Time Tracking · Researched comparison

Hubstaff Alternatives for Time Tracking Teams

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Key takeaways

  • Hubstaff users who want lighter monitoring can move to Clockify at $3.99 per user per month or Toggl Track at $9, and both offer a free tier, while teams that still need proof of work can keep screenshots with Time Doctor from $6.67 per user per month on annual billing.
  • Automatic tracking is the clearest split in this list: DeskTime and Timely record work in the background, while Toggl Track, Clockify and Harvest rely on timers that staff start and stop.
  • Entry prices run from $3.99 to $14 per user per month on annual billing, and the cheapest headline rarely covers screenshots, approvals or invoicing, which sit on higher tiers or on add-ons that add $2 to $5 per user per month.
  • Check seat minimums before you budget: Teramind and ActivTrak require 5 seats on subscription tiers, Timely Starter stops at 5 users, and Clockify free tier now caps at 5 users, so a 6 person team pays for the next tier.

Comparison

How these compare
ToolBest forPrice rangeFree plan
Time DoctorRemote teams needing screenshots and activity proof$6.67 per user/month (billed annually)Free trial (14 days)
Toggl TrackFreelancers and agencies billing by the hour$9 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
ClockifyBudget teams wanting a free start$3.99 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
DeskTimeHybrid teams wanting automatic tracking$6.42 per user/month (billed annually)Free trial (14 days)
InsightfulMid-size teams wanting workforce analytics$8 per seat/month (billed annually)Free trial (7 days)
HarvestAgencies tracking time and invoicing clients$9 per seat/month (billed annually)Yes
PaymoSmall firms wanting projects, time and invoicing in one place$10.90 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
TeramindRegulated teams needing security and data loss prevention$14 per seat/month (billed annually)Free trial
ActivTrakHR and operations teams wanting analytics without keystroke logging$10 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
TimelyConsultants who forget to start timers$9 per user/month (billed annually)Free trial (14 days)

How we choose

We compared the vendor pricing pages and product documentation for each tool on 12 November 2026, and we checked the free tier, trial length, seat minimums and add-on costs on the same pages. We compared timers against automatic tracking, screenshots and monitoring depth, invoicing and billing features, and reporting. We used the annual billing rate as the starting price wherever the vendor publishes one. We did not run hands-on trials, and we did not rank tools by review scores.

Our full method

The shortlist

★ Best overall

Time Doctor

Best for Remote teams needing screenshots and activity proof

Website: https://www.timedoctor.com/

Best for: Remote teams needing screenshots and activity proof

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

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Optional screenshots and distraction alerts with activity timelines; Payroll, attendance and scheduling tools on Standard

Cons: No permanent free tier, only a 14 day trial; Add-ons such as Benchmarks AI cost extra on lower tiers

Time Doctor is the closest direct replacement for Hubstaff when screenshots and activity proof are the reason you used Hubstaff. Basic costs $6.67 per user per month on annual billing, or $8 billed monthly, and covers automatic tracking, projects, screenshots and offline tracking. Standard costs $11.67 and adds schedules, attendance, approvals and payroll. Premium costs $16.70 and adds video screen recording and AI benchmarks.

The 14 day trial covers every feature on Premium with no credit card required. Annual billing saves two months against the monthly rate. The trade-off is tone: distraction alerts can feel heavy, so agree the monitoring policy in writing before rollout.

2

Toggl Track

Best for Freelancers and agencies billing by the hour

Website: https://toggl.com/

Best for: Freelancers and agencies billing by the hour

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Simple timers with billable rates and team reports; Free tier for small teams with unlimited tracking

Cons: Profitability reports and timesheet approvals need Premium at $16 per user per month; Time Off and Capacity add-ons cost extra

Toggl Track suits teams that found Hubstaff monitoring heavier than they needed and mainly want clean hours tied to clients and projects. The free tier covers a limited number of users with timers, tasks and boards. Starter costs $9 per user per month on annual billing, or $12 billed monthly, and adds billable rates, estimates and team reports. Premium costs $16 and adds profitability reports, approvals and single sign-on.

Setup is fast, and the 30 day trial needs no credit card. The gap to plan around is the jump from Starter to Premium: approvals, profitability and the Jira and Asana integrations sit on Premium, so a billing-heavy agency should budget $16 per user per month from the start.

3

Clockify

Best for Budget teams wanting a free start

Website: https://clockify.me/

Best for: Budget teams wanting a free start

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free tier for up to 5 users with unlimited tracking, projects and clients; Low entry price with invoicing on Standard

Cons: Screenshots, GPS and activity monitoring wait for Pro at $7.99 per user per month; Free tier now caps at 5 users, down from unlimited

Clockify is the lowest cost switch on this list, since the free tier covers up to 5 users with unlimited tracking, projects, clients and time entries. Basic costs $3.99 per user per month on annual billing, or $4.99 billed monthly, and adds admin controls, time audit and kiosk clock-in. Standard costs $5.49 and adds time off, invoicing and approvals. Pro costs $7.99 and adds scheduling, GPS tracking and screenshots.

The 2026 change to the free tier matters: a 6 person team can no longer run free, and at 10 users Basic costs $39.90 per month on annual billing.

4

DeskTime

Best for Hybrid teams wanting automatic tracking

Website: https://desktime.com/

Best for: Hybrid teams wanting automatic tracking

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

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Automatic tracking from computer start with no timer to press; Shift scheduling and absence calendar on Premium

Cons: Screenshots, integrations and API need Premium at $9.17 per user per month; Prices exclude VAT, so the invoice runs higher in some regions

DeskTime removes the timer entirely: tracking starts when the computer turns on, capturing apps, websites and document titles, with manual entries for offline work. Pro costs $6.42 per user per month on annual billing, or $7 billed monthly, and covers automatic tracking and productivity calculations. Premium costs $9.17 and adds screenshots, integrations, shift scheduling and an absence calendar.

A 14 day trial needs no credit card, and annual billing carries about an 8 percent discount. DeskTime also includes a private time option and break reminders. The limit to note is that screenshots need Premium, so budget $9.17 if proof of work is a requirement rather than $6.42.

5

Insightful

Best for Mid-size teams wanting workforce analytics

Website: https://insightful.io/

Best for: Mid-size teams wanting workforce analytics

Starting price: $8 per seat/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (7 days)

Pros: Automatic time mapping with app and website usage reports; Staff can see their own productivity data

Cons: Screen recording and extra screenshots cost extra as add-ons; Insights tier needs at least 50 seats at $24 per seat per month

Insightful, formerly Workpuls, pairs automatic time tracking with workforce analytics rather than simple timers. Analytics costs $8 per seat per month on annual billing, or $10 billed monthly, and covers time and attendance, app and website use, capacity and workload, project time and screenshots. Insights costs $24 per seat per month with a 50 seat minimum. Intelligence is custom priced.

Add-ons run from $0.50 to $4 per seat per month and cover workspace security, more frequent screenshots and screen recording. Insightful does not log keystroke content, and staff get a personal dashboard, which makes rollout easier.

6

Harvest

Best for Agencies tracking time and invoicing clients

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

Best for: Agencies tracking time and invoicing clients

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Clean timers with invoicing and expense tracking built in; Free tier for one person and two projects

Cons: Flex usage fees can add charges for active projects, clients, tasks and invoicing; Forecast resource planning costs $5 extra per person per month

Harvest is the calmest switch for agencies that bill hours and want invoicing in the same tool. The free tier covers one seat and two projects. Teams costs $9 per seat per month on annual billing, or $11 billed monthly, and covers unlimited seats, team reporting, expense tracking and integrations with QuickBooks, Xero and Stripe. Enterprise costs $14 and adds profitability reporting, approvals and single sign-on.

Harvest changed its billing in 2026: Teams and Enterprise can be billed as Flex, where active projects, clients, tasks and invoicing carry usage fees on top of the seat price, or as Unlimited, a flat price with no extra usage fees. Forecast costs $5 extra per person per month.

7

Paymo

Best for Small firms wanting projects, time and invoicing in one place

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

Best for: Small firms wanting projects, time and invoicing in one place

Starting price: $10.90 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free tier with unlimited time tracking and invoicing; Gantt charts, scheduling and leave management on Pro

Cons: Introductory rates rise after 3 months, with Plus moving to $15.90 per user per month; Solo tier is limited to one user and 5 projects

Paymo combines project management, time tracking and invoicing, which suits small firms that want one tool instead of three. The free tier covers one user, two projects and one client. Solo costs $5.90 per month for the first 3 months and then $9.90, and is limited to one user and 5 projects. Plus costs $10.90 per user per month for the first 3 months and then $15.90.

Pro costs $16.90 per user per month for the first 3 months and then $23.90, and adds Gantt charts, scheduling, approvals and leave management. A 15 day free trial covers the subscription tiers. The price rise after 3 months is the number to budget: at 10 users, Plus costs $109 per month at first and then $159 per month.

8

Teramind

Best for Regulated teams needing security and data loss prevention

Website: https://www.teramind.co/

Best for: Regulated teams needing security and data loss prevention

Starting price: $14 per seat/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial

Pros: Screen recording with live view and activity blocking on Starter; UAM and DLP tiers add keystroke logging and content rules

Cons: Five-seat minimum on every tier, so small teams pay for 5 seats; OCR detection sits on the custom Enterprise tier

Teramind is not a light time tracker; it is a security platform that also records time, and it suits finance, healthcare and government buyers with compliance duties. Starter costs $14 per seat per month on annual billing and covers live view, screen recording and activity blocking. UAM costs $28 and adds keystroke logging and risk scoring. DLP costs $32 and adds content-based rules and automatic blocking.

Every tier carries a 5 seat minimum, so the smallest Starter deployment costs $70 per month on annual billing, and DLP costs $160 per month at the minimum. Check notice and consent rules before you deploy: monitoring rules vary by state and country, and hidden monitoring without notice is illegal in many places.

9

ActivTrak

Best for HR and operations teams wanting analytics without keystroke logging

Website: https://www.activtrak.com/

Best for: HR and operations teams wanting analytics without keystroke logging

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free tier for up to 3 users with basic tracking; No keystroke logging, email monitoring or camera access at any tier

Cons: Screenshots need the Screen Details add-on at $2 extra per user per month; All subscription tiers are annual only, with no monthly option

ActivTrak is the privacy-conscious pick for teams that left Hubstaff because monitoring felt too intrusive. The free tier covers up to 3 users with 30 days of data history. Essentials costs $10 per user per month on annual billing and covers productivity classification, idle detection and real-time dashboards. Essentials Plus costs $15 and adds productivity goals and workload balance. The top tier costs $17 on the vendor pricing page checked on 12 November 2026.

Screenshots, live screen views and website blocking need the Screen Details add-on at $2 per user per month. Subscription tiers carry a 5 license minimum and are annual only, so a 3 person team on Essentials pays for 5 seats, or $600 per year.

10

Timely

Best for Consultants who forget to start timers

Website: https://timelyapp.com/

Best for: Consultants who forget to start timers

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

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Memory tracker records work in the background and AI drafts timesheets; No screenshots and no keystroke logging

Cons: Starter caps at 5 users and 20 projects, so most teams need Premium at $16 per user per month; Task-level timers cost $5 extra per user per month

Timely solves the oldest time tracking problem: nobody remembers to start the timer. Its Memory tracker records apps, documents and websites in the background, and AI drafts timesheet entries for approval. Starter costs $9 per user per month on annual billing, or $11 billed monthly, for up to 5 users and 20 projects. Premium costs $16 for up to 50 users and adds team management and budgets.

Unlimited costs $22 per user per month on annual billing and adds capacity management and overtime tracking. There is no free tier, only a 14 day trial. The Starter cap is the number to watch: most agencies pass 5 users quickly, so budget Premium at $16 per user per month, or $160 per month for a 10 person team.

What to check before you buy

Start with the reason you are leaving Hubstaff, and match the replacement to that reason rather than to the longest feature list. If screenshots were the point, shortlist Time Doctor, DeskTime Premium and Teramind, and confirm screenshot limits on the tier you will buy. If billing was the point, shortlist Harvest, Toggl Track and Paymo, and confirm that billable rates, approvals and invoicing sit on your tier. If staff hated timers, shortlist DeskTime, Timely and Insightful, and run a trial with the people who track the least.

Check the real monthly cost at your headcount, not the headline rate. At 10 users on annual billing, Clockify Basic costs $39.90 per month, Toggl Track Starter costs $90, Harvest Teams costs $90, DeskTime Pro costs $64.20, Time Doctor Basic costs $66.70 and Insightful Analytics costs $80. Then add the extras: Harvest Flex usage fees, Paymo price rises after 3 months, ActivTrak Screen Details at $2, Timely task timers at $5, and Teramind DLP at $32 per seat.

Confirm data export before you switch, since most tools accept CSV imports, and confirm the notice rules for monitoring in each place your staff work. Run the trial with real client work for one full billing cycle, compare the invoice against the pricing page, and only then move the whole team.

FAQ

What is the cheapest Hubstaff alternative with a free plan?

Clockify is the cheapest option here, with Basic at $3.99 per user per month on annual billing and a free tier for up to 5 users with unlimited tracking, projects and clients. Toggl Track also offers a free tier for a limited number of users. Clockify Standard at $5.49 adds invoicing and timesheet approvals.

Which Hubstaff alternative tracks time automatically?

DeskTime, Timely and Insightful track time without a manual timer. DeskTime starts when the computer turns on and records apps, websites and document titles. Timely records work in the background and drafts timesheets with AI for each person to approve. Insightful maps time to projects automatically from app and website use.

Do any Hubstaff alternatives include screenshots?

Yes, several do. Time Doctor includes screenshots on Basic at $6.67 per user per month. DeskTime includes them only on Premium at $9.17. Teramind includes screen recording on Starter at $14 per seat per month. Insightful includes screenshots on Analytics at $8, while ActivTrak needs the Screen Details add-on at $2 extra. Timely takes no screenshots at all.

Which Hubstaff alternative is best for client invoicing?

Harvest is the strongest pick for invoicing, with timers, expenses and polished invoices in one tool from $9 per seat per month. Paymo also covers invoicing with projects and Gantt charts from $10.90 per user per month. Clockify Standard at $5.49 adds invoicing, and Toggl Track Starter at $9 adds billable rates.

Can I switch from Hubstaff without losing past time entries?

Yes, in most cases. Export clients, projects and time entries from Hubstaff as CSV files first, then check the import guides for your new tool, since most tools accept CSV imports. Run both tools side by side for one billing cycle, compare the hours and the invoice, and only close Hubstaff after the totals match.

Sources we checked

  • https://www.timedoctor.com/pricing
  • https://toggl.com/track/pricing/
  • https://clockify.me/pricing
  • https://desktime.com/pricing
  • https://insightful.io/pricing/
  • https://www.getharvest.com/pricing
  • https://www.paymoapp.com/pricing/
  • https://www.teramind.co/blog/hubstaff-vs-teramind/
  • https://www.activtrak.com/pricing/
  • https://timelyapp.com/pricing
How we score

Need the method behind these picks?

We publish the criteria and the weights, so you can disagree with them.

Time Doctor#1 PICK