Your IT teams may be working for multiple clients and projects at a time. To effectively manage their productivity, you’ll need to ensure they accurately track their work hours.
Today’s time tracking tools come with features like accurate time tracking, payroll, and project management. They can drastically boost your team’s productivity and increase company profitability.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the top benefits of tracking your IT team’s work hours. We’ll also explore 10 IT time tracking software and the top three features to look out for in a time tracking solution.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
- Top 3 benefits of IT time tracking
- 10 robust IT time tracking software
- 3 essential features of IT time tracking software
Top 3 benefits of IT time tracking
In this section, we’ll discuss the pros of using time tracking software for your IT team.
1. Track team productivity
Since a single IT project has numerous tasks and employees, it can get challenging to measure the productivity of individual members.
But using an advanced tracking solution with productivity tracking features can help you add a layer of accountability for every team member, thus improving efficiency levels.
For example, you can get to know what your employees accomplished that day, which tasks they’re struggling with, etc. Extensive productivity reports can help you identify training needs and reward those employees that perform well.
2. Improve project management
You can identify how much time your employees took for each task within a tech project, team performance, project budget, and how well the team is meeting its goals.
With this data, you can streamline future tasks by allotting the required resources.
3. Prevent employee burnout
IT projects are typically tedious and may require employees to put in extra hours for multiple rounds of changes. However, if they regularly work overtime or without breaks in between, it can quickly lead to burnout.
Tracking employee time accurately can help them realize when they’ve worked long stretches and schedule breaks accordingly.
Managers can also easily identify overworked employees and reallocate tasks if needed to maintain productivity and harmony in the team.
Wondering what kind of tools will help you reap all these benefits?
Check our detailed guide on how to reduce employee burnout and create a better work-life balance.
Let’s take a look at the best time tracking tools for your IT team.
10 robust IT time tracking software
Here’s a list of some of the best IT time tracking software for your organization.
1. Time Doctor
Time Doctor is a workforce analytics platform that empowers managers with the visibility to lead with trust, not control. Mid-market companies and growing SMBs use it to gain real-time visibility into work, support employee well-being, and continuously improve productivity across remote, hybrid, and in-office teams.
With Time Doctor, you can:
- Track how long employees spend on tasks and projects with accurate, down-to-the-second time tracking
- Give managers clear, real-time visibility into work patterns without hovering or micromanaging
- Surface productivity, focus, and work-life balance trends to prevent burnout and capacity issues
- Generate audit-ready timesheets and automate payroll and client billing
- Empower employees with transparency into their own time data so they can self-manage and improve
Key features
Here are some of Time Doctor’s key features that make it a valuable tool for IT teams:
A. Time tracking
Time Doctor is a workforce analytics platform that gives you flexible time tracking so employees can record their hours in a way that fits how they work. The platform captures work activity in real time and transforms it into clear visibility for teams, helping leaders understand how work happens while keeping the experience simple for employees.
In manual mode, employees simply open the app, select their current task, and start the timer. Time Doctor runs in the background and tracks the apps and websites used during work. When they’re finished or want to take a break, they can stop the timer with a single click.
In automatic mode, Time Doctor can start tracking time when employees turn on or log into their work devices. This mode helps improve accuracy and reduces the need for manual edits or forgotten time entries.
Both modes are designed to provide clear visibility for managers and employees while minimizing disruption to the workday.
B. Idle time tracking
Time Doctor measures idle time (periods without keyboard or mouse activity) to help teams understand focus patterns and reduce productivity blockers.
Idle time is tracked in seconds and minutes, with configurable thresholds based on different roles. When someone is inactive for too long, Time Doctor can show a gentle idle-time pop-up that prompts them to refocus or take a break. This helps prevent unintentional time drift and keeps timesheets accurate.
You can also set a maximum idle limit, after which the timer automatically stops and notifies the employee.
Note: Time Doctor isn’t a keystroke logger. It will only check if a user pressed any keys or mouse buttons to determine idle time.
C. Screencasts (Optional)
Time Doctor’s screencasts feature lets you check whether your team members are working on a task or not. The app takes screenshots of a user’s screen periodically.
The most important benefit of this feature is that it deters employees from engaging in non-work-related activities since they’re aware that you’re monitoring their screen activities.
Note: Screenshots are only taken when an employee indicates that they’re working. This feature is optional and can be enabled or disabled for a particular user. The admin can blur or delete the screenshots to maintain privacy.
D. Productivity ratings
Time Doctor lets you set productivity ratings for different apps and websites, depending on an employee’s job function and which sites and apps they’re required to use.
The productivity ratings are classified as:
- Productive.
- Unproductive.
- Neutral.
- Unrated.
For example, if your IT team member uses Reddit to run a search for coding solutions, you can mark the website as productive.
E. Productivity reports
Time Doctor tracks several data points related to employees activity. You can access a wide range of reports generated in real-time.
Here are some of the reports available:
- Activity summary report: See active seconds, minutes, unproductive, manual, and mobile time for each employee over a selected time period.
- Attendance report: See if an employee is present, absent, partially absent, or late in real-time.
- Hours tracked report: View the total number of hours tracked by employees for any date range.
- Projects & tasks report: See the time spent on projects as well as individual tasks.
- Timeline report: Look at the time spent on tasks and breaks in a day or the whole week.
- Custom export report: Customize the fields you’d like to include in one single report.
- Web and app usage report: View the time spent by an employee on each app and website during work hours.
F. Payroll management
Time Doctor also provides powerful payroll management features along with time tracking.
You can integrate Time Doctor with payment gateways like Gusto, Paypal, ADP, or Wise to pay your employees directly.
You can customize payroll details like:
- Payment currency.
- Payment method.
- Pay period.
G. Robust chrome extension
Time Doctor’s powerful Chrome Extension integrates with 60+ tools that include project management, helpdesk, accounting software, and more.
For example, Time Doctor integrates easily with tools like Asana and Jira.
You can even add time tracking to tasks you’ve created on tools like ClickUp. As a result, you can help your team avoid wasting time and work more efficiently.
For more details, check out Time Doctor’s features page.
F. Benchmark AI
Benchmarks AI helps you understand your team’s performance by comparing their work patterns to similar roles and workflows across Time Doctor’s extensive behavior-based dataset.
- See how your team’s productivity, idle time, and tool usage compare to similar users across thousands of organizations.
- Identify whether shifts in productive time reflect healthy focus, rising workload pressure, or early signs of burnout.
- Spot unusual activity and changes in behavior before they affect performance or well-being.
- Give managers clearer context during coaching by showing where teams fall across percentile rankings and behavior groups.
- Make smarter decisions on resourcing, planning, and workload balancing using AI-matched comparisons instead of generic industry averages.
G. Meeting insight
Meeting Insights helps you understand how meetings affect productivity, focus time, and engagement across your team.
- See total meeting hours, number of meetings, and which teams spend the highest or lowest percentage of their time in meetings.
- Measure meeting quality by tracking average duration, idle minutes per meeting, and idle time during meetings versus regular work hours.
- Identify low-value or ineffective meetings by spotting high idle time or unrelated app usage during calls.
- Compare meeting habits across groups to find overload, spot bottlenecks, or highlight teams that collaborate effectively.
- Decide which meetings to shorten, restructure, or move async using data instead of assumptions.
- Protect focus hours by understanding how recurring calls impact productive time and daily workflow.
- Support coaching and policy decisions with clear insights into meeting load, engagement patterns, and collaboration trends.
Pricing
Time Doctor has three affordable pricing plans, and you can quickly sign up for a 14-day free trial without a credit card.
Here’s an overview of the pricing plans:
- Basic: $6.67/user per month – offers time tracking + task management + activity tracking + unlimited screenshots.
- Standard: $10/user per month – includes “Basic” features + integrations + payroll and invoicing.
- Premium: $20/user per month – includes “Standard” features + executive dashboard + client login access.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (420+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (540+ reviews)
2. Buddy Punch
Buddy Punch is an online timecard and time tracking tool for your IT team. The app has an intuitive UI (User Interface) and provides cloud-based scheduling.
Key features
- Pre-populates reports for payroll with the help of its cloud-based time clock.
- Clock in and out using the web app, Android app, or iOS app – available from Google Play and the Apple App Store.
- Supports Paid-Time-Off (PTO) tracking.
- Offers integrations with payroll solutions like QuickBooks Time, ADP, Paychex, and SurePayroll.
Pricing
Buddy Punch has a free trial for new users. Its paid plans start at $3.49/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.8/5 (120+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (660+ reviews)
3. Hubstaff
Hubstaff is a simple time tracking software suitable for IT and software teams. It is available on all major platforms like Android, Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems.
Key features
- Time tracking and online timesheets for projects and tasks.
- Configurable screenshots while tracking time (no keystroke logging)
- GPS and geofenced time tracking on mobile (time and location only)
- Payroll automation with manual or automatic payments and provider support.
- 30+ integrations
- Apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, plus a browser extension.
- Reports and filters for apps, URLs, activity, idle time, and work sessions.
Pricing
The tool offers a free plan for a single user. Hubstaff’s paid plan starts from $4.99/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (1496+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/ 5 (1580+ reviews)
4. Toggl Track
Toggl Track is a powerful yet user-friendly time tracking app that lets you start tracking time in just a few clicks.
Key features
- Track time using the simple manual time tracker.
- Offers timesheets that populate logged time data automatically through the Google Calendar integration.
- Exports time tracking data to your preferred accounting software for payroll and invoicing.
- Provides integration with popular workplace apps like Github and Jira for effective workflow management.
Pricing
Toggl Track offers a limited free plan. Paid plans start at $10/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (1490+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (1770+ reviews)
5. Clockify
Clockify is a timesheet software for tracking time spent on various tasks and projects. It has a built-in Pomodoro timer and other useful features like project scheduling and time tracking reports.
Key features
- Track time automatically or manually using a stopwatch.
- Create tasks and projects and categorize them by clients.
- Track and approve leave requests within the app.
- Generate detailed billing reports that can be exported as PDF, Excel, or CSV.
Pricing
The app offers a free plan for unlimited users and unlimited projects. Its paid plan starts at $4.99/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (2900+ reviews)
6. DeskTime
DeskTime is an employee monitoring solution suitable for teams and freelancers. It also offers workflow management and attendance tracking features.
Key features
- Automatically track time worked across apps and websites.
- Records offline billable hours spent attending meetings, calls, brainstorming sessions, etc.
- The Private Time feature allows your employees to pause time tracking when engaged in non-work activities like social media browsing.
- Integrates with popular work management software like Trello and Google Calendar to ensure uninterrupted workflow.
Pricing
DeskTime offers a free plan with limited benefits. Its paid plans start at $7/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (30+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (230+ reviews)
7. Harvest
Harvest is a free time tracking tool for time management, budgeting, invoicing, and more.
Key features
- Track employee time consistently using automated reminders.
- Check how many work hours your team spends on each project with visual reports.
- Track expenses and automatically convert them into invoices.
- Optimize your entire workflow by integrating with other productivity apps like Jira and Zendesk.
Pricing
Harvest offers a forever free limited plan for a single user. The app’s paid plan starts at $12/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (730+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (460+ reviews)
8. Quickbooks Time (TSheets)
QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) is a robust time tracking and task management tool suitable for IT, finance, and other service-based teams.
Key features
- Track billable hours and automatically add them to invoices using the QuickBooks Online app.
- Create sales receipts as well as custom and professional invoices.
- Conduct income and expense tracking for 30 or 90-day periods.
- Integrations are available with payment gateways like Gusto, ADP, Square Payroll, etc.
Pricing
QuickBooks Time offers a 30-day free trial. Its paid plans start at $10/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (1390+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (5520+ reviews)
9. TimeCamp
TimeCamp is an employee time tracking software designed to help your team monitor and optimize their efficiency.
Key features
- Track time on each project and quickly create a timesheet based on hours worked.
- Use GPS tracking for remote time entry if your team is working out of the office.
- Tracks project profitability and offer other project management features.
- Receive a notification each time a client views an invoice generated on the app.
Pricing
The app offers a free plan with limited functionality. Its paid plans start at $7/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (170+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (540+ reviews)
10. Timely
Timely is an automatic time management solution with simple functionality to help you keep track of your team’s productivity.
Key features
- Track your billable working hours across several devices. The app supports web, desktop, and mobile time tracking.
- View your team’s activity on a single dashboard.
- Record time spent on video calls, client meetings, and all digital communication.
- Helps you with budget allocation with the scheduler functionality.
Pricing
Timely provide a 14-day free trial for new users. Its paid plans start at $10/user per month.
Ratings
- G2: 4.8/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (630+ reviews)
Clearly, the market is full of excellent time tracking software. So what features must you look out for?
3 essential features of IT time tracking software
Here are some key features you need to look for before you invest in a time tracking solution:
- Efficient time tracking: This feature enables you to record the estimated and actual time spent on tasks and projects. Look for tools that have both manual and automated time tracking options.
- Performance management: Features like the ability to take screenshots, productivity reports, and web and app tracking should give you an accurate picture of employees spend their work hours.
- Payroll and invoicing functionality: Some time tracking tools offer invoicing and payroll. By integrating with software like PayPal and Quickbooks, these tools can streamline processes efficiently.
Above all, your IT time tracking tool must be easy-to-use so that your team spends less time learning it and more time on what’s important.
Wrapping up
Time tracking tools help your IT team to focus on their core tasks without wasting time on manual time entries. Over time, you can use the time usage data to streamline the team’s workflows and maintain peak productivity.
You can use this guide to choose the best time tracking software that suits your needs.
However, if you’re looking for a user-friendly and effective time management tool for your IT team, Time Doctor is your best bet.
So why not sign up for Time Doctor’s free trial to boost your team’s productivity right away?
