Are you not sure how you spent your day? You started working in the morning and suddenly realized that it was evening and a lot of tasks were still pending. So what you did all these hours? A time tracking software can help you calculate how you spent your day, what you did for how many hours. Some applications also allow you to count the billable hours and prepare invoices for your clients.
Time tracking apps for web workers & freelancers
1. Invoicera [invoicera.com] – This time tracking application includes invoicing module as well. Flexibility is the feature that makes Invoicera different from its peers. You can even keep track of your expenses efficiently, schedule your invoices, customize your invoice templates and much more. This is a very helpful package for freelancers and other web workers.
2. iTimeSheet [itimesheet.free.fr] – This is good for those who travel most of the time and mainly work using their phone. iTimeSheet tracks your time and the information can be exported to MS Excel or other applications.
3. Chrometa [app.chrometa.com] – This time tracking application records everything that you are doing on your computer. It often happens that suddenly, in an unconscious mode of mind, we start checking emails repeatedly or browse Facebook and Twitter leaving all the work behind. Such activities distract us and reduce our productivity.
4. TimeWriter Software [timewriter.com] – This time tracking software is particularly suitable for small businesses. Standard and PDA – two versions are available and both of them let the users work on offline mode.
5. Fanurio [fanuriotimetracking.com] – This package allows you to track your tasks and time; you can either put it on automatic mode so that it goes on tracking your time OR you can put the tasks manually as well. It has an invoicing module that allows you to calculate your earnings.
6. Responsive Time Logger [responsivesoftware.com] – All the time tracking applications under this group are mainly used to track expenses and billable hours. This is a very old and common family of time tracking apps. Some of the versions can be installed on mobile devices too.
7. TraxTime [spudcity.com/traxtime] – This provides you a punch clock; just punch in and out while working on various projects or for different clients. The text memo field allows you to describe the entries. You can track or work on unlimited projects through TaxTime.
8. OnTheJob [stuntsoftware.com/onthejob/] – It is a professional time tracking application that includes invoicing as well. Users can put additional information and keep track of many other things such as expenses, client’s details such as their addresses and contact details etc.
9. Qlockwork [qlockwork.com/time-tracking-software] – This is basically a Microsoft Outlook add-on. It runs in the background and keeps track of your activities on Outlook Calendar. The information can later be used to prepare invoice, analyze your performance and to fill out timesheets.
10. Rachota Timetracker [rachota.sourceforge.net/en/index.html] – This is a cross platform time tracking application. You can use Rachota Timetracker on Mac or Linux. It is available in different languages as well; anybody who is not comfortable with English can look for other versions. It has released an open source version too.
This guest post by Darren Jones, who works as an E-Marketing Executive for BestPSDtoHTML, a design blog which has become the hub of many web designers, freelancers and website owners. The website has managed to achieve such popularity among its target audience in a very short period of time.
I like to use PlanetSoho for tracking my time and creating/sending invoices. It’s similar to Freshbooks, not sure if any of you have used that. I’d give PlanetSoho a try if you’re struggling with tracking billable hours, as it’s a free app.
Awesome list of tools!
Time tracking software nowadays is very important especially if your staff is working from home. But having any time tracking tool isn’t enough. You have to know if it tracks time accurately. Reading reviews like this serves as a big help to people who doesn’t know much about this kinda software.
One flaw a tool like this might have is it relies on the user to estimate how much time they worked on a task. This is not really accurate because the activities aren’t tracked in real time. However, other software solutions do offer “real time” tracking, but it is not the standard way of using the application, and it’s all too easy for the employee to resort on estimating how long they spent on a task. Reading timedoctor.com/blog/2010/11/16/5-reasons-why-most-time-tracking-software-is-flawed might help you.
As a freelancer, I need something low-cost, but with the features I need. I’ve tried many task managers, but found that they were lacking in one area or another. When I found Dooster, I was happy to see it met my needs nicely. I can schedule projects, and if I subcontract work out, I can assign users to certain projects or tasks – I can even use it on the go on my iPad or phone.
“Invoicera ” is awesome..i have been using it since 2 months and its rocking!!
Hi,
Nice list! I would also like to introduce our time tracking app Yanomo.com to you. We have completely developed it around a simple online calendar where you can plan tasks and write time from one place. Since we developed it ourselves I will leave rating it to others but feel free to have a look.
– Time tracking
– Flexible rates per user/client/project
– Task scheduling
– Google calendar and iCal sync
– Accurate progress estimation though “Team sourcing”
– Project budgets, estimates and timelines
– Reporting by user, client, project, phase and task
– Every report exportable to csv
– It’s free for small companies up to 3 users (unlimited projects) and for 8 EUR/user/month you’ll get invoicing with it as well.
Kind regards,
Joost Schouten
Yanomo – Time tracking and Invoicing