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Ask HN: What time tracking and billing software (or related solutions) do you recommend?
39 points by randomtask on Feb 11, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 40 comments
I'll be starting a contract job fairly soon and would like to provide an itemized bill including time spent per task etc. Up until now I have usually done this manually based on rough estimates after the job was completed. I'd like to move to a more automated solution, but I don't have the time to evaluate multiple packages. Ideally I'd like something that allows me to define tasks, clock on to and off from those tasks, and have it produce a report of time spent per task at the end. So I ask you, what software do you use and why? If you don't for a reason, why not?



If you're an Emacs user then org-mode is has excellent time tracking features.

You have a normal org file with your tasks, I use one per client with 1st level headings usually being projects (you might find that one per project suites you better though).

So something like this:

    * Project 1
    ** TODO Some task
    ** TODO Another task
    * Project 2
    ** TODO yet another task
(the "TODO" keywords aren't needed for the time tracking, but I use them to track what needs doing)

When I want to start work on a task I clock in by moving the point to one of the task headings and hitting C-cC-xC-i. It adds a clock thingy under the heading and the task shows up in my mode-line (along with how long I've worked on it for). When I'm done with that task I do one of three things, either clock into another task, clock out manually with C-xC-xC-o, or mark the task as done (for TODO style headings).

So doing this means that all my task headings accrue clock annotations (which org-mode collapses by default so I don't have to see them). I can then use various functions to generate reports. My favourite way is using a dynamic block:

    #+BEGIN: clocktable :maxlevel 2 :scope file
    Clock summary at [2009-02-11 Wed 15:08]
    
    | L | Headline              |   Time |      |
    |---+-----------------------+--------+------|
    |   | *Total time*          | *9:02* |      |
    |---+-----------------------+--------+------|
    | 1 | Project 1             |   7:36 |      |
    | 2 | TODO Some task        |        | 5:32 |
    | 2 | TODO Another task     |        | 2:04 |
    |---+-----------------------+--------+------|
    | 1 | Project 2             |   1:26 |      |
    | 2 | TODO yet another task |        | 1:26 |
    #+END:
You can hit C-cC-c at the beginning of the block and it will update. I usually have several blocks under a heading at the top, one that shows my hours for today, one that shows my hours since I last invoiced and one that shows total hours ever.

I also org-mode for tracking my schedule, taking notes, writing documents (LaTeX output is great) and tracking all my tasks.

Planner-mode also has timelogging capabilities (using timelog.el) but I prefer org-mode.


That's quite cool. I'm not an emacs user, but I'll definitely consider switching to that OS at some stage ;)


For previous answers to this question see:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=123371

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=224473

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=124856

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=460677

Before asking questions you might try searching to see if it's been asked before.

http://searchyc.com/

If you did, say so:

http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Essays/smart-questions.html


I've been reading HN for several months now, and this is the first time I've seen reference to http://searchyc.com/. It would be more useful if it was featured in the top nav bar (but I understand it's not because perhaps pg didn't write it).


There are several greasemonkey scripts that do just that.

For instance: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/25039


For new users, the greasemonkey scripts suffer the same non-discoverability as searchyc.


Thanks for pointing that out.


I saw it mentioned shortly after I joined 80 days ago. Here is a search for searchyc

http://searchyc.com/searchyc?sort=by_date

There are lots of references, including many that lament that it's hard for newbies to find.


I also noticed, just yesterday, that there is a link to a Firefox plug-in for searching HN. The point is I only noticed it yesterday and I've been on HN over a year - same with searchyc - i didn't really know about it until I got fed up with not being able to searchyc and started googling for it. If people at HN are so bothered by dupe submissions then a search on HN should be run by the system at the point I submit a link. I shouldn't have to think about it otherwise.


http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=123371 sounds like they're more interested in issue tracking software really. I want a time tracking/invoicing solution.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=224473 is looking for a project management solution.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=460677 is a developer looking for ideas and there's no relevant suggestions there.

Fair point about http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=124856 I hadn't seen that and there are some good solutions outlined there.


I appreciate that some of the links I posted were not exactly what you were looking for, but I couldn't tell if they would be relevant, so I provided a selection, and a link to the search engine. It wouldn't've been a good use of my time to vet and summarise them.

I hope you get the information you need - it looks like you will.


Thanks. So far so good.


At the risk of sounding like a reckless spammer, I recommend the company I work for: FreshBooks.

We have more than just time tracking and invoicing/billing. Including estimates, simple support tickets, document sharing, expense tracking, contractors.

We do not do full accounting or payroll. If you need those capabilities I recommend either checking out our competitor Xero, or checking out an accounting package that integrates with us.

I'm on support today if you want a walk though or something. Toll Free (North America): 1-866-303-6061 Toll Free (UK): 0808-101-3408 Just ask for Zach. http://www.freshbooks.com/our-team.php#zach


When I was doing my own information security consulting, I used FreshBooks and it was awesome. Enter your clients, enter your projects, enter your time, and it sends invoices. Very nice.


+2 for FreshBooks (I have two paying accounts). I'm also launching an app very shortly that extends FreshBooks--it's got an awesome API.


I'll check it out for future reference. At the moment though I'm quite bootleg and need something cheap and cheerful.


Also +2 for FreshBooks. They rock.


I'm stoked on Freshbooks as well.


As a Mac user, I'm a huge fan of On The Job (http://stuntsoftware.com/OnTheJob). You enter in a task and the charge per hour, hit play and go to work. You hit stop when you're done and it builds the invoice for you automatically.


Seconded. For some reason I'm always on the look out for something better to come along, but On the Job is the one app in this category I actually use.


That sounds perfect. Although they offer a download and also have an option to pay seemingly with no explanation whether the free version is crippled somehow? I'm not currently near a Mac so I can't check what the difference is between them.


I think all of Stunt Software's products come with 20 day trials. My experience is with version 2 of On The Job but the newest edition looks even better so I'm probably going to upgrade shortly.


Thymer might just be what you're looking for.

It has intuitive data entry (easy as paper), support for projects, clearly seperates personal todos from work tasks. (So you can use the same todo system for personal matters and billable hours) and much more. Of course you can also generate reports (which you can customize to an extent). Focus on simplicity and usability -- drag and drop where possible, undo for every task, and so on.

Currently in private alpha -- beta coming soon. If you're interested, check it out at http://www.thymer.com

(In case it wasn't obvious -- this is a shameless plug)


I wrote this:

http://stufftodo.dedasys.com

It's now open source. Have fun!


Will definitely check it out. Cheers.


I use http://harvestapp.com and http://www.timepost2.com/ to post from my Macbook. I really love Harvest. Great design, email out invoices, right balance of simplicity and features.

TimePost is overpriced, though...you could probably find a cheaper solution. I think Harvest has a dashboard widget.


Maybe this is interesting for you: http://www.billingsapp.com/


Have you (or anyone else) used this?

It looks fantastic...just wondering if anyone has any feedback on the good/bad as an actual user of the product.


I use it and like it. I don't do a ton a freelance work, but it keeps me from having to think to much about invoicing.

The timer-in-the-menu-bar is really nice, as is the feature that detects inactivity and asks you if you just forgot to stop the clock.


Good suggestion. Thanks!


Corduroy (http://corduroysite.com/) is a full billing system that includes time tracking for projects and invoicing.

Some of its other features include interaction with your online banking site and allowing your customers to login to your site and pay their invoices with a credit card.

Disclaimer: I am the author of it.


I use TimmyOnTime ( http://www.timmyontime.com ) for my time-tracking (my company created this product) and GnuCash for billing/accounting.

TimmyOnTime uses with instant-messaging (GoogleTalk, MSN, Jabber) for real-time time-tracking so that tt easily becomes part of your work flow.


To count my time I made a little ruby script that loops into a txt file and looks for projects, calculate the hours for each and outputs them. Here is the link if you're interested : http://github.com/juliend2/compteurdetempstxt/

To invoice i use Freshbooks. I love it. But for the time tracking, i prefer my home-made solution (even if its not perfect) because i dont rely on a server so i can track my time even when offline.


If you need an exhaustive list of apps, try this page (which I maintain): http://www.timetrackingresources.com/


Interesting list, but it would be nice if there was some order to it. The first thing that hit me was that it was not alphabetic, so I moused over the first link, noticed its was an affiliate link... then closed the window assuming it was just a scheme.


We've spun this off as a seperate web app that we have been using internally for 3 years or so:

http://www.pipelineworks.com/

Designed for UK companies...


Journyx wasn't terrible (it has been ~3 years since I have used it). I believe it is free for individuals, but you'll have to check.


You may also consider Klok (http://klok.mcgraphix.com/) for straight forward timetracking, it's simple, stylish and exports to excel.


AbstractSpoon's ToDoList is what I use.

http://www.abstractspoon.com/tdl_resources.html


I use harvest and it works quite well for me.




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