)
)
Time and billing software for agencies: summary & key takeaways
Protect margin, not just log hours: The best time and billing software connects tracked time directly to budgets, profitability, and invoicing so you catch overruns before they eat your margin.
One platform beats five tools stitched together: Agencies that unify time tracking, project management, and billing in a single system avoid data gaps, reduce admin overhead, and invoice faster.
AI now forecasts profitability, not just reminds you to log time: Modern tools like TeamworkAI predict margin erosion and summarize utilization patterns so you act before the month closes.
Free tiers exist, but watch the limits: Many tools offer free plans, though most cap users or features at levels that don't scale past small teams.
Years ago, I worked for an agency where the monthly close was a recurring nightmare. Timesheets trickled in late, billing discrepancies sparked last-minute client calls, and the finance team spent three days reconciling hours against project budgets that lived in a different system. The margin report arrived two weeks after we could have done anything useful with it.
Before I joined Teamwork.com, that kind of chaos was normal. Now, I see the same pattern repeated across teams of 50, 100, or 300: time data lives in one place, project budgets in another, and invoicing in a third. Teamwork.com's recent Sprint to AI research found that 58% of client-work leaders now juggle three to five separate tools, and 92% say their current stack falls short, with data management and reporting (50%) and resource management (42%) the most common failings.
Fixing this matters more than ever. According to the SPI Research 2026 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark, average billable utilization across professional services firms fell to 66.4% in 2025, well below the 75% threshold SPI considers optimal. Meanwhile, QuickBooks' 2025 Small Business Late Payments Report found that 56% of US small businesses across all sectors are owed money on unpaid invoices. Poor time capture and disjointed billing systems turn both problems worse.
This guide compares the eight tools that matter most for agency time tracking and billing. I've used most of them across different roles; here's what actually holds up.
What is time and billing software for agencies?
Time and billing software for agencies is a tool that records how team members spend their hours, ties that time to clients and projects, calculates billable amounts, and generates invoices. The best platforms also connect time data to budgets, profitability tracking, and resource planning so you can see margin in real time rather than after the fact.
Questions time and billing software should answer:
How many hours did my team log against this client last week, and were they billable?
Is this fixed-fee project still profitable, or are we over budget?
Which invoices are overdue, and how much unbilled time is sitting in the system?
Who on my team has capacity for new work this month?
How I reviewed and selected these tools
I evaluated each tool through the lens of a 50-to-500-person agency that bills clients for creative, consulting, or technical work. Here's what I weighted most heavily:
Time capture flexibility: Desktop timers, mobile apps, browser extensions, and the ability to log time directly against tasks, projects, or retainers.
Billing model support: Native handling of fixed-fee, time-and-materials, and retainer arrangements without awkward workarounds.
Budget and profitability visibility: Real-time tracking of hours vs. budget, cost vs. revenue, and project-level margin.
Invoicing workflow: How cleanly tracked time converts into client-ready invoices, and which integrations support that handoff.
Reporting depth: Utilization reports, billable vs. non-billable breakdowns, and financial dashboards that leadership can trust.
Team adoption friction: Interface clarity, onboarding effort, and how likely teams are to actually use the tool daily.
AI and automation: Capabilities beyond basic reminders, including profitability forecasting, utilization summaries, and automated project setup.
Pricing transparency: Clear, publicly available pricing that scales predictably as headcount grows.
Quick glance: the 8 best time and billing tools for agencies
Tool
Teamwork.com
)
Teamwork.com is the agentic PSA built specifically for teams that track time and bill hours. It's also the platform I work on every day, and the reason I joined the company is that it solves the exact problem that kept me up at night in my previous roles: time tracking, project budgets, and billing live in the same system, so margin is visible as work happens, not after invoicing.
Key features:
See margin as work happens. Real-time budgets and profitability reports show you project health by cost, revenue, and margin at any point during delivery. You don't wait until month-end to learn a project went sideways.
Capture billable time without chasing people. Native time tracking lets team members log hours against tasks, projects, or retainers from desktop, mobile, or browser extension. Approvals route automatically, and billable vs. non-billable splits are baked in.
Bill retainers without spreadsheets. The retainer billing feature tracks hours or fees against recurring agreements, rolls unused time forward or resets monthly, and shows clients exactly where their budget stands.
Let AI surface what you'd miss. TeamworkAI includes the AI Profitability Forecaster, which predicts margin erosion before it happens, plus AI utilization summaries that flag under- or over-capacity across your team. The AI Project Wizard turns briefs into structured project plans, and the MCP server connects Teamwork.com data to Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini so you can query projects conversationally. Data is never used to train third-party models, and Teamwork.com maintains SOC 2 Type 2 certification.
)
"Overall, Teamwork.com gives me confidence, clarity, and efficiency, and I'd recommend it to any business looking for a project management platform that works brilliantly right out of the box." — Daniel M., Customer Success Manager, G2
For proof at scale, consider SugarCRM: after unifying projects, time tracking, and billing in Teamwork.com, they achieved near-perfect invoicing accuracy, crediting under $20K on more than $10M in annual invoicing.
Pricing:
Free: $0/user/month (up to 5 users)
Basics: $9.99/user/month (billed yearly)
Accelerate: $24.99/user/month (billed yearly)
Optimize: Custom pricing (billed yearly)
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Note: 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
Harvest
)
Harvest has been around since 2006, and its longevity reflects a simple value proposition: quick time capture with clean invoicing. For agencies that don't need full project management but do need reliable time-to-invoice workflows, Harvest handles that well.
The standout strength is the one-click timer. Team members start and stop timers from a browser extension, desktop app, or mobile device, and those entries sync to projects instantly. There's very little friction, which means adoption tends to stick.
Harvest also integrates directly with QuickBooks and Xero, so invoices generated from tracked time flow into your accounting system without manual re-entry. The visual capacity reports give a week-by-week view of who's overbooked, though the depth doesn't match what you'd get from a dedicated resource management tool.
The limitation is that Harvest stays in its lane. Budget tracking exists but doesn't tie to real-time profitability the way an integrated PSA would. If you want to see margin as delivery happens rather than after invoicing, you'll outgrow Harvest quickly.
Pricing:
Free: $0
Teams: $9/seat/month (billed annually) or $11/seat/month (billed monthly)
Enterprise: $14/seat/month (billed annually) or $17.50/seat/month (billed monthly)
Enterprise Plus: Custom pricing
Toggl Track
)
Toggl Track prioritizes simplicity and breadth of integrations. With over 100 connections to tools like Asana, Trello, and Slack, it slots into almost any existing workflow without forcing you to change how you work.
The browser extension is particularly smooth. You can start a timer from inside most project management tools, and Toggl pulls in the task name automatically. Idle detection prompts you to discard or assign time when you step away, which helps keep entries honest.
Where Toggl falls short for agencies is billing. Invoicing requires exporting data to a separate tool or upgrading to the Premium tier for project-level billing features. There's no native connection between tracked hours and client invoices, so the handoff stays manual.
For teams that need lightweight time logging and plan to handle billing elsewhere, Toggl Track works. For agencies that want time and billing unified, it creates gaps.
Pricing:
Free: $0
Starter: $9/user/month
Premium: $14/user/month (billed annually, first year)
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Clockify
)
Clockify's main draw is the free tier with unlimited users. For agencies watching costs closely, that's a compelling starting point.
The timesheet view is clean and familiar, which reduces onboarding friction. Team members log hours in a grid format, and managers approve entries before they hit reports. Basic invoicing exists on paid plans, though it's more functional than polished.
The free plan does cap features. Budgets, billable rates, and time off tracking require upgrades. As agencies scale, those limits accumulate, and the free advantage erodes.
A common pattern across teams using Clockify: it works well for time capture but requires another system for project budgets and profitability. That split means someone is reconciling data manually, which is where errors creep in.
Pricing:
Free: $0 (up to 5 users)
Basic: $3.99/user/month (billed annually)
Standard: $5.49/user/month (billed annually)
Pro: $7.99/user/month (billed annually)
Enterprise: $11.99/user/month (billed annually)
Paymo
)
Paymo bundles project management and time tracking together, targeting small agencies that want Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and timesheets in one tool.
The invoicing module converts tracked time into client invoices directly, which removes a handoff step. For agencies billing clients under $500K annually, that integration covers the basics without needing a separate accounting platform.
The project management features are functional but not deep. Larger agencies often find the resource management lacking, and profitability reporting doesn't match what dedicated PSA tools provide.
For very small teams, Paymo is a solid middle ground. For agencies past the 30-person mark, the ceiling becomes apparent.
Pricing:
Free: $0 (1 user)
Solo: $9.90/month (1 user)
Plus: $15.90/user/month
Pro: $23.90/user/month (annual rates)
TimeCamp
)
TimeCamp focuses on automatic time capture, which appeals to teams that forget to start timers. The desktop app monitors which applications and URLs you're using, then maps that activity to projects based on keywords.
For distributed teams where managers can't see who's working on what, that automatic logging provides visibility without micromanagement. Productivity insights show where time actually goes versus where people think it goes.
Invoicing exists but isn't the core focus. Most agencies using TimeCamp export data to a billing system rather than generating invoices natively.
The main trade-off: automatic tracking requires trust. Some team members find the monitoring intrusive, which can hurt adoption in cultures that value autonomy.
Pricing:
Free: $0
Starter: $3.99/user/month (billed annually) or $5.49/user/month (billed monthly)
Premium: $6.99/user/month (billed annually) or $9.99/user/month (billed monthly)
Ultimate: $9.99/user/month (billed annually) or $13.99/user/month (billed monthly)
Enterprise: Custom pricing
FreshBooks
)
FreshBooks is accounting software first, time tracking second. For freelancers and micro-agencies where the owner also handles the books, that combination simplifies life.
The double-entry accounting, expense tracking, and client portal are polished. Invoices look professional, and payment reminders go out automatically. The time tracking module logs hours that flow into those invoices directly.
The limitation is team scale. FreshBooks prices per account, not per user, but adds $11/month for each additional team member. At 20 people, that math stops working. Project management is minimal, and there's no resource planning to speak of.
FreshBooks fits the 1-to-10-person shop running client projects while handling its own accounting. Larger agencies need something built for team delivery.
Pricing:
Lite: $23/month
Plus: $43/month
Premium: $70/month
Select: Custom pricing
(Priced per account; team members are an $11/month per-user add-on.)
Hubstaff
)
Hubstaff sits at the monitoring-heavy end of the time tracking spectrum. Screenshots, app tracking, URL logging, and activity percentages give managers granular visibility into how remote teams spend their hours.
For agencies with offshore contractors or distributed workforces where trust hasn't been established, that visibility provides accountability. Payroll integrations automate the connection between tracked hours and payment, which removes admin friction.
The trade-off is culture. Screenshot monitoring can feel like surveillance, and some teams resist adoption. Agencies with strong internal trust rarely need this level of oversight.
Hubstaff works best when monitoring is part of the operating model from day one. Retrofitting it into a team that's used to autonomy creates friction.
Pricing:
Free: $0 (1 user)
Starter: $4.99/user/month (billed annually) or $7/user/month (billed monthly)
Grow: $7.50/user/month (billed annually)
Team: $10/user/month (billed annually) or $12/user/month (billed monthly)
Enterprise: $25/user/month (billed annually)
AI workflow automation vs. traditional automation
Traditional automation in time and billing software runs on rules and reminders. You set a rule that sends an email when timesheets are overdue. You configure a reminder to ping clients about unpaid invoices. You build a Zapier workflow that creates a task when a new project closes in your CRM.
These automations help, but they react to what's already happened. The timesheet is already late. The invoice is already overdue. The project is already created. Nothing predicts or prevents problems.
AI workflow automation works differently. Instead of reacting, it analyzes patterns and forecasts outcomes. TeamworkAI's Profitability Forecaster looks at current burn rate, remaining scope, and historical project data to predict whether a project will finish profitable, break-even, or in the red. That forecast appears while you still have time to adjust scope, reallocate resources, or have a conversation with the client.
Similarly, AI utilization summaries don't just report that someone logged 45 hours last week. They surface patterns: this person has been over 100% for three weeks straight, or this team's billable ratio dropped 15 points since last month. The AI Project Wizard takes a brief and generates a project structure based on how similar work was actually delivered, not a generic template. These capabilities turn time and billing data into forward-looking decisions rather than backward-looking reports.
Why Teamwork.com stands out for agency time and billing
Most tools track work. We make it profitable. That distinction matters because time tracking alone doesn't protect margin, and billing alone doesn't tell you whether you're winning or losing on the work you deliver.
Teamwork.com connects the full quote-to-cash loop in one platform. Projects inherit budgets from proposals. Time logged against tasks feeds directly into those budgets. Profitability is visible in real time, not reconstructed after invoicing. When the work finishes, billable time converts to invoices that sync to your accounting system.
PM tools can't manage money. Run project delivery through Asana or Monday.com, and you're losing margin without seeing where. Traditional PSAs manage the financials, but teams resist using them, so the data quality suffers and the numbers coming out can't be trusted. Teamwork.com captures resourcing, financials, and margin as delivery happens, in a platform teams actually want to use. Across Teamwork.com customers, we see an average 21.8% improvement in billable utilization within 12 months of adopting the project and resource management platform.
For agencies, the practical result is fewer surprises. You know mid-project whether you're on track or burning through budget. You know which clients are profitable and which drain resources. You know who has capacity for new work before you overcommit.
Here's a simple example: your agency bills a $50,000 fixed-fee project. If your blended cost rate is $75/hour and you estimated 500 hours, your target margin is $12,500 (25%). With connected time and billing software, you see at hour 400 that you've already spent $30,000 in labor with 30% of scope remaining. That's a margin alert while you can still adjust, not a loss discovered at invoicing. That's the difference between tracking hours and running a profitable agency operation.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)