Time Tracking Tools, Free and Cheap Options

flipsflips OG
edited May 2021 in General

Hi!
(Maybe related to this Accounting Software topic.)

I've been looking into and testing different time tracking software. After I switched to Centiga.no for billing and accounting, I also switched to Clockify for tracking hours spent on different projects and clients, and it works well. (I can export CSV and create the reports needed.)
The only thing I'm missing in the free version, is the ability to easily mark hours/entries as billed/finished. (Invoicing is a premium feature, and so is bulk editing.)

So, searching a bit, I found many alternatives. Most cheap or free options has some of the features I want hidden (only available in expensive plans).

For me, the most important is that it should be really quick to (re)start a timer for some project. This is easy in Clockify, but also seems I found a promising alternatives:
1. TMetric. Seems to have better reporting, easy way to bulk set entries to Invoiced and more. It seems the paid features are stuff I don't need. (Disclaimer: The trial period hasn't ended, so can't yet be 100 % sure if the functionality I've used is available on the free plan.) Support was responsive. Only drawback I found, was no native dark mode.
2. Futuramo also seemed very promising. It has dark mode, and most features I wanted. Haven't tested it too much yet, as I think I like TMetric's time entry options even better, so giving that a shot first.

I could also mention actiTIME, which also seems to perform well. The approach is a bit different, and entering time a bit less flexible (but it also has other possibilities, maybe a better fit for some).

My plan was also to give InvoiceNinja a shot. I did look in the hosted version, but there the reporting module is a part of a paid plan, and I haven't gotten around to installing a self-hosted version yet.

Will see how much more I'll end up testing. If TMetrics keeps working great after the trial period ends, I will probably stick with that.
(I know Centiga.no is planning for a paid module for time tracking, so I might give that a try, though. Direct integration with billing and account would be nice.)

There are quite a few others to check.
(Wasn't sure if General was the correct category.)

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Comments

  • mikhomikho AdministratorOG

    I use toggl, only because my Bokio support importing the reported time onto an invoice.

    I only send invoices once a month to keep it simple.
    In toggl you can tag tasks/reported time with tags.
    That is one way to keep track of what has been invoiced.

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  • yoursunnyyoursunny OG

    I track time by looking at the direction of the sun.

    • East: morning
    • West: afternoon
    • Disappeared: evening

    It's free and don't require installation.

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  • ehabehab

    @yoursunny said:
    I track time by looking at the direction of the sun.

    • East: morning
    • West: afternoon
    • Disappeared: evening

    It's free and don't require installation.

    Thanked by (1)flips
  • flipsflips OG

    @mikho said:
    I use toggl, only because my Bokio support importing the reported time onto an invoice.

    I only send invoices once a month to keep it simple.
    In toggl you can tag tasks/reported time with tags.
    That is one way to keep track of what has been invoiced.

    Is that the free Toggl plan?
    (It's on my list of alternatives, but some limit of the free plan, moved it a bit down. Can't remember what at the moment.) :#

  • mikhomikho AdministratorOG

    @flips said:

    @mikho said:
    I use toggl, only because my Bokio support importing the reported time onto an invoice.

    I only send invoices once a month to keep it simple.
    In toggl you can tag tasks/reported time with tags.
    That is one way to keep track of what has been invoiced.

    Is that the free Toggl plan?
    (It's on my list of alternatives, but some limit of the free plan, moved it a bit down. Can't remember what at the moment.) :#

    I’m using the free version.
    These are the things they list as included in the next step. I’ve strike-through the ones I wouldn’t care about. The rest are interesting, but not worth paying for at this time.

    • Billable Rates

    • Time Rounding
      Saved Reports
      Time Estimates

    • Tasks (Sub-projects)

    • Project Templates
    • Outlook Calendar Integration
      iCal Integration
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  • flipsflips OG

    @mikho said: I’m using the free version.
    These are the things they list as included in the next step. I’ve strike-through the ones I wouldn’t care about. The rest are interesting, but not worth paying for at this time.

    (...)

    Maybe I just saw Saved Reports and read it to mean I couldn't fetch/export full reports ... 🤔 I don't remember. Will keep Toggl on my check out list. B)

  • jetchiragjetchirag

    @flips said: My plan was also to give InvoiceNinja a shot. I did look in the hosted version, but there the reporting module is a part of a paid plan, and I haven't gotten around to installing a self-hosted version yet.

    Have tried all you've mentioned but self hosted invoiceninja has worked best for me. Though you would still need to pay for whitelabel (they add a BIG whitemark on invoice otherwise).

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  • flipsflips OG

    @jetchirag said: Have tried all you've mentioned but self hosted invoiceninja has worked best for me. Though you would still need to pay for whitelabel (they add a BIG whitemark on invoice otherwise).

    Oh, really ... Well, I'm not looking for invoicing at this point, only time tracking. :)
    (As mentioned in the Accounting Software thread, I ended up using Centiga.no for accounting and invoicing. Also not sure if InvoiceNinja would satisfy all the legal requirements here, like you should not be able to edit/define invoice numbers manually at all, or edit contents after it's created/sent.)

  • chimichurrichimichurri

    Really simple tool (perhaps too simple): https://github.com/dominikbraun/timetrace

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  • flipsflips OG
    edited May 2021

    @chimichurri wrote:
    Really simple tool (perhaps too simple):
    https://github.com/dominikbraun/timetrace

    Yes, maybe too simple. I do like having a CLI, but would also need to able to use my phone easily and to fetch reports in various formats :)

  • williewillie OG

    Org-mode has a feature for this. I haven't used the feature but I do use org mode, so I should try the feature.

    https://orgmode.org/manual/Clocking-Work-Time.html#Clocking-Work-Time

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  • flipsflips OG

    @willie said:
    Org-mode has a feature for this. I haven't used the feature but I do use org mode, so I should try the feature.

    https://orgmode.org/manual/Clocking-Work-Time.html#Clocking-Work-Time

    Emacs on my phone would be fun ;)
    (Considering testing org mode again, though mostly using BBEdit these days. I do miss Vi-mode there, though. I was never sold on eVil mode in Emacs, I did actually edit my .emacs using Vim ...) :o :#

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