Virtual Assistant Time Tracking: How It Works and What Tools to Use

Cost: $0 for freelancers, with paid options for teams starting at $9/mo

Apps available: Web, desktop, and mobile

Toggl Track (often just called Toggl) is one of the most well-known time-tracking tools for virtual assistants. Its tracking features are mostly self-directed—you have to create a different timer for each task you start. Toggl also features a browser extension that lets you record how long you spend on different websites and web apps.

Toggl has integrated tools for producing invoices from your timesheets. It produces these in formats that are compatible with software like QuickBooks, which makes getting paid for your work as a virtual assistant easier.

Toggl Track places a high value on privacy. As noted on its website, it does not track its users’ mouse movements or take screenshots of their work, and as a freelancer, you can choose which tasks to include in your invoice (which means it’s fine to use Toggl to record non-work tasks, too).

Where to download the Toggl mobile app

App Store Google Play

You can also get the desktop version of Toggl or just use the web app. Sign up for Toggl on their website.

Cost: $0 for freelancers; paid options for managers and team leads start at $3.99/mo

Apps available: Web, desktop, and mobile

Clockify is another tool that virtual assistants can use to track their billable hours. It has more or less the same functionality as Toggl, and has a clean, unobtrusive interface that will appeal to you if you’re a bit of a minimalist. (Toggl’s UI is more colorful and significantly “busier.”)

Clockify’s features are simple and straightforward: you can track your tasks, add them to your calendar, and use them to generate invoices. The app also has a few (optional) secondary features, such as “idle timers” and reminders that will ping you when Clockify thinks you’re starting to drift off-task.

Where to download the Clockify mobile app

App Store Google Play

You can get the Clockify desktop apps for Mac OS, Windows, and Linux from their downloads page. Sign up for Clockify on their website.

Cost: $0 for single users; paid plans for teams start at $10.80/mo

Apps available: Desktop and mobile

Harvest is another time tracker in much the same mold as Clockify and Toggl. All three of these apps—which are arguably the most common suggestions for time-tracking tools for VAs—are very similar to each other in their functionality.

All make it possible to track your tasks with an intuitive interface, and all interface with common project management and payroll applications, such as Trello, Asana, and QuickBooks. Harvest, for instance, boasts that it integrates with over 50 other apps.

Harvest reportedly has more of a focus on data analytics than Toggl and Clockify, but this is mostly relevant to team leaders who need to track the efficiency and profitability of entire multi-person projects. As a freelance VA, any one of these time-tracking tools is much like the others.

Our recommendation is to just give one of these apps a try. If you like it, stick with it, but if you don’t, one of the others will probably serve as a perfectly fine substitute.

Where to download the Harvest mobile app

App Store Google

Get the Harvest desktop app from their download page. Sign up for Harvest on their website.

Cost: $0 for the basic version (up to 5 users); $8/mo for the premium plan

Apps available: Web and mobile

My Hours is a simpler time tracking app than the first few on this list. It won’t prompt you to record your tasks in the moment; instead, it will prompt you to record how long you spent on each task at the end of each day or each week.

My Hours is directed primarily toward businesses that don’t need the precision of other time tracking software programs. It may also work for you as a virtual assistant if your clients don’t demand down-to-the-minute tracking and just want a platform that’s simple for you both to use.

Because My Hours offers a somewhat stripped-down experience, it’s more affordable than many other options. Its free plan provides timesheet capabilities for up to 5 users working on unlimited projects and clients, and its premium option costs just $8 per month. Unfortunately, the ability to generate client invoices is one of the paid features.

Where to download the My Hours mobile app

App Store Google Play

You can sign up and give My Hours a try on their website.

Cost: $6.50/mo with an annual plan; $12/mo with a monthly plan

Apps available: Desktop and mobile

RescueTime is an automated productivity tool. In contrast to the first three, which require manual operation, it automatically tracks how long you spend on each website, app, and document you have open without any input from you.

Unlike some of the apps further down on this list, it won’t take screenshots, so this hopefully won’t make you feel like you’re under surveillance.

Once you’re done working, RescueTime will collect the data it gathered and prepare a report (with visual elements, like graphs) so that you can see where your time is going, as well as a timesheet so you can invoice your clients.

All in all, RescueTime is a solid choice for virtual assistants who want a clearer idea of what they’re spending time on (a good feature for you if your attention tends to drift) and don’t mind having their activities automatically tracked.

Unfortunately, RescueTime isn’t free. There is a free trial, but it only lasts for 14 days; after that, you’ll have to pay for it.

Where to download the RescueTime mobile app

App Store Google Play

You will also be prompted to download the desktop apps when you sign up for RescueTime on their website.

Cost: $9–$11 for a Starter plan, depending on whether you bill annually or yearly

Apps available: Web, desktop, and mobile

Timely is another solution for virtual assistants looking to track and record their billable hours. It has big-name clients like Amazon, PepsiCo, and Yale University, and has received a fair amount of attention for its powerful features, but it’s one of the more expensive options on this list.

Like RescueTime, Timely will track your hours automatically across the platforms you use, as well as help you keep track of appointments and deadlines and create invoices for your clients. It won’t take screenshots of your work or record your keystrokes.

One of Timely’s more unique features is its AI timesheet capability. As its AI technology learns about your habits and activities—aka how you usually spend your time while you’re working—it will get better at categorizing your tasks.

Theoretically, this will enable it to generate timesheets with less input required from you, although for obvious reasons, this will only be a plus if you’re comfortable with an AI being trained on your activity.

Where to download the Timely mobile app

App Store Google Play

You’ll be prompted to download the desktop app when you sign up for Timely on their website.

Cost: $5.90/mo for the “Starter” plan

Apps available: Desktop and mobile

Like RescueTime, Paymo will track your activity on your computer, measuring how long you spend in different browser windows and even specific browser tabs.

One of the strengths of Paymo is its light, colorful interface; if you’re sensitive to aesthetics, this is an attractive choice. The software also has several features to help you stay organized, including the ability to add “subtasks” and leave comments on tasks, which not all of the tools on this list allow.

Where to download the Paymo mobile app

App Store Google Play

Get the Paymo desktop app via their downloads page. Sign up on their website by clicking “Get Started” in the top right of the homepage (linked above).

Cost: $4.99/mo for the Starter plan

Apps available: Desktop, mobile, and browser extension (Google Chrome only)

Hubstaff is yet another suite of project management software. It aims to be an all-in-one application for tracking tasks, producing timesheets and invoices, budgeting for projects, and more.

It works in a similar way to other entries on this list. Its software tracks your activity—measured with metrics like mouse movements and keystrokes—to measure the time you’re working, then it displays that information in a central hub.

Hubstaff claims that it does all of this without compromising your privacy. However, it also takes screenshots of your browser windows, etc., at spaced-out intervals. This is something that some clients expect, but many freelance virtual assistants find it intrusive.

Due to this, Hubstaff isn’t an app that VAs usually choose for themselves. If you’re able to pick your own time-tracking software, we recommend one of the others on this list. That said, some clients will expect to use software like Hubstaff, and it’s good to be familiar with it (either so that you’re able to use it competently or so that you can explain why you prefer not to).

Where to download the Hubstaff mobile app

App Store Google Play

You can get the Hubstaff desktop app on their downloads page. Sign up for Hubstaff on their website.

Cost: $0 for solo freelancers; paid plans start at $5/mo

Apps available: Web, desktop, and mobile

TMetric is another time-tracking tool that will take screenshots every 10 minutes to prove to your clients that you’re working. Beyond that, it offers a variety of features common to this type of software, including:

• Timesheets
• Scheduling
• 50+ integrations with other software tools
• Project management functionality

Like Hubstaff, TMetric is mainly marketed to businesses, not gig workers. The free version is usable by independent freelancers, but if you have a choice, you may prefer to go with a simpler tool like Toggl, Clockify, or Harvest.

Where to download the TMetric mobile app

App Store Google Play

You can get the TMetric desktop app on their downloads page. Sign up for TMetric on their website.

Cost: $0 for solo freelancers; paid plans start at $2.99/mo

Apps available: Desktop and mobile

TimeCamp is yet another piece of software that will log your activity by taking screenshots and recording how long you spend in each app.

In most respects, it’s quite similar to Hubstaff and TMetric, and if you use one of these apps, it’ll probably be at a client’s request rather than of your own volition. There’s a reason why most of the content on TimeCamp’s website assumes you’re a business or manager looking to track your employees more effectively, not an independent freelancer.

That said, if you’re interested in TimeCamp, you can get it using the buttons below.

Where to download the TimeCamp mobile app

App Store Google Play

Download the TimeCamp desktop app and sign up on the company’s website.

Cost: $0 for freelancers

Apps available: Web and desktop

Like Hubstaff, TMetric, and TimeCamp, this tool will take screenshots of your work. However, there’s a twist: once you’re done working, you can review and approve (or reject) them. After you do, Topracker will collect them into a PDF report that you can send to your client.

This means that TopTracker is less invasive than other apps that take screenshots of your VA work. What’s more, it comes with several other features to protect your privacy, including the wherewithal to blur screenshots before attaching them.

All of this makes TopTracker a solid option for VAs whose clients are insisting on using a screenshot-taking app, but who aren’t comfortable with the degree of surveillance that some of the other software on this list will subject them to.

If you’re in that position, consider negotiating with your client and asking if they’d be willing to let you use TopTracker instead of their usual preferred tool.

Notably, TopTracker also features its own payment system (handled through Payoneer), so after your clients approve your invoices, it’s possible for them to pay you directly in the platform.

Where to get TopTracker

TopTracker doesn’t have a mobile app. You can get their desktop app by registering on their website.