Toggl Merged Track and Plan — Free Teams Are Getting Cut Off

Toggl quietly launched Toggl 2.0 on June 8, 2026, merging its separate Track and Plan products into a single combined tool. The casualty: the free tier dropped from 5 users to 3. If you’re a small team of 4 or 5 people who’ve been running on Toggl’s free plan, you’re already out of compliance — or about to be forced onto Starter at $9/user/month billed annually ($12/user/month billed monthly).

What Happened

Toggl 2.0 is the company’s unified product that folds everything Track and Plan did into a single app. New users sign up for one Toggl — there’s no longer a standalone Track product. The combined tool includes time tracking alongside tasks, boards, timelines, and milestones.

The free tier now caps at 3 users. The old Toggl Track free plan allowed 5. That’s not a rounding error — it’s a structural cut that pushes any 4- or 5-person team off the free tier entirely.

A few other changes worth flagging as of September 23, 2026:

• Billable rates remain locked behind Starter ($9/user/month annual, $12/user/month monthly)
• Spreadsheet exports (CSV/Excel) now require a paid plan — free users are limited to PDF
• Existing Track workspace users are in a gray zone: Toggl’s own documentation advises checking your specific workspace terms rather than assuming the new public pricing applies automatically. To verify: open your workspace, navigate to Billing or Subscription settings, and confirm the user cap shown there. If anything is unclear, contact Toggl support directly — don’t assume grandfathering holds.

Toggl did not publish a detailed public explanation for the free tier reduction. The company positioned Toggl 2.0 as the direction they’re investing in — Track’s solo time-tracking focus giving way to an integrated planning product aimed at teams. That’s a signal they’re moving upmarket.

Why It Matters

The free tier cut changes the value proposition for two distinct groups.

For solo freelancers, nothing materially changes. The free plan still covers 1–3 users, and core time tracking is intact. Billable rate tracking still requires Starter — and always has. The free plan has never been a billing tool; it’s a tracking tool. That’s unchanged.

For small teams of 4–5 people, this is a real inflection point. On annual billing, Starter costs $9/user/month — putting a 4-person team at $36/month and a 5-person team at $45/month. Choose monthly billing instead and those numbers jump to $48/month (4 users) and $60/month (5 users). That’s not outrageous for a business tool, but it’s a non-trivial jump from zero. And if your team only needed time tracking — not Toggl’s new project planning layer — you’re paying for a product surface you won’t use.

The Clockify escape hatch has also narrowed. Clockify capped its free plan at 5 users in April 2026, following an announcement by parent company CAKE.com. A 4-person team can still squeak under that limit, but Clockify’s free tier has been shedding features alongside the cap reduction. For teams planning to move from Toggl free to Clockify free, the math is less favorable than it was six months ago.

The Take

We’ve recommended Toggl Track’s free plan for solo freelancers, and that stands. Individuals and teams of 2–3 have no reason to move.

For 4- or 5-person teams, the recommendation changes. If you’re being pushed to Starter and your team’s primary need is time tracking with billing workflows — not project planning — Harvest is the cleaner call. Harvest’s Teams plan starts at $9/seat/month billed annually, the same base price as Toggl Starter, but Harvest builds invoicing directly into the product. You’re not bolting on a billing layer; it’s native.

One important caveat: Harvest restructured its pricing model in 2026, moving from a flat per-seat fee to a plan-fee-plus-usage system. The $9/seat/month baseline is real, but Harvest can add usage-based charges on top for projects, clients, invoices, and tasks depending on your plan tier. Before switching, go to getharvest.com/pricing and run the numbers against your actual client volume. If you’re managing 5–10 active clients with straightforward invoicing, Harvest still wins on workflow. If your client volume is higher or your billing patterns are complex, verify the total cost before committing.

If you’re a 4–5 person team who genuinely wants the combined planning and time tracking that Toggl 2.0 offers, then Starter is a reasonable call. The product is capable. But go in knowing that CSV exports, billable rates, and timelines are all paywalled — what you get on free is a limited preview of what you’re being asked to pay for.

One more thing on grandfathering: Toggl’s documentation is explicitly noncommittal. If you’re running an existing Track workspace with 4 or 5 people, do not assume you’re protected. Check your Billing or Subscription settings now. If the plan shows Free, verify the user cap applies under your account’s specific terms. If it’s ambiguous, contact Toggl support — don’t wait until you hit the wall.

The broader signal is directional. Toggl is consolidating around a planning-plus-tracking product for teams willing to pay. The era of Toggl as the generous free option for small teams is over. Solo freelancers got a reprieve. Everyone else got a price.