Finest time monitoring software program

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Why is time recording still a source of stress for employees, supervisors and management?

There are really only two reasons.

You are not using any time tracking software.

Or they are using a solution that does not suit their company.

There is no third reason.

I can say this with complete confidence because there are so many good timepieces out there to use.

Since no one should suffer anymore, I'm going to share the top five time tracking software options on the market today.

The top 5 options for time tracking software

  1. Clockify – Best reporting features
  2. Time Doctor – Best for employee monitoring
  3. Toggl Track – Best to hold everyone accountable
  4. TSheets – Best for GPS monitoring
  5. Check mark – Best for SMB time management

How to choose the best time tracking software for you

If you've searched for time tracking software before, there's one thing you'll notice right away.

All popular products offer much more than just simple time recording.

It would be difficult to keep track of all of these additional features, but they are broken down into four easily identifiable areas:

  • planning
  • reporting
  • accounting
  • monitoring

Does your time attendance device need to be connected to some or all of these areas?

To find the best time tracking software, you need to know how to sync it with your company. Let's dive into the core features in each area.

planning

When employees log in, the time recording software automatically logs their hours. In most cases, users fill out a time card stating which project or client they are working for.

All of this information is recorded in a timesheet.

In this example timesheet from Clockify you can see how all time entries are automatically allocated over the course of the week.

Some time tracking software has built-in scheduling tools that allow you to assign shifts and notify users when plans change.

Time tracking software that sheds light on native scheduling functions is usually tightly integrated with the best project management solutions.

Find the product that has what you need right now, or connect to the tools you already use to manage your schedule.

reporting

With the time tracking software, you can monitor productivity and forecast budget problems early on.

The products I like pull all of your data into clear visualizations.

In this example from Toggl Track, it's easy to see how the work is progressing and what impact this has on sales:

With good tracking platforms, you can also investigate the specifics of each client, employee, and project.

The advanced tools allow users and administrators to add more details. However, all of the products on this list have tools to help you stay within budget.

accounting

Many companies use time tracking software to streamline payroll and invoicing. By integrating with services like Quickbooks and PayPal, these tools can get the job done with just a few clicks.

You can forget about long spreadsheets and good old human errors. Whenever you create an invoice or make a payment, there is a clear record of the work done.

monitoring

Some time tracking software has monitoring features that you can use to check the productivity of your employees.

This includes location-based monitoring, e.g. B. GPS tracking, which ensures that employees are where they should be.

Time tracking software can also be downloaded to a specific tablet or desktop that doubles as a timer kiosk.

As with an old punch card system, employees at the kiosk can enter a PIN or take a picture to prove that they arrived on time.

Time tracking software also offers digital monitoring aspects that can be used to record the websites and applications that a user visits while they are clocked in.

Some products also take screenshots at random to make sure employees stay on the job.

A quick, important word about surveillance and tracking software.

Before deploying your new solution, have an open conversation with the staff about what is happening and why. Find alignment in the fact that tracking and monitoring protect employees as much as the company.

The different types of time tracking software

Time tracking software really falls into two separate categories. One important thing to note is that both types of software have integrations for payroll and payroll.

Time switch software

If you are looking for basic time tracking features, timer software is a good place to start.

These are great products for businesses that need to track remote workers as they can check in right from their phone.

For consultants, freelancers, or small business owners who really only need to keep track of billable hours, time clock software can be a solid and affordable solution.

Project management software

Once planning and reporting capabilities are added to the time tracking software, it becomes a really powerful project management tool.

Premium subscriptions to products like Clockify come with everything you need to plan, budget, and run a project. Others, like Tick, work best when integrated with tools like Basecamp, Trello, and Asana.

Using time tracking software in your project management workflow can be a huge time saver and give decision makers great insight into productivity.

# 1 – Clockify – Best reporting features

Clockify is a wonderfully simple solution for time tracking and project management. The free version is generous and the paid plans are very reasonable.

What I really like about Clockify is how easy it is for users to get a bird's eye view of their time entries for day, week, or month.

Once logged in – which you can do from anywhere – you will see a full list of your time entries.

From there, they can easily check if something is missing or wrong. You can edit times and add information or tags to projects without opening a new window. You can also use the timesheet to quickly confirm everything is correct each week.

The reporting features in Clockify are quite good and are aided by the ability of users to include so much information in their timesheets.

Administrators can get a real-time view of project budgets and see exactly what each person is working on.

There are many different report filters available to break up the data as you wish. Quickly learn how things are developing for each individual, team, and customer.

Clockify is packed with features to help users stay on track:

  • Idle detection
  • Time audit
  • Required fields
  • Warnings
  • Bulk editing
  • Offline mode

The free version of Clockify allows unlimited tracking, users, projects and reports. It has all of the great viewing and editing features that make Clockify easy to use.

The paid plans, which are still a bargain, have features that give administrators more control over who can see what, as well as advanced warning and reporting features.

Here is a breakdown of Clockify prices:

  • plus: $ 9.99 / month
  • bonus: $ 29.99 / month
  • Companies: $ 9.99 / month per user

With integration with Salesforce, G Suite, Freshbooks and 50+ other web apps, Clockify can be easily used for planning and payroll.

Shortlist Clockify when you need a budget friendly time tracking solution with really helpful reporting features.

It's certainly not on the level of ERP software, but compared to other time tracking software, Clockify is pretty robust and very easy to navigate.

# 2 – Time Doctor – Best for employee monitoring

Time Doctor has extensive monitoring functions. It is a full service time tracking program that you can use for payroll and project management. However, if you really stand out from the competition, then is employee monitoring.

Once employees download Time Doctor, they create tasks and start time tracking. Managers can see what tasks the employees are working on and get insights into mouse and keyboard activity.

You can also turn on screenshots taken at random intervals to confirm that people are staying at work.

Monitoring websites and apps is another very helpful facet of Time Doctor for users and supervisors. You can quickly generate reports that show exactly how much time each person spends on a website or application.

Reports unproductive behavior for managers. With Time Doctor, you can set automatic alerts when users spend too much time on problematic websites and apps, or block them all together.

In addition, users can better understand their work habits and know where they are wasting time.

Time Doctor offers much more than just monitoring functions:

  • Timesheets & Payroll
  • Project management & budgeting
  • Offline time recording
  • Productivity analysis
  • Daily, weekly, monthly reports

The prices for Time Doctor are made up as follows:

  • basic: from $ 7 / month per user
  • default: from $ 10 / month per user
  • bonus: from $ 20 / month per user

There is no free version of Time Doctor, but you can sign up for a 14-day free trial.

# 3 – Toggl Track – Best to hold everyone accountable

Toggl Track has a surprisingly feature-rich free version forever. For a freelancer or consultant, this leisure clock software can be used to track and bill all billable hours.

It's an excellent personal responsibility app. To keep focus, there is an idle detector, automatic reminders, and a pomodoro timer that can change the way you work forever.

For teams, the paid plans are a little more expensive, but that's because they can collect and report so much information.

I particularly like Timeline, Toggl Track's background tracking feature that records time entries for more than 10 seconds for any app or website you use. This is an easy way to see how much time you are actually spending and to configure alerts to suggest specific actions to be tracked, such as: For example, every time you join a particular call.

Automatic alerts let you know when projects are nearing completion or when there is a risk of over budget.

You can also automate email reminders for users who don't keep track of their hours.

Toggl also has a very useful time watch feature that can help you spot incorrect or unassigned time entries.

Other features that users can use to save time include:

  • Time recording across all devices
  • Chrome and Firefox browser extensions
  • Team access levels
  • Project templates
  • Google calendar integration

Some nice features, like time checks and setting required fields, are only available with paid subscriptions to Toggl Track.

There are three levels to choose from:

  • Starter: $ 9 / month per user
  • bonus: $ 18 / month per user
  • Companies: Contact Toggl sales for a custom pricing plan

The appeal of Toggl is that it really helps people hold themselves accountable. Between automation and robust monitoring, everyone is reminded of how they spend their time.

# 4 – TSheets – Best for GPS time tracking

TSheets is a great choice for employee payroll, especially when there are many on-site employees. It's a favorite for real estate developers, construction companies, and other field service companies.

It's perfectly fine for shift work and salaries, but the GPS tracking features are just right for TSheets.

Employees log in via the mobile app and managers can see exactly where they are in the Who's Working window.

Geofencing allows you to designate specific areas for employees to check in and upload pictures and a digital signature to confirm everything is done.

The real-time GPS data is also a boon for business coordination.

Quickly find out who is closest to the job site for optimal deployment. Changes to the schedule trigger alerts to inform everyone about the new schedule.

Some of the other really handy features are:

  • Planning tool via drag & drop
  • Clock kiosk
  • Face recognition clock
  • Overtime tracking
  • Reporting and forecast
  • Notification by text, email or push notifications

TSheets has dozens of integrations on its App Marketplace, but I'd like to point out that Quickbooks is made by the same company, Intuit. So when you use Quickbooks, you know TSheets plug in directly.

The prices for TSheets are very reasonable:

  • bonus: $ 8 / month per user plus $ 20 base fee
  • elite: $ 10 / month per user plus $ 40 base fee

Premium doesn't have geofencing, digital signature, and advanced reporting, but it literally has everything else.

When it comes to a project management app, TSheets won't let you get too detailed, but you will be in command of the entire platform within a week. It doesn't take a lot of education for workers to use it, making buy-in much easier.

# 5 – Checkmark – Best for SMB time management

Tick ​​is a project-based time recording software. It integrates well with tools like Trello, Asana, and Basecamp, and helps managers keep projects on time and on budget.

In Tick, you create projects that consist of tasks. Then the employees select the appropriate project and task and enter the time from their desktop, mobile device or even their Apple Watch.

You can set budgets for individual tasks in tick so that managers better know where time is being lost in the larger project.

You can also create recurring projects that can be closed at the end of the month and automatically duplicated for the next one. This is ideal for individuals and businesses that use retainers or provide routine services to their customers.

The reporting functions in Tick are useful for budget analysis and forecasting. Searching data is really easy, for customers, employees, projects, or billable or non-billable data.

Many users like Tick's auto-fill search because they don't have to search for what they need.

Tick ​​makes time management easy. With very little user work, those in control of the budget can make decisions based on accurate, real-time information.

Other important functions of Tick are:

  • Set the running timers
  • Assign people to projects
  • Chrome extension
  • Integration of invoicing and payroll
  • Easy to edit time entry
  • Enter the mass movement time

A word about these last two functions: In the past, editing time entries in Tick was a real problem. They've since updated it so you can edit the time right in reports and move all entries from one task or project to another.

Tick ​​pricing is based on the number of projects you can create:

  • 1 project: Free
  • 10 projects: $ 19 / month
  • 30 projects: $ 49 / month
  • 60 projects: $ 79 / month
  • Unlimited projects: $ 149 / month

With each tier, you get unlimited users, clients, and tasks. It's very affordable for any business.

I mean, if Tick saves you 2 hours, it's already paid for several months.

I really recommend this product to teams using Trello, Asana, and Basecamp in particular, which has a very tight integration. It also integrates with Zapier and 750+ other web apps.

There is a 30-day free trial of Tick. If you think it could work for your business, you owe it to yourself to try it out.

Summary

I don't just want to meet expectations. I always want to deliver too much.

But my work has to be on time and on budget. It is not possible to maintain a constant level of service without having a clear sense of how my time is being spent.

The same applies to both moving companies and law firms. Time is money.

Take control with the time tracking software.

Individuals and small businesses should check out Clockify, Tick, and Toggl to see how far they can get with a product that is forever free.

If you look at these three options and think about bigger teams and paid plans, Clockify will have the best in-house reporting capabilities. This can be very useful for teams trying to track income and expenses across many projects.

When it comes to time management, SMBs will find that Tick has everything they need in one intuitive interface. It offers a similar experience to Toggl at a lower cost. Select "Toggl" if you want employee monitoring functions that you cannot get with Tick.

If you really need reliable employee monitoring capabilities, Time Doctor is the product for you. You get a lot more insight into how users spend their time than with other time tracking software.

In this area, TSheets outperforms the competition. The GPS tracking functions work great and the mobile app keeps remote workers informed.

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