9 Best Employee Time Tracking Software for 2024: Tried & Tested

Wrong employee time tracking software can cost your business thousands in lost productivity.

That’s especially true with the rise of remote and hybrid work, where accurately tracking employee time is challenging without questionable practices like micromanagement or surveillance. And the fact that many employees consider time tracking a chore doesn’t help either. 

That’s why, even though you’ll find a sea of time tracking apps online, only a handful are reliable, easy to use, aren’t bloated with features, and don’t infringe on privacy to get the job done.

We’ve been in the time tracking software industry since 2006.

We witnessed the ebb and flow of industry trends and consistently adapted to meet evolving user needs — that’s how we managed to thrive for almost 20 years now. During this time, we noticed most articles on this topic keep mentioning the same options without considering specific user needs or that many employees don’t perform well under surveillance.

That’s why, in this article, we’ll give you our no-nonsense selection of the best employee time tracking software for 2024 — based on our experience, tests, user reviews, and user needs. We’re confident you’ll find what you’re looking for on this list.

With that out of the way, here are our top picks!

Best employee time tracking software: You can’t go wrong with these

How to choose the best employee time tracking software

Hundreds of time tracking apps exist on the market today, so it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of tools and features. That’s why you should be aware of these pitfalls when looking for employee time tracking software for your business:

1. Employee surveillance: Some time tracking apps offer surveillance tools like GPS location tracking and remote screenshots. While these tools help maintain workplace compliance, employees don’t like managers looking over their shoulders and will often find ways around it. 
2. Frustrating to use: There’s no point investing in a time tracking software your employees don’t enjoy using. Many employees already view time tracking as a chore and only use it out of necessity. Look for intuitive and unobtrusive apps that encourage consistent use.
3. Sub-par analytics: Time tracking data can quickly get overwhelming — especially in organizations with several employees. A time tracking app with robust analytics tools can help you make sense of this data. Avoid apps that only provide basic time reports and look for those that offer actionable insights to boost productivity.
4. Cross-platform compatibility: Most time tracking apps are web-based with little support for Android and iOS platforms. However, employees often work remotely or on the go. So your time tracker should be able to synchronize data across all major platforms.

How we selected the best employee time tracking software

We created this list of employee time tracking software based on user reviews, forum posts, and our long-term experience in the industry.

But that’s not all. We also tested each app by tracking the time it took to write this very article.

We set up a project in each tool, created a list of tasks, and tracked the time it took to complete these tasks. During this process, we documented our experience, noting each tool’s performance on four criteria for your convenience: 

• Ease of Use – how easily your employees can adapt to the platform
• Analytics – how much insights you’ll get from time tracking with the tool
• Integrations – how easily can you integrate the tool with your existing tech stack
• Pricing – how likely you’re to convince your boss to invest in the tool

We also categorized our picks into two categories: Apps that stay away from employee monitoring and employee surveillance software that enables it.

❗ DISCLAIMER:

Now, let’s dive into the review!

Best employee time tracking software: Summary

These are our top picks for employee time tracking. They offer all the tools a manager needs to keep their team productive while not infringing on privacy.

These apps offer good employee time tracking features but rely on employee surveillance and monitoring to get the job done. Choose these at your own risk.

1. Toggl Track – Best employee time tracking software for teams

Alari Aho and Krister Haav created Toggl in 2006 because they faced difficulties accurately tracking time for their client projects. Since then, Toggl has released two more productivity products: Toggl Plan and Toggl Hire. But its core purpose of time tracking that brings the best out of employees is still encapsulated in Toggl Track.

Toggl Track’s strength is in its intuitive time tracking with the Timeline. However, it outshines the competition with the most advanced Reports, Analytics, and Insights compared to any time tracker. These features reveal employee work habits with precise clarity without privacy infringement. And, when combined with integrations, extensions, and the Toggl API, it guarantees that time tracking is not a chore but an essential part of your workplace culture.

Toggl Track is the best time tracking tool for teams looking to cultivate a trust-based work culture that emphasizes growth, performance, and productivity.

Time tracking: Detailed employee timesheets on any device 

Asides the web app, Toggl Track provides a desktop app, mobile app, and chrome extension for employees to track time from any device whether in-office, remote, or in the field.

It synchronizes time entries and tracking data across all platforms. And these extra apps don’t include any additional features that would affect time tracking simplicity, so your employees can focus on their tasks. 

Toggl Track’s Timeline tracks your computer activity, so you don’t have to manually update the timesheet when switching tasks. It’s entirely private to each employee, so no other team member or manager can view your activity.

The web app offers the full range of Toggl Track’s features. It’s especially useful to managers with a complete overview of: 

• projects, 
• employee tasks, 
• running times, 
• billable hours, 
• and activity.

Analytics: Obtain actionable insights from your time tracking data

Toggl’s web app offers three tools to measure your project’s performance: Reports, Analytics, and Insights. 

Reports summarize your organization’s tracked time using visualization tools, including:

• Bar chart (1) to split your time into billable and non-billable hours across a specific date range
• Grouping list (2) to compare data on metrics like project, client, time entry, and more    
• Donut chart (3) to display the grouping list data in a pie format   

The Analytics feature is a completely customizable time reporting solution that lets you arrange, filter, and round off your time data for in-depth insights. It enables you to create custom dashboards and populate them with visualizations, including:

• tables,
• bar charts,
• line graphs,
• donut charts,
• and pivot tables. 

Analytics helps managers improve project profitability, manage resource demand, and improve team efficiency. Nevertheless, employees can use it to track their wages, work patterns, and productivity.

Then there’s the Insights tab. It helps you understand data trends based on projects, teams, and clients. This way, you can assess project profitability, employee productivity, and compare data across custom date ranges.

Integrations: 100+ native integrations, browser extensions, and APIs for a custom tech stack

You can easily enrich Toggl Track with 100+ native integrations and browser extensions to streamline your project and team management activities.

And, if you can’t find your desired integration, Toggl also supports Zapier, Integrately, or the Toggl Track API to create custom connections.

Toggl Pricing

Toggl’s pricing starts with a free lifetime plan with time tracking for projects, clients, and tags. This plan is tailored to freelancers and personal use.

The paid plans cater better to teams and start at $10/mo/user. With the Starter plan, you can assign tasks to team members and create detailed reports to measure their performance. It also unlocks customizable analytics and insights.

Use Toggl if:

• You want to offer your employees a work culture that values privacy and trust.
• You want in-depth insights to improve employee productivity and profitability.
• You want an easy-to-use platform with automated time tracking.

Ready to get started? Sign up for our 30-day fully-featured trial and see how Toggl Track fits into your workflow!

2. Paymo – Best time tracking app for project management

The founders of Paymo, Jan Lukacs and Vlad Korolev, used to work for a client, but didn’t know how many hours developers put into their projects. As a result, they were often underpaid. That prompted them to create Paymo to track time and automatically generate client invoices accurately.

Paymo’s stand-out features include:

• Task-specific, automated time tracking
• Inactivity detection
• Built-in project management
• Desktop, web, and mobile app

Paymo is ideal for product or development teams looking for a platform that integrates time tracking and project management into one platform.

Paymo Features

Paymo offers several project management tools, including task management, planning & scheduling, file management, and invoicing. But it also offers robust time tracking features. It lets you track time by task from any device and platform, so you know how much time you’ve spent on each project.

Paymo can also detect device inactivity and stop tracking if it sees you aren’t active. You can then choose to discard or keep the logged idle time.

Paymo Pricing

Paymo offers a free plan with unlimited time tracking and invoices. However, it only allows one user to track time for a maximum of three clients.

Paid plans start at $9.9/mo/user with advanced features like the task kanban view, in-app support, and 5GB of cloud storage. If you need project planning features like project templates, recurring tasks, and a unified project Kanban board, you need to choose the Small Office plan ($15.9/mo/user). The biggest plan, Business, costs $23.9/mo/user and provides 500GB of cloud storage, employee leave management, and even more project management tools.

Use Paymo if:

• Your business needs a project planning tool with integrated timekeeping features.
• You are primarily interested in tracking time for invoices and project estimates. 
• You need a time tracker with file management tools.
  

3. Monday.com – Best time tracking app for team collaboration

Roy Mann and Erron Zinman founded monday.com after facing difficulty expanding a large organization. They created a platform that helps teams of all sizes collaborate on projects and track the time spent on them.

Monday.com’s best features include:

• Customizable dashboard
• Custom project boards
• Time tracking automation
• File management
• A shared time tracker

Monday.com is best for companies that need an easy-to-use time management tool as part of a customizable project management platform. That’s because its shared timer can be accessed and controlled by multiple employees from different accounts.

Monday.com Features

Monday.com is primarily a project management platform with robust employee time tracking tools. It provides a highly customizable project dashboard with several columns for: 

• status, 
• priority,
• due date, 
• project owner, 
• estimated timeline, 
• and, most importantly, time tracking.

The time tracker allows you to use an automatic timer or log your sessions manually. It also enables multiple team members to share the same time tracker from different accounts.

This shared timer facilitates collaboration by allowing employees to pick up projects from where their colleagues left off.

Besides the Main Table, Monday.com provides several customizable project views, including Kanban, Gantt, Chart, Calendar, and the Files Gallery. And you can add custom widgets and apps to each view.

Monday.com stands out with its easy-to-use project automation tools, which allow you to choose from several templates or create custom project management rules and workflows. This feature helps you streamline tasks and synchronize projects between employees.

Monday.com Pricing

Aside from the free plan, Monday.com offers four paid plans:

• The Basic plan costs $10/seat/month for unlimited projects, 200+ templates, and 20 column types.
• The Standard plan costs $12/seat/month for guest access, 250 automations, and custom dashboards.
• The Pro plan costs $20/seat/month for time tracking, formula column, and 25,000 automations.
• The Enterprise plan uses custom pricing and provides premium support, advanced analytics, and enterprise-grade security.

Use Monday.com if:

• You’re looking for project management software with optional time tracking.
• You want employees to customize their dashboards according to their preferences.
• You need a shared timer multiple team members can access from different accounts.

4. Timely – Best AI-powered time tracking app

Mathias Mikkelsen used to be a designer in the ad industry who became frustrated with his cumbersome and inefficient time tracking methods. So, he created Timely, an AI-powered time tracker that eliminates manual data entry to boost productivity. 

Timely’s key features include: 

• Automatic time tracking
• Task scheduling
• Device activity tracking

Timely is great for companies that want employees to spend every working minute on their tasks. That’s because it eliminates manual time entry and employs AI to perform much of the heavy lifting.

Timely Features

The Memory desktop app powers Timely’s automatic time tracking. This tool detects app activity and automatically logs the time spent on apps and browser tabs. This way, you don’t have to start or stop a timer manually.

To log your time for the day, drag and drop the “memory” to the timesheet. It lets employees leave out private activities, so managers can only see the time spent on projects. It’s worth noting that this app is entirely optional for each employee and can be enabled or disabled at will.

Timely also offers basic task and project management tools. In addition, it uses time tracking data from tasks to understand employee work patterns and accurately determine the time spent in meetings, emails, and video calls.

It also lets you audit AI logs to ensure you’re entering the correct data and remove unnecessary information using the drag-and-drop editor. 

Timely Pricing

Timely offers a full functionality 14-day free trial, after which you’ll have to choose one of the subscription plans:

• Starter plan ($11/mo/user) which automates time tracking and categorizes time with AI for up to 5 employees.
• Premium plan ($20/mo/user) offers team management, API access, and budget management for up to 50 employees across unlimited projects.
• Unlimited plan ($28/mo/user) lets you manage unlimited employees and includes overtime features.

Use Timely if:

• You want to simplify time tracking with AI assistance.
• You want to automatically generate insights using AI.
• You want to track time spent on individual apps and websites.

Best employee time tracking software for employee surveillance

At Toggl, we believe employees thrive in a trust-based culture where they can give their best without pandering to management demands. That’s why we openly stand against employee surveillance and micromanagement, which is reflected in our culture and our software. 

However, we recognize that some managers find value in employee monitoring during work time. The apps on this list offer good time tracking features so it would be dishonest not to include them.

But use them at your own discretion. 

Experience tells us employees hate surveillance and micromanagement and will go to extreme lengths to avoid it — which will largely defeat the purpose of time tracking and can potentially increase distrust between management and employees.

5. Clockify – Best for GPS location tracking

Clockify is a free time tracker, which also offers project and team management, invoicing, and lightweight analytics tools. Its “build-as-you-go” architecture eliminates any hassle of unnecessary planning, especially for short and simple projects. 

It also helps companies keep a close eye on their employees with surveillance features, such as:

• Force timer (prevents manual time entry and editing)
• GPS-based location tracking (highly accurate live location updates)
• Screenshots (records employees’ screens every few seconds)

Every time the time clock is started and stopped, it pinpoints each employee’s physical location up to an accuracy of 150 meters. And, it registers location change if the employee moves more than 500 meters. Besides screenshots, it also detects app and browsing activity.

Clockify is most suitable for companies that want an over-the-shoulder perspective of employee activities to enforce workplace efficiency. 

Clockify Pricing 

Clockify offers a free plan with unlimited time tracking, projects, clients, and employees. Employee surveillance, invoicing, task scheduling, and overtime approvals are available on the paid plans:

• Basic plan starts at $4.99/mo/user.
• Standard plan which adds the timesheet and billing at $6.99/mo/user.
• Pro plan which boosts profit and productivity tracking at $9.99/mo/user.
• Enterprise plan which adds control and security at $14.99/mo/user.

Need more information? Read our in-depth comparison of Clockify vs Toggl Track to see which one is better feature by feature!

6. Connecteam – Best for communication and employee onboarding

Connecteam is an all-in-one team management app with GPS-powered time tracking, timesheets, in-app chatting, built-in training & onboarding, and task management.

It uses a GPS-powered timer tracker for mobile devices to record precise employee hours.

For example, employees can clock in and clock out using the mobile app or the on-site kiosk app. Furthermore, it provides built-in tools for absence, overtime, and “time off request” management.

In addition to time tracking, Connecteam provides a secure messaging tool for employees with private messaging, segmented team chats, or company-wide broadcasts. And, it provides surveys and quizzes to assess employee performance and receive feedback in real-time.

Connecteam Pricing

Connecteam offers its features in three distinct “Hubs” — Operations, Communications, and HR & Skills. But they all share the same pricing structure and subscription tiers: 

• Small Business Plan is free and provides access to all hubs and features.
• Basic costs $35/mo for team chats, GPS tracking, and employee time-off management.
• Advanced costs $59/mo for Geofencing, chat read receipts, and unlimited employee courses.
• Expert costs $119/mo for live GPS tracking, process automation, and in-app shortcuts.

7. Hubstaff – Best employee time tracking software for tracking fieldwork

Hubstaff is a productivity platform for automating time tracking, employee experience, analytics, and workforce management. It offers automated reminders and hourly limits that help reduce overtime and missed shifts.

This platform lets you automate clocking in and out with geofenced time tracking.

Using GPS tracking, it automatically starts and stops the timer when employees enter and leave a preset job site, or it reminds them to clock in as they arrive. Furthermore, it takes screenshots of employees’ workstations and tracks their app activity.

Hubstaff is best for businesses where employees work shifts and don’t have the time or facilities to manually input their working hours. That makes it great for tracking fieldwork.

Hubstaff Pricing

Hubstaff offers a 14-day free trial, after which you must subscribe to one of the pricing plans:

• Starter plan starts at $4.99/user/mo.
• Grow plan costs $7.50/user/mo and includes the Tasks add-on.
• Team plan costs $10/user/mo and includes the Insights add-ons.
• Enterprise plan costs $25/user/mo and includes the Locations and Corporate app add-ons.

8. TimeCamp – Best time tracking software for inactivity detection

TimeCamp is a simple time tracker with a suite of reporting, invoicing, budgeting, and geofencing tools. It aims to improve productivity by tracking all open windows, apps, and browser tabs on employees’ devices.

Based on tracking data, TimeCamp can detect inactivity and private time. This way, you can accurately bill clients on only the time spent on actual work, excluding personal activities. Unlike other platforms, TimeCamp provides built-in support for breaks during your working hours.

TimeCamp is a good time tracking solution for businesses where employees don’t have preset working hours. That’s because the inactivity detection and break time features let employees work flexible hours as long as they meet quotas.

TimeCamp Pricing

Aside from the free version, TimeCamp offers three paid plans:

• Starter plan at $2.99/mo/user,
• Premium plan at $4.99/mo/user,
• and Ultimate plan at $7.99/mo/user.

9. Time Doctor – Best time tracking app for stakeholder inclusion

Time Doctor stands out from other time trackers on this list with the ability to not only record screenshots, but also live screen video, mouse activity, and keystrokes of employees’ devices. And, it gives you the most options for transparency with stakeholders by providing them custom client logins into your organization’s workspace.

It provides real-time visibility of employees’ online and offline activities while complying with regional privacy laws. Furthermore, it detects inactivity, sends reminders to employees to keep them focused, and also sends notifications to managers.

Time Doctor is best for companies that need live data on employees’ device activities. Since employees may find ways around screenshots, having a live video feed ensures compliance and provides proof of work. For this reason, TimeDoctor is the most surveillance-heavy tool on this list.

Time Doctor Pricing

Time Doctor offers a 14-day free trial and three pricing plans:

• Basic plan starts at $7/user/mo for screenshots and silent tracking.
• Standard plan costs $10/user/mo for payroll features and app usage reports.
• Premium plan costs $20/user/mo for video recording and internet connectivity status reporting.

Note: Need a time tracking tool with less intrusive employee monitoring features? Check out our in-depth comparison of Hubstaff vs Time Doctor vs Toggl.”

Final verdict

Time tracking is a lot easier than it once was. It evolved from manual time entries on sheets of paper to digital timers and even automatic activity detection.

Yet, a lot of employees still consider it a chore. That’s why it’s vital to find a platform that makes time tracking simple, engaging, and non-disruptive for your team to adopt it.

We’ve highlighted apps that satisfy the most common employee time tracking needs but we encourage you to try them out before committing. Having said that, here’s our verdict based on our tests and experience:

• Toggl Track is ideal for teams and enterprises with trust-based cultures looking to empower employees and managers with in-depth insights while respecting privacy.
• Paymo is designed for agencies and teams looking to integrate time tracking with project management to develop accurate project time estimates.
• Monday.com is best for companies that need a time management tool as part of a customizable team management platform.