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Time tracking for remote employees comes down to eight tools: Clockify for free tracking up to five users, Toggl Track for simple manual timers, Harvest for client billing, Hubstaff and Time Doctor for teams whose hours feed payroll, Connecteam for hourly staff who clock in from a phone, and Paymo and TMetric for combined project, time and billing management. Paid plans currently run from $4.99 to $20 per user a month. Free tiers cover everyone from solo freelancers to small teams, so most remote teams can start at $0 and upgrade when hours need approvals or payroll.
The category is hours, timesheets and payroll exports, not activity levels, screenshots or keystroke counts. Monitoring software is a different purchase with different legal exposure, and the two tools here that ship those features are flagged where it matters.
For a 10-person team, the monthly bill currently ranges from $29 on Connecteam’s base plan to $159 on Paymo Plus. The right pick depends on where the hours go: payroll, client invoices, or both.
Time tracking tools compared
| Software | Best for | Starting price (USD) | What stands out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clockify | Free tracking for a small team | Free for up to 5 users, then $4.99 per user a month | Unlimited tracking on the free tier |
| Toggl Track | Simple manual timers | Free for up to 3 users, then $12 per user a month | One-click timers and calendar sync |
| Harvest | Client-services billing | Free for 1 user, then $11 per user a month | Invoicing and expenses built in |
| Hubstaff | Hourly remote teams that need payroll | $4.99 per user a month, billed annually | GPS job sites and payroll integrations |
| Time Doctor | Detailed hours with payroll add-ons | $8 per user a month | Native payroll and HRIS integrations |
| Connecteam | Remote staff clocking in from phones | Free for up to 10 users, then $29 a month | One-tap clock-ins with location verification |
| Paymo | Projects and time in one tool | Free for 1 user, then $10.90 per user a month | Invoicing, tasks and scheduling bundled |
| TMetric | Time, billing and payroll together | Free for up to 2 users, then $7 per user a month | Invoicing and payroll in the paid tiers |
Every price was read from each app maker’s own pricing page on the day of publication and is in US dollars.
Simple time tracking tools
Clockify and Toggl Track capture hours without a rollout project, which is why small remote teams start with one of them.
Clockify
Best for: a team that wants accurate hours at $0 while it grows.
Clockify tracks hours through a web timer, desktop and mobile apps, with timesheets and reports on every plan including the free tier. Its free plan currently covers up to five users with unlimited tracking, so a small remote team can start at no cost and pay only when it needs administration features such as required fields, bulk edits or locked timesheets.
Its paid plans currently start at $4.99 per user a month, or $3.99 billed annually, on the Clockify pricing page.
Pros
- Free tier with unlimited tracking for up to five users
- Timesheet approvals and attendance tracking on the Standard plan
- Time off, invoicing and overtime calculations from the Standard plan up
Cons
- Administration and invoicing features need the paid tiers
- Activity monitoring and GPS tracking arrive with the Pro plan, a different category from hours and pay
Toggl Track
Best for: freelancers and agencies that want fast manual timers.
Toggl Track captures hours with one-click timers in the browser and desktop apps, plus calendar integrations with Google and Outlook. Its free plan is currently capped at three users, per the pricing FAQ.
Its Starter plan currently costs $12 per user a month, or $9 billed annually, per the Toggl Track pricing page, with Premium at $16 per user a month billed annually.
Pros
- Fastest manual time capture in the field
- Free plan for very small teams
- Time off tracking and capacity planning available as add-ons
Cons
- No payroll or invoicing built in; it exports hours and stops there
- Time off and capacity tools are paid add-ons
Time tracking with payroll
Hubstaff, Time Doctor and TMetric move tracked hours toward pay runs, which matters for hourly non-exempt staff whose workweeks need accurate records.
Hubstaff
Best for: hourly remote teams that want hours and payroll in one platform.
Hubstaff tracks hours with desktop and mobile apps, adds GPS job sites that clock teams in and out automatically, and feeds timesheets into payroll partners, with invoicing and payments arriving on the Grow plan.
Its plans currently start at $4.99 per user a month billed annually, with Grow at $7.50 and Team at $10, on the Hubstaff pricing page.
Pros
- GPS job sites for field and hybrid staff
- Attendance tracking and time-off management
- Invoicing and payments from the Grow plan up
Cons
- Activity levels and screenshots are its other half, a monitoring category rather than hours and pay
- Expenses, scheduling and daily limits need the Team plan
Time Doctor
Best for: distributed teams that need detailed hours reports and native payroll.
Time Doctor tracks hours with desktop and web timers and turns them into detailed reports, and it connects to payroll and HR information systems (HRIS) natively rather than only through exports.
Its Basic plan currently costs $8 per user a month, Standard $14 and Premium $20, with annual billing buying two months free, per Time Doctor’s own pricing guide.
Pros
- Detailed hours and productivity reports
- Native payroll and HRIS integrations
- Per-user and per-project breakdowns
Cons
- Screenshots and activity ratings push it toward the monitoring category
- Native payroll and HRIS integrations are a paid add-on rather than included
TMetric
Best for: teams that want time tracking, billing and payroll in one app without add-on fees.
TMetric puts a timer button inside more than 50 web apps, then turns hours into invoices, expenses, budgets and payroll within its paid tiers, with its free tier covering up to two seats.
Its Professional plan currently costs $7 per user a month and Business $9, per the TMetric pricing page.
Pros
- Timer inside more than 50 web apps
- Invoicing, expenses and payroll bundled in the paid tiers
- Free tier for a two-person team
Cons
- The workspace owner’s seat is charged even if they only review reports
- Enterprise capabilities need custom pricing
Time tracking for client billing
Harvest and Paymo turn hours into client invoices, which suits agencies and client-services teams whose bills need hours behind them.
Harvest
Best for: client-services teams that bill their hours.
Harvest tracks time against projects and clients, then turns hours into invoices with expenses attached, plus accounting and payment integrations on the paid plans. Its free tier covers one user with two projects, enough to test the workflow.
Its Teams plan currently costs $11 per user a month, or $9 billed annually, per the Harvest pricing page; Enterprise adds timesheet approvals and SSO at $17.50 per user a month.
Pros
- Invoicing and expense tracking built for client work
- Accounting and payment integrations on the paid plans
- Timesheet approvals on the Enterprise tier
Cons
- Built for billing, not payroll
- Free tier limited to one user and two projects
Paymo
Best for: small teams running projects, tasks and time in one tool.
Paymo combines time tracking with task boards, scheduling and invoicing, so a services team runs the job and its billable hours in one place. Its free tier covers one user with two projects.
Its Plus plan currently costs $10.90 per user a month for the first three months, then $15.90, per the Paymo pricing page; Pro adds timesheet approvals and leave management at $16.90 per user a month for the first three months, then $23.90.
Pros
- Projects, tasks, scheduling and invoicing in one app
- Unlimited users from the Plus plan up
- Timesheet approvals and leave management on Pro
Cons
- The promotional price rises after three months
- Built for client billing rather than payroll
Time tracking for hourly staff
Connecteam treats the phone as the time clock, which is the device hourly remote and field staff actually carry.
Connecteam
Best for: hourly and field remote staff who clock in from a phone.
Connecteam runs a one-tap time clock with location verification and automatic clock-outs, then sends clean timesheets straight to payroll, alongside scheduling and task management in the same Operations hub. Its free plan covers up to 10 users.
Its Operations Basic plan currently costs $29 a month billed yearly, or $35 monthly, covering the first 30 users, with each additional user at $0.80 a month on annual billing, per the Connecteam pricing page.
Pros
- One-tap clock-ins with location verification
- Scheduling and task management in the same app
- Free for up to 10 users
Cons
- Priced per hub, so adding HR or communication features raises the bill
- The base price assumes 30 users, which smaller teams pay anyway
Cost comparison
| Software | Plan for a remote team of 10 | Per-user price (USD) | Monthly cost for a remote team of 10 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clockify | Basic | $4.99 per user a month | $49.90 | Free tier stops at 5 users |
| Toggl Track | Starter | $12 per user a month | $120.00 | $9 per user on annual billing |
| Harvest | Teams | $11 per user a month | $110.00 | $9 per user on annual billing |
| Hubstaff | Starter | $4.99 per user a month, billed annually | $49.90 | Invoicing and payments arrive with Grow at $7.50 |
| Time Doctor | Basic | $8 per user a month | $80.00 | Native payroll integration adds $200 a month |
| Connecteam | Operations Basic | $29 base covers the first 30 users | $29.00 | $0.80 per user beyond 30 |
| Paymo | Plus | $15.90 per user a month | $159.00 | First three months at $10.90 per user |
| TMetric | Professional | $7 per user a month | $70.00 | Free tier covers 2 users |
Free tiers stop scaling early: Clockify’s free plan ends at five users, Toggl Track’s at three, and Harvest, Paymo and TMetric limit free plans to one or two seats, so a 10-person team is on a paid plan everywhere in this comparison. Time Doctor’s native payroll and HRIS integrations currently add $200 per integration a month on its pricing page, the largest add-on cost in the shortlist, while TMetric bundles invoicing and payroll into its $7 plan. Connecteam’s base covers the first 30 users, which makes it the cheapest option for a 10-person team and keeps the bill flat until user 31.
Legal compliance in the US
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a non-exempt employee who works more than 40 hours in a workweek is owed overtime at one and one-half times their regular rate, under the federal overtime rules in 29 CFR part 778 at the eCFR.
The employer, not the employee, keeps the records. For non-exempt staff, 29 CFR 516.2 requires payroll records showing hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek, the regular hourly rate, additions to and deductions from wages, and wages paid each pay period. Payroll records must be preserved for three years and basic time and earnings records, including daily starting and stopping times, for two years, under 29 CFR part 516 at the eCFR.
The exempt salary threshold decides who needs this. A salaried US employee must earn at least $684 a week, about $35,568 a year, to stay outside the overtime rules under 29 CFR 541.600 at the eCFR. Anyone paid below that is non-exempt, so their remote hours need accurate records, whatever the salary arrangement.
Remote hours make this the employer’s problem to solve: accurate time records are part of the employer responsibilities for remote employees that do not disappear without an office, and a tracking tool is how the 29 CFR 516 duty gets met. A tool that exports timesheets keeps the evidence on file from day one.
State rules add daily thresholds on top of the federal 40-hour week. California pays overtime after eight hours in a workday and double time after 12, plus after 40 hours in a week and on the seventh consecutive workday, per the California DIR’s overtime rules.
Alaska adds daily overtime after eight hours at one and one-half times the regular rate, with voluntary agreements allowing up to 10-hour days, per the Alaska Legislature’s summary of state overtime laws.
Nevada’s NRS 608.018 requires daily overtime after eight hours only for employees earning less than one and one-half times the state minimum wage, and a mutual agreement on four 10-hour days waives the daily rule, under NRS 608.018 on the Nevada Legislature’s site.
Colorado’s daily overtime applies after 12 consecutive hours in a workday, for employees covered by its wage order, under COMPS Order #40, effective February 1, 2026.
A tool that tags each workday to a work state keeps multi-state payroll accurate when staff work across state lines, which is where daily-overtime rules bite remote teams hardest.
Scaling framework
| Remote team size | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo to 5 users | Clockify free | Free tier covers five users with unlimited tracking |
| 5 to 25 users | Harvest, TMetric, Paymo | Per-user billing with client invoicing built in |
| 25 to 100 users | Hubstaff, Time Doctor | Attendance, time-off and payroll integrations at scale |
| 100+ hourly, distributed | Connecteam | Base price covers the first 30 users, then $0.80 per user |
The best time tracking tool changes with remote team size: under five people, Clockify’s free tier carries the whole job and Toggl Track stays free up to three users. Between 5 and 25, per-user plans like Harvest and TMetric add client billing without a payroll commitment. Past 25 hourly staff, Hubstaff and Time Doctor earn their prices through attendance tracking and payroll integrations, though Time Doctor’s native payroll integration is a paid add-on rather than included.
The jump to hundreds of hourly staff is less about tracking features than about managing a remote team across time zones, and Connecteam’s flat base price for the first 30 users wins there. Once hours are tracked, the same data feeds remote team KPIs without a second system, which is worth settling before the team doubles.
FAQ
Pick one tool that runs everywhere your staff work, make its timer or clock-in the default, and review timesheets weekly against projects and pay periods. Clockify covers a five-person team for free, and Connecteam adds phone clock-ins with location verification for hourly staff.
Yes. Clockify’s free plan currently covers up to five users with unlimited time tracking, timesheets and reports, with paid plans starting at $4.99 per user a month for administration features.
Yes, all eight tools compared here record work hours, from Clockify’s free timers to Hubstaff’s desktop and mobile trackers. Paid plans run from $4.99 to $20 per user a month, so every remote budget has a fit.
No. Jira is a project and issue tracker with basic work-logging fields, not a timesheet or payroll system. Teams that need hours for pay run a dedicated time tracker alongside it.
Connecteam, for hourly and field staff: its one-tap clock-in runs from a phone with location verification and automatic clock-outs, and it is free for up to 10 users. Hubstaff suits the same need through GPS job sites for teams that want hours and payroll together.
Yes. In the US, tracking hours is part of the employer’s legal record-keeping duty for non-exempt staff under 29 CFR part 516, and several states add daily overtime thresholds, including California, Alaska, Nevada and Colorado. Hours and timesheet tracking is that required record-keeping; screenshot and keystroke monitoring is a different software category with different legal questions.
