Losing track of billable hours costs you hundreds of dollars monthly. You’re either undercharging clients or working for free because you can’t remember when you started that design project Tuesday afternoon.
Time tracking apps fix this problem, but Toggl, Harvest, and Clockify each take different approaches. One offers the most powerful features. Another stays completely free forever. The third balances simplicity with professional invoicing.
This comparison reveals which tool matches your freelance workflow, how much you’ll actually spend annually, and which features matter when you’re juggling five clients across three time zones.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | Toggl Track | Harvest | Clockify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $10/user/month | $11/user/month | Free forever |
| Free Plan | Yes (5 users max) | Yes (1 user, 2 projects) | Yes (unlimited users) |
| Best For | Visual reporting & insights | Invoicing & billing | Budget-conscious teams |
| Time Entry | One-click timer | Timer + manual | Timer + manual |
| Invoicing | No (integrations only) | Built-in | Basic (paid plans) |
| Project Budgeting | Starter plan+ | All paid plans | Pro plan+ |
| Offline Mode | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| Browser Extension | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Apps | iOS, Android | iOS, Android | iOS, Android |
| Reporting Quality | Excellent | Good | Basic |
Detailed Features Breakdown
| Feature | Toggl Track | Harvest | Clockify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic Tracking | Via triggers | No | Via Kiosk mode |
| Billable Rates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Team Management | ✓ (Premium+) | ✓ (Pro plan) | ✓ (Basic+) |
| Client Portal | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Expense Tracking | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ (Plus+) |
| Time Approvals | ✓ (Premium+) | ✓ (Pro plan) | ✓ (Basic+) |
| Custom Reports | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (Plus+) |
| Recurring Projects | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Calendar View | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Screenshots | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (Enterprise) |
| GPS Tracking | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (Pro+) |
| Pomodoro Timer | Built-in | Via integrations | Via integrations |
| Dark Mode | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Toggl Track: The Analytics Powerhouse
Toggl Track focuses on beautiful visualizations and deep productivity insights. The platform helps freelancers understand exactly where their time goes through colorful charts and detailed breakdowns.
You start a timer with one click. No project selection required immediately. Tag it later when you remember which client owns that task. This flexibility reduces friction when you’re jumping between tasks quickly.
What Makes Toggl Track Stand Out
The reporting dashboard delivers stunning visual insights. You see time distribution across projects, clients, and team members through pie charts, bar graphs, and trend lines that actually make sense.
One-click time tracking removes every barrier to starting work. You click the big red button, work happens, click again when done. The simplicity keeps you tracking consistently instead of forgetting half your billable hours.
The Pomodoro timer integrates directly into the interface. You can work in focused 25-minute blocks with automatic breaks, helping maintain productivity throughout long workdays.
Browser extensions work flawlessly across Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. You can track time from any web app you’re using without switching windows or losing focus on your current task.
Where Toggl Track Falls Short
No built-in invoicing creates extra steps for freelancers. You must export your time data to QuickBooks, Xero, or another billing platform. This integration requirement adds complexity to your workflow.
The free plan caps at 5 users total. Growing teams hit this limit quickly, forcing an upgrade to paid plans sooner than competitors who offer unlimited free users.
Project budgeting requires the Starter plan ($10/month). You can’t track budget vs actual hours on the free tier, which limits financial planning for client projects.
Mobile app performance lags behind desktop. Some users report syncing delays between devices, causing confusion about which hours were actually logged when working across multiple platforms.
Toggl Track Pricing Details
The Free plan includes 5 users, unlimited time tracking, and basic reporting. You get mobile and desktop apps plus browser extensions at no cost.
Starter costs $10 per user monthly (annual billing) or $12 monthly. This unlocks project time estimates, billable rates, alerts, and saved reports.
Premium runs $20 per user monthly (annual) or $24 monthly. You gain time audits, scheduled reports, rounding, and team management features.
Enterprise requires custom quotes. You receive SAML SSO, priority support, dedicated success manager, and tailored onboarding.
Best Use Cases for Toggl Track
Toggl Track works brilliantly for freelancers and agencies that need powerful analytics without employee monitoring features. If you value beautiful reports and want to understand productivity patterns, Toggl delivers.
Skip Toggl if you need built-in invoicing, want to track expenses alongside time, or require calendar views for scheduling projects.
Harvest: The Invoicing Champion
Harvest combines time tracking with professional invoicing and expense management. The platform targets freelancers and small businesses that want an all-in-one solution for tracking work and getting paid.
You track hours on projects, log expenses against clients, and generate invoices directly from your recorded time. Everything connects seamlessly without requiring multiple tools.
What Makes Harvest Shine
Built-in invoicing transforms tracked time into professional invoices instantly. You select your logged hours, add expenses, and send polished invoices to clients without leaving Harvest.
Expense tracking links directly to projects and clients. You photograph receipts through the mobile app, categorize costs, and include them on invoices automatically.
Client portal access improves transparency dramatically. Your clients log into Harvest to view their project hours, expenses, and invoice status in real-time, reducing billing questions.
Visual reports show project profitability clearly. You see which clients generate the most revenue, which projects lose money, and where to adjust your rates or processes.
Where Harvest Disappoints
The free plan restricts you severely to 1 user and 2 projects. Most freelancers exceed this immediately, forcing a paid subscription before properly testing the platform.
Time tracking feels more manual compared to competitors. You must select project and task for every entry. The interface requires more clicks to start tracking than Toggl’s one-button approach.
No automatic time tracking exists at all. You cannot capture time automatically based on application usage or triggers. Everything requires manual timer starts or retrospective entries.
Limited team features on lower tiers restrict collaboration. You need the $17.50 Premium plan for time approvals, activity logs, and advanced permissions that teams expect.
Harvest Pricing Breakdown
The Free plan supports 1 user and 2 projects with unlimited time tracking and invoicing. You can test basic features but can’t run a real freelance business on it.
Pro costs $11 per user monthly (annual billing) or $13 monthly. This unlocks unlimited projects, all integrations, invoicing templates, and standard reports.
Premium runs $17.50 per user monthly (annual) or $20 monthly. You gain profitability reports, time approvals, SAML SSO, custom reports, and activity logs.
Best Use Cases for Harvest
Harvest fits freelancers and service businesses that bill clients directly and need professional invoicing built into their time tracker. If you manage expenses alongside billable hours, Harvest simplifies your entire workflow.
Skip Harvest if you work on fixed-price projects instead of hourly billing, already have invoicing software you love, or need automatic time capture.
Clockify: The Free Forever Solution
Clockify delivers unlimited time tracking for unlimited users at zero cost. The platform proves you don’t need to spend money to track time accurately and manage projects effectively.
You get a fully functional time tracker with reporting, project management, and team features without pulling out your credit card. Paid plans add advanced capabilities, but the free tier handles most freelance needs.
What Makes Clockify Valuable
The completely free plan includes unlimited everything. Unlimited users, unlimited projects, unlimited time entries. You can build a team of 50 people tracking time on 100 projects without paying anything.
Kiosk mode enables automatic time tracking on desktop. Your computer monitors active applications and logs time automatically, reducing manual entry burden for focused work sessions.
GPS tracking on paid plans helps field workers. If you travel to client sites or work from multiple locations, Clockify tracks where hours were logged geographically.
Calendar view visualizes your schedule clearly. You see time entries laid out across dates, making it easier to spot gaps, overlaps, or scheduling conflicts at a glance.
Where Clockify Struggles
Basic reporting on the free plan limits insights. You get simple time summaries but miss advanced analytics, custom fields, and detailed breakdowns that reveal productivity patterns.
Invoicing requires the Plus plan ($4.99/month). The free tier has no invoicing whatsoever. You must upgrade or export data to separate billing software.
The interface feels less polished than premium competitors. While functional, Clockify’s design looks dated compared to Toggl’s modern visualizations or Harvest’s clean aesthetics.
Customer support responses take longer on free plans. Paid users get priority assistance while free users wait days for email responses to technical questions or setup issues.
Clockify Pricing Structure
The Free plan costs nothing forever and includes unlimited users, unlimited projects, unlimited tracking, and basic reporting. Perfect for solo freelancers and small teams.
Basic runs $4.99 per user monthly (annual) or $6.99 monthly. This adds timesheet approvals, labor costs, GPS tracking, and manager permissions.
Standard costs $6.99 per user monthly (annual) or $9.99 monthly. You gain invoicing, custom fields, required fields, and targets.
Pro runs $9.99 per user monthly (annual) or $14.99 monthly. This unlocks time audits, scheduling, project templates, and lock timesheets.
Enterprise requires custom quotes for dedicated support, custom integrations, SAML SSO, and advanced security.
Best Use Cases for Clockify
Clockify works perfectly for budget-conscious freelancers, growing teams, and anyone who needs solid time tracking without monthly fees. If cost is your primary concern and you can sacrifice some polish, Clockify delivers incredible value.
Skip Clockify if you need beautiful reports immediately, want built-in invoicing on the free tier, or prefer modern interface design over functionality.
Toggl vs Harvest: Direct Showdown
Toggl excels at insights and reporting while Harvest dominates billing workflows. Toggl gives you gorgeous analytics to understand productivity. Harvest gives you professional invoicing to get paid faster.
Choose Toggl when tracking time matters more than billing clients. Choose Harvest when you need everything from timer to invoice in one platform.
Toggl vs Clockify: Free Plan Battle
Toggl’s free plan caps at 5 users while Clockify allows unlimited users. Toggl offers better reporting quality. Clockify provides more flexibility for growing teams.
Choose Toggl for superior free analytics with small teams. Choose Clockify when you need to add unlimited team members without costs.
Harvest vs Clockify: Billing Face-Off
Harvest includes professional invoicing on all paid plans while Clockify requires the Standard plan for basic invoicing. Harvest tracks expenses natively. Clockify focuses on time tracking primarily.
Choose Harvest for complete billing workflows. Choose Clockify when you handle invoicing separately and want cheaper time tracking.
Making Your Final Decision
Consider your primary need first. Freelancers who bill hourly benefit from Harvest’s integrated invoicing. Teams needing insights choose Toggl’s analytics. Budget-focused users pick Clockify’s free tier.
Test the free plans thoroughly before committing. Each platform offers different limitations that you’ll only discover through actual use with your real projects and clients.
Think about growth trajectory. Clockify scales cost-effectively with unlimited free users. Toggl and Harvest charge per user, increasing monthly costs as your team expands.
Integration requirements matter significantly. Harvest connects with 50+ tools but lacks automatic tracking. Toggl integrates everywhere but needs separate invoicing. Clockify offers fewer native integrations overall.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I switch between these platforms without losing data?
Yes, all three platforms support data export through CSV files. You can export time entries, projects, and clients from one platform and import into another. However, you’ll lose some customizations, tags, and specific settings during migration. Plan for 2-3 hours of setup time when switching platforms.
Which tool works best offline?
Toggl Track and Clockify both offer strong offline functionality. You can track time without internet, and entries sync automatically when you reconnect. Harvest’s offline mode works on mobile apps but has limitations on the web version. Desktop apps provide the most reliable offline tracking across all platforms.
Do these apps track screenshots or monitor activity?
Only Clockify offers screenshot monitoring on the Enterprise plan. Toggl and Harvest focus on trust-based time tracking without surveillance features. If you need employee monitoring, Clockify provides it. If you want privacy-focused tracking, choose Toggl or Harvest instead.
Can I track time for multiple clients simultaneously?
No, none of these platforms support simultaneous tracking for multiple clients or projects. You can only run one timer at a time. However, you can quickly switch between timers by stopping one and starting another. Some users run multiple browser windows to track parallel tasks unofficially.
Which platform handles different currencies best?
Harvest supports 150+ currencies with automatic conversion and handles international invoicing smoothly. Toggl Track supports multiple currencies for billing rates but requires manual conversion. Clockify allows currency selection per workspace on paid plans. For international freelancers, Harvest provides the most polished multi-currency experience.
Zainab Aamir is a Technical Content Strategist at Finly Insights with a knack for turning technical jargon into clear, human-focused advice. With years of experience in the B2B tech space, they love helping users make informed choices that actually impact their daily workflows. Off the clock, Zainab Aamir is a lifelong learner who is always picking up a new hobby from photography to creative DIY projects. They believe that the best work comes from a curious mind and a genuine love for the craft of storytelling.”
