Time tracking alternatives for consultants (2026)

Last checked: 2026-10-20

Disclosure: Portime is our product, and this list was written by the Portime team. Portime is one of the six tools below. We list it last, not first, and give it the same "limits" treatment as the others. Every price comes from the vendor's official pricing page on the date above. Prices exclude tax and can change, so check before you buy. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners, named here only to identify the products.

What consultants usually need

• Time split by client and engagement, often with a layer in between (an agency or partner you work through)
• A clear billable vs non-billable view, and a report the client will read
• Either invoicing in the tracker, or a clean export to the invoicing tool you already use
• Low admin. If tracking feels like a chore, it doesn't happen.

Quick comparison

1. Toggl Track

Who it suits: solo consultants and teams who want a fast timer, apps on every device, and a free start.

Pricing: Free for up to 3 users. Starter $9/user/month billed annually ($12 monthly). Premium $16/user/month annually ($24 monthly). 30-day trial, no credit card.

Worth knowing: It has automatic desktop activity tracking, calendar integration, PDF/CSV/XLSX exports, and an official MCP server on all plans, including Free.

Limit: It doesn't create invoices. Toggl suggests exporting CSV or PDF into your invoicing tool. Billable rates start on the paid Starter plan.

2. Clockify

Who it suits: cost-conscious consultants and firms that want a lot of features per dollar.

Pricing: Free for up to 5 users. Paid per seat, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Basic $3.99 ($4.99), Standard $5.49 ($6.99), Pro $7.99 ($9.99), Enterprise $11.99 ($14.99). 7-day trial of Pro features, no card.

Worth knowing: Apps run on Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. It lists 100+ integrations. You can choose an EU data region on Pro. The web app is available in French.

Limit: Invoicing starts on Standard, and many features are aimed at employers (kiosk, GPS, scheduling), which a solo consultant may not need. Clockify's pricing FAQ says it doesn't offer refunds, except for charges made in error.

3. Harvest

Who it suits: consultants and small firms who invoice straight from tracked hours and want payments and accounting sync.

Pricing: Free for 1 seat and 2 projects. Teams from $9/seat/month billed annually ($11 monthly). Enterprise from $14 annually ($17.50 monthly). Usage-based fees apply once you go past the invoices, projects, clients and tasks included in the base rate. 30-day trial, no credit card.

Worth knowing: Invoicing is included even on Free. It has 50+ core integrations, an official MCP server and an in-app assistant.

Limit: Harvest doesn't publish the usage fees on its pricing page, so a growing account's bill is harder to predict. The interface is English only, though invoice labels can be translated.

4. Timely

Who it suits: consultants who lose hours because they forget to start timers.

Pricing: Starter $9/user/month billed yearly ($11 monthly), up to 5 users and 20 projects. Premium $16 yearly ($20 monthly). Unlimited $22 yearly ($28 monthly). 14-day trial with all features.

Worth knowing: It tracks automatically across apps and websites and drafts timesheets for you to review.

Limit: There's no free plan. Starter caps you at 20 projects and 5 users, and accounting integrations start on Premium.

5. Kimai

Who it suits: consultants who want open source, full data ownership, or a low-cost cloud with invoicing.

Pricing: Free to self-host (open source) under the AGPL-3.0. Cloud Standard €2.99/user/month billed annually (€3.99 monthly). Cloud Professional €3.99 annually (€4.99 monthly).

Worth knowing: Invoicing, data export and audit logs are on every cloud plan. Kimai is made in Austria.

Limit: Self-hosting means you run, update and back up the server yourself (the cloud plans avoid that). Task management, SSO and the customer portal are on Professional, not Standard.

6. Portime (our product)

Who it suits: freelancers, consultants and small teams (up to 5 people) who work through intermediaries and need time organised as client → sub-client → project → task. It also suits anyone who sends a monthly activity report rather than invoicing from the tracker.

Pricing: Starter $15/month (1 seat). Pro $29/month (up to 5 seats included; team timesheets, advanced filters, charts, custom PDF reports). Billed monthly in USD. 7-day trial on Starter only.

Worth knowing:

• Reports export in Markdown and PDF.
• There's an in-app assistant.
• On paid plans, an MCP server lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Grok and other MCP clients log time.
• Recap, a macOS menu-bar app, turns a meeting into tasks you confirm.
• The interface is in English and French.
• It's hosted on OVHcloud in France.

Limits:

• No free plan, and the trial requires a card.
• No invoicing. Portime makes reports for invoicing but doesn't create or send invoices.
• At most 5 seats for now. Business is "coming soon".
• It's a web app with a Mac-only Recap companion. There are no native mobile apps; the web app works in a mobile browser.
• It has far fewer integrations than the tools above.
• It's new (launched 2026), with no public reviews yet.

How to choose

• You want free and simple: Toggl Track or Clockify.
• You invoice from the tracker: Harvest, or Clockify Standard, or Kimai.
• You forget timers: Timely, or Toggl's desktop auto-tracking.
• You want to self-host or own your data: Kimai.
• You work through agencies or partners, report monthly, and want an assistant and MCP at a flat team price: Portime.

Try Portime: start the 7-day Starter trial on getportime.com. A card is required, and you can cancel during the trial without being charged.