Charlotte Davis

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Best Time Tracking App for Mac in 2023

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Freelancers, business owners, and office workers constantly find themselves under pressure to utilize their work hours as best as possible. Between managing deadlines, completing projects, invoicing, and other paperwork, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and get the impression that time itself is always working against you. This is why time-tracking apps have become so popular in recent years. The best ones combine time tracking with other features, allowing you to gain valuable insights into your workflow, task management, and billing, as well as other important factors that contribute to your productivity.

Many professionals, including myself, use Macintosh computers to carry out their tasks on a daily basis. The app library for MacOS devices might be narrower than what is available to Windows users, but there is some truth to those who claim that the quality of Mac apps is better than their Microsoft counterparts. There are also quite a lot of apps that are available for both systems.

In this review, I decided to focus on the best time tracking software with a dedicated Mac time tracking app. This means that my extensive list of the top eight time-tracking applications will not include various programs that are only available on Mac in the form of web apps accessible through your browser. There are plenty of great time-tracking apps like that out there, and if you’re interested in using them, consider checking out my review of the overall best time tracking apps in 2023. With that out of the way, let’s dive into some of my personal favorites.

Overview of the Best Time Tracking Software

# Time Tracking App Best For Website
1 Toggl Track Logo

Start-ups with limited budgets

2 harvest logo

Managers who want to track time and expenses

3 Timely Logo

Leaders who care about precision

4 tyme logo

Managers and teams who value simplicity 

5 Clockify Logo

Companies with distributed teams

6 timemator logo

Freelancers who want accurate, automated time tracking

7 caato logo

Users who need a free time tracking app

8 klokki logo

Jira users and administrators

Toggl Track

1

Toggl Track Logo

Toggl Track

 Expert Review

Very Good 10

Toggl Track Website

For the past few weeks, I have been utilizing an Estonian time tracking application, and I am absolutely thrilled to report that it is an excellent selection for any start-up or small business that wishes to monitor their personnel’s working time and billable hours accurately and efficiently.

Boasting more than 100 integrations, you can quickly add Toggl Track ability to the applications you and your team utilize on a daily basis.

Why Toggl Track?

Like me, you may have already lost track of the amount of money-making hours that were squandered due to inefficient timesheet administration or inaccurate time tracking. Toggl Track’s users have reported that they have seen a 25% rise in their billable hours without having to take on added tasks. These missed hours are usually due to using inaccurate timekeeping programs or personnel mismanaging the company’s timesheets. Toggl Track eliminates these problems by having integration with dozens of different applications as well as accurate and descriptive reporting functions. The time tracking data obtained from Toggl Track can be quickly exported to create bills or to show to your customers. Exciting stuff!

If you are an independent contractor or a business owner with a handful of associates, you can benefit from the wide array of Toggl Track’s features without any cost due to their complimentary package, which allows up to five users.

Toggl Track has collected a wealth of data that can assist you and your team in making the most of their time, ultimately resulting in a money-making venture and happy customers. Though it may not be the perfect pick for sophisticated companies that need employee time-tracking software, the majority of other businesses should be more than content with this Estonian time-tracking app.

Key Features and Integrations

Toggl goes way beyond simple time tracking; the app also lets you monitor your employees’ work, set up automatic time tracking, schedule email reports, and much more. The list of apps it can be integrated into is also very comprehensive and encompasses over 100 programs. Here are some of the most popular ones:

  • Slack
  • Outlook
  • Asana
  • Salesforce
  • Jira

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Over 100 integrations
  • Free version for up to five people
  • Detailed reports
  • Customizable reminders

Cons

  • The Enterprise plan for large teams is quite expensive
  • No invoicing functionality
Toggl Track Logo

Toggl Track

Harvest

2

harvest logo

Harvest

 Expert Review

Very Good 10

Harvest Website

I never found invoicing and expense tracking to be enjoyable, and the paperwork that went with it was a nightmare.

I was so thankful for Harvest when it came to that area of running a business- it was a blessing from the heavens. Its combination of time tracking and dealing with finances saved me a ton of time, especially at the end of the month when I’m usually doing my billing.

This time-tracking app works perfectly, and I haven’t had any problems with it. It could appear a bit plain when you compare it to other programs like Toggl Track, but the bonus of it being an expense-tracking software makes it worth giving a shot!

Why Harvest?

Keeping tabs on each employee’s working hours, even if they accurately record it routinely, can be a laborious undertaking. The same applies to amassing all the data you need to forward invoices to your customers. Harvest simplifies a great deal of that tedious work by automatically apportioning the tracked time records to their matching invoices. Additionally, it is integrated with widely used payment processing systems, such as PayPal and Stripe. These capabilities practically shave off the hours usually taken to deliver invoices and payments in a prompt way.

If you’re searching for a time-tracking program that allows you to quickly generate invoices without having to exit the system, then Harvest is the tool for the job. Sure, if you’re after something more expansive, you might have to venture elsewhere, but at its affordable cost, you can’t ignore Harvest without at least giving it a try.

Key Features and Integrations

Although it’s slightly more limited than Toggl Track, Harvest comes at a lower price, and still delivers on plenty of features other than simple time tracking. Aside from customizable reminders, the app can provide you with detailed expense analyses and financial reports, help you generate invoices, and can be integrated with popular apps like Trello, Jira, Slack, or Teamwork.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Invoicing feature that rivals dedicated invoicing software
  • In-depth reports
  • Cross-platform time tracking

Cons

  • No calendar feature
  • Integration with certain apps requires jumping through some hoops

Timely

3

Timely

 Expert Review

Very Good 10

Timely Website

When I initially checked out Timely, I was doubtful about its AI-driven technique for time tracking. I figured it would report inaccurately – all things considered, how might a calculation precisely decide if someone is genuinely dealing with a task or simply has the program open in the background?

Fortunately, it has demonstrated me off-base after a couple of weeks spent experimenting with its entirety of features.

Why Timely?

Timely is an app that utilizes AI to monitor the amount of time your staff is logged into web applications. This system is so precise that you don’t need a stopwatch to record the hours – no more guesswork or potential mistakes. Whether you want to bill your customers or keep an eye on your staff, you can trust Timely to always provide you with the most up-to-date and accurate time tracking info.

I’m a fan of Timely’s approach to privacy. They don’t support practices like keystroke monitoring or taking screenshots of their staff’s work, which can make for an uncomfortable work environment where no one really has faith in each other. Kudos to them for using AI to monitor time and make sure there is accountability so they don’t have to use those types of practices.

Key Features and Integrations

Timely is an AI-powered time tracking app, which makes for ultimate accuracy and lets you take on a more hands-off approach towards monitoring your employees’ time. Its reports contain plenty of extra information that isn’t usually included in similar apps, such as project health. You can also integrate Timely with a large variety of apps, such as:

  • Basehunt
  • Google Drive
  • Slack
  • Asana
  • Azure AD

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Accurate AI-powered time tracking
  • Competitive pricing
  • Privacy-focused
  • Helps you keep tabs on project progress

Cons

  • Not as useful for managers who like to closely monitor their employees

Tyme

4

Tyme

 Expert Review

Very Good 10

As an application that was built exclusively for the Apple ecosystem, I had no trouble integrating Tyme with my iPhone and iPad, both of which I use for work on a daily basis.

As a lifelong user of Apple devices, I found its interface intuitive and unobstructive. There is a lot to love about Tyme, but one thing that it will not provide you with is integration features.

Why Tyme?

It is a great automatic time-tracking solution for entire teams. I was able to customize every single tracker, pin them to different projects, and then assign individual team members to each one of these projects so that it tracks their own work time, as well as the combined time spent on each task simultaneously. The application does not get in the way of other work, and its simple, timer-based interface makes it easy to check back often and see exactly how much time has been spent on ongoing projects.

Another Tyme feature that I really liked was the colorful visualizations of time spent on various tasks. I was able to check up on the progress made on different projects and compare them against how much time was used up on each one of them. These stat reports were extremely helpful for task distribution each week and helped me make sure that none of my employees were overloaded or underutilized.

Key Features and Integrations

The most appealing feature of Tyme is definitely the app’s full-scale integration with Apple devices. I particularly appreciated the possibility of using the app on my Apple Watch, which made my personal productivity tracking a breeze. With a few taps on my watch, I could start and stop the timer, so I barely had to think about time tracking throughout my workday.

Although Tyme can’t be integrated with project management and other productivity tools, the application does offer plugins for various types of invoicing software, as well as allows users to import time-tracking data from other sources. I hate doing all the paperwork whenever it’s time to do the invoices, and Tyme made these tasks much easier on me.

Finally, the app can also be integrated with your computer’s calendar so that each time entry is also reflected in your personal calendar. It might seem like a minor thing, but the option to view my time logs in the calendar alongside other appointments and tasks was really convenient when it came to staying on top of my work every day.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Calendar integration
  • Time reports can be exported into a variety of different formats
  • Full integration with the Apple ecosystem
  • Simple
  • understandable interface
  • Invoicing software plugins

Cons

  • Less features compared to other apps
  • No integrations with popular project management applications

Clockify

5

Clockify Logo

Clockify

 Expert Review

Very Good 10

Clockify Time Tracking

Clockify is the ideal time-tracking application for me. While it does not provide a massive selection of features, this is one of the reasons why it’s so attractive to me.

It’s a straightforward tracker designed with one goal in mind: to ensure that all personnel in the organization are more reliable.

If you need a time-tracking system with the fundamentals, straightforward timesheets, and a tool that lets your team members handle the entire process while allowing minimal management involvement, then Clockify is your go-to solution.

Why Clockify?

I believe one of the best things about Clockify is the way it makes keeping track of remote employees a breeze. Its primary feature is a browser extension with a stopwatch that allows each worker to begin and end the timer as they are engaged in a particular task. Logging the time spent on each job is really straightforward, making it a cinch to generate reports.

This Mac app is rather basic and not too impressive when it comes to features. All it has are timesheets, time-tracking reports, and a dashboard for tracking activities. Your employees can just type in their hours for the week, and the app will produce a PDF report that can be added to their invoices. It’s not the most comprehensive, but it works wonders as an automated time clock, taking a huge load off the accounting team when it’s time to figure out the payroll.

Key Features and Integrations

The Clockify Mac app has a very clean user interface, and its developers went above and beyond to make it as intuitive as possible for new users. It comes with features such as a stopwatch browser extension, exportable PDF reports, and a useful dashboard that provides valuable insights into the time you spend at work.

With over 80 integrations, Clockify can be used in tandem with a variety of the most popular apps, such as Google Drive, Teamwork, Jira, or Trello.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • One of the best apps for coordinating remote and distributed teams
  • Affordable price
  • Abundance of integrations

Cons

  • Rather limited in scope
  • Can’t be customized beyond dark/light modes

Timemator

6

timemator logo

Timemator

 Expert Review

Very Good 10

My main problem with most manual time tracking apps is that I often set my timers at the start of the workday only to forget all about them when I get off, leading to situations where I end up with dozens of hours logged and have to guesstimate how much time I actually spent on each task when editing these logs.

Timemator got rid of that issue by introducing automatic time tracking to my workflow. By automatically capturing everything I do on my Mac, the app did all the tracking for me, and I could focus on getting my work done without worrying about starting or stopping the timers whenever I switched between apps.

Why Timemator?

Automatic time tracking lets you hand over the responsibility of manually setting each timer whenever you start working on a new task. The application also allows you to set rules for when it should and shouldn’t measure the time, as well as divide the trackers between various projects. This was a handy feature for me, as I often do a bunch of different tasks in the same application, so having to manually separate the logged hours would be a significant waste of my time.

Of course, not everybody will like the idea that a single app gets precise insights into when you open and close each app, as well as what kinds of projects you work on. Worry not — you can use Timemator in the same fashion as you would any other manual time-tracking app for Mac, with editable timers that you can start and pause at your leisure.

One of the main limitations of Timemator is the fact that it doesn’t support team management. As such, it makes the app a good option for freelancers and individual employees to take responsibility for their time, but managers wanting to use Timemator for employee monitoring probably won’t find much use for it.

Key Features and Integrations

The main selling point of Timemator is automatic time tracking. Personally, I loved this feature and will probably continue to use this app for tracking my freelance activities. Aside from Mac, Timemator can also be installed on iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, so if all of your devices are part of the Apple ecosystem, you’ll be able to synchronize your data across all of them easily.

Timemator can also automatically generate detailed reports for you, showcasing exactly how much time you spent on individual tasks within each application. This provides some usability for teams, as you can have your employees send weekly time reports that provide more detail than most other apps. However, you need to keep in mind that without an Enterprise subscription option, you’ll need to pay for each individual employee.

Finally, Timemator can be integrated with dozens of different designs, software development, and editing apps. Here are just a few of them:

  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Sketch
  • Final Cut Pro
  • Adobe Premiere
  • …and many others!

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Automatic time tracking across dozens of apps
  • Detailed reports that break down your worktime
  • Synchronizable across all Apple devices

Cons

  • No time tracking option for teams
timemator logo

Timemator

Caato

7

caato logo

Caato

 Expert Review

Very Good 10

I already mentioned in my Clockify review that I’m a huge fan of simple, non-intrusive apps that simply get the job done. Caato is precisely this kind of app.

Admittedly, more work could have been put into making the user interface look more modern, so it might put you off if you can’t stand outdated aesthetics.

Why Caato?

Caato is one of those time-tracking tools that doesn’t concern itself with anything else than doing exactly what it is intended to do. It accurately tracks time spent on various projects, and provides you with a clear overview of your workday.

The best part about it is the fact that Caato is a completely free time-tracking app. If you need an app only to track time spent on various tasks, then I definitely recommend you give this one a shot, as you don’t have to spend a dime on it.

Key Features and Integrations

This app lacks many of the default features of other time-tracking software, such as billable hours, invoice functionality, and integration with other apps. It does have a premium version that provides a bit more depth into organizing your hour logs into folders, as well as gives you the option to export basic reports. Caato’s premium version is also the only way to get it for mobile devices like iPhones or iPads.

All in all, I don’t believe that there is a point in spending money on Caato’s premium version — other time trackers within a similar price range provide much more functionality. However, it’s great as a free tool for freelancers who need nothing more than basic time-tracking features.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • It’s free!
  • No-frills easy-to-use time tracker

Cons

  • The paid version is very limited
  • The free version is unavailable on mobile devices

Klokki

8

klokki logo

Klokki

 Expert Review

Very Good 10

Klokki is another automatic tracker that makes it a breeze to keep tabs on your worktime across different apps without having to worry about manually stopping and starting each one of them.

Seeing as it is a Mac-native app, I didn’t face any synchronization or installation issues that are often typical of software that was initially programmed for Windows and ported over to MacOS.

Unfortunately, just like in the case of Timemator, Klokki is a solution developed with individual users in mind. With no team functionality, I wasn’t able to use it to monitor my employees’ work hours and use Klokki to manage their workload. However, it worked like a charm for tracking my own time. With automation at its core, I was able to use it in a set-it-and-forget-it kind of way, which is what I like to see with most apps that have to do with tracking billable hours!

Why Klokki?

If you’re a freelancer who has trouble with time management using manual timers, Klokki is definitely an app you should consider using. Once you install it, it will be added to your computer’s Menu Bar, so you’ll be able to check up on your tracked hours by simply looking up at that bar — no alt-tabbing required!

Klokki’s developers have also pledged their dedication to privacy — all of the time logged will be stored on your device and nowhere else, meaning that not even the app’s creators will ever gain access to it. If you care about information security and privacy, their strong statements might just convince you to give this automatic time-tracking software for Mac a shot.

Key Features and Integrations

This time tracking app is packed with plenty of handy features. For starters, it lets me assign the hourly rate to all of my projects and tasks. With Klokki, I was able to not only track my work hours, but also my income!

I also loved the Smart Idling feature; Klokki was able to figure out whenever I left an app open but didn’t do anything in it, and once I got back to my computer, it provided me with the choice to either remove the idle time from my logged hours, or leave it in.

As for integrations, Klokki is similar to Timemator in that it can detect whatever app you’re using and assign the tracked time to it. However, it also comes with full Jira integration, allowing you to sync the hour logs with your Jira Server or Jira Cloud accounts.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Built for MacOS from the ground up
  • Easily accessible through the Menu Bar
  • Billable hours tracking
  • Full Jira integration

Cons

  • Klokki is currently unavailable for mobile devices

Why Use Time Tracking Software in 2023?

The trend of remote work may have arisen out of necessity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it looks like it’s here to stay. Many major companies have permanently transitioned to the hybrid or fully remote work model, which led to the unique challenge of figuring out how to keep employees accountable for their work outside of the office. Time-tracking apps tackle this issue best and allow managers and employees to maintain efficiency and trust wherever they choose to work from.

Freelancers, on the other hand, have always needed to use a time tracker of sorts, especially those that get paid by the hour. Time-tracking reports are often required to be attached to invoices, and the individuals get paid based on the billable hours included in said reports. Using the best time-tracking apps will ensure that, as a freelancer, you will get paid for all of your hard work.

How I Picked the Best Mac Time Tracking App

Finding the very best time tracking apps for Mac out of such a rich abundance of choices was no easy feat, especially considering the fact that with most time trackers being web apps, as well, all of them could technically be considered “Mac apps.” To narrow down my search, I decided against including these in my review, and focused on software that comes with a native Mac OS app to ensure maximum compatibility with the Macintosh computers and the wider Apple ecosystem.

My search was also guided by three different perspectives to ensure finding a variety of programs that meet different needs: that of a freelancer, start-up owners, and managers of medium or large companies. That way, I was able to obtain a list of Mac time-tracking apps for a number of different kinds of professionals.

FAQs

Find answers to the most common questions people ask.

Are time tracking apps for Mac integrated with other Apple devices?

Most of the Mac time tracking apps I included in this review have mobile versions and are fully synchronizable across Apple devices. Seeing as we increasingly use our smartphones and tablets for work purposes, it’s an important feature that helps you make sure no billable hours are missing from your workday.

Are Mac time-tracking apps safe?

All of the applications I listed above are completely safe and free of any threats to the security of your personal data. However, when using any application, you still need to make sure you abide by the basic cybersecurity precautions, such as downloading software from verified sources, not accessing sensitive information on public networks, and never sharing your passwords with anyone.

What are some other productivity tools I can use?

Time-tracking apps are not the only type of software you can install on your Mac to increase your individual productivity, as well as the productivity of your entire organization. There are various project management, CRM, and team management apps that could also be worth your attention. 
At Productively, we review dozens of different business-oriented programs for both Macintosh and Windows computers, so if you’re ever in doubt regarding what software you should go with, make sure to visit our website.

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