10 Best Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses in 2027

Small businesses need to know where employee time goes, how many hours should be billed to clients, whether projects remain within budget, and how labor costs affect profitability. Managing all of this through spreadsheets or handwritten timesheets can become difficult as a team grows.

The right time tracking software for businesses can simplify these processes by recording work hours, organizing timesheets, connecting time with projects, supporting payroll workflows, and providing useful reports.

Modern time tracking software for small businesses can also help owners understand billable and non-billable work, employee workloads, attendance, project costs, and productivity patterns. Some platforms focus primarily on simple timers, while others add invoicing, GPS tracking, scheduling, employee monitoring, or project management.

We compared 10 leading options for small businesses based on usability, time tracking capabilities, pricing, reporting, integrations, mobile access, and the types of teams each platform serves.

Best Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses at a Glance

The best time tracking for small business depends on how your company works. A consulting firm may care most about billable hours and project profitability, while a construction or field-service company may prioritize GPS clock-ins, attendance, scheduling, and payroll-ready timesheets.

Software	Best For	Free Option	Current Starting Price	Standout Capability
AYYES	Overall small-business time tracking	Free for up to 2 members	Promotional annual rate from $3.88/seat/month	Tracking, projects, monitoring, reports and kiosk
Clockify	Free time tracking	Free for up to 5 users	Paid plans from about $3.99/user/month	Flexible timers and timesheets
Toggl Track	Simple time tracking	Free plan	Starter from $9/user/month annually	User-friendly project time tracking
Harvest	Billing and invoicing	Free for 1 seat and 2 projects	Teams from $9/seat/month annually	Time-to-invoice workflow
Hubstaff	Remote and field teams	14-day trial	Starter from $4.99/seat/month annually	Activity and workforce visibility
QuickBooks Time	Payroll and accounting	Trial available	$20 base + $10/user/month before promotions	QuickBooks ecosystem
Jibble	Attendance and overtime	Free plan with unlimited users	Free plan available	GPS, attendance and verification
Connecteam	Mobile and deskless workers	Free Small Business Plan for fewer than 10 employees	Operations Basic from $29/month annually	Mobile workforce operations
TimeCamp	Project time and budgets	Free plan	Starter from $3.99/user/month annually	Automatic tracking and project reporting
My Hours	Client and project tracking	Free option available	Basic from $4/user/month annually	Projects, rates and reports

AYYES currently provides unlimited tracking, unlimited projects and tasks, timesheets, and kiosk access on its free plan for up to two members. Its pricing page advertises a promotional annual rate of $3.88 per seat per month for paid accounts.

Clockify currently allows up to five users on its free plan, while Toggl Track, Harvest, Hubstaff, Connecteam, TimeCamp, and My Hours offer different free or paid entry points depending on required capabilities.

10 Best Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses in 2027

Different businesses require different tracking methods. The following time tracking apps for small business range from simple timers to broader workforce and project-management platforms.

1. AYYES – Best Overall Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses

AYYES takes the top position because it combines time tracking, project and task management, employee activity visibility, reporting, kiosk functionality, rates, invoicing, expenses, scheduling, and timesheet approvals in one platform.

Employees can track work through a one-click timer, manual entries, or automatic desktop tracking. Offline tracking is supported, while managers can connect recorded hours to projects and tasks instead of viewing time as isolated attendance data.

AYYES also provides screenshots, app and website usage, activity levels, configurable idle detection, screenshot blurring, and productivity reporting for businesses that need additional work visibility. Screenshots are captured during tracked work periods, and the platform provides configurable privacy-related controls.

The free plan currently supports up to two team members and includes unlimited tracking, projects, tasks, kiosk functionality, and timesheets. Paid monthly and annual plans add unlimited members, additional storage, customized kiosks, PIN/QR security, email reports, activity logs, and priority support.

Best For: Small businesses, agencies, consultants, professional services, remote teams, offices, and growing businesses wanting time, projects, reports, and workforce visibility in one system.

Potential Limitation: Companies that need nothing beyond a basic stopwatch may not need every monitoring and management feature available.

2. Clockify – Best Free Time Tracking Option

Clockify is a good option for small teams that want straightforward time tracking without a large upfront software cost.

Its free plan currently allows up to five users and includes unlimited time tracking, a timer, timesheets, an automatic tracker, calendar functionality, desktop and mobile apps, idle detection, team activity, reports, and tracking integrations.

Businesses can later upgrade for features such as invoicing, attendance, time off, approvals, task rates, scheduling, advanced reporting, and additional administrative controls.

Clockify’s paid pricing currently starts at approximately $3.99 per user per month, depending on billing terms and plan selection.

Best For: Startups and small teams wanting a low-cost way to begin tracking employee and project time.

Potential Limitation: Some useful business functions—including approvals, invoicing, attendance, and more advanced administration—require paid plans.

3. Toggl Track – Best for Simple Time Tracking

Toggl Track focuses on making time tracking easy for individuals and teams.

Its free offering supports web, desktop, and mobile tracking as well as calendar connections and productivity reports. The Starter plan adds billable rates, project estimates, revenue analysis, task management, and team-level reporting.

This makes Toggl particularly useful for businesses that want employees to start tracking quickly without introducing extensive monitoring.

Starter currently begins at $9 per user per month with annual billing. Premium adds features such as profitability analysis, customizable reporting, timesheet approvals, data-accuracy tools, and advanced integrations.

Best For: Freelancers, consultants, agencies, creative teams, and businesses prioritizing straightforward tracking.

Potential Limitation: Advanced reporting, approvals, profitability, and management features require more expensive tiers.

4. Harvest – Best for Client Billing and Invoicing

Harvest combines time tracking with invoicing and expense management, which makes it especially useful for businesses that charge clients according to time spent.

Employees can record time against projects while managers use the data to understand capacity and convert tracked work into invoices.

Harvest’s Teams plan also supports accounting and payment integrations, including QuickBooks Online, Xero, Stripe, and other platforms.

The free plan currently supports one seat and two projects. Teams starts at $9 per seat per month when billed annually.

Best For: Agencies, freelancers, consultants, and professional-service firms that regularly invoice clients for tracked hours.

Potential Limitation: Businesses looking for advanced activity monitoring, GPS workforce tools, or extensive employee attendance features may need another option.

5. Hubstaff – Best for Remote and Field Teams

Hubstaff combines employee time tracking with productivity and workforce-management functionality.

Its Starter plan includes time tracking, timesheets, activity levels, screenshots, client and invoice capabilities, and limited app and URL tracking. Higher plans add project budgets, tasks, work breaks, expenses, scheduling, attendance, payments, and more integrations.

This makes it particularly useful for distributed teams where managers need more visibility than a basic weekly timesheet provides.

Starter currently begins at $4.99 per seat per month with annual billing and requires at least two seats.

Best For: Remote businesses, distributed agencies, field workers, and managers requiring additional employee activity visibility.

Potential Limitation: Its monitoring features may be more extensive than teams wanting only lightweight tracking require.

6. QuickBooks Time – Best for Payroll and Accounting

QuickBooks Time is particularly useful for US companies already using QuickBooks for accounting, payroll, or invoicing.

Employees can use the Workforce app to record and submit time, while approved records can connect with QuickBooks financial workflows. The platform also supports time off, notifications, a kiosk, and photos attached to timesheets.

The Elite tier adds mileage, project tracking, estimates versus actual hours, project activity feeds, and timesheet signatures.

QuickBooks currently lists Time Premium at a standard $20 monthly base fee plus $10 per user per month, although introductory promotions may reduce the initial base price. A QuickBooks Online account is required.

Best For: US small businesses already relying on QuickBooks accounting and payroll products.

Potential Limitation: The combination of a base fee and per-user charge can cost more than simple standalone trackers.

7. Jibble – Best for Attendance and Overtime Tracking

Jibble focuses strongly on time and attendance, making it useful for hourly employees and businesses with workers at physical locations.

It supports timers, approved timesheets, offline clock-ins, kiosks, GPS, geofencing, face recognition, selfie verification, time off, work schedules, projects, reports, and payroll exports.

Field businesses can also record location information with clock-ins, while offline tracking enables employees to record attendance where reliable internet service is unavailable.

Jibble currently advertises a free-forever option with unlimited users.

Best For: Construction, retail, manufacturing, hospitality, logistics, field services, and hourly workforces.

Potential Limitation: Location and identity-verification capabilities can be unnecessary for desk-based professional teams and require thoughtful privacy policies.

8. Connecteam – Best for Mobile and Deskless Teams

Connecteam is designed around workforce operations rather than time tracking alone.

Its Operations Hub combines an employee time clock with scheduling, forms, jobs, tasks, and payroll integrations. Mobile workers can clock in and out while businesses can associate time with clients, jobs, or locations.

Connecteam currently offers a free Small Business Plan for companies with fewer than 10 employees. Its paid Operations Basic plan begins at $29 per month when billed annually for the first 30 users.

Best For: Construction companies, cleaning businesses, field-service companies, hospitality teams, retail operations, and other deskless workforces.

Potential Limitation: Companies looking exclusively for project-based desktop time tracking may find the broader operations platform more than they need.

9. TimeCamp – Best for Project Time and Budget Tracking

TimeCamp combines manual and automatic time capture with project and productivity reporting.

The platform offers unlimited users and projects on its free plan. Paid plans introduce features for billing, profitability, productivity, integrations, approvals, and analytics.

Its project-oriented approach makes it useful for teams wanting to understand how employee time affects budgets and client profitability.

Current annual pricing starts at $3.99 per user per month for Starter, $6.99 for Premium, and $9.99 for Ultimate.

Best For: Agencies, consultants, service companies, and project-based businesses tracking time against budgets.

Potential Limitation: Some billing, integrations, approvals, and analytics capabilities require higher plans.

10. My Hours – Best for Client and Project Tracking

My Hours is built around tracking time by client, project, task, and billing rate.

Businesses can create unlimited projects and clients on paid plans, record time against work, generate reports, and calculate rates and budgets.

My Hours also supports user-based, task-based, and project-based billing rates, providing flexibility when different clients or services have different hourly pricing.

Basic currently costs $4 per user per month when billed annually, while Pro costs $8 per user per month annually.

Best For: Consultants, agencies, freelancers, and service businesses managing multiple projects and client billing rates.

Potential Limitation: Teams needing extensive employee-monitoring or field-attendance capabilities may prefer a more workforce-focused product.

How We Choose the Best Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses

There are many time tracking apps for small business, so a simple feature count is not enough to determine which platform provides the most useful experience.

For this comparison, we considered publicly available product information, pricing, time-tracking capabilities, reporting, integrations, mobile availability, and suitability for different small-business workflows.

This approach is consistent with the factors commonly emphasized in major industry comparisons. Forbes evaluates elements such as price, support, consumer sentiment, features, offline capabilities, remote clock-ins, and reporting, while My Hours and Hubstaff emphasize usability, tracking options, pricing, integrations, mobile functionality, and scalability.

Ease of Use

Software should make recording time easier, not introduce another complicated process.

We consider how quickly employees can start a timer, add a manual entry, select a project, review a timesheet, and understand the main dashboard.

For small businesses with limited administrative resources, a shorter learning curve can be as important as having advanced functionality.

Time Tracking Features

Different teams track time differently.

We considered:

• Automatic time capture
• Start-and-stop timers
• Manual entries
• Timesheets
• Offline tracking
• Project and task tracking
• Billable hours
• Attendance
• Idle detection
• Approvals
• GPS and location features where relevant

A small business time tracking app should provide the tracking methods employees actually need without forcing unnecessary monitoring.

Pricing and Value

We compare more than the advertised starting price.

Important factors include:

• Free-plan limits
• Per-user charges
• Minimum seat requirements
• Base monthly fees
• Annual discounts
• Feature restrictions
• Trial availability
• Costs as the team grows

A $5-per-user product may ultimately cost more than a $10 product if important functions require additional subscriptions or integrations.

Integrations

Employee time often needs to connect with other systems.

We consider integrations with payroll, accounting, project management, invoicing, communication, and productivity platforms.

An integration can be particularly valuable when it prevents business owners from manually copying approved hours from one system into another.

Mobile Experience

Mobile functionality matters for employees working away from a traditional desk.

Remote employees may need mobile timers, while construction, cleaning, retail, hospitality, and field-service teams may need GPS, scheduling, job selection, or offline clock-ins.

Why Small Businesses Need Time Tracking Software

Good time keeping software for small business turns employee hours into information owners can actually use.

Instead of asking only, “How long did everyone work?”, business owners can understand which client received those hours, whether the work was billable, how much labor a project consumed, and whether schedules match actual workloads.

Accurate Employee Hours and Payroll

Manual timesheets can depend heavily on memory.

When employees record working time as it happens, owners have clearer records to review before payroll.

Timesheet approvals can also help managers identify missing, duplicate, or incorrectly assigned entries before the data reaches accounting or payroll systems.

Better Client Billing

Businesses charging hourly rates need accurate billable-time records.

If employees repeatedly forget to log short calls, revisions, research, meetings, or administrative work associated with a client, the total lost billable time can become significant.

Tracking by client, project, and task makes invoicing easier to support with detailed records.

Project Profitability

Revenue does not automatically equal profitability.

A $10,000 client project can become less profitable if the business estimated 100 labor hours but ultimately spends 180.

Time records allow managers to compare estimated work with actual work and adjust future prices, staffing, or project scope accordingly.

Improved Team Productivity

Time data can reveal workload patterns.

For example, managers may discover that one employee is overloaded, internal administration is taking too much time, or certain client projects consistently exceed estimates.

The goal should be using this information to improve planning—not judging employee performance from one metric alone.

Common Small Business Owners’ Concerns About Time Tracking Software

Before adopting time tracking software for businesses, owners commonly worry about cost, employee acceptance, privacy, setup, and whether tracking will actually reduce administrative work.

Those concerns are valid. The solution is choosing tracking that matches the real business problem instead of collecting every possible employee metric.

Will Employees Feel Micromanaged?

They may if tracking is introduced without context.

Employees should understand:

• What will be tracked
• When tracking occurs
• Why the business needs the information
• Who can access the data
• How the data will be used

Time tracking introduced primarily for accurate billing, payroll, workload planning, and project estimates can feel very different from unexplained surveillance.

Is Time Tracking Software Too Expensive for a Small Business?

It does not have to be.

AYYES, Clockify, Jibble, Connecteam, TimeCamp, and several other providers offer free entry points for qualifying users or teams. Paid plans commonly scale according to seats or team size.

Owners should compare software cost with the value of recovering missed billable time, reducing manual payroll work, improving project estimates, and avoiding duplicated administrative processes.

How Difficult Is It to Set Up and Use?

That depends on the system and how much the company wants to configure.

Basic timers may require little setup. Payroll rules, approval workflows, schedules, location policies, integrations, and project hierarchies require more planning.

A good implementation strategy is to begin with the minimum required workflow and add advanced features later.

Is Employee Time Tracking Accurate?

Software can make records more consistent, but it cannot eliminate every mistake.

Employees may forget to switch projects, leave timers running, or enter incorrect information.

Useful safeguards include idle detection, approvals, manual corrections, automatic tracking, audit logs, GPS verification for field employees, and clear project naming.

How Is Employee Privacy Protected?

Privacy depends on both the software provider and employer practices.

Businesses should collect only information they actually need, restrict access, clearly communicate monitoring practices, and follow applicable employment and privacy regulations.

AYYES states that its monitoring data may include screenshots, activity logs, app usage, and productivity metrics. Its privacy policy also describes access controls, encryption, user rights, configurable retention for monitoring data, and jurisdiction-specific privacy mechanisms.

AYYES also provides configurable screenshot blurring designed to reduce exposure of sensitive information during monitored work.

Will Time Tracking Create More Administrative Work?

It can if the system is overcomplicated.

A business with five employees does not necessarily need dozens of project categories and approval stages.

Used correctly, automation, reports, integrations, timesheet approvals, and project templates can reduce administrative work instead of increasing it.

Which Time Tracking App Is Best for Your Small Business?

The best time tracking app for small business depends on the people being tracked and what the business needs to do with the resulting data.

Best for Freelancers and Very Small Teams

Freelancers generally need simple time entry, client projects, billable hours, reporting, and reasonable pricing.

AYYES is attractive for micro teams because its current free plan supports two members with unlimited time tracking, projects, and tasks. My Hours, Clockify, Toggl Track, and Harvest also provide useful options for project-based professionals.

Best for Remote Teams

Remote businesses often need desktop tracking, projects, reporting, and visibility into how distributed employees spend their working time.

AYYES and Hubstaff provide more extensive activity visibility, while Toggl Track is well suited to businesses wanting simpler time records without as much workforce monitoring.

Best for Field and Hourly Workers

Jibble and Connecteam are particularly strong choices for employees working at job sites or physical locations.

GPS, geofencing, mobile clock-ins, attendance, schedules, and kiosks can matter more in these businesses than detailed client profitability reports.

QuickBooks Time is also worth considering for companies already using QuickBooks and needing tracked field hours connected with payroll or accounting.

Best for Agencies and Client Work

Agencies should prioritize:

• Billable and non-billable hours
• Client projects
• Hourly rates
• Budgets
• Reports
• Invoices
• Project profitability

AYYES provides time, project, rate, reporting, and invoicing-related capabilities, while Harvest, Toggl Track, My Hours, and TimeCamp offer strong alternatives for project-based billing workflows.

Essential Features in Time Keeping Software for Small Business

Choosing time keeping software for small business should focus on practical needs such as accurate tracking, timesheets, billing, integrations, reporting, and mobile access rather than choosing the platform with the longest feature list.

Flexible Time Tracking: Automatic and manual tracking give employees different ways to record work accurately. Automatic tracking helps capture missed time, while manual entries are useful for meetings, calls, travel, offline work, and corrections.

Timesheets and Approvals: Timesheets organize employee hours into clear records that managers can review before payroll or billing. Approval workflows, editing controls, project assignments, and daily or weekly views help improve accuracy and reduce errors.

Billable Hours and Invoicing: Billable-hour tracking helps service businesses separate client work from internal tasks. This supports more accurate invoicing, clearer utilization data, and better visibility into how employee time contributes to revenue.

Payroll and Accounting Integrations: Integrations connect tracked hours with payroll, accounting, invoicing, and other business systems. This reduces duplicate data entry, saves administrative time, and helps keep employee hours and financial records more consistent.

Reports and Analytics: Reports help owners understand employee hours, project costs, billable time, workloads, and profitability. Clear analytics make it easier to identify project overruns, compare estimates with actual work, and improve future planning.

Mobile Time Tracking: A small business time tracking app should make it easy for remote, field, and deskless workers to record time wherever they work. Mobile access can support clock-ins, project selection, schedules, and time submission without returning to the office .

Why Choose AYYES for Small Business Time Tracking?

AYYES is a strong option for small businesses that want time tracking, projects, timesheets, reports, workforce visibility, and scalable management tools in one platform. It supports different team types while keeping daily tracking practical and easy to manage.

Simple Tracking for Small Teams: AYYES supports one-click timers, automatic tracking, manual entries, weekly timesheets, offline desktop tracking, and kiosks. This flexibility helps small teams choose the tracking method that best fits office, remote, or on-site work.

Better Employee and Project Visibility: The platform connects employee hours with projects, tasks, activity levels, app usage, screenshots, idle time, estimates, and budgets. This gives managers a clearer view of where work time goes and how projects are progressing.

Reports That Support Better Decisions: Timesheets, custom date ranges, productivity data, and team-performance reports help businesses review billable hours, labor use, project time, workloads, and productivity more clearly for better planning and management.

Built to Grow With Your Business: As teams and projects expand, paid plans provide broader team access, kiosk controls, activity logs, email reports, additional storage, and support for more structured workforce management.

Final Verdict: Best Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses in 2027

There is no perfect tracker for every organization.

Clockify is a strong free option. Toggl Track works well for businesses prioritizing simplicity. Harvest stands out for client invoicing, Hubstaff for remote workforce visibility, QuickBooks Time for companies already inside the QuickBooks ecosystem, Jibble for attendance, Connecteam for deskless teams, TimeCamp for project tracking, and My Hours for client-based work.

For businesses wanting tracking, project management, reporting, workforce visibility, kiosks, timesheets, and additional operational tools in one place, AYYES offers one of the most comprehensive combinations in this comparison. Its free plan for two members also makes it practical for a small company to begin tracking before moving to a paid subscription.

The right choice ultimately depends on team size, work location, payroll processes, client billing requirements, desired level of monitoring, and budget.

FAQs About Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses

What Is the Best Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses in the US?

The best option depends on your workflow. AYYES is a strong all-around choice for time tracking, projects, timesheets, and reporting. QuickBooks Time suits businesses using QuickBooks, while Jibble and Connecteam work well for hourly and field teams.

How Much Does Small Business Time Tracking Software Cost?

Small business time tracking software may be free or cost a few dollars per user each month. Pricing depends on team size, reporting, payroll integrations, approvals, monitoring, and billing features. Compare total team costs before choosing a plan.

What Are Common Integrations for Time Tracking Software?

Common integrations include payroll, accounting, project management, and communication tools. Popular examples include QuickBooks, Gusto, ADP, Paychex, Slack, Asana, Trello, Jira, Monday.com, and ClickUp, depending on the platform and plan.

How Does Time Tracking Software Protect Employees’ Privacy?

Time tracking software may protect privacy through access controls, encryption, limited data collection, configurable monitoring, and screenshot blurring. Employers should clearly explain what is tracked, restrict unnecessary monitoring, and follow applicable privacy laws.

How Do Professionals Use Time Tracking Software?

Professionals use time tracking software to record billable hours, client work, projects, internal tasks, and attendance. Managers can also use the data for invoicing, payroll, project estimates, workload planning, labor-cost analysis, and profitability reporting.

Are Timekeeping Apps Suitable for Remote Employees?

Yes. Many timekeeping apps for small businesses support web, desktop, and mobile tracking for remote employees. Some also provide offline tracking, project assignments, screenshots, activity reports, and timesheets to help managers oversee distributed teams.

Can Small Businesses Track Billable and Non-Billable Hours?

Yes. Most project-based time trackers let businesses separate billable client work from internal tasks. This helps create more accurate invoices, measure employee utilization, monitor project profitability, and understand how much time is spent on non-revenue work.

What Features Should a Small Business Look for in Time Tracking Software?

Look for simple timers, manual entries, timesheets, project tracking, reporting, mobile access, approvals, billable hours, and payroll or accounting integrations. Field businesses may also need GPS, geofencing, attendance tracking, scheduling, and kiosk options.

Is Time Tracking Software Worth It for a Small Business?

Yes, when it helps improve payroll accuracy, billing, project estimates, workload planning, and labor-cost visibility. The best time tracking app for small business should reduce manual administration, be easy for employees to use, and provide useful data for managers.