Best Time Tracking Tool for Solo Consultants
You’re a solo consultant. You bill by the hour, you juggle 3-6 clients, and the last thing you want is a time tracker that feels like a second job. Just use Toggl Track. We tested 9 time tracking tools — here’s why Toggl wins for your situation.
- Pick: Toggl Track — dead simple, one-click timers, reports clients actually understand
- Price: Free for solo use / $10/mo for Pro
- Runner-up: Clockify — also free, more features, slightly clunkier
- Skip if: You need project management built in (use Harvest instead, but know it costs more)
The problem
You need to know how many hours you spent on Client A vs Client B this month. That’s it. Maybe you need a report to attach to an invoice. Maybe you need to track against a retainer.
What you don’t need: Gantt charts, team dashboards, approval workflows, or a tool that takes 30 minutes to configure before you can start a timer. And yet that’s what most time trackers give you — because they’re built for teams of 20, not consultants of 1.
We tested 9 time tracking tools with one rule: if we couldn’t start tracking time within 2 minutes of signup, it was out.
Our pick: Toggl Track
Toggl Track is the best time tracker for solo consultants who bill by the hour. It does three things and does them well: start/stop timers, tag them by client and project, and generate reports.
Why Toggl
The interface is a single screen with a big green “Start” button. No onboarding wizard, no tutorials, no “let’s set up your team first.” You sign up, you type a task description, you hit start. That’s it.
The reports are the real selling point. Toggl generates clean PDF and CSV reports broken down by client, project, and date range. You can attach these directly to your invoices — clients see exactly what they’re paying for, and you don’t spend 20 minutes in Excel every month.
The free tier is genuinely usable for solo consultants. You get unlimited tracking, 5 clients, and basic reports. Most solo consultants won’t hit the limits for months.
What it costs
Free for basic solo use. $10/month for Pro, which adds billable rates, project time estimates, and better reporting. The jump to Pro is worth it once you’re billing 4+ clients regularly — the billable-rate feature alone saves time on invoicing.
What’s not great
Toggl is deliberately simple. If you need project budgets with alerts, resource planning, or time-off tracking, Toggl’s free tier won’t cut it — and even Pro is basic compared to Harvest or Monday.com. But for a solo consultant, those features are overhead you’re paying for and never using.
The mobile app is fine but not great. The timer occasionally doesn’t sync if you lose connection, and you might end up with duplicate entries. It’s a known issue, not a dealbreaker — just check your entries before invoicing.
Runner-up: Clockify
Choose Clockify if you want more features for free. Clockify’s free tier is more generous than Toggl’s — unlimited users, unlimited projects, unlimited reports. The trade-off: the interface is busier, there are more settings to configure, and the reports aren’t as clean.
Clockify is the right choice if you work with subcontractors and need them on the same tool without paying per seat. For pure solo use, Toggl’s simplicity wins.
What we ruled out
Harvest — The best time tracker with built-in invoicing. But at $12/month for a single user, you’re paying for project management features a solo consultant doesn’t need. Use Harvest if you want time tracking + invoicing in one tool and don’t mind the cost.
Monday.com — A project management platform that happens to have time tracking. Overkill for solo consultants. The time tracking is buried three clicks deep and requires setting up boards first. Skip unless you already use Monday for project management.
RescueTime — Tracks time automatically by monitoring what apps and websites you use. Clever idea, wrong use case. You need to track billable hours by client, not monitor your screen time. RescueTime tells you that you spent 3 hours in Figma, but it can’t tell you which client that was for.
Timely — AI-powered automatic time tracking. Impressive technology, but the AI isn’t accurate enough to bill clients without manual correction. At $14/month, you’re paying for automation that still needs babysitting. Not worth it for solo use.
The bottom line
Just use Toggl Track. It tracks time, generates clean reports, and stays out of your way. The free tier handles most solo consultants. Upgrade to Pro when you need billable rates.
If you need time tracking + invoicing in one tool, skip Toggl and look at Harvest — but know you’ll pay more. If you want maximum free features and work with subcontractors, Clockify is solid.
Try Toggl Track free — no credit card, no onboarding quiz, just a start button.
JustUse earns a commission if you sign up through our links. This doesn't influence our recommendations — we recommend tools we'd use ourselves, whether or not they have an affiliate program.