Top Time and Billing Software in 2026: 7 Tools Compared

#1

Harvest

Best for: Agencies and studios billing by the hour

4.3/5 on G2 (836 reviews, checked Oct 2026)

Visit getharvest.com

Harvest suits design studios, marketing agencies and small consultancies that want staff to log hours with as little friction as possible. The timer works on web, desktop and mobile, and turning a month of hours into a client invoice takes a few clicks. The 30-day trial needs no credit card, so a team can run a full billing cycle before paying.

Read the pricing carefully. Teams costs $9 per seat per month on annual billing, but Harvest's pricing page says extra invoices, projects, clients and tasks are billed by usage as the account grows. A firm with many small clients could pay noticeably more than the headline seat price. You can add seats mid-cycle, but you can't remove them until renewal.

The other catch is which features sit on which plan. Timesheet approvals, profitability reporting by client or project, the activity log and SAML single sign-on are all in Enterprise, at $14 per seat per month on annual billing. If a manager must sign off on hours before they reach an invoice, budget for that tier from day one.

#2

Clockify

Best for: Budget-conscious teams of any size

4.5/5 on G2 (204 reviews, checked Oct 2026)

Visit clockify.me

For a 20-person team that needs hours, rates and invoices without a big bill, Clockify is hard to beat on price. The free plan covers unlimited tracking and unlimited projects for up to five users, and the paid tiers go up in small steps. Standard, at $5.49 per user per month on annual billing, is where the billing features start: invoicing, time approval, locked timesheets, task rates, time rounding and the QuickBooks integration.

Pro, at $7.99 per user per month on annual billing, is the plan to consider if you also bill expenses or want to compare labor cost with revenue. It adds expenses, budgets and estimates, and profit reporting. Enterprise adds SSO and an audit log for $11.99.

The honest weakness is that Clockify is a time tracker first. Invoicing only comes with Standard and expenses only with Pro, so a team that needs both has to pay for Pro. Some Pro features, including screenshots and activity monitoring, are optional, and you should talk with staff before you switch them on.

#3

BigTime

Best for: Consulting, accounting and engineering firms

4.6/5 on Capterra (664 reviews, checked Oct 2026)

Visit bigtime.net

BigTime does more than a simple tracker. It is a professional services automation (PSA) platform for accounting, architecture, consulting, engineering and IT services firms. These are firms where billing rules vary by client and partners want to see utilization and margins. Every plan includes time tracking, expense management, invoicing and payments, and the entry tier also connects to QuickBooks.

The tiers matter for firms with complex fee arrangements. Custom invoice templates and the reporting center come with Advanced. Project budgeting, custom cost and rate management, multi-currency invoicing and multi-level approvals require Premier. Firms with international clients should start their evaluation there rather than at Essentials.

The catch is pricing transparency. BigTime publishes a starting price of $20 per user per month for Essentials, but the higher tiers and the Enterprise PSA are quoted through demos. Expect a longer evaluation than with self-serve tools. Ask directly about contract length, onboarding fees and minimum seats before you sign.

#4

Bill4Time

Best for: Small law firms and professional practices

4.7/5 on G2 (36 reviews, checked Oct 2026)

Visit bill4time.com

Bill4Time is a focused product. It handles time capture, invoicing and payment collection for practices that bill by the hour, and it does not try to be a full project management suite. The base Time and Billing plan costs $39 per user per month on annual billing. It includes a client portal, expense management, invoice templates, payment processing, document management, calendar sync and QuickBooks integration, which gives accountants, consultants and architects a complete billing workflow.

Law firms are the main audience. Legal Pro, at $59 per user per month on annual billing, adds trust accounting, a conflict checker, contingency billing, task workflows, LEDES export, UTBMS codes and Box or NetDocuments integration. That covers most of what a small firm needs to meet e-billing requirements from clients and bar rules on client funds.

The trade-off is cost per seat. A 10-person consultancy pays $390 a month on the base plan, several times what Clockify or Harvest would charge. The extra cost only makes sense if you need the client portal, built-in payments or legal compliance features. The 14-day trial needs no credit card.

#5

Clio

Best for: Law firms that want billing inside practice management

4.6/5 on G2 (997 reviews, checked Oct 2026)

Visit clio.com

Clio Manage is practice management software with time and billing built in. It suits law firms that want matters, documents, calendars and invoices in one system instead of a separate billing tool. Every plan, starting with Starter at $49 per user, includes time and expense tracking, hourly, flat-rate and contingency billing, payment plans, trust account management and LEDES output.

Online payment fees are listed on the pricing page: 2.95 percent for credit and debit cards (3.75 percent for Amex) and 1 percent for ACH and eCheck. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current term, and firm data can be exported in nonproprietary formats.

The weakness is that Starter has few extras. Accounting integrations with QuickBooks, Xero and TrustBooks, conflict checks, document templates and the client portal begin at Core, and Clio does not publish prices for Core, Signature or Elite. A firm comparing Clio with Bill4Time should get a written quote for Core before judging value.

#6

Paymo

Best for: Creative teams that need tasks plus invoicing

4.6/5 on G2 (594 reviews, checked Oct 2026)

Visit paymoapp.com

Paymo fits small agencies and in-house creative teams that want project tasks, timers and invoices in one place without paying for a heavier PSA. The Solo plan, at $5.90 per user per month on annual billing, is designed for freelancers with one main client who need invoicing. Plus, at $10.90 on annual billing, adds advanced task management, reporting, project templates, and proofing and versioning for design work.

Pro, at $16.90 per user per month on annual billing, adds resource scheduling, Gantt charts and leave management. That makes Paymo closer to a full agency management tool than most products on this list.

Two policies are worth knowing before you buy. You can't mix plans in one company account, so if one project manager needs Pro features, everyone moves to Pro. Paymo's help center also says it does not offer refunds, so test the fit on the free plan or a monthly subscription before paying for a year.

#7

Zoho Invoice

Best for: Freelancers and very small businesses

4.7/5 on G2 (365 reviews, checked Oct 2026)

Visit zoho.com

Zoho Invoice is the right starting point for a solo consultant or a two-person shop that bills a handful of clients each month. It is free and covers the basic cycle: log hours against a project, turn them into an invoice, accept payment online and let automatic reminders chase late payers. It also handles quotes, so everything from estimate to payment stays in one place.

Its strength is that the invoicing side is complete for a free product, with templates, payment gateway integrations and apps for phones and desktops. If you currently build invoices in a spreadsheet, it removes most of the manual work at no cost.

The limitation is depth. It has none of the utilization reports, approval workflows or rate-card rules that BigTime or Harvest offer, and it is designed for invoicing first. Once you need full bookkeeping, payroll links or control over timesheets for several people, plan to move to Zoho Books or one of the other tools here.