Free time tracking app for freelancers is one of the most convenient solutions for every solopreneur—in the world of freelancers, if you want to stay on top, you need to be well-organized. Billable hours, tight schedules, multiple projects, or managing finances are just a few pieces of the puzzle.
When you're freelancing, you're your own project manager. It can be challenging, especially in the contemporary world, where the demands and expectations are higher than ever.
But with the right time tracking app for freelancers, you can turn your career into a profitable business and achieve an almost perfect work-life harmony.
Why Freelancers Need Time Tracking?
Time tracking for freelancers isn't just a tool for tracking time, very often it's a system that helps to organize the whole business and associated processes—managing flexible schedules, multiple clients, variable billing, and synchronizing all workflows.
Time tracking is popular these days because it's a real life-saver for freelancers.
Freelancers need time tracking for 4 main reasons:
1. To organize schedule
The right time tracking software for freelancers helps to systematize workflow better and organize planning.
Since freelancer hours are different than standard employee time and pose more difficulties. Unlike a traditional 9-to-5 job, freelancers often juggle multiple projects with varying deadlines.
There are also the non-regular hours of work and flexible schedules that make it more demanding to stay organized.
Hence, automated time tracking allows freelancers to find out how much time they spend on each activity to allocate time properly and plan ahead.
As a result, freelancers can better manage their workload and avoid overcommitting. Smartly organizing work schedule is one of the best ways to prevent burnout.
2. To make smarter business decisions
We all know that tracking time itself isn't the best idea. The main purpose of using time tracking software is to gather data on work hours.
Time tracking data can help:
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Determine how long it takes to finish a project or task. What's the estimated time and final deadline? What both clients and freelancers can expect?
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Allocate adequate time budget and provide accurate quote per project.
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Monitor if you're charging for your freelance services accurately.
Track billable hours and non-billable time.
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Observe computer usage to understand how you spend your time.
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Access interesting insights—what works in one project may not be so good for other projects; is that activity good for you, or maybe you're doing something wrong?
When you track time, you become more aware of your time management. But you can also easily understand which projects are profitable, and which are of little value to your freelancing career. Or you can use the data to decide if you want to raise your rates.
3. To accurately track billable hours and create invoices
Even if your rates are based on the per-project quote, it's a good idea to know what activities your freelance work involves. That way, you'll be able to precisely determine your perfect hourly rate.
The billable rate should incorporate aspects such as knowledge of the industry, expertise and experience, and other business facets specific to your industry.
The right billable rates mean a higher margin and profitability. Freelancer time is as precious as of any other employee, and it's important to know your worth.
Additionally, freelance time tracking apps such as TimeCamp provide features necessary to create professional invoices. You can quickly make them based on time tracked and send them directly to your clients with just one click.
4. To improve project management
Because as a freelancer you're your own boss, you need to manage yourself efficiently. You're the manager, accountant, employee, HR, and customer support—a one-man band. That requires lots of effort.
You can use as many tools as you need to organize your personal workspace (task management, project tracking, accounting, tracking expenses, client management), but using all these apps will only add more work. That's why you need a simple time tracking app that will help you organize all your work in a unified platform.
Even a free time tracking app can provide you with project management features that can help you oversee all freelance-related aspects.
Benefits of Using a Time Tracking App
Check all the advantages of using TimeCamp, a freelance time tracking app and how it can elevate your efficiency:
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Automatic timer tracks time for you so you can focus on your work.
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Timesheets with time entries provide you with precise numbers of time tracked.
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Advanced reporting features capturing exhaustive data on your work give you lots of data.
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The desktop app works in the background and collects the full documentation on your work so you can understand how you spend your time.
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Track billable time worked to increase earnings and profitability.
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Project management features turn the system into a unified hub for all your projects, with data on clients, tasks, and expenses.
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A good time-tracking app will let you track expenses and monitor the financial health of your freelance business.
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Integrations with other apps provide a smooth workflow.
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You can access your data from any place in the world via web or mobile.
Overall, next to detailed tracking, freelance time tracking app optimizes and automates work. That eliminates paperwork and helps to focus on growing your business. So you can sleep sound at night knowing things are falling into place and the next client is just around the corner.
Try TimeCamp free - one of the best time tracking tools for freelancers with unlimited projects!
Key Features to Look for in a Freelance Time Tracking App
The main goal of time tracking apps is to make life easier. There are many apps on the market and it can be challenging to choose the right one.
And while you can pick from numerous functionalities, not all will be relevant to your business needs. Take a look at the basics that will help you improve productivity instead of adding to your workload.
Ease of use
The core functionality of a time tracker is a user-friendly interface, which allows to smoothly move around the tool, even for non-tech-savvy users. You should be able to easily create tasks, access your data, and manage all clients and projects with the basic time tracking features.
Automatic time tracking
There's no use for tracking time if you have to manually log time entries. In TimeCamp, you don't have to spend hours on filling timesheets. The automatic desktop app gathers all your data. You can access it at any time to monitor workflow.
Automated time tracking also helps to save time on basic business processes and administrative tasks. That helps to optimize freelance workflow and minimize workload.
Timesheets
When you're a freelancer, you may not need to submit your timesheet to a supervisor or a manager, but it may also be important to log hours. Especially, if you bill by the hour.
Timesheets allow you to see the time tracked for different projects and have a clear picture of your work.
It's also important to be able to manually add time entries or edit timesheets if you, for example, forget to track your time or need to adjust logged hours.
What's more, TimeCamp is the best time tracking software for Google Calendar time tracking as it allows you to track time straight from your Google Calendar events so you don't miss anything!
Reporting and analytics
As a freelancer, you need to focus on maintaining relationships that are profit-making. Sometimes, it can be hard to assess which projects are good for your freelancing business.
A time tracking data solves that problem. It provides detailed reports with specific, project-oriented insights to assess project profitability and how much it takes to complete specific tasks. That way, you can easily determine your perfect freelance rate, be it per hour or per project.
This helps to make wiser business decisions for future projects and choose clients smartly. Know your worth and stop giving people discounts thanks to automatic tracking.
Invoicing and budgeting capabilities
Financial management is crucial, especially if you're your own boss. You need to plan and oversee your budget but also keep your hand on accounting (taxes, costs, expenses, bookkeeping, payments, etc.).
With a proper invoicing system, you'll be able to set adjustable rates, create invoices, easily export and share them with clients, connect to other invoicing, accounting, and payroll software, and get paid quickly.
Integrations with other tools
If you're using different tools, you can find it helpful to connect them to your time tracking app. First, it'll automate your workflow (no need to switch between different apps, you will avoid repetitive tasks, and ensure automatic data transfer). Second, you'll get more valuable stats and figures on your work.
Also, if your clients give you access to their software, you can easily integrate their platforms into your workflow.
Additionally, the availability for different platforms, operating systems, and different devices lets you quickly sync your work from anywhere.
Automatic reminders
It's easy to forget things when you have so much to do. Automatic reminders help to stay focused and on track when you forget to log your hours worked.
Additionally, TimeCamp offers other reminders and notifications to help you boost productivity: idle time detection, timesheet reminders, exceeding budget, and updates on project progress.
Free plan
You don't need to go over the budget with time tracker. A free plan allows you to use the tool at no cost. Additional pricing plans usually include more advanced features. If you decide they'll help you freelance, you can always upgrade to a paid version.
Also, the free plan gives you the convenience of testing the software and checking if it corresponds to your needs.
TimeCamp offers a free forever plan for unlimited users and projects.
How to Use a Free Time Tracker for Freelancers to Streamline Work?
An automatic time tracking software for freelancers offers features that help to optimize work and better organize projects, manage billable hours, and ensure timely payments.
Time tracking for freelancers works just as for any other type of business. The only difference is that you manage the platform all by yourself.
Using TimeCamp, a free time tracking app, as an example, here's a step-by-step guide on how freelancers can use time tracking for project management to streamline their work.
1. Create an account and set up projects with a project time tracker
The first step is to create an account. At TimeCamp, all you have to do is type in your email address, create a password, and you're done. All's set and ready to go. You can register here for free.
After registration, you need to create a first task. However, it's best to create projects and split them into tasks so you can track time accurately from the very beginning.
The user interface is lightweight and easy to move around. Using TimeCamp doesn't require any onboarding.
PRO TIP: If you create a coherent project structure, you'll organize the workload and optimize workflow. You can create projects, tasks, and subtasks. Add tags and use color coding to get a transparent overview of your work.
2. Track time spent on tasks and projects with a time tracking app
In TimeCamp, you can track time in four ways: directly on the web with the timer, with the desktop apps, via mobile devices, or through the website plugin. (You can always add, edit, or remove time entries manually).
However, it's best to download the desktop app as it automatically tracks time and registers all activities. And if you need to, you can always add/edit/remove time entries manually.
Note that you can track time in the offline mode since all your activities sync with the cloud after you go back online.
3. Set hourly rates and export reports for easy invoicing
You can track project budget, margin, and overall profitability by setting billable rates. Also, you can set the currency, and define billable time and non-billable time.
Based on tracked time (all insights available in reports), you can create personalized invoices and send them to your clients with one click. If you want to improve cash flow, go for quick payroll integration with your favorite tools.
4. Keep an eye on productivity
TimeCamp offers rich productivity reports with helpful insights. You can view detailed reports with a breakdown of your work. That includes keeping track of websites and apps, work and private time, if you're part of remote teams, you can monitor attendance and different types of workdays and off time.
Productivity tracking lets you monitor logged time as being productive or non-productive. You can see which activities take most of your time, and easily spot and eliminate distractions.
5. Monitor, review, and adjust
Whether you want to review the accuracy of tracked time, billable hours, or check if it's time to raise your rates, you can easily access all your data in dashboards.
What's more, with real-time updates on your work hours, you can quickly spot bottlenecks, prevent project delays, and avoid unnecessary stress.
You can set reminders and alerts, as well as email notifications, to keep your budget under control.
Reviews are important as they allow you to assess your work and all business-related processes. That way you can adapt to changes.
6. Integrate your favorite tools
TimeCamp offers unlimited integrations with different types of tools.
You can choose various integrations from our depository of all the available integrations. These include project management, task management, helpdesk tools, collaboration apps, accounting and invoicing, CRM and sales, and software development.
Or, you can connect TimeCamp to any software you use and create automated tasks via Zapier.
Also, TimeCamp's comprehensive time tracking allows you to access all your work via desktop app, mobile, or browser extensions.
Why TimeCamp Is the Best Time Tracking Software for Freelancers
TimeCamp is the best free time tracking software for freelancers because it helps run your business smoothly, bringing higher client satisfaction and more profits to your freelancing enterprise.
TimeCamp has all the necessary features designed to help you streamline your work:
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Ease of use: Intuitive interface with no steep learning curve. All you have to do is log in and start tracking your time.
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Automatic time tracking app: TimeCamp automatically tracks your time. All you have to do is work.
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Detailed timesheets: Every time entry is accurately logged into transparent timesheets. You can choose from a daily, weekly, and calendar view.
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Comprehensive reports: TimeCamp reporting provides you with a detailed breakdown of your working hours, including your standard billable time, project time, idle time, overtime, PTO, holidays, tracked vs estimated time, and more. You can export reports and share them with clients.
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Tracking expenses: To see how much you spent on projects and keep a record of business expenses.
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Invoicing: Get paid faster with quick and easy invoice management.
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Integrations: You can connect TimeCamp to other apps to automate work.
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Available for all platforms as a desktop app, mobile app, browser plugin, and web app. So you can access it anywhere you are.
Time is money, they say. And TimeCamp helps to make the most out of this invaluable asset. It's a free time tracking app for freelancers.
How do Freelancers Track Time?
Freelancers track time with dedicated time tracking apps for freelancers as they help to track project estimates, aid in better invoicing and tracking different client rates.
But there are as many apps as many styles of work. And it's important to choose the right system tailored to your needs.
If you're a freelancer and want to track time, you need to take into account a few crucial factors:
1. Consider your project management style and needs
Do you need to only track time to measure productivity or get more in-depth data? Do you want to additionally manage projects or need a simple time tracker?
From all the solutions, you can choose from multiple options:
time trackers,
to-do lists,
task management apps,
advanced project management software,
digital planners and calendars,
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bookkeeping and accounting software, or invoicing apps.
Or, if you're more of a traditionalist, you can choose the classical pen and paper methods. These, however, usually take more time and may be less effective.
Note that, usually, a good time tracking software combines all of the above. TimeCamp, for example, is a universal free time tracking app that adjusts to the needs of its users and comprises functionalities from all the best productivity apps.
Your work, your rules, your time – Stay in control of
your freelance hours with TimeCamp.
Sign up for free!
2. Evaluate your budget and invoicing needs for accurate financial tracking
Are you in charge of accounting, or do you have an accountant? How much money can you spend on software? What are your needs?
Not every tool will be suitable for you. It's best to choose an app that provides you with the core financial features (budgeting, invoicing, and tracking profitability). Also, it shouldn't be too pricey.
If you have an accountant, your project time tracker should be able to generate data necessary for bookkeeping and tax management.
3. Look for integrations with your existing tools for a streamlined workflow
What does your workflow look like and what tools do you need on a daily basis?
It's important to choose time tracking software that connects your favorite apps so you can have everything under control. It also helps to keep your data accurate and safe. TimeCamp gives you all the options to connect to your favorite apps and tools. Just the way you want and need.
FAQ: Time Tracking for Freelancers - Everything You Need to Know
What is the best free time tracking app for freelancers?
TimeCamp is the best time tracking app for freelancers with all the features you need to effectively manage your freelance business. Unlike many other free time trackers for freelancers, TimeCamp offers unlimited projects and unlimited users, so you can collaborate on various projects with many clients in one platform.
How do I track multiple freelance projects at once?
Since TimeCamp offers unlimited projects, you can easily track time to as many freelance projects as you need. Although our desktop app tracks time to only one task at a time (to help you focus better), you can easily switch between them either manually or automatically with keywords.
With TimeCamp, you can easily track time across multiple projects with the manual time entry or the weekly view directly in the web app.
And with a clear, hierarchical project structure (projects, tasks, subtasks, tags), you can easily organize your work for transparency.
Can I track my time across different devices?
Yes, TimeCamp is a free time tracker that allows you to track time across multiple devices conveniently—with the desktop app, mobile apps, web timer, and browser extensions. All your data syncs across devices (also in the offline mode).
Can freelancers use TimeCamp for both time tracking and invoicing?
Yes, TimeCamp lets you track time and invoice your clients based on hours tracked. However, for the invoicing feature, you'll need to subscribe at $2.99/mo per user (billed annually).
What’s the difference between automatic and manual time tracking in TimeCamp?
Automatic time tracking in TimeCamp happens without any input from you—our free time tracker records work hours and activities for you so you can focus on your work.
When it comes to manual data entry, you can easily do it in TimeCamp by logging your work hours manually in timesheets (although we recommend automatic time tracking to save time and percent errors). You can also manually edit and add time entries after tasks are completed.
You can generate detailed reports, whether you track time manually or automatically.
How does TimeCamp integrate with project management tools?
You can easily connect TimeCamp with other project management tools. Make sure to check our depository of integrations and choose from 100+ integrations. There are task management tools, software development tools, helpdesk software, CRM and sales solutions, and many other productivity apps.
How do I use time tracking to create invoices?
With TimeCamp, you can create invoices in tow ways: based on logged project hours or with an empty invoice template. You can send invoices directly to your clients with just one click.
Creating invoices with TimeCamp is simple and doesn't require any additional knowledge.
What if a client disputes my tracked hours?
Well, they can't. Why? Because TimeCamp automatically tracks your time with precision to a second. Hence, there's no room for errors.
What's more, the productivity reports serve as a proof of work to your clients so they can be sure you're spending your time doing the actual work. You can easily share the reports with your clients. Also, TimeCamp allows you to invite clients directly into the app so they can view your progress in the real-time and address any concerns.
How does TimeCamp ensure privacy and security for freelancers working remotely?
TimeCamp is one of the safest tools for freelancers. Our team takes care of your data by securing it with the highest standards. TimeCamp is certified for ISO27001 (the international gold standard for information security) and complies with the requirements of GDPR. The cloud infrastructure ensures strong security measures, data is encrypted and we perform regular check-ups to ensure all users' and customers' data is always safe.
You can read more about our standards here.
Maximize Your Efficiency with TimeCamp Time Tracker for Freelancers
Time tracking is essential for every freelancer to achieve success. Whether you are juggling multiple projects, managing client expectations, or trying to find a balance between work and personal life, having a reliable system to track your time can make a significant difference.
Boost productivity with a free time tracker for freelancers – Stay on top of projects and bill clients with ease. Try TimeCamp now!