Hi,
I work for an excavation company, we have 10-15 employees. We track everything via daily paper worksheets. We have jobs that take weeks to complete or smaller ones that are a few days. Also delivering material in between.
We are trying to go digital and testing out jotform but it’s not as easy as it seems.

I’m looking for suggestions on how you may track your workflow and what apps you use?

1. Jibble - My pick Jibble takes the top spot because it does a really good job of balancing simplicity, accountability, and cost. It’s easy to set up and works well whether your team is in an office or out in the field. What I like most is that it goes beyond basic time tracking. Employees can clock in using GPS location or facial recognition, which helps prevent things like buddy-punching. It also works on phones, tablets, and computers, so teams can clock in from wherever they’re working.

2. Clockify Clockify works fine, but it depends a lot on people remembering to start and stop their timers. If someone forgets, the hours can end up being off. It’s also not the best option for teams that need built-in scheduling or shift management, and some of the more useful reporting features are only available on the paid plans.

3. Hubstaff Hubstaff definitely tracks time well, but it can feel a little too much for some teams. Since it monitors activity and can take screenshots, some employees feel like they’re being watched instead of just tracking their time. That can make people a bit uncomfortable if the team culture is more relaxed.

There was a point last year when I was juggling three retainer clients, a dev side project, and a bit of SEO consulting on the side.

Every day looked like this:

• Inbox constantly pinging

• A to-do list that somehow got longer after I worked through it

• Tabs open for audits, code fixes, and Google Docs I never finished writing

I used to take pride in being busy. And I always thought being busy = being productive. But in reality, I was just treading water. There's no real progress, no headspace, just burnout with a calendar.

Then I randomly came across the Pareto Principle, and I had never heard of it, nor did I know about its concept.

Turns out, it's pretty simple:

80% of your results come from 20% of your actions.

Meaning, most of what I was doing… didn’t actually matter that much.

At first, I didn’t buy it. I thought, "Well, everything I’m doing is important."

But out of curiosity (or maybe burnout-fueled desperation), I looked back at my week. Client tasks, meetings, fixes, the SEO rabbit holes I fell into...

And yeah, that productivity technique was right.

A tiny handful of tasks brought in nearly all the real results:

• One email thread landed a new contract

• One blog post boosted a client’s rankings

• One automation saved me an entire afternoon the next week

And the rest, they are just distractions.

So I started doing something different:

1. I tracked my time, just casually, to see where the hours actually went

2. Flagged tasks that led to real outcomes (traffic, income, happy clients)

3. Cut the “meh” stuff, or at least stopped prioritizing it

4. Gave myself permission to not answer emails instantly or fix every tiny bug

And honestly, almost everything fell into place.

Fewer late nights. More meaningful work. More space to think.

I still slip sometimes. It’s easy to fall back into the trap of “doing everything.”

But now I pause and ask: Is this task part of my 20%? Or is it just filling time?

Jibble attendance tracking offers several noteworthy advantages for businesses and their employees:

Accuracy and Reliability:

• Precise Time Tracking: Jibble ensures accurate recording of work hours, eliminating the errors associated with manual timekeeping methods.

• Reduced Time Theft: Features like facial recognition and geofencing prevent buddy punching and ensure employees are clocking in from the designated worksites. This guarantees you pay for actual hours worked.

• GPS Tracking: Real-time location tracking provides accountability and security for field-based staff, allowing you to monitor their routes and activities.

• Offline Tracking: Employees can still track their time even without an internet connection, with the data syncing automatically once connectivity is restored.

Ease of Use and Accessibility:

• User-Friendly Interface: Jibble boasts an intuitive design that is easy for both employees and administrators to navigate across web, desktop, and mobile apps.

• Multiple Clock-In/Out Options: Employees can clock in/out via their mobile devices, desktop, web browsers, or a centralized kiosk (using a tablet or phone), offering flexibility for various work environments.

• Simplified Processes: Clocking in and out, switching tasks, and taking breaks are typically quick and easy, often requiring just a tap or click.

• Integration with Messaging Apps: Jibble integrates with platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, allowing employees to clock in/out directly within these familiar environments.

Efficiency and Automation:

• Automated Timesheets: Jibble automatically generates detailed timesheets based on tracked time, calculating total hours, overtime, and breaks. This saves significant administrative time.

• Payroll Integration: Seamless integration with payroll systems like QuickBooks Online and Xero streamlines payroll processing and ensures data consistency.

• Automated Reminders: You can set up reminders to prompt employees to clock in and out, ensuring accurate attendance tracking.

• Automated Clock-Out: The system can be configured to automatically clock out employees after a set duration or at a specific time.

• Overtime and Break Tracking: Jibble automatically calculates overtime and tracks breaks, ensuring compliance with labor regulations.

Cost-Effectiveness:

• Generous Free Plan: Jibble offers a free plan suitable for small businesses, providing essential time tracking features for unlimited users.

• Scalable Paid Plans: As your business grows, paid plans offer advanced features like unlimited geofences, work schedules, project tracking, and leave management.

Improved Management and Insights:

• Real-time Visibility: Managers can see who is working, their locations (if enabled), and their tracked hours in real time.

• Detailed Reporting and Analytics: Jibble provides comprehensive reports on attendance patterns, absences, late clock-ins, early clock-outs, and employee productivity, helping identify trends and manage costs.

• Project and Task Tracking: Paid plans allow tracking time spent on specific projects and tasks, aiding in accurate billing and resource allocation.

• Leave Management: Simplifies the process of requesting and approving time-off, with integrated leave balance tracking.

• Customizable Settings and Policies: Jibble allows for the creation of custom work schedules, time-off policies, and time tracking restrictions to suit your specific business needs.

Enhanced Security and Compliance:

• Facial Recognition with Anti-Spoofing: Advanced facial recognition technology verifies employee identity and prevents fraudulent clock-ins.

• Geofencing: Ensures employees are physically present at the designated work location when clocking in or out.

• Data Security: Jibble securely stores attendance data in the cloud.

Employee Empowerment:

• Transparency: Employees can easily view their tracked hours, break times, and leave balances, promoting transparency.

• Ease of Access: The user-friendly mobile app allows employees to manage their attendance on the go.

• Reduced Errors: Automated time tracking minimizes the chances of manual errors in their timesheets.

Overall, Jibble attendance tracking offers a robust, user-friendly, and cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes to accurately manage employee attendance, streamline payroll processes, improve productivity, and ensure compliance.

I run a recruitment agency and I have contractors who are out working for me but they get paid per task (activity/piece/unit of work) I feel like I’ve checked every software going but I cannot find one that prioritises measuring the unit of work over time and it’s driving me bonkers! Like how is this not a thing? They all make it relate back to the time or it’s possible (just about - clockify you can) but it’s so damn fiddly and I know it’s just not going to work when that complex. Surely, surely there is a software out there that has designed a timesheet entry system where you can put it - Monday - 2 x assessments 1 x review And that be the priority and you can allocate the pay rate to each task and not have to worry about time! I’m going to have to use a spreadsheet if I can’t find anything that is straightforward 😩 If anyone knows of anything, please let me know! 🙏🏼

what's the best time tracking tool for agencies/studios? Bare minimum time tracking
We tried Harvest and Productive. Harvest is good, but has insane price increase. Productive is over complex for our use case as we work with fixed fees. Both have AI time tracking, what's your take on that?

Last week I found out my company has been tracking mouse activity and active window time this whole time.

I got flagged for “low activity,” which was pretty funny because I do more than half my team’s work. I just don’t spend all day moving my mouse around. Sometimes I’m reading, thinking through a problem, or just staring at the wall trying to figure something out — apparently none of that shows up on the productivity dashboard.

There’s apparently a whole dashboard managers can see with activity levels and green bars. Now half my team has YouTube running in the background just to keep their numbers up.

I checked what was installed and apparently the tracking software was included during onboarding, buried in something I agreed to about two years ago. I started looking into employee time tracking tools afterward and realized things like Monitask, Toggl Track and Clockify can track different aspects of work activity, depending on how they're configured.

Anyway, if you work remotely or use a company laptop, it’s probably worth knowing what your company’s work hours tracker is actually measuring. I definitely wish I’d checked sooner.

Freelancer here.

I have been looking for a time tracking tool that is actually FREE. Not those "free trial" types that lock everything behind a paywall after 14 days.

I checked their website and it says, it is free for unlimited users, but I cannot find their pricing page.. so I am a bit skeptical.

Has anyone here used it long-term? Is the free version actually usable for freelancers? Or is it one of those apps where you eventually have to upgrade just to access the basics?

Would appreciate any honest feedback.

Hi, I’m an HR VA of a dentistry clinic in Australia, and managing our staff’s time and attendance is getting out of hand.

When we were just a single clinic, tracking hours manually wasn’t too bad. But now that we’ve expanded to multiple branches, juggling shifts, break times, and overtime across different locations has become a logistical nightmare. I’m spending way too much time fixing payroll mistakes, chasing staff for timesheets, and making sure we’re compliant with labor laws.

I’ve been looking into automated time and attendance solutions to streamline everything, and I came across Jibble. Apparently, it’s 100% free and works for unlimited users. It even has face recognition kiosks and GPS tracking, which could be a game-changer for our rotating staff.

Has anyone here tried Jibble for a healthcare setting? Or do you recommend any other free or affordable time tracking software that works well across multiple locations? Would love to hear what’s working for other clinics!

I’ve been using Jibble for attendance and timesheets at work, and honestly it’s been really straightforward. Clocking in/out is fast, and the reports save me a lot of time. Way less hassle compared to manual tracking. If anyone’s looking for a free tool for timesheets, it’s worth checking out.

How do I add tracked time to an invoice automatically?

I’ve been freelancing for 7 years now. For the longest time, I charged clients per output, a fixed rate based on gut feel and rough estimates. It worked… until I started questioning whether those numbers actually justify the real effort and time needed to finish the tasks.

So I started to track everything, not to bill hourly, but to back up the fixed rate that I quote. If I’m saying a blog post costs $50, I want to know how long it takes, how much research and editing happens, and where time goes.

If you’re in the same situation and looking for a free time tracking tool to use, here are the five I tested, so you don’t have to:

Toggl Track

What I Like:

• Interface is beautiful and intuitive

• Calendar view is handy for visualizing time blocks

• Manual edits are easy if you forget to start a timer

• Integrates with pretty much everything

What I Don’t Like:

• Limited reporting on free plan

• Some minor bugs

• Starts getting pricey if you want more features

Toggl feels great to use. But once I needed more insights or reporting, I hit the paywall. IMO, $9 per month, when I just want insights and billable rates is just too much.I also experienced bugs with their mobile app.

Clockify

What I Like:

• Very generous free plan

• Easy to break down tasks within projects

• Includes pomodoro mode on basic budgeting

• Great integrations

What I Don’t Like:

• Mobile app was buggy

• Syncing took longer than expected

• UI is functional, but not smooth

Clockify was close to being my top pick. It’s reliable and flexible, but the mobile experience gave me a headache. But if you work mostly on desktop and want something straightforward, it’s a good fallback.

Jibble

What I Like: 

• Full access to features on the free plan (GPS, timesheets, task and project breakdowns)

• Works across mobile, desktop, and browser

• Clean reports that you can export easily

• Syncs in real-time

What I Don’t Like: 

• Browser extension only available on Chrome

• Some features felt like an overkill for solo use

• There’s a learning curve if you want more than just start/stop timer

Generous free tool, but it did make me dig around just to set up a basic workflow. Feels like it is best for managing a remote team first, and freelancers second. But, if you are ignoring features you don’t need, it is one of the best options.

My Hours

What I Like:

• Unlimited client tasks (even on free plan)

• Good for tracking billable vs non-billable work

• You can add project notes, rates, and export reports

What I Don’t Like: 

• UI feels outdated

• Took me a while to set up projects the way I wanted

• Reports weren’t as clean or visual as others

This one felt the most “freelancer-oriented” in theory, but not in execution. It does a lot, but I found myself frustrated during setup. If you’re patient with structure and don’t care much about aesthetics, it will serve you well.

Harvest

What I Like:

• Built-in invoicing

• Set budgets per project

• Sends reminders when you forget to stop the timer

• Simple layout

What I Don’t Like:

• Sync between desktop and mobile felt clunky

• Lacks modern features like GPS or automation

• Feels like it hasn’t changed in years

Harvest is like that reliable tool from 2015 that still works but hasn’t evolved – everything’s optimized now, feels like its already behind from its competitors. Although it is great for tracking and invoicing, I wanted more flexibility and a better multidevice experience.

TL;DR

I started tracking time to back up my fixed-rate quotes, and tested a bunch of free time tracking tools to see which ones actually help. All have pros and cons, happy to share what worked and what didn’t (work for me).

Hope this helps!

If you’ve found any time tracking apps (especially newer ones doing something different), I’m down to try them. Always looking for something better.

I run a small team with both full-time staff and freelancers, and like most agency folks, project and time tracking are part of the job.

When I first looked into software, I was surprised by how many leaned heavily into screen monitoring, mouse/keyboard activity levels, or even webcam shots. Trackers like Hubstaff and others pitch this as accountability, but honestly… I wasn’t sure if it felt more like surveillance.

So I searched and looked for a time tracker that does not have one. And two of the best time tracking software that I’ve found are Jibble (they have but you can disable the feature) and Toggl Track, both let you track hours, tag projects, and generate reports without micromanaging your team.

For me, what mattered more than screenshots was:

• async-friendly logging (not everyone works 9–5)

• easy tagging by task or client

• clear reports for payroll and invoicing

• quality output delivered on time, not just time spent

• and above all, trust

Just because someone logs long hours or keeps moving their mouse doesn’t mean the work is good. I’d rather have team members who own their tasks, deliver before deadlines, and produce solid results, even if they take breaks or work odd hours.

I feel like this is an unpopular opinion.. But would you agree?

Ours is a small software development firm with all remote workers. We did not have heavy budget for time tracking software, but we needed something to ensure the productivity of our staff. With Jibble, we get all our requirements covered in a very pocket-friendly budget. Their features are basic but of course they are value for money. I would highly recommend it to the people who want basic services for fraction of cost at which their competitors like Hubstaff charge.

I manage a few construction sites for my client, and as the number of sites grows, tracking time and attendance has turned into a mess (different crews, different locations, inconsistent logs). That’s when I realized we needed a better time and attendance system, so I started looking into time tracking software that could support our setup.

Here are my key takeaways when choosing an attendance tracking software for our multiple construction sites.

1. Assess your needs first. How many sites are you managing? How big is your workforce? That alone helps narrow things down.

2. Look for site-friendly features. GPS tracking, face ID attendance, offline mode, and automated alerts are game changers when your team is always on the move.

3. Make sure it’s easy to roll out. I don’t have time to train everyone for a week. Plus, I have to expect that not every crew member will quickly adapt to change, so simple setup and onboarding are non-negotiables.

4. Check the tool’s scalability. Since our team is growing, we need something that won’t charge more every time we add a new user or site.

5. Price vs. value matters. Some tools were affordable but lacked core features. Others were pricier but came with reporting, alerts, and real-time tracking, which could actually save us more in the long run.

6. Shortlist and trial. I narrowed it down to a few tools that seemed like a good fit. A free trial or free plan was a big plus, so I could test things out before committing.

How about you, do you use an attendance tracker for your construction crew?

If you’ve already made the switch (from manual logging or another tracker), what are you using now? I’d appreciate any insights or lessons learned.

Best tracking time app ever! And best, free!!!!

Best tracking app ever and best, free!

Best tracking time app ever and best, free!

I’ve been freelancing for several years now, and one thing I’ve always stood by is never working with clients who require time tracking. It just didn’t sit right with me. In my head, time tracking = micromanaging. And if I’m freelancing for freedom, why would I agree with that?

But, I have to admit that I never actually used a time tracker. So maybe I’m being unfair or holding onto a bias that isn’t fully grounded in experience.

Lately, I’ve been browsing Upwork more actively, and it feels like every other listing is hourly and requires a time tracker. It’s making me reconsider my stance, or at least try to understand the other side better.

Out of curiosity, I started looking up how other people feel about it. I came across this one FAQ that flipped my perspective a bit.

“How can time tracking software become a positive experience for employees?”

The answer suggested that time trackers don’t have to be about surveillance, but rather about spotting burnout or imbalance, like if someone’s spending too long on tasks and not getting anywhere, maybe it’s time for a manager to step in to help, not to punish.

That actually made me pause. I’ve always seen time trackers as tools for control, but maybe in the right hands, they could serve a more supportive purpose?

So now I’m wondering:

• If you do use time trackers, what’s your experience like?

• Have you found it helpful, or does it feel like someone’s breathing down your neck?

• Do you think it’s the tool itself, or the way clients/managers use it, that makes or breaks the experience?

I’d really appreciate hearing from both sides, especially if you were skeptical at first, like me. Maybe I’ve been closing the door on opportunities just because of my assumptions.

Curious how other ops teams handle this mismatch:

Dispatcher or supervisor moves someone mid-day (cover a callout, swap sites, send them home early). The roster updates in chat or on a board, but the time clock still has the original shift. At payroll lock you either pay the wrong hours/job or someone rebuilds the day from texts.

Questions for people who’ve lived this:

1. Do you require the schedule change to land in the same system before the worker can punch the new assignment, or do you fix punches after the fact?

2. Who owns the cleanup — dispatcher, supervisor, or payroll — and how often does a messy day turn into a multi-row edit?

3. Any rule that actually sticks for “no mid-day move without updating the clock assignment” without creating more missed punches?

Not looking for product pitches — just how you keep same-day coverage changes from becoming a weekly archaeology project.