TopTracker - Review 2022

Freelancers who nib past the hour must business relationship for their time accurately. TopTracker is a gratuitous time-tracking app for freelancers that provides the core functionality you expect, plus a few unique features that keep it interesting. Information technology'south fine for tracking time, but it doesn't include invoicing tools or options for integrating with other invoicing services or mobile apps, as many competitors do. If you need a complimentary time-tracking solution, you lot might enjoy TopTracker for its pop-upwards reminders and periodic screenshots, but Toggl is a meliorate option and the Editors' Choice for free time-tracking apps (Toggl has paid tiers of service, too). If you want integrated invoicing, every bit well as options for tracking expenses billed to clients, Harvest is the all-time pick and the Editors' Selection amid paid plans.

Pricing and Plans

TopTracker is entirely free, with no strings attached and no limitations. The company that makes and supports TopTracker is called Toptal, and it'southward in the business concern of connecting freelance designers, software developers, and finance experts to organizations that need them. The company provides a TopTracker equally a gratuitous fourth dimension-tracking tool to make sure that the freelancers have advisable tools for billing clients accurately. You don't have to be in Toptal's network of freelancers to use the app.

While some time-tracking apps, including Toggl and Harvest, offer costless versions, most come with limitations. For example, the free version of Toggl leaves out some features that small business owners might want, such equally projection time estimates. For freelancers who need a free service, yet, its convenience makes information technology the best pick. Harvest gives yous all its features in the free version, but that only supports one person and one project at a time.

For the paid versions, Harvest charges $12 per person per month. Toggl starts at $x per person per month, although you get a lot more out of the $xx per person per month tier of service.

Some other app chosen Freelancy charges but one apartment fee, $29.ninety, for lifetime use. Freelancy doesn't have desktop or mobile apps, merely information technology works in most browsers, including mobile ones.

The apps I've mentioned and so far are ideal for freelancers and micro-businesses and to some extent small businesses. But in that location are other time-tracking tools congenital for larger organizations that offering more features, such as a clock in/out organisation and employee monitoring tools. Hubstaff and TSheets autumn in this category.

Hubstaff has three tiers of service: Solo Lite (free), Basic (about $5 per person per month), and Premium (near $x per person per month). TSheets has an unusual pricing structure, but however charges a competitive rate. Teams of between two and 99 people pay $iv per person per month, plus a base fee of $16 per calendar month. So a team of 10 people, for example, would pay $56 per month. Larger teams of 100 or more than pay $4 per person per month plus a base of operations fee of $80 per month. So a team of 100 would pay $480 per month.

Interface and Apps

TopTracker has desktop apps for macOS, Windows, Debian, and RPM, as well as a web app. At that place are no TopTracker mobile apps at this time, so you won't be able to easily track time abroad from your desk.

The desktop apps allow you to work when you don't have an internet connection. While offline, TopTracker stores your data locally and syncs information technology with your online business relationship when your calculator reconnects.

When yous are connected, syncing does non occur in real time, in the sense that if yous navigate to the spider web app while you're tracking time in the desktop app, you won't see the web app counting alongside the desktop app. You'll only see your time logged reflected in the account later y'all end a time-recording session on desktop.

To track your work, you start by making projects and adding some basic information near them, such every bit a name and an hourly rate. Y'all can simply add hourly rates, making TopTracker a poor candidate if you sometimes have projects that charge a flat charge per unit (and you lot desire to make sure you don't spend too many hours working on them).

Once you take projects established, you can start tracking time spent on them. When yous rails time, you can type in any description you want. TopTracker does non give y'all an option to create categories of tasks within projects that you can reuse every time you log time. Harvest does, however. For example, you lot might accept a project called Website Relaunch and categories for Blueprint, Programming, Testing, Client Call, and so along. Then you tin can add more detail to each recorded task in a description field.

TopTracker displays active time to the second in the desktop app, but to the minute in the web app. The app rounds to 10-minute increments, and you can't adjust it.

Features and Integrations

When using TopTracker, I adopt the desktop app to the web app for tracking time because the desktop app offers more. Normally it's the other way effectually for me because the web app houses reports most the work, and yous typically demand to be in the spider web app to make changes to projects and such. But with TopTracker, the desktop app offers some neat functionality.

For example, when you lot click to create a new fourth dimension entry, yous hear a xylophone-similar ding, and a pop-up window appears asking you for a description of the work. Most other apps inquire you lot to add details, only few include an sound tone. I tin easily miss a visual cue, but the audio one is less likely to become unnoticed.

Ane special characteristic of the desktop app is that it can optionally take periodic screenshots or photos using your computer's camera so you have proof that you were doing what you say you were doing during each time-tracking session. These images shop locally and then sync to your online business relationship afterwards. If you use more than one monitor, you can specify where the screenshots should take place. Likewise, if you have more than one continued photographic camera, you can choose the one you want for taking pictures, which may be useful for meetings.

There's an selection in the preferences to mistiness these images before saving them to your account. I like these options because it gives the freelancer flexibility to substantiate their time but likewise go on the specifics of the content they're working on hidden. The screenshots and photos might also do good people who manage teams of freelancers. You could ask your collaborators to enable the setting to verify their piece of work and track their productivity.

Despite these features, TopTracker isn't a full-fledged employee monitoring app. For that, you need to utilize fourth dimension-tracking apps, such every bit TSheets and Hubstaff. They essentially operate every bit virtual clock in/out systems, in improver to helping people track time spent on task. Other employee-monitoring functions include recording GPS locations and IP addresses.

Collaborating in TopTracker is very simple. You invite people to join and determine what level of permission you want them to have from the get-become, making them either supervisors (similar to admins) or workers (with express access). One small-scale upshot is that you must invite collaborators for each projection, and so if Carolyn should have access to three projects, you must send her 3 invitations. It would be better to select the projects she should be able to access in i invitation.

Another feature I similar is TopTracker'south Activity Update box. That pop-up window I mentioned previously with the xylophone ding can reappear from time to time at an interval y'all set, such as every 60 minutes, to check whether yous're notwithstanding on the same task. Like many of the other features, information technology's optional, so you can disable information technology if you observe it distracting, merely I appreciate the occasional reminder that I'yard tracking my fourth dimension. If I've forgotten to turn off the timer or switch information technology to a new projection, the Activity Update lets me manually gear up information technology quickly while all the details of my work are notwithstanding fresh in my mind.

As mentioned, there are no invoicing tools, although yous can export reports as a CSV file and do with information technology what you please. That'due south not the same equally having a connected invoicing system that pulls updated information directly from your logs, however, which Harvest offers direct and Toggl supports through integrations with other services.

One of TopTracker's weaknesses is that it does not offer integrations with business tools that freelancers may already be using. Toggl and Harvest are both exceptional in this regard.

Lightweight simply Free

TopTracker is a fine tool for freelancers who demand trivial more than the near lightweight time-tracking app and don't want to pay even a dime for it. Unfortunately, anyone who charges flat rates for some of their work, or needs to manage other expenses, such as mileage, or wants an integrated invoicing system should wait elsewhere. The lack of mobile apps may exist another bargain breaker, depending on what you lot do for work.

Toggl and Harvest are much improve options for freelancers with these needs. I recommend the complimentary version of Toggl for anyone who just needs to cover the basics, and Harvest for those who demand a arrangement that'due south easy to use and includes invoicing.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/software/19716/toptracker

Posted by: castellomatich45.blogspot.com

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