Best Time Tracking and Billing Tools for Freelancers (2026)
I spent my first year tracking time in a Google Sheet. Columns for date, client, task, start time, stop time, and calculated hours. I forgot to log time at least twice a week. By month-end, I was guessing at hours for invoices. One month, I billed 18 hours when I’d actually worked 24. That’s 6 hours — roughly $700 — I gave away because my tracking was sloppy.
Dedicated time tracking tools fixed this. Here’s what I’ve used and what’s worth your time.
The Quick Picks
| Tool | Price | Best For | Billing Integration |
|---|---|---|---|
| FreshBooks Timer | Included ($19-60/mo) | FreshBooks users | Direct invoice creation |
| Toggl Track | Free (basic) / $10/mo | Best standalone tracker | Exports for manual invoicing |
| Clockify | Free (unlimited) | Budget-conscious | Basic invoicing built in |
| Harvest | $11/user/mo | Detailed project tracking | Built-in invoicing |
| Bonsai | Included ($21-79/mo) | All-in-one users | Direct invoice creation |
1. FreshBooks Timer — Best for FreshBooks Users
If you use FreshBooks for invoicing (like I do), the built-in timer is the obvious choice. Start the timer when you begin work, stop when you’re done, and it logs to the client/project.
At invoice time, click “Generate Invoice from Time” and all your tracked hours auto-populate with descriptions, rates, and totals. No manual data entry, no switching between apps.
What I like: Zero friction. Timer lives in the same app I use for everything else. One click to start, one click to stop, one click to invoice.
What I don’t: The timer doesn’t auto-detect idle time (unlike Toggl). If I forget to stop the timer at lunch, it keeps running. I’ve had to manually adjust entries when I left the timer on for an hour-long break.
2. Toggl Track — Best Standalone Tracker
I used Toggl for 8 months alongside Wave (which has no time tracking). Toggl is elegant, fast, and the free plan covers everything a solo freelancer needs.
What makes Toggl special:
- One-click timer from desktop app, browser extension, or mobile app
- Idle detection alerts (“you’ve been idle for 10 minutes — keep timer running?”)
- Detailed reports by client, project, and time period
- Pomodoro timer mode for focus work
- Free plan includes all core features for up to 5 users
The downside: Toggl doesn’t invoice. You track time in Toggl, then manually transfer hours to your invoicing tool. This double-handling is why I eventually moved to FreshBooks’ built-in timer.
Price: Free (up to 5 users) / $10/user/month (Starter) / $20/user/month (Premium)
3. Clockify — Best Free Unlimited Option
Clockify is truly unlimited free — unlimited users, unlimited projects, unlimited tracking. If you need a free time tracker with no restrictions, this is it.
The interface is clean and functional. Not as polished as Toggl, but very usable. It also includes basic invoicing, which Toggl’s free plan doesn’t.
Best for: Freelancers who want completely free time tracking without any limits.
4. Harvest — Best for Detailed Project Tracking
Harvest costs $11/user/month and delivers excellent project-level tracking. Time entries link to projects with budget tracking, so you can see “I’ve used 20 of 30 budgeted hours” in real-time.
Best for: Freelancers who manage multiple projects simultaneously and need budget visibility. Overkill for most solo freelancers.
Why I Track Time Even on Project-Priced Work
I switched from hourly to project-based pricing in year 2. I almost stopped tracking time. Glad I didn’t.
Reason 1: Pricing accuracy. If I think a website takes 25 hours but it actually takes 35, my project pricing is wrong. Time data from completed projects makes future estimates more accurate.
Reason 2: Effective rate calculation. On a $5,000 project that took 30 hours, my effective rate was $167/hour. On a $3,000 project that took 40 hours, it was $75/hour. Without tracking, both felt equally profitable. The data revealed one was 2x more profitable than the other.
Reason 3: Scope creep detection. When a project’s hours start exceeding my estimate, that’s an early warning that scope is creeping. I can address it before the project becomes unprofitable.
My Time Tracking Workflow
I’m pretty casual about time tracking now since I bill per project:
- Start of work session: Click timer in FreshBooks (desktop)
- Breaks: I try to pause the timer. If I forget, I adjust later.
- End of session: Stop timer
- Weekly review: Check that entries look reasonable. Adjust any that seem off.
- Monthly: Export time report for project profitability analysis
Total time spent on time tracking: about 30 seconds per work session + 10 minutes weekly review.
The Bottom Line
If you bill hourly, time tracking is non-negotiable. Use FreshBooks’ timer if you’re on FreshBooks, Toggl if you’re on Wave or another tool without built-in tracking.
If you bill per project, track time anyway for pricing data. Keep it casual — you’re tracking for insight, not for billing.
The best time tracker is the one you’ll actually use consistently. Pick one, build the habit of clicking start/stop, and you’ll have data that makes your pricing smarter and your invoicing more accurate.