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How to track time and billable hours for a small business

Tracking time means recording who worked, when and on what, so you can pay people correctly, bill clients accurately and see where hours go. A time tracking or time clock app does this with timers, timesheets or clock-in and clock-out, then sends the hours to payroll or invoicing. Project management, payroll and accounting tools often connect to it, but check whether they record time themselves before you rely on them.

By Bill Belcamino · Page updated September 19, 2026 · Our methodologyResearched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team

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How to track time and billable hours, step by step

Decide whether you are tracking attendance for pay, billable hours for clients, or both.
Set up the clients, projects and tasks that time will be logged against.
Choose how people record time: timer, timesheet or clock-in.
Set a routine for submitting and approving timesheets.
Connect approved hours to payroll or invoicing.
Review tracked hours against budgets and estimates regularly.

The software this job takes

Which categories a job needs is Editorial assessment; the tools, prices and dates are Verified data.

Prices are each vendor’s published entry plan, recorded from its own pricing page and dated. The example column prices a team of 10: only per-user prices are multiplied; flat and per-account prices are shown as published. Change the team size in the finder.

You need this

Time Tracking Software

Time tracking software records hours by person, project and client, for billing, payroll and timesheets.

Tool	Entry price (as published)	Billing unit	Example: team of 10	Free plan	Verified
Toggl Track	Free for up to 3 users; Starter $9/user/mo (annual)	Per user	$90/mo$9 × 10 users	YesYes — up to 3 users	Sep 19, 2026Vendor pricing
Clockify	Free for up to 5 users; Basic $3.99/seat/mo (annual)	Per seat	$39.90/mo$3.99 × 10 seats	YesYes — up to 5 users	Sep 19, 2026Vendor pricing
Harvest	Free for 1 seat; Teams from $9/seat/mo (annual) plus usage charges	Per seat	$90/mo$9 × 10 seats	YesYes — 1 seat, 2 projects	Sep 19, 2026Vendor pricing

Compare all Time Tracking pricing →Head to head:Toggl Track vs Harvest Toggl Track vs Clockify Clockify vs Harvest6 switching guides Build a decision brief for these →

Often added

Project Management Software

Project management software tracks tasks, owners and deadlines across the team.

Tool	Entry price (as published)	Billing unit	Example: team of 10	Free plan	Verified
Asana	Free (2 users), from $10.99/seat/mo	Per seat	$109.90/mo$10.99 × 10 seats	YesYes — Personal plan, up to 2 users	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing
ClickUp	Free, from $7/seat/mo	Per seat	$70/mo$7 × 10 seats	YesYes — Free Forever	Sep 12, 2026Vendor pricing
Monday.com	From $9/seat/mo (3-seat min)	Per seat	$90/mo$9 × 10 seats	YesYes — up to 2 seats	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing
Trello	Free, from $5/user/mo	Per user	$50/mo$5 × 10 users	YesYes — up to 10 collaborators per Workspace	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing
Jira	Free (10 users), from $9.05/user/mo	Per user	$90.50/mo$9.05 × 10 users	YesYes — up to 10 users	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing
Linear	Free, from $10/user/mo (billed yearly)	Per user	$100/mo$10 × 10 users	YesYes — unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing

Compare all Project Management pricing →Head to head:Trello vs Asana Jira vs Linear Asana vs Monday.com Monday.com vs ClickUp Asana vs ClickUp10 switching guides Build a decision brief for these →

Often added

Payroll & HR Software

Payroll software pays people, files payroll taxes and keeps employee records.

Tool	Entry price (as published)	Billing unit	Example: team of 10	Free plan	Verified
Gusto	From $49/mo + $6/person	Per person	$109/mo$49 + $6 × 10 people	NoNo — free account setup, no contracts	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing
Rippling	Custom quote only	Quote only	Price not publishedQuote only	NoNo	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing

Compare all Payroll & HR pricing →Head to head:Gusto vs Rippling2 switching guides Build a decision brief for these →

Often added

Small Business Accounting Software

Accounting software sends invoices, records payments and expenses, and keeps the books your accountant needs.

Tool	Entry price (as published)	Billing unit	Example: team of 10	Free plan	Verified
QuickBooks	From $38/mo	Per account per month (Simple Start)	$38/moFlat per account per month (Simple Start); includes 1 login, so more logins need a higher plan or extra users	YesYes — 1 user, 2 invoices/month, 1 bank connection	Sep 12, 2026Vendor pricing
Xero	From $25/mo	Per account per month, no per-user fees	$25/moFlat per account per month, no per-user fees	NoNo permanent free plan — free trial available	Sep 18, 2026Vendor pricing
FreshBooks	$23/mo (Lite, 5 billable clients)	Per account per month; extra team members $11/month each	$23/moFlat per account per month; extra team members $11/month each	NoNo free plan — 30-day free trial, no card required	Sep 18, 2026Vendor pricing

Compare all Accounting Software pricing →Head to head:Xero vs FreshBooks QuickBooks vs Xero QuickBooks vs FreshBooks6 switching guides Build a decision brief for these →

What to look for

Editorial assessment

Clock-in or timer Hourly staff usually need a time clock, while freelancers and project teams need timers and timesheets per task. Check which style the tool is built for.
Approvals Look for manager approval before hours reach payroll or an invoice. It catches mistakes before they cost money.
Billable rates If you bill clients, check that you can set rates per client, project or person and mark time as billable or not.
Payroll and invoicing connections Check that approved hours flow into your payroll and accounting tools. Retyping hours is where errors creep in.
Mobile and location options If people work on site, check mobile clock-in and any location features. Check what applies where you operate before you track employee location.
Reports Look for reports by client, project and person. They show which work is profitable and where estimates are off.

Common mistakes to avoid

Tracking after the fact Filling in timesheets from memory at the end of the week loses hours. Build logging into the daily routine.
Mixing up attendance and billing Pay records and client billing have different needs. Be clear which one you are solving before you choose.
Skipping the payroll check Rules on overtime, breaks and record keeping vary by location. Check what applies where you operate, or ask your accountant.
Too much monitoring Screenshots and activity tracking can hurt trust. Only switch on what you need and tell your team what is recorded.

What to settle before you buy

Are you tracking time for payroll, client billing or both?
How many people will track time, and are they employees or contractors?
Do people work on site, remotely or across several clients?
Which payroll, accounting and project tools must the hours reach?
Who approves timesheets, and how often?
What will you tell the team about what is tracked and why?

Ready to take it to whoever signs off?Turn your shortlist into a one-page decision brief with verified prices, or price the whole job for your team size.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the best time tracking app for a small business?

Look for one that matches how your people work (clock-in for hourly staff or timers for project work) and sends approved hours to payroll or invoicing without retyping. Compare approvals, billable rates and integrations, or start from the finder for this job.

How do freelancers track billable hours?

Start a timer or log time against each client and project as you work, mark it as billable, and turn the approved hours into an invoice. Doing it daily is more accurate than reconstructing the week later.

How do I track time spent on tasks?

Log time against a specific task, either with a running timer or a timesheet entry, then review the totals by task and project. Some project management tools have built-in time tracking, others connect to a separate time tracker.

What is time and attendance software?

It records when employees start and finish work, including breaks, and prepares hours for payroll. Check what record-keeping rules apply where you operate before you set it up.

How we built this page

We start from the job, not the product. The phrasings people search for this job (for example “time tracking for small business”) come from our research into how small and mid-size teams describe it. Which software categories the job takes is our editorial judgment. Every tool, entry price, billing unit and date comes from HelpCompare’s open dataset, recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page; nothing is estimated, and where a vendor publishes no price we say so. We take no affiliate commissions and publish no scores of our own. See our methodology or download the data from Open Data.

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How to track time and billable hours for a small business

How to track time and billable hours, step by step

The software this job takes

Time Tracking Software

Project Management Software

Payroll & HR Software

Small Business Accounting Software

What to look for

Common mistakes to avoid

What to settle before you buy

Frequently asked questions

What is the best time tracking app for a small business?

How do freelancers track billable hours?

How do I track time spent on tasks?

What is time and attendance software?

How we built this page

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Bill Belcamino