The digital world seems to move at a thousand miles per hour, and it’s only natural that time slips in between the cracks. 

Accurate employee time tracking allows organizations to understand where they’re getting the most bang for their buck, and which processes are needlessly draining valuable company time. 

You’re going to use your work time tracker every day, so it only makes sense to choose one that perfectly fits your team’s needs. 

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What Makes an Effective Employee Time Tracker? 

A few criteria stand out when evaluating employee time tracking apps: 

1. Integration: How well can you get everyone in your organization to regularly use the app? Can the app integrate into other software you currently use (i.e., Slack, Asana, Quickbooks, etc.)? 
2. Ease of Use: Frankly, if the app is cumbersome or confusing to use, it’s less likely to be used. Your employee time tracker app should be effortless, if not automatic. 
3. Cost-efficiency: Is how the company bills you sustainable? Is it a flat fixed fee per month, or a “per user” structure? 
4. Reporting: Does your work time tracker app provide key insights via easy to understand reports? Or do you have to manually dig to find what you need?

Now we know what to look for, let’s explore the top five employee time tracker apps.

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Insightful: “Own your company’s biggest asset - Time.

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Insightful helps small and large companies automatically map their employees’ time and productivity through its productivity and analytics software. 

Insightful’s productivity monitoring software is designed to identify inefficiencies, break down workflow bottlenecks and benchmark top performers. 

Insightful also features computer-activity-based time and attendance. This functionality delivers more accurate time tracking, idle/active time insights, and provides a complete picture of employee time on tasks.

Insightful’s work time tracker app provides a more complete, data-rich picture of how and why your team works best. Rather than keeping an eye on every action an employee takes every minute of the day. 

Insightful employee monitoring software also features an unmatched ability to share productivity data with employees to promote engagement and transparency. 

The app seamlessly integrates with any organization, whether that be a law firm or a team of virtual assistants. It automatically scans a continuous incoming flow of data, allowing managers to feel their organization's real-time pulse in a sleek user-interface. 

Insightful time monitoring plans start at $4.80 per employee per month and the automatic time mapping plans start at $12 per employee per month – both billed annually. 

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Toggl: “Time tracking is a piece of cake.”

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Toggl is a popular choice for many first time users of employee time tracking apps because it offers basic functionality via a free version. 

Toggl is best suited for companies that need a straightforward employee time tracker that can be deployed across multiple devices.

Toggl currently offers three products for project planning, time tracking and reporting, for supporting the hiring process..

The free version of toggl track provides general functionality that allows time to be tracked on tasks and categorized. The premium version offers automated time tracking, reporting, project and revenue tracking, and time scheduling.

Toggl is best suited for organizations that need a lightweight, simple work time tracker. The basic plan is free, and the premium paid plans start at $10 per user per month. 

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Hubstaff: “Time tracking. Reporting. Peace of mind.”

Hubstaff helps organizations automate tasks such as payroll, invoicing, employee scheduling, and project budgeting, while also tracking employee productivity. 

Users can see the amount of time spent on projects and tasks, as well as a “productivity level” assigned by the platform. This data can help you spot unusual slow periods and remove bottlenecks before they become problematic. 

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Hubstaff features a suite of optional employee monitoring tools, such as periodic screenshots and URL tracking. The platform also allows users to customize functionality based on context. For example, blurring screenshots from your data entry team to protect sensitive information. 

Its free plan supports productivity and time tracking for a single user; paid plans start at $7 per user per month. 

Harvest: “Time tracking for those who value insight.”

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The Harvest employee tracking app offers an array of features similar to Hubstaff: team management, invoicing, and payment features.

The platform is well suited to teams and freelancers who bill for their time, in particular. For organizations who bill clients regularly, it provides a smooth interface for tracking, invoicing, and sending automatic payment reminders.

Harvest’s employee time tracking solution also boasts a variety of integration options through Zapier, IFTT, and Integry. Plus, it allows users to add time tracking to productivity tools like Slack, Trello, Asana, and Jira. Google Calendar and Outlook events can also be easily turned into time entries. 

The user interface is fairly lightweight and self-explanatory, making it a great lightweight competitor to tools like Toggl. 

The Harvest free plan is limited to a single user; paid plans start at $12 per user per month. 

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TimeFlip: “Time tracking made tangible”

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TimeFlip features built-in LED lighting to work in both direct and pomodoro timer modes, and an on-board memory to store time logs. This smart dice works best when it is kept within your sight, acting as a visual prompt. The device comes with a set of stickers to help a user decorate it with own tasks or activities.

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TimeFlip connects via Bluetooth and works with a proprietary mobile and web apps. The software interface is simple and straightforward, it offers time data visualization, filtering and export, as well as integration with calendar apps.

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TimeFlip app is totally free of charge, but the device is priced at $69 (shipping and fees included) with volume discounts available for packages of 3, 5 and more.

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ManicTime: “Let ManicTime focus on keeping track of your time, so you can focus on your business.”

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ManicTime is a simple desktop work time tracker app that is designed for individual and organization time management. 

The product is popular with managers for its AutoTagging feature, in particular. This functionality allows managers to specify which programs and websites are “work” tools, and which should be labeled as “browsing.”

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This is a valuable feature to have in a complete or hybrid work-from-home environment, where users may be exposed to more distractions than usual. 

ManicTime employee time tracking software delivers time-based app and website usage data reports, however, it doesn’t include variables such as productivity stats or project-specific information. 

While it lacks the firepower to track team productivity, ManicTime still makes for a robust employee time tracker app, even if it doesn’t provide that next-level analytical insights that other options do.

The free ManicTime plan is best suited for individual freelancers or contractors who bill hourly. The Pro version is $67 and comes with features like timesheets and scheduled backups. 

Final Thoughts: What Gets Measured Gets Improved

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A wise man once said, time is going to pass whether you like it or not. 

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Every organization is limited to the same 24 hours in a day, yet some are able to build multi-billion-dollar enterprises that stand the test of time and others barely get by paying for overhead costs. 

The value of measuring and improving time management has become even more important when managing remote workers. Precise, insightful employee time tracking is critical to effective remote workforce management.

Fortunately, employee time tracking available today, it’s never been easier to measure and maximize company time. But the real value is in what you do with the information. 

By simply instituting any one of the work time tracker apps above, you will gain new time insights to help drive productivity in your team.

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