15+ Time Tracking Software for Mac OS X

  • Kate Borucka
  • November 22, 2023
  • 14 min read

Time tracking Mac app can be extremely helpful in monitoring work progress and improving productivity. All you need is the right timer. With a dedicated Mac app, you’ll ensure it works properly with your OS, integrates well with other apps, and allows you to get the most out of your work.

How to track time on Mac and what are the best tools? Here’s everything you need to know in a nutshell.

How to Track Mac Usage?

There is no surprise that Apple is one of the Big Tech—the giants of the technological world. Its products and software are used by customers all over the globe. And it seems that the popularity of the brand keeps growing. They offer high-quality, unique products that people love. One of these wonders is the Macintosh, commonly known as Mac.

And the good news for time management lovers is that you can easily manage projects and track time on Mac with an automatic timer. Many apps for tracking time are available in the Mac app store, and not only. All you have to do is choose the one that corresponds to your needs. Try different options until you find the perfect solution for your current tasks. Eventually, it’s easy to delete apps on Mac you don’t need. Although, the variety of variants is impressive, one can narrow down by prioritizing features the time-tracking tools should have. Make sure to select the app that meets your business model and needs! The latest news, trends, and tips about Mac & IOS solutions can be found on MacObserver.

In fact, it doesn’t matter if you’re tracking your time on Mac, Linux, or Windows. Today, most, if not all apps are available for all operating systems. Nevertheless, Mac has its dedicated fans who create apps only for this particular system.

👉 Check also our article: Smart and Efficient Ways to Track Computer Usage!

What Are The Best Time Tracking Apps for Mac?

A good Mac time management app can help you become more productive, turn your bad habits into good ones, and make you an organized person. Time tracking software is a system that provides detailed data on your activity, budget, time spent on activities and processes that happen during your work.

And so, today we prepared a list of the best time tracking software for Mac OX to help you choose from the variety of tools. Make sure to select the app that meets your business model and needs! 

1. TimeCamp

Best for: tracking billable tasks with a free automated time tracker

 

TimeCamp Mac time tracking app

TimeCamp is a free time tracker Mac with an intuitive interface. It’s available for unlimited users. Thanks to its functionality and ease of use, this time tracking software lets you automate repetitive processes to save time and money.

With TimeCamp, you can easily keep track of all your projects, improve efficiency in your team, and ensure all numbers add up. It’s Mac desktop app helps with time tracking without detaching from work. This time tracker for Mac records all apps and websites you use, so you can better remember what you were doing and assign time to projects.

Main features:

  • Available as the desktop app for Mac, extensions, and native mobile app for iOS

  • Automatic time tracking that works in the background and allows you to easily switch activities

  • Accurate customer billing thanks to the ability to monitor projects budget

  • Tracking non-billable and billable hours

  • Idle time detection and ability to track time offline

  • Entering time to invoices based on tracked hourly rates

  • Graphical timesheets integrated with calendar

  • You can track events directly from your Google Calendar

  • Analytics allows you to view the breakdown of your activities with graphs and statistics

  • Attendance module to track and manage holidays, sick leave, business trips, parental leave, vacation leave, remote work, and more

  • Extensive reports with data on tracked activities and time by projects, tasks, people, days, time entries, budgeting reports, billable, unbillable time, invoiced, cost calculation, computer time reporting system, and more. You can also customize reports

  • Ability to export reports to Google Spreadsheets, CSV, XLSX, PDF to share them with other people

  • Integrations with many popular tools

Pricing

  • Free – a free plan of TimeCamp for unlimited users includes all the essentials – accurate time tracking, unlimited projects, a time clock kiosk, desktop, and mobile apps, idle time detection, and many more,
  • Starter$2.99 per user per month, including unlimited tasks, excel reports export, attendance, time-off, overtime tracking (billed annually)
  • Premium $4.99 per user per month, including one integrations, billable time, budget & estimates, apps & websites tracking, project archiving, and more (billed annually),
  • Ultimate $7.99 per user per month, including unlimited integrations, billable rates, labor costs, invoicing, timesheet approvals, custom user roles, and more (billed annually)

Enterprise – custom pricing; contact sales team for more details

Get to know where your time goes with TimeCamp!

Track time in projects and tasks, create reports, and bill your clients in just one tool.

2. Timing

Best for: collecting all your data on time automatically and monitoring work

 

timing app

Timing is a time tracking app for Mac that lets you automatically track time. This app is perfect for people who want to monitor their work hours and track time in a simple way.

Timing tracks your activities while you work — all files, applications, websites, and categorizes them into productive and unproductive. This Mac time tracker helps you become more systematic and efficient by always working in the background.

Main features:

  • Timing combines automatic and manual time tracking

  • Automatic time tracking with high accuracy — Timing tracks apps, document paths, website URLs, titles of read emails, conversation partners in Messages, and more

  • An interactive timeline shows you exactly when you did what

  • Automatic suggestions for blocks of time that belong together. This lets you assign hours of time at once, combining the accuracy of manual time tracking with the convenience of automatic tracking

  • The option to create rules to further automate the categorization of activities

  • Idle detection

  • Reports with all your data on tracked times

  • Screen time feature — an iOS 12 feature that lets you track how much time you spend in your apps; Screen time is available also on Mac

  • Available as iOS app

Pricing: Features vary across different plans. Pricing starts at €7.90 per user, per month. A free 14-day trial is available.

3. Klokki

Best for: rule-based time tracking

Klokki is an automatic time tracking tool most suitable for freelancers and individuals. The app tracks your time after you add rules for task, configure triggers, and customize colors.

Klokki time tracker Mac app’s interface has a minimalistic design and lets you track your time directly from the menu bar. It’s a straightforward solution with handy features for Mac operating system.

Main features:

  • Auto-tracking that is triggered by pre-defined rules

  • Minimalistic menu bar timer that works in the background

  • Billable hours tracking

  • Basic reports that you can filter by date ranges or projects

  • Idle time detection and offline tracking

  • You can export a CSV file with your time tracking data and import it into other apps and services

Pricing: You can test Klokki for 14 days for free. Then, you need to pay a one-time fee of $30.

4. RescueTime

Best for: tracking time with distraction blocking

rescuetime-screen

RescueTime is a simple combination of a time tracker and a website blocker. If you’re the type of person who likes to set goals and keep a steady hand on work, try RescueTime.

It’s a great app for busy people who like challenges but also enjoy writing down their achievements to maintain control over all tasks.

RescueTime offers a handy desktop Mac time tracker that allows you to track time, goals and productivity.

Main features:

  • Detailed reports
  • Weekly e-mail summary
  • Setting goals for the day
  • Activities are automatically grouped into predefined categories with built-in productivity scores covering thousands of websites and applications. You can customize categories and productivity scores according to your preferences
  • Blocking distracting sites
  • Tracking offline activity
  • Notifications and alerts

Pricing: RescueTime offers two subscription plans. Lite – a free plan with basic automatic time tracking. Premium – $12/month, $78/year with unlimited features. A 14-day free trial is available.

👉 See the best RescueTime alternatives

5. Caato Time Tracker

Best for: individual users and small teams

Caato time tracking software for mac

Caato Time Tracker app for Mac is designed specifically for Mac devices. The app lets you use it to manage personal and work projects.

This time tracker allows you to track the time of one or several projects or tasks. It’s a simple mac time tracking app most suitable for individuals, freelancers, and small businesses that need a tool that will help them organize their individual work.

You can also try Caato Time Tracker+ which synchronizes across all Apple devices.

Main features:

  • Start and pause button

  • Tracks projects, tasks, and detailed time entries including seconds

  • Setting for automatically converting hours to days

  • Monitors multiple projects at once (Pro Version)

  • Allows editing of entries in the past and adding entries in the future

  • Status bar shows tracked time

  • Date range filter with presets and individual date range picker

  • Shows working hours for each day or the number of currently tracked projects in the dock icon

  • Intuitive, with user-friendly interface

  • Easy Excel (Pro Version) and CSV export with formatting options and email feature (OS X 10.9 and higher)

Pricing: Caato is a free tool with limited functionality. For a fully-featured Pro version, you have to make an in-app purchase.

6. Harvest

Best for: project and cost tracking

Harvest Inside

 

Harvest is one of the most popular time tracking software for Mac. It’s very helpful in planning projects, keeping track of expenses, and making sure deadlines are always met, even if they’re tight. It’s an easy-in-use app with a clean user interface.

Harvest is a good time tracking software for Mac for people who need to track expenses and billable time with accurate timesheets. Harvest’s Mac app time tracker allows you to add time entries straight from the desktop and check the running timer.

Main features

  • Track time online and offline with web, desktop, or mobile app

  • You can tap to start/stop the project and task timers on a time card, or add time manually

  • Simple reports and timesheets including log time

  • Tracking expenses

  • Generating and sending invoices

  • Timely reminders to submit time (timesheet approval)

  • Option to remove idle time from a running timer

  • Harvest offers integrations with other tools

Pricing: Harvest offers free time tracking for one person with two projects. In the Pro plan at $12 per seat per month, you get unlimited projects and access to all features.

👉 Read more about Best Timesheets Apps!

7. Toggl

Best for: lightweight time tracking with basic features

toggl-reports

Toggl is a time tracking app that is especially useful for freelancers or small business owners. The app can be used to record how much time is spent on each project. It helps to plan tasks ahead of time and stay on track with work.

It’s a simple and intuitive solution. Toggl is praised by many users for its ease of use, functionality, and design.

Toggl’s desktop time tracking app for Mac is easy-to-use and works in the background to measure time automatically.

Main features:

  • Simple, automatic time tracking with start/stop buttons

  • Reporting

  • Tags and colors for transparency

  • Unlimited projects and clients

  • Pomodoro timer

  • Project dashboard with the summary of your activity

Pricing: Toggl offers a free plan with limited features. To fully use the app’s features, you need to subscribe to one of the paid plans (Starter — $10 per user per month, Premium — $20 per user per month, or Enterprise with custom pricing).

Check our Toggl time tracking integration!

8. Be Focused

Best for: automatic time tracking with Pomodoro timer

Time tracking software for Mac

Be Focused is another timer software designated solely for Mac. Based on the Pomodoro technique, it enables its users to work in intervals that are separated by short breaks. It’s an easy-to-use app that will help you stay focused and productive.

This Mac time tracker app has a simple and pleasant design that makes it easy to use, but on the other hand, it has many useful functions and reports.

Main features:

  • Basic task management

  • Goal tracking functionality

  • Tracking time per day, week, or custom period

  • Customization of intervals to maximize productivity — work interval duration, long break duration, short break duration, target number of work intervals per day, number of intervals between long breaks

  • You can paste a task list from other applications

  • Exporting reports to a CSV file

  • Global hotkeys

  • Sounds for alarms and ticking (optional)

  • Syncs between iPad, iPhone, and Mac

  • Mac time tracking app for desktop

Pricing: BeFocused is $4.99 for a single purchase.

9. Tyme

Best for: Individuals and small teams

Tyme is a time tracking app that helps to track hours spent on various tasks. Although it’s a lightweight tool, it has many granular features.

It’s one of a few tools that let you run multiple timers simultaneously. So if you need a solution to track hours with a detailed distinction to project, task, and a sub-task, it’ll be the right fit.

Tyme is most suitable for independent contractors, freelancers, and small teams.

Main features:

  • Tyme’s dashboard shows visualized data in the form of simple graphical reports

  • You can see recorded times as calendar entries

  • You can export your recorded times as PDF, CSV, or JSON and customize the export view

  • Importing data from other apps in the CSV format

  • Siri shortcuts allow you to start and stop timers with quick voice commands

  • Clocking in and out based on your location without the need to enter time manually

  • Workload overview gives managers insight into employee availability and budget

  • Synchronizes across multiple devices (Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch)

Pricing: Tyme offers two subscription plans — Individual and Team, both at $3.99 per user per month.

10. Hubstaff

Best for: remote teams tracking time for client work

 

Hubstaff is one of the most popular timers for Mac. Since it offers features helpful in managing distributed employees, it’s most suitable for small, large teams. It’s extremely helpful for remote teams that need to record time in different locations.

Hubstaff can help you track billable hours and turn collected data into work reports to improve payroll and administrative processes.

Main features:

  • Location monitoring with GPS tracking and geofencing

  • Online timesheets with approvals

  • Team dashboard with productivity analysis

  • Reporting

  • Team management with employee attendance tracker and staff scheduler

  • Screenshots

  • Invoicing

  • Setting up pay rates once for each member of the team or project, so payments are automatically sent based on hours worked during that pay period

  • Numerous integrations with other tools

Pricing: Hubstaff offers different plans with distinct features depending on the type of team you have (in-office employees or field workers). You can use them separately or combine to better manage your team. Pricing starts at $7 per user per month. The free version is available for a single user.

👉 See the comparison between Hubstaff & TimeCamp

11. Time Doctor

Best for: employee monitoring for remote employees and hybrid teams

time-doctor

Time Doctor is a multi-functional time tracking software for Mac. Fully customizable, it’s great for demanding users who need detailed insight into employees’ activity. It monitors the usage of apps and websites so managers can see how their teams are spending their time during work.

Additionally, you can use Time Doctor to analyze

Main features:

  • Time tracking with distinction to tasks, projects, clients, and people

  • Simple timesheets for payroll management that let you create preferred payment structure

  • Real-time dashboards with instant updates on employee activity

  • Employee monitoring features (website and application monitoring, distraction and reminder alerts, screenshots)

  • Ability to give clients access to Time Doctor

  • Simple summary reports

Pricing: Time Doctor doesn’t offer a free version. Pricing starts at $7 per user per month.

12. Fanurio

Best for: basic time tracking, managing projects, and invoicing

 

 

Fanurio is a simple app available for Mac that helps to track time spent on tasks and projects. It’s a combination of project management and time tracking tool. However, it lacks more advanced features. Hence, it’s a good choice for people who need a straightforward app for time and project management.

Fanurio offers two versions — on-premise dedicated to individuals who work solo; and a server version for teams and freelancers who work on multiple computers

Main features:

  • Project list organized with tasks

  • Mini desktop timer that detects idle time and sends reminders

  • Trips feature — for recording time and expenses for commuting employees or field workforce

  • Billing features include: support for multiple currencies, billing for tracked time, expenses, trips, and products; time rounding, discounts, taxable and non-taxable items, multiple taxes, sending invoices by email, and exporting invoices

  • Basic reports that show data with tracked time, billable hours, invoiced hours, and clients

Pricing: Fanurio offers two pricing plans — $59 for a standalone version or $89 for a single-user license for a server version.

13. Time Sink

Best for: tracking personal productivity with a simple app

Time Sink - time tracking software for mac

Time Sink is a non-intrusive app that tracks Mac activities in the background. You can focus on your work while the software collects all the data.

Time Sink has limited features so it’s best for tracking and improving productivity. Also, it can help you spot distractions, understand how you work, and better manage your time.

Main features:

  • A simple, automatic timer that records all your activities

  • You can create Pools — collections for related activities with a drag-and-drop function

  • Ad hoc timer lets you record time for non-Mac activities, for example, phone calls, meetings, etc.

  • Optional screenshots

  • Light and dark mode

  • Simple activity reports with a specified period by day, week, month, and year that you can export

Pricing: Time Sink offers a lifetime license for a one-time fee at $5.

14. Timelime

Best for: visualizing time spent on work hours

Timelime time tracking software for mac

Timelime is a free time tracking app for Mac with rich reporting features. It offers a set of functionalities that are helpful in visualizing collected data on work hours and workload.

Timelime is a suitable tool for office employees, freelancers, and all people who want to improve productivity. This time tracker app Mac is the perfect assistant for students, freelancers, and all users that need to perfectly organize their time.

Main features:

  • Automatic time tracking with an unobtrusive app for Mac

  • You can manually add, edit, or delete time entries

  • Task grouping lets you organize tasks by groups with a drag and drop functionality

  • Visual productivity reports: different charts, calendar view, all with customizable colors

  • Simultaneous timers

  • Exporting your reports to CSV, XML, PDF, PNG, or JPG

  • Tasks have the function of note-taking

  • Available for mobile devices

Pricing: the free plan is available but doesn’t include all the features. Pricing starts at $2.99. The fully-featured version is $23.99.

15. Screen Time for Mac

Best for: getting insights on your apps’ usage

screen time mac

Screen Time is a Mac screen time tracker that is one of the apps already installed on every Macbook. You can use it to check how much time you or your family spend on different apps and websites. This Mac OS time tracker allows you also to set time limits for apps to better control your time and habits.

This app allows you to share data across all Apple devices to limit your total screen time.

If you are looking for simple solutions, it’s the best time tracker for Mac because of its simplicity and automatic notifications.

Main features:

  • App usage
  • Notifications – counts how many notifications you get from apps
  • Pickups – see how many times you picked up your Apple devices
  • App Limits – limit time spent on apps

Pricing: it’s free!

Timer Apps for Mac

If you’re looking for a simpler alternative to time tracking apps, you can go for manual timers.

A timer can help you monitor time spent on various tasks, control work hours, and create invoices based on simple but accurate time tracking data.

Here are some of the best time tracking apps that you can use as a timer for better time management.

Horo

Horo is a free timer app for Mac. All you have to do is set a time and the timer will start counting down in your menu bar. Once the timer goes off, you’ll get an alert.

Additionally, Horo lets you use a separate timer or many at once and add #hashtags to sort timers into specific tasks or group them under the same projects.

What’s more, you can get the Pro version at $14.99 and use it as a simple time tracking app. Features include time tracking reports, tags to organize time entries into projects, timer history with CSV export option to access all data on recorded timers’ usage, alert sounds, custom keyboard shortcut functionality, and notifications.

AS Timer

AS Timer is another timer for Mac that counts down your time and sounds an alarm when the time has elapsed. You can start it manually or with a command from the Terminal or from the AppleScript.

AS Timer is also available as a pro version at $8.99 with extended functionalities — you can use one to ten timers simultaneously, chain them together, customize them with your own sounds, colors, and background images, and display the countdown in the dock icon or in a floating window.

Flow

Flow is a Pomodoro timer for Mac. It’s a lightweight tool with a minimalistic and clean design. With Flow, you choose a task from your to-do list, set the timer, work without distractions, take a break, and repeat. You then get an overview of your completed sessions in a simple graphical form.

You can upgrade to Flow PRO for additional features (custom durations and sessions count, block websites, export timesheets, set ticking sounds, calendar sync, and more). The price is $0.99 per month, $7.99 for an annual subscription, or $19.99 for lifetime access.

Focus

Focus is another timer based on the Pomodoro technique. It helps to track your time with dedicated intervals to keep you focused on your task.

It’s a simplistic app with basic features. Focus tracks activities and gathers statistics with daily, weekly, and monthly reports, and syncs across all Apple devices.

Online Timer

Online Timer by TimeCamp may be a good alternative for a time tracking app if you need a one-time solution. You don’t have to download it and can easily use it via your favorite web browser.

And if you need a fully-featured time tracking app for Mac that will help you measure productivity, track hours for multiple projects, and create invoices, use TimeCamp with robust reporting features.

Try TimeCamp today and sign up for free!

What Is Your Favorite Time Tracking App for Mac?

Time tracking apps can help keep discipline, stay organized, and track billable hours. As a result, you can improve your productivity, become more profitable, and successfully grow your business.

What time tracking app for Mac do you use — are you a fan of simple solutions or do you prefer more advanced tools? Let us know in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you.

Happy time tracking on your Mac!


Co-author: Marta Piotrowiak, Head of Marketing at TimeCamp

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