Tracking billable hours. Creating professional invoices. Getting paid on time. As a team manager, you juggle these critical tasks constantly while aiming to maximize team efficiency. But doing everything manually can drain your productivity and lead to costly billing errors.
That‘s why more businesses are turning to automated time and billing software to eliminate headaches. But with hundreds of options on the market, how do you determine what solution best fits your team?
This comprehensive guide compares the 11 top-rated time and billing systems available based on key capabilities, ideal use cases, scalability, and value. Follow our expertise to select a platform aligned to your workflows and business needs.
We‘ll cover:
- Must-have features to simplify billing and invoicing
- An in-depth comparison table of software options
- Brief overviews of 11 leading solutions for time tracking
- Tips for evaluating and selecting the right software
Let‘s get started on finding your perfect time billing solution!
Why Businesses Need Automated Time Tracking
Manual approaches to capture billable hours via spreadsheets or physical timesheets are stillcommonplace. But these methods lead to a host of issues that diminish productivity:
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Lost revenue – Billable time fails to get recorded due to forgetting or difficulty tracking while working in multiple apps and contexts throughout the day. Surveys have found that professionals lose over 10 hours of billable time per week on average.
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Billing errors – Without accurate time records tied directly to specific projects, errors like overbilling or underbilling occur frequently. This puts strain on client relationships and reduces profitability.
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Lack of insights – No data exists to analyze project costs, team productivity patterns, resource constraints and more without aggregating manual records. Identifying improvement areas becomes extremely difficult.
Robust time tracking systems eliminate these problems through automation, ensure accuracy, provide access controls and generate reports offering deep visibility. Some key advantages include:
Streamlined Time Capture
Sophisticated time tracking software tailored to diverse workflows makes it effortless for team members to record all billable activities as they happen automatically in real-time. Platforms offer browser-based timers, productivity trackers, mobile apps and manual time entry. Data integrates directly with billing and invoicing.
Powerful Invoicing Automation
Generating professional invoices with unique branding and rules for each client becomes simple. Tools support customized templates, automatic recurring invoices, expense/payment tracking and direct integration with accounting systems.
End-to-End Project Visibility
Managers gain complete transparency across projects from high-level budgets and schedules down to hourly work logs for each task and team member. This enables deeply informed resourcing decisions to prevent missed deadlines or budget overages.
Data-Driven Insights
Robust reporting and analytics transform timesheet, billing and project data into actionable insights. Key metrics like profitability by client, utilization rates, capacity forecasting and more enable continuous efficiency gains.
Now that we‘ve covered why time tracking software is so valuable, let‘s explore the must-have features these systems provide followed by detailed comparisons.
Key Capabilities to Look For
Time Tracking and Productivity Management
At their foundation, time tracking tools must provide flexible and easy ways for your team to record all billable and non-billable time worked. This permits accurate client invoicing and analysis of capacity allocation across projects.
The best systems offer browser-based timers, manual time entry, productivity trackers and mobile apps. Consider how your team works day-to-day and what would optimize their time capture.
Streamlined Invoicing and Billing
Core billing capabilities like custom invoice creation, automated recurring invoices, customizable templates and payment tracking should be provided.
Many systems connect directly to payment gateways for you to easily receive client payments online or integrate with accounting platforms like QuickBooks for seamless data sharing.
Reporting and Analytics
Robust reporting enables informed decisions by providing transparency into how time is being spent, profitability of projects and clients, capacity levels, and more.
Look for easy creation of custom reports, executive dashboards and well designed visualization of key metrics specific to your business.
Access Controls and Permissions
It’s important to restrict access and permissions within the system appropriately across your entire organization.
For example, certain team members should only be able to view certain projects or reports. Strong administrative controls make this possible.
Mobile Application
A mobile app permits time tracking and approvals on-the-go. This flexibility enables your team to easily record time in the moment and never lose billable hours.
Offline accessibility with automatic syncing when a connection is re-established is also vital.
Budgeting and Resource Planning
View projected costs and completion forecasts for projects based on team member timesheets and assigned tasks. Model different scenarios to optimize budget and underlying schedules.
Understand upcoming capacity constraints and gaps across your team and inform resourcing decisions. This prevents under or overallocation of talent.
Open API and Customization
An open API allows deep customization and integration with the other platforms you rely on like payroll, CRM or proprietary systems.
Custom fields, workflows and rules can be configured to match unique business needs rather than forcing your team to adjust to the software.
Comparing the Top 11 Time and Billing Software Options
Here is an in-depth comparison of the leading time tracking and billing software solutions on the market based on provided features, scalability, and ease of use.
| Software | Starting Price | Ideal Customer | Mobile App | # of Users Supported | Key Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clockify | Free | Small teams | Yes | Unlimited | Simple & intuitive, great free plan |
| Harvest | $12/month | Agencies & consultants | Yes | Unlimited | Powerful time tracking, excellent for distributed teams |
| Timely | $10/month | Professional services | Yes | 50 | Automated sync with calendars for easy time capture |
| Toggl | $10/month | Small teams | Yes | Unlimited | Cost-effective, excellent integrations with other tools |
| Hubstaff | $7/month | Remote teams | Yes | Unlimited | Productivity tracking, enhanced permissions |
| zoho Invoice | $9/month | SMBs | Yes | Unlimited | Deep integration with other Zoho apps |
| QuickBooks Time | $12/month | SMBs on Quickbooks | Yes | 5 | Seamlessly works with QB accounting |
| TimeSolv | $20/month | Legal industry | Yes | Unlimited | Built specifically for law firms |
| Unanet | Custom Quote | Large Enterprises | Yes | 10,000+ | Highly customizable, optimized for complex use cases |
| Replicon | Custom Quote | Mid-Market & Large Enterprises | Yes | Unlimited | Full-featured for complex project tracking needs |
| Oracle Netsuite OpenAir | Custom Quote | Large Enterprises | Yes | Unlimited | For already Netsuite customers |
Below we provide further details on three top recommended options across various use cases:
Clockify – Best Free Option
Highly Recommended For
Freelancers, consultants, and very small teams looking for comprehensive yet free time tracking software with unlimited users.
Key Features
- Browser and desktop app with timers, manual entry, productivity tracking
- Team workload planning
- Public API + Zapier allows endless integrations
- Hundreds of report templates
What Really Sets Clockify Apart:
- Completely free without any feature limitations
- Very intuitive and easy to use while still being quite powerful
- Integrates smoothly with project management apps like Asana
Harvest – Best For Professional Services Teams
Highly Recommended For
- Consultancies, creative agencies, accounting firms
- Geographically distributed teams
- Project-based pricing models
What Really Sets Harvest Apart:
- Sophisticated suite combining project budgeting, time tracking, in-depth reporting and more
- Fast and simple time capture surplus helps distributed teams minimize missed billable hours
- Advanced capacity planning and scheduling
Potential Limitations
- More expensive than other tools at $12 per user monthly
- Steeper learning curve than simple time tracking-only systems
TimeSolv – Perfect For Law Firms
Highly Recommended For
Law firms including small/solo legal practices up through large multi-national firms
What Really Sets TimeSolv Apart:
- Specifically designed for legal industry billing needs including hourly, flat fee, contingency and alternative fee arrangements
- Deep integrations into leading practice management and case management platforms
- Accounting connectivity to bill to retainer balances
Potential Limitations
- Extremely full-featured which contributes to steeper learning curve
- Higher pricing than generic time tracking tools; however, pays for itself by preventing lost billable hours and mistakes
Now that we‘ve covered software comparisons in-depth, let‘s switch gears to expert recommendations for evaluating and selecting time tracking systems.
Tips for Choosing the Right Software
Follow these best practices as you evaluate solutions:
Understand Current Workflows
Document your team‘s workflows for time and expense tracking, invoicing, client reporting and analytics usage. This maps your requirements.
Identify pain points like losing billable hours, duplicative data entry, producing customized reports etc. This informs must-have capabilities.
Prioritize Capabilities
Rank the discussed feature sets based on your needs from core time tracking or expenses to advanced budget forecasting and capacity planning support.
Compare Solutions Aligned to Workflows
Leverage the table above aligning to your workflows, use cases and feature prioritization to narrow down 2-3 top contender solutions.
See a Demo and Chat With Sales Team
Schedule demos to experience the product first-hand. Come armed with specific questions. Discuss details like integrations, special customization, reporting needs etc.
Start a Free Trial
Don‘t decide solely based on a sales pitch. Sign-up for 14-30 day free trials offered by most vendors to build out your real workflows in the system and get feedback from stakeholders on usability.
Evaluate Ongoing Budget
Factor both the monthly and annual costs alongside required features. Confirm what is included in each tier and anticipate needs 12+ months out as your team scales in headcount.
Let Automated Time Tracking Eliminate Headaches
Manually tracking and invoicing billable hours using spreadsheets is frustratingly inefficient. The data critical for project analysis and strategic decisions simply doesn‘t exist without robust yet easy-to-use time tracking and billing software.
While options abound, carefully evaluating your specific workflows, feature needs, use cases and long term vision will ensure you select the perfect platform aligned to your success metrics.
Now you have all the tools you need to substantially improve profitability, maximize every billable hour and gain holistic insights into capacity across your expanding team.
So which feature is most compelling for you and your team – eliminating lost billable hours through easy time capture, accelerating invoicing or unlocking rich analytics? Make your selection from the detailed options covered and rapidly transform visibility and decision making across your business!
