"Free" in time tracking usually means one of two things: free for a very small team, or free until you need the feature that made you look in the first place. Both are fine, if you know which cap you will hit first. We read each vendor's pricing page on October 27, 2026; nothing here comes from a hands-on trial.
The free plans side by side
| Product | Published entry price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|
| Clockify | $3.99 per seat/month, billed annuallyBasic plan$4.99 billed monthly; GPS from the Pro planVendor pricing page, checked Oct 27, 2026 ↗ | Yes, up to 5 users |
| Toggl Track | $9 per user/month, billed annuallyStarter plan$12 billed monthly; Toggl does not record locationVendor pricing page, checked Oct 27, 2026 ↗ | Yes, up to 3 users |
| Harvest | $9 per seat/month, billed annuallyTeams plan$11 billed monthlyVendor pricing page, checked Oct 27, 2026 ↗ | Yes, 1 seat and 2 projects |
| Everhour | $8.50 per seat/month, billed yearlyTeam planMinimum 5 seatsVendor pricing page, checked Oct 27, 2026 ↗ | Yes, up to 5 seats |
Prices are the entry list prices each vendor publishes on its own US pricing page, read on Oct 27, 2026. They exclude taxes, payment processing unless stated, hardware, add-ons and negotiated discounts; a promotion appears only in the notes, labeled as one. Prices change. No vendor paid for a place or a price in this table.
What the free plans allow, as each vendor states it:
| Tracker | Free plan limit | First paid plan |
|---|---|---|
| Clockify | Free for a small team (the page says up to 5 users; its FAQ says you can invite up to 4) | Basic, $3.99 per seat a month billed annually |
| Toggl Track | Up to 3 users | Starter, $9 per user a month billed annually |
| Harvest | 1 seat and 2 projects | Teams, $9 per seat a month billed annually |
| Everhour | Up to 5 seats | Team, $8.50 per seat a month billed yearly, minimum 5 seats |
Everhour's minimum is the detail that changes the math: its cheapest paid option is five seats, or $42.50 a month, even for a team of two.
Our pick
Clockify. Its free plan covers a small team, and when you outgrow it, its first paid plan is the cheapest of the four. It is also our overall pick in time tracking, so the free plan is not a dead end.
- Pick Harvest instead if you are a freelancer or a one-person agency whose real job is invoicing clients from tracked hours; one seat and two projects is enough to test whether its workflow suits you.
- Pick Toggl Track instead for a team of three that wants the simplest timer and no location tracking.
- Who should skip free plans: an employer tracking hourly, non-exempt staff for payroll. You will want approvals, edit history and exports; the FLSA makes you keep accurate records of hours worked, so check whether the free tier includes approvals and edit history before relying on it. GPS is also a paid feature: on Clockify it starts with the Pro plan.
Before you settle on free
- Count the users you will have in twelve months, not today.
- Check whether exports to your payroll are on the free plan.
- Decide who approves edited time entries, and check the plan supports it.
For crews that need location, see GPS time tracking and employee notice.
When the free plan runs out, what time tracking software costs prices the first paid step; if you only need a paper-style record for hourly staff, start from our employee timesheet template.
Traceable evidence
Sources for this decision
- regulatorFLSA Recordkeeping and ReportingU.S. Department of Labor · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Federal records that covered employers must preserve under the FLSA and their retention context; it does not prove a timekeeping or payroll configuration is accurate.Open source ↗
- vendorClockify official product siteClockify · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Teams comparing flexible project and employee time tracking across varied work types.. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorToggl Track official product siteToggl Track · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Knowledge-work and service teams evaluating lightweight time capture and project reporting.. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorHarvest official product siteHarvest · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Agencies and professional services teams evaluating time, project budgets, billing, and invoicing handoffs.. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorEverhour official product siteEverhour · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Project teams comparing embedded time tracking inside task and delivery workflows.. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorClockify pricing pageClockify · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: Clockify's own pricing page as read on 2026-10-27, supporting the entry list price of its Basic plan ($3.99 per seat/month, billed annually) and the page details recorded with it ($4.99 billed monthly; GPS from the Pro plan), and a free plan (Yes, up to 5 users). It does not prove the total cost for a given buyer, later price changes, promotions, negotiated discounts or taxes.Open source ↗
- vendorToggl Track pricing pageToggl Track · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: Toggl Track's own pricing page as read on 2026-10-27, supporting the entry list price of its Starter plan ($9 per user/month, billed annually) and the page details recorded with it ($12 billed monthly; Toggl does not record location), and a free plan (Yes, up to 3 users). It does not prove the total cost for a given buyer, later price changes, promotions, negotiated discounts or taxes.Open source ↗
- vendorHarvest pricing pageHarvest · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: Harvest's own pricing page as read on 2026-10-27, supporting the entry list price of its Teams plan ($9 per seat/month, billed annually) and the page details recorded with it ($11 billed monthly), and a free plan (Yes, 1 seat and 2 projects). It does not prove the total cost for a given buyer, later price changes, promotions, negotiated discounts or taxes.Open source ↗
- vendorEverhour pricing pageEverhour · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: Everhour's own pricing page as read on 2026-10-27, supporting the entry list price of its Team plan ($8.50 per seat/month, billed yearly) and the page details recorded with it (Minimum 5 seats), and a free plan (Yes, up to 5 seats). It does not prove the total cost for a given buyer, later price changes, promotions, negotiated discounts or taxes.Open source ↗
- vendorClockify pricing page, plan featuresClockify · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: Clockify's pricing-page statement that GPS tracking starts on the Pro plan and that its kiosk can take a photo at clock-in, plus its free plan terms; it does not describe facial matching or prove legal compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorToggl Track pricing page and FAQToggl · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: Toggl's statement on its pricing page that Toggl Track does not record location, and its free plan terms; it does not describe every data point the product collects.Open source ↗