An honest comparison of two popular time tracking tools. Which one is the right fit for freelancers?
Toggl Track is a powerful, feature-rich time tracker built for teams of all sizes. Hourly is purpose-built for freelancers who bill by the hour and want a simpler, faster experience without the complexity. If you work solo and want to start tracking in seconds, Hourly is your pick. If you need team management, integrations, and enterprise features, Toggl Track is worth considering.
| Feature | Hourly | Toggl Track |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (Beta) | Free / $9-$18/user/mo |
| Built for | Freelancers & solo professionals | Teams, agencies & freelancers |
| Weekly timesheet | ✓ Built-in | ✓ Available |
| Hourly rates per project | ✓ Free | Starter plan ($9/mo) |
| Billable vs non-billable | ✓ Free | Starter plan ($9/mo) |
| Revenue tracking | ✓ Real-time | Starter plan ($9/mo) |
| PDF reports | ✓ Monthly export | ✓ PDF & CSV |
| Analytics & charts | ✓ Bar & donut charts | ✓ Detailed reports |
| Desktop app (macOS) | ✓ Native | ✓ Desktop & mobile |
| Integrations | Focused on core features | ✓ 100+ integrations |
| Invoicing | Planned | ✓ Built-in |
| Team management | Solo-focused | ✓ Full team features |
| Setup time | ✓ Under 1 minute | ~5 minutes |
| Planning mode | ✓ Built-in & free | Project forecasting (Starter $10/mo) |
| Spreadsheet & card view | ✓ Both layouts | List view only |
| Monthly timesheet | ✓ Day & week summary | ✓ Available |
| Data hosting | EU (AWS) | EU & US |
Toggl Track offers a generous free plan, but key freelancer features like billable rates, project hourly rates, and revenue tracking are locked behind the Starter plan at $9/user/month. That adds up to $108/year for features you need from day one.
Hourly gives you all of these features for free during the Beta. Billable hours tracking, per-project rates, real-time revenue calculations, and monthly PDF reports are included at no cost. When paid plans launch, Beta users lock in a permanent discount.
Toggl Track is designed to serve everyone from solo freelancers to large enterprises. That flexibility comes with complexity: workspace settings, team management, multiple billing rate tiers, and hundreds of integrations to configure.
Hourly takes the opposite approach. Built exclusively for freelancers, the interface strips away everything you don't need. You get a clean weekly timesheet, a project list, and analytics. Creating an account and logging your first hour takes less than a minute.
Toggl Track is centered around a running timer. You start the clock, work, and stop it when you're done. This works well for some people, but many freelancers find themselves forgetting to start or stop the timer.
Hourly uses a weekly timesheet approach. At the end of the day (or week), you quickly fill in your hours using duration presets. No timer running in the background, no pressure to remember to click a button. Just open Hourly, log your hours, and close it.
Both tools offer reporting capabilities. Toggl Track provides detailed reports with filters by client, project, task, and team member. Reports can be exported as PDF or CSV files, and there's even a built-in invoicing feature.
Hourly focuses on monthly PDF reports with project breakdowns, billable hours summaries, and revenue calculations. The reports are designed to be client-ready and professional. Visual analytics include daily hour charts and project distribution donut charts.
Sign up for free during our Beta and discover a time tracker that's built specifically for the way freelancers work.
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