)Yes

How we choose

We compared vendor pricing pages, product documentation, and feature lists for time tracking tools aimed at distributed teams, and we checked every price in this article against the vendor's own pricing page on 11 November 2026. We looked at timer design, reporting, approvals, invoicing, integrations, and the monitoring features that change how a team feels about a tracker. We compared free plan limits, seat minimums, and the point at which a team must move to a priced plan. We did not run hands-on trials, and we did not use review scores to rank the tools. The order below reflects fit for remote teams, not a quality score.

Our full method

The shortlist

★ Best overall

The best time tracking software for remote teams

2

Toggl Track

Best for Client billing with a simple one-click timer

Website: https://toggl.com

Best for: Client billing with a simple one-click timer

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: One-click timer with 100 plus integrations; clean billable rate reports

Cons: Timesheet approvals and profitability reports need Premium at $16 per user

Toggl Track keeps time tracking close to invisible, which matters when a team is spread across time zones and nobody wants another admin chore. A one-click timer runs in the browser, on desktop, or on mobile, and entries sync into projects, clients, and tags. Billable rates and project estimates sit on the Starter plan, so a small agency can quote a job, track against the estimate, and export the numbers for an invoice without a second tool. The free plan covers up to 3 users, which fits a tiny distributed team, while Starter at $9 per user per month adds team reports and revenue views. Premium at $16 adds timesheet approvals, labor cost and profitability reports, fixed-fee projects, and single sign-on. There is no invoicing or payroll inside Toggl Track, and no screenshot monitoring, which many remote teams count as a plus rather than a gap.

3

Clockify

Best for Budget teams that need unlimited projects

Website: https://clockify.me

Best for: Budget teams that need unlimited projects

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free plan covers 5 users with unlimited projects and tracking; very low entry price

Cons: Screenshots, GPS, and activity monitoring wait for Pro at $7.99 per user

Clockify is the low-cost way to give a whole remote team a shared timer and a single source of truth for hours. The free plan covers up to 5 users with unlimited projects, clients, and tracking, and the Basic plan at $3.99 per user per month adds admin controls, a time audit, and bulk editing. Standard at $5.49 adds invoicing, time off, and timesheet approvals, which covers the billing workflow for many small firms. The trade-off is that anything that looks like monitoring costs more. Screenshots, GPS tracking, and activity monitoring start on Pro at $7.99, and the Enterprise plan at $11.99 adds data region choice and single sign-on. Clockify integrates with a wide range of project tools, and its kiosk mode suits teams with shared workstations. For a remote team that trusts its people and wants hours, not surveillance, the lower tiers are enough.

4

Hubstaff

Best for Remote teams that want activity proof

Website: https://hubstaff.com

Best for: Remote teams that want activity proof

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Screenshots and activity levels from the entry plan; payroll and payments on Team

Cons: Two-seat minimum on every priced plan; add-ons raise the per-seat cost

Hubstaff is built for managers who need to see what remote work looks like, not just how long it took. Starter at $4.99 per seat per month on annual billing includes a timer, automated timesheets, activity levels, and 500 screenshots plus 500 app and URL records per seat each month. Grow at $7.50 raises those caps, adds project budgets and expenses, while Team at $10 adds unlimited screenshots, scheduling, attendance, time off, and payroll and payments. The free plan covers a single user, so a team of two or more starts on a priced plan with a two-seat minimum. Add-ons for insights, locations, and silent app tracking cost extra per seat, and those can push the real bill well above the headline rate. Hubstaff suits distributed teams where clients or compliance rules ask for evidence of work, and it is a poor fit where staff expect no monitoring at all.

5

Time Doctor

Best for Managers who need distraction alerts

Website: https://www.timedoctor.com

Best for: Managers who need distraction alerts

Starting price: $6.67 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Distraction alerts and web and app usage reports; payroll and scheduling on Standard

Cons: No free plan; Basic lacks integrations, payroll, and web and app tracking

Time Doctor takes the most active approach to productivity of the tools in this list. When someone opens a site a manager has flagged as non-work, a pop-up alert tells them to get back to work. Basic at $6.67 per user per month on annual billing covers time tracking, screenshots, projects, and tasks. Standard at $11.67 adds web and app usage reports, attendance, payroll, and more than 60 integrations, while Premium at $16.70 adds video screen recording and AI benchmarks. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, so a team must commit after the trial ends. Premium features are also sold as add-ons on lower plans at about $3 per user per month each, which can cost more than simply moving up a tier. Time Doctor fits remote teams that want detailed oversight and are open about it, and it is the wrong choice for teams that see monitoring as a trust problem.

6

Everhour

Best for Teams already living in Asana, Trello, or Jira

Website: https://everhour.com

Best for: Teams already living in Asana, Trello, or Jira

Starting price: $5 per user/month

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Timer lives inside Asana, Trello, Jira, and GitHub; budgets and invoicing included

Cons: Free plan has no project management integrations; priced plans carry a seat minimum

Everhour is a time tracking layer that sits inside the project tools a remote team already uses. Instead of asking people to open a second app, it adds a timer and time reports to Asana, Trello, Jira, Basecamp, and GitHub boards. The free plan covers up to 5 users with unlimited time tracking, projects, and reports, but it leaves out the project management integrations that make Everhour worth buying. Lite at $5 per user per month adds those integrations, plus budgets, invoicing, reminders, and billable rates. Team at $8.50 adds time approval, scheduling, expenses, time cards, and API access, and it works inside every integration. Everhour has no screenshot monitoring, so it suits teams that want hours tied to tasks without watching screens. The main limit is scope: it is a tracker, not a scheduler or a payroll tool.

7

DeskTime

Best for Automatic tracking with no timers to start

Website: https://desktime.com

Best for: Automatic tracking with no timers to start

Starting price: $6.42 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Fully automatic tracking from the moment a computer starts; private time option for staff

Cons: No free plan; screenshots and shift scheduling need Premium at $9.17 per user

DeskTime records apps, websites, and documents automatically from the moment a computer switches on, then sorts that activity into productive and unproductive categories. Nobody has to remember to start a timer, which removes the most common source of missing hours in a remote team. Pro at $6.42 per user per month on annual billing includes automatic tracking, productivity calculations, project tracking, and an absence calendar, while Premium at $9.17 adds screenshots, integrations and API access, and shift scheduling. Staff can switch on private time to pause tracking and review their own data, which softens the monitoring side of the tool. There is no permanent free plan, only a 14-day trial, and there is no built-in invoicing, so billing still needs a second step. Prices exclude VAT, which matters for buyers in the European Union. DeskTime fits office and hybrid teams that want passive, always-on time data.

8

RescueTime

Best for Focus and distraction reports for knowledge workers

Website: https://www.rescuetime.com

Best for: Focus and distraction reports for knowledge workers

Starting price: $10 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Automatic focus and distraction reports with no manual entry; goal setting and alerts

Cons: Timesheets need Team+ at $16 per user; no screenshots or project invoicing

RescueTime runs in the background and records how much time goes to each app and website, then shows each person their own focus patterns, distractions, and goals. It is the gentlest tool in this list: there are no screenshots, no keystroke counts, and the reports are aimed at the individual first. Lite is free with basic tracking, two weeks of report history, and one goal. Solo at $7 a month on annual billing adds focus sessions, unlimited goals and alerts, and unlimited report history. For teams, Team at $10 per user per month adds a team dashboard with aggregated productivity reports and admin controls, while Team+ at $16 adds timesheets, shared clients and projects, billable rates, and timesheet workflows. The gap is that a team that bills by the hour must reach Team+ before RescueTime behaves like a timesheet tool. It fits knowledge teams that want focus data, not surveillance.

9

TrackingTime

Best for A free start with no cap on users

Website: https://trackingtime.co

Best for: A free start with no cap on users

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free plan covers unlimited users, projects, and clients; approvals start on Pro

Cons: Invoicing and timesheet approvals wait for Pro at $6.50 per user

TrackingTime stands out because its free plan has no user limit: a whole remote team can track time, tasks, projects, and clients without paying, and only active users are billed once a team moves up. Starter at $4.50 per user per month on annual billing adds billable hours, reports, estimates, and CSV exports. Pro at $6.50 adds timesheet approvals, block days, time cards, time off, invoicing, and integrations with Google Calendar, Outlook, Asana, and Azure DevOps. Business at $10 adds time-off policies with accrual rules, advanced roles and groups, single sign-on, and audit logs. TrackingTime also tracks time inside more than 50 apps, which keeps entries tied to the work itself. It has no screenshots or activity monitoring, so it suits teams that want a clean timesheet workflow and nothing that watches screens. The free plan makes it the lowest-risk way to start.

10

Connecteam

Best for Deskless and frontline remote staff

Website: https://connecteam.com

Best for: Deskless and frontline remote staff

Starting price: $29 per month per hub (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Flat monthly price covers the first 30 users; GPS time clock with geofencing

Cons: Each hub is priced separately, so full coverage costs more than one hub

Connecteam is built for deskless teams: field staff, drivers, retail and care workers who clock in from a phone rather than a desk. Its Operations hub covers a GPS time clock, job scheduling, forms, and tasks, while Communications and HR and Skills hubs add chat, training, documents, and hiring. Each hub is priced on its own, starting at $29 a month on annual billing for the first 30 users on Basic, with Advanced at $49 and Expert at $99. The Small Business plan is free for up to 10 users across all hubs, with limits such as one time clock and one job schedule. Beyond 30 users, each extra user adds from $0.80 to $5 a month depending on hub and plan. The flat-rate shape is a bargain for a 20-person field team and a cliff for a 31-person one, since the next tier jumps the price. Connecteam fits remote teams whose staff work on site, not at a desk.

What to check before you buy

Ask how the tool treats time zones, because a remote team spans them and a tracker that stamps entries in one zone creates confusion at payroll time. Check whether approvals, invoicing, and payroll links sit on the plan you would actually buy, since several tools in this list keep those features one tier above the entry price. Read the monitoring settings before rollout: screenshots, app tracking, and distraction alerts need a written policy and staff consent in many workplaces, and a tool that feels like surveillance will cost you trust faster than it saves hours. Confirm the seat minimum, because Hubstaff and Everhour both charge for seats a small team may not need.

Test the timer on the devices your team actually uses, including phones, and check that offline entries sync when a connection returns. Confirm the export format matches your payroll or invoicing tool, and confirm how the vendor counts a billable seat, since deactivated and invited users are treated differently across vendors.

FAQ

Which time tracking software is best for a small remote team?

Clockify and TrackingTime are the strongest starting points for a small remote team, because both offer a free plan and a low entry price. Clockify Basic costs $3.99 per user per month on annual billing, and TrackingTime Starter costs $4.50. Toggl Track fits teams that bill clients, since Starter adds billable rates and team reports at $9 per user.

Do remote teams need screenshot monitoring?

No, most remote teams do not need screenshot monitoring, and many staff see it as a trust problem. Timers with reports, approvals, and project budgets give managers the hours and costs they need without watching screens. Choose Hubstaff, Time Doctor, or DeskTime only when a client, contract, or compliance rule asks for evidence of work.

What is the cheapest time tracking software for remote teams?

TrackingTime is the cheapest way to start, because its free plan covers unlimited users with unlimited projects and clients. Clockify is the cheapest priced entry point for teams that need admin controls, at $3.99 per user per month on annual billing. Both charge more for approvals, invoicing, and monitoring features.

How do I track time across different time zones?

Pick a tool that stores entries in UTC and displays them in each person's local time, then set one company time zone for reports and payroll. Toggl Track, Clockify, and Hubstaff all handle this, but confirm the export format before you commit. Agree on a single cut-off day for timesheets so entries from every zone land in the same pay period.

Can time tracking software replace a payroll tool?

No, time tracking software on its own does not replace a payroll tool. Trackers record hours, approvals, and project costs, while payroll handles tax, filings, and payments. Hubstaff Team and Time Doctor Standard add payroll features, and Gusto and Rippling pair time tracking with full payroll, but most teams still need a dedicated payroll step.

Sources we checked

  • https://toggl.com/pricing
  • https://clockify.me/pricing
  • https://hubstaff.com/pricing
  • https://www.timedoctor.com/pricing
  • https://everhour.com/pricing
  • https://desktime.com/pricing
  • https://www.rescuetime.com/pricing
  • https://trackingtime.co/pricing
  • https://connecteam.com/pricing
How we score

Need the method behind these picks?

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The best time tracking software for remote teams#1 PICK