Productivity Tools

How to Track Your Work Hours Online

It is absolutely necessary for freelancers, agencies, and contract workers employees to use a work hour tracker to ensure that they are being paid for their valuable work. Tracking your hours online provides an easy way for both workers and managers to record, manage, and compensate work time. Work hour trackers are especially important for remote and contract workers who cannot report to a physical location. As such, time card and time management apps are an immensely useful tool for both individual workers and their managers to track work hours for pay and workload.

Thankfully, there are several work hour trackers on both desktop and mobile. Apps that track work hours also frequently include work scheduling and timesheets. These apps allow freelancers and contractors to clock in and out from their desktop, laptop, or mobile device. You can pause the clock during breaks and adjust hours later if you forgot to start or pause on time. Some also offer billing and invoicing tools and expense tracking. 

For managers, work hour trackers let you track freelance hours, set limits, and calculate pay. Managers can use a work hours tracker to limit early clock-in and automatically clock out their workers at the end of their shifts, thus saving overtime pay costs. Some employee hours trackers also include integrations with payroll so that pay can be calculated and distributed directly from the app. For enterprise businesses, it is worth it to pay for a monthly plan that includes the above services to save time and money that would otherwise be spent on several applications and processes. 

group of workers on computers and laughing together

Best Apps to Track Work Hours for Teams and Agencies

The best work hour trackers for teams let employees clock in and out under parameters set by team leaders. When I Work and Connecteam are among the best employee schedule makers that also provide a good, cheap option for online hour tracking for small and medium-size agencies and companies. When I Work’s hours tracker app costs $4/user/month. Connecteam includes a time tracker in both its free and paid plans.

Shiftboard provides a similar app to log work hours for large enterprises. It includes more complex functions and security measures, such as automatic clock-in and -out and labor law compliance tracking.

For time tracking apps, we recommend Everhour for teams looking for seamless integration into existing tools and Harvest for those who want to focus on team efficiency. Everhour’s project hours tracker integrates directly into apps such as Asana, Trello, and Basecamp so you can manage and assign projects and track your hours all within the same interface. Everhour also integrates with payroll so employees can be easily compensated for their project hours. Everhour’s team pricing starts at $8.50/user/month.

Harvest’s time tracker software provides great tools for managers who need to track hours and compensate pay for teams. Harvest tracks both worked hours and capacity for each employee. It alerts you when someone is either using time inefficiently or approaching burnout. Harvest also includes integrations with tools like Asana and Trello (though not as seamlessly as Everhour) and can track which projects are taking up the most time. Finally, Harvest generates budget and progress reports so you can identify and fix any problem areas. Harvest’s Pro package for teams costs $10.80/user/month, with discounts for nonprofits, educational institutions, and those who opt to pay annually. 

hand writing time out on wednesday into a time sheet

Pros and Cons

when i work homepage

When I Work:
+ Inexpensive
+ Includes plans for businesses of any size
+ Works on mobile, desktop, iPad, etc.
– Hours tracking included as an add-on instead of as part of a work scheduling plan
– Few integrations
– Known to crash or glitch on occasion

connecteam homepage

Connecteam:
+ Time tracker included in free plan
+ Includes employee resource center & on-boarding
+ Paid plans don’t charge per user
– It’s a newer app, so there have been some reported bugs
– Not all admin features can be accessed on the mobile app
– Few integrations

shiftboard homepage

Shiftboard:
+ Cloud-based app
+ API and automated flat-file integrations
+ Advanced features for large enterprises such as labor law compliance, applicant tracking and onboarding, and site branding
– Limited information on site about pricing plans
– Only for enterprises
– Confusing interface

everhour homepage

Everhour:
+ Integrates directly into Trello, Jira, Asana, and Basecamp
+ Integrates with Payroll
+ Inexpensive
– No mobile app for Android
– iOS app is in Beta
– Some integrations work better than others (i.e. Asana is known to work better than Basecamp)

harvest homepage

Harvest:
+ Integrations with Asana and Trello
+ Measures employee productivity & alerts managers when someone is using time inefficiently or approaching burn-out
+ Generates budget and progress reports
– Lacks features for non-admins
– Limited customer support
– Timely and difficult set-up

Best Work Hour Trackers for Individuals

Other work hour trackers for individuals include Timely and Toggl. Timely’s claim to fame is its Memory Tracker that automatically tracks everything you do online. This tracked data is then made visible on a private timeline that only you can see. Timely adds project tags to time blocks so that you can quickly and easily sort how you spent your time. Afterward, you can edit any blocks and add work hours that Timely tracked or edited incorrectly. The software learns from your edits and becomes more accurate in the future.

Timely provides three plans–Starter, Premium, and Unlimited. Starter costs $8/month and can track 50 projects for up to 3 teams. Premium costs $14/month and works for unlimited projects and teams. Unlimited costs $20/month and adds in team leads and the ability to send clients live reports. Overall, Timely provides one of the best time management apps on the market.

Toggl, on the other hand, provides the best free hours tracker for individuals looking to construct their work log online. Toggl provides several options for tracking your hours. You can use their one-click timer, manually input time entries, or integrate with other calendars. Toggl’s free plan also lets you delete entries, bulk edit, export reports, and integrate with apps such as Asana and Github for an unlimited number of projects. All in all, Toggl’s free plan is the best option for online freelancers who need a simple way to record their work log for multiple projects.

Pros and Cons

timely homepage

Timely:
+ Memory Tracker tracks everything you do online to create accurate timesheets
+ Editable timesheets
+ Smart AI learns from your actions and edits
– No custom branding
– Updates faster on Mac and iOS than Windows and Android
– Limited customer support

toggl homepage

Toggl:
+ Free time tracking and editing
+ Integrations with Asana, Basecamp, Freshbooks, and Github
+ Unlimited projects
– Paid plans are expensive & cost per user
– Limited features compared to competitors
– Desktop & mobile apps don’t sync well

What’s the best app to keep track of work hours?

All of the above work log apps provide time tracking and management features that are vital for businesses and freelancers looking to accurately record hours and increase efficiency. However, the most efficient way of tracking employee hours will vary by company and individual. Before selecting an app above or one of the others on the market, consider which features you need and the extent of your budget. Some teams want unique, advanced features that efficiently complete several tasks at once, while others may feel overwhelmed by complex apps with unnecessary tools. Be sure to discuss with your team what you’re looking for in a time tracking app and research your options before committing to one app.

No matter which work hour tracker you choose, you will be pleased with the amount of time and money you save by efficiently tracking work time, projects, and pay. For freelancers, time trackers are a vital way to ensure that you are working efficiently and being properly compensated for your hours, while for managers, time tracking software is an excellent way to manage multiple freelancers and projects and ensure worker productivity. Be sure to consider all of your options so you can choose the online hour tracker that works best for you and your team. 

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