Best Free Time Tracking Software in 2026: Nine Options Compared by Limits
For a 6-person team on 8 projects, TimeCamp ranks first on 20 Oct 2026: its free plan has no user or project cap, and Starter, the first paid step, costs $3.99 per user per month billed yearly ($287.28 for 6 seats). Billable time needs Premium; Clockify, My Hours and Everhour stop at 5 users.
The trap with free time trackers is the sixth person: five of the eight free plans we read cap users, and three of those caps sit at 5, so one extra hire turns $0 into a bill for everyone.
Dupple data: across the 10 vendor sites we read on 20 Oct 2026, 9 print a paid-plan price. Of the 8 free plans among them, 5 cap users (at 1, 3, 5, 5 and 5), 1 caps projects (Harvest, at 2), and none of the 7 whose pages tie features to plans gives a sixth user and billable tracking for free.
Toolradar data: Toolradar tracks 110 time tracking tools as of 20 Oct 2026, 52% of them free, freemium or open source, with a median cheapest paid plan of $6 a month across the 44 that publish a price.
| Tool | Free plan cap | Missing on the free plan for this team | First paid plan, 6 seats, billed yearly | Same plan, billed monthly | Hidden costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TimeCamp | No user or project cap | Billable time, invoicing, Excel export | Starter, $287.28 | $395.28 | AI Time Tracker billed by token use; billable time needs Premium, $503.28 for 6 seats |
| TrackingTime | No user, project or client cap | Billable hours flag, client reports, CSV and Excel export | Starter, $324.00 | $432.00 | Rates, invoicing and approvals start at Pro, $468.00 for 6 seats |
| Jibble | No user cap | Pages do not tie features to plans | No paid price published | No paid price published | Help center describes paid plans but prints sample prices only |
| Clockify | Up to 5 users (invite 4) | Billable rates, CSV and Excel report export, reports beyond 1 month | Basic, $287.28 | $359.28 | A sixth user puts all six on paid seats; invoicing and approvals start at Standard |
| My Hours | 5 active users | Users beyond 5, Excel download, invoicing, per-user rates | Basic, $288.00 | $360.00 | Invoicing and approvals need Pro, $576.00 for 6 seats |
| Everhour | 5 seats | Integrations, billing, budgeting, invoicing, approvals | Team, $612.00 | $720.00 | Minimum 5 paid seats; no refund for unused months |
| Toggl Track | 3 users (FAQ) | Billable rates, CSV and XLSX export, team reports | Starter, $648.00 | $864.00 | Approvals need Premium; vacant licenses stay billed; Time Off Pro add-on is extra |
| Harvest | 1 seat, 2 projects | Extra seats, projects, team reporting | Teams, $648.00 | $792.00 | Seat price only; usage charges start at the second paid renewal |
| Kimai | Self-hosted: unlimited users; Cloud: no free plan | A server you run, or a Cloud plan | Cloud Standard, €215.28 | €287.28 | Euros, kept out of dollar totals; hosting is paid elsewhere |
Each total is the first paid plan's price per user per month, for example $4.50 × 6 seats × 12 months, which comes to $324.00. Rows run from the widest free-plan user cap to the narrowest, and inside one cap from the lowest yearly total to the highest. Jibble, with no paid price, follows the priced plans of its cap, and Kimai, priced in euros or self-hosted, closes the list. Figures are US dollars except Kimai's euros, which are never added to dollar totals.
What is free time tracking software?
Free time tracking software logs hours against projects and clients at no charge, usually with caps on users, projects, report range or exports. Open-source tools such as Kimai cost nothing to run but need a server you pay for.
Methodology: how we ranked the free plans
This compares vendor pricing pages and help centers read on 20 Oct 2026, and no product was tested. The scenario is 4 staff and 2 contractors tracking billable hours on 8 active projects, with a monthly report per client. We read the ticks of each plan table, and where a vendor's own pages disagree we print both figures. Hubstaff, also read, answers "Can I use Hubstaff for free?" with a 14-day trial, so it is not ranked.
TimeCamp: no user cap, but billable time costs extra
TimeCamp's pricing page lists a free plan with unlimited users and projects, timesheets and PDF report export. Starter is $3.99 per user per month billed yearly or $5.49 billed monthly, Premium $6.99 or $9.99, and Ultimate $9.99 or $13.99. In the plan table, Starter adds invoicing and Excel export, billable time starts at Premium, and timesheet approvals and billable rates start at Ultimate.
The catch: the AI Time Tracker is billed by token usage, which the page estimates at about $6 per user per month, and Premium costs $216.00 more a year than Starter for 6 seats.
Pick it when all six people must log time for free and the billing can wait. Plan on Premium once hours need a billable flag.
TrackingTime: no caps, and a first paid tier that covers client reports
TrackingTime's pricing page says its Free plan has unlimited users, tasks and projects, with time tracking in 50+ apps and PDF export. Starter is $4.50 per user per month billed yearly or $6 billed monthly, Pro $6.50 or $8.50, and Business $10 or $13.50. The table ticks billable and non-billable hours, client reports and CSV or Excel export from Starter; hourly rates, invoicing and approvals from Pro.
The catch: the Starter card lists unlimited tasks, projects and clients under "Everything in Free, plus", which contradicts the Free card, so we followed the plan table.
Pick it for a team with no cap that expects to pay once clients want reports. Starter costs $36.72 a year more than TimeCamp's for 6 seats and carries the billable flag in its plan table (the Pro card also lists billable hours, so confirm before buying Starter for that).
Jibble: unlimited users, with no paid price to total
Jibble's site headlines its software as 100% free for unlimited users, and its FAQ lists desktop time tracking, mobile and web clock-ins, basic timesheets and integrations with Slack, Teams and QuickBooks. The product list also names projects, approvals, invoicing, work schedules and XLS or CSV exports without tying any of them to a tier.
Jibble does not publish a price for any paid plan. Its help center describes monthly and annual subscription plans yet prints only sample amounts, which sits oddly beside the "100% free" headline.
The catch: we cannot say which listed features cost extra, and there is nothing to total for 6 seats.
Pick it when headcount is the constraint and you can ask Jibble about the upgrade before relying on it.
Clockify: free to 5 users, then every seat is paid
Clockify's pricing page lists a free plan for up to 5 users, and its FAQ says you can invite up to 4 people. Free includes unlimited tracking and projects, but reports cover a 1-month range and report export is PDF only, although the table also ticks project export in CSV and Excel on Free. Basic is $3.99 per user per month billed yearly or $4.99 billed monthly, Standard $5.49 or $6.99, Pro $7.99 or $9.99, and Enterprise $11.99 or $14.99. Billable rates start at Basic; invoicing, approvals and time off start at Standard.
The catch: every active or invited user, the owner included, takes a paid seat, so a sixth person turns all six into paying seats.
Pick it for up to 5 people who bill monthly, since the 1-month report range matches a monthly client report.
My Hours: the free plan that already ticks billable work
My Hours' pricing page lists a free plan limited to 5 active users, with unlimited projects, tasks and clients, a billable rate per project, non-billable time and PDF report download. Basic is $4 per user per month billed yearly or $5 billed monthly and removes the user limit. Pro is $8 or $9 and adds Excel download, rates per user or task, invoicing of billable time and timesheet approvals.
The catch: a sixth person puts all six on Basic, and the invoicing and Excel features stay two steps above the free plan.
Pick it for 5 people or fewer who want billable tracking without paying anything.
Everhour: free to 5 seats, then a flat price with a floor
Everhour's pricing page calls its free plan "absolutely free for up to 5 seats", with time tracking, projects and tasks, reports and data export but no integrations. Billing, budgeting, invoicing, time approval, time off, expenses and advanced permissions need Team, which is $8.50 per seat per month billed yearly or $10 billed monthly, with a minimum of 5 seats.
The catch: there is no cheaper middle tier, and unused months are not refunded. A 3-person team that needs invoicing still pays for 5 seats, $510.00 a year on yearly billing.
Pick it if your tasks already live in a tool such as Asana and integrations are the reason to pay. Our guide to free project management software shows what Asana, Trello and ClickUp cap on their free plans.
Toggl Track: free for 3 users, billable rates from Starter
Toggl's pricing page calls its Free plan free for a limited number of users, and its FAQ answers "Is Toggl free for teams?" with up to 3 users. Free has unlimited projects, summary reports and PDF export. Starter is $9 per user per month billed yearly or $12 billed monthly and adds billable rates, CSV and XLSX export and team reports. Premium is $16 or $24 and adds approvals, profitability reports and SSO.
The catch: Toggl's help center lists Premium at $18 billed yearly and $20 billed monthly, which disagrees with the pricing page, so confirm at checkout. A removed member leaves a vacant license that stays billed until an admin deletes it, and the Time Off Pro add-on is $2 per user per month.
Pick it for a team of three or fewer, and price Starter before adding a fourth person.
Harvest: a solo seat that invoices, then seat prices plus usage
Harvest's pricing page lists Free as 1 seat and 2 projects, with time tracking, invoicing and expense tracking. Teams starts at $9 per seat per month ($108 per seat billed annually) or $11 billed monthly, and Enterprise at $14 ($168 per seat billed annually) or $17.50. Teams adds unlimited seats, team reporting and billable and cost rates.
The catch: "starting from" is the seat rate. Harvest's help center says usage charges for projects, clients, tasks and invoicing begin at the second paid renewal, with an example invoice rising from $44 to $404, and that the post-trial checkout pre-selects Enterprise and Annual. It prints no price for its fixed-fee Unlimited option.
Pick it as a solo freelancer who invoices from tracked time. Our free invoicing software guide sets Harvest's invoicing beside Zoho Books and Paymo.
Kimai: open source, with a euro-priced cloud
Kimai is open source under the AGPL 3 licence and runs on a server you host, so the software costs $0 and the hosting is a bill the site does not price. Kimai Cloud lists a 30-day free trial and no free plan. Standard is €2.99 per user per month on the annual toggle and €3.99 on the monthly toggle, with unlimited users, customers and projects, billable hours, invoicing and data export. Professional is €3.99 or €4.99 and adds expenses, custom fields and task management.
The catch: self-hosting means you handle updates, backups and security yourself.
Pick it when you need an open-source tool or want the data on your own server.
Where the order flips
- A solo freelancer: Harvest moves up if you have 2 projects or fewer, because its free seat includes invoicing. With more projects, any plan without a project cap covers one person at no cost.
- A 20-person team: of the eight free plans, only TimeCamp, TrackingTime and Jibble stay free, and Kimai self-hosted has no licence fee. At 20 seats, TimeCamp Starter or Clockify Basic costs $957.60 a year on yearly billing, and Everhour Team costs $2,040.00.
How to choose
- Six people or more on a zero budget: TimeCamp, TrackingTime or Jibble, the three free plans with no user cap.
- Up to 5 people who bill clients: My Hours, whose free plan already ticks a billable rate per project and PDF reports.
- Billable hours and client reports for six: TrackingTime Starter, which ticks both at its first paid tier in the plan table, where TimeCamp reaches billable time at Premium.
- Rosters for hourly staff, not client hours: our employee scheduling software guide compares Connecteam, Deputy and When I Work.
- A ranking by fit, not by free-plan limits: the wider best time tracking software guide covers more products.
Common mistakes
- Counting the owner out. Clockify's page says the owner occupies a paid seat, so six people on Basic are six paid seats.
- Buying the entry tier for a feature one tier up. TimeCamp's billable time starts at Premium, which is $6.99 per user per month billed yearly.
- Accepting the checkout default. For 6 seats, Harvest's pre-selected Enterprise annual plan is $1,008.00 against Teams at $648.00, a $360.00 gap.
- Paying monthly by habit. Toggl Starter billed monthly is $864.00 for 6 seats, $216.00 above the yearly price.
FAQ
What is the best free time tracking software for a small team in 2026?
For 6 people on 8 projects, TimeCamp ranks first on 20 Oct 2026 because its free plan has no user or project cap and Starter, the first paid step, is $3.99 per user per month billed yearly. TrackingTime and Jibble also have no user cap; Clockify, My Hours and Everhour stop at 5 users.
Is Clockify really free?
Yes, for up to 5 users: the free plan has unlimited tracking and projects, but reports cover a 1-month range and report export is PDF only, while Clockify's table also ticks project export in CSV and Excel on Free. Billable rates and CSV or Excel report export start at the entry paid plan, Basic, and a sixth user moves everyone onto paid seats.
Is there a free time tracker with no user limit?
Yes, three: TimeCamp and TrackingTime list unlimited users on their free plans, and Jibble calls its software free for unlimited users. Jibble prints no paid price, so what it charges after the free plan is unknown.
Which free time tracker includes invoicing?
Harvest's free plan lists invoicing, for 1 seat and 2 projects. Elsewhere it is paid: TimeCamp from Starter, Clockify from Standard ($5.49 per user per month billed yearly), My Hours and TrackingTime on Pro, Everhour on Team and Kimai Cloud on Standard. Jibble lists invoicing without naming a tier.
Is there an open-source time tracker?
Kimai is open source under the AGPL 3 licence. Self-hosting has no licence fee but needs a server you pay for, and Kimai Cloud starts at €2.99 per user per month on the annual toggle.
Bottom line
Choose by the user cap first and the price of the first paid seat second. For six people, TimeCamp, TrackingTime and Jibble stay at $0 with no user cap, but billable tracking sits on a paid tier at TimeCamp and TrackingTime. Clockify, My Hours and Everhour are free to five people only. Check the plan table for your must-have feature, because caps change.
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Across our whole catalogue the median is $24 a month and 33% of tools advertise a free tier. Figures are the lowest recurring monthly price quoted in our own review of each tool, read on 2026-08-19. Full method and every category.
