Introduction
If you’re managing multiple projects simultaneously, using robust project management software with an inbuilt time tracking tool is quintessential to ensure people utilize their work time efficiently.
Using paper timesheets for time tracking means greater chances of fake, error-prone, and inaccurate manual entries. No wonder 43% of hourly workers admit to committing time theft.
This blog post lists five of the best project management and time-tracking software that are designed to make teams and businesses more efficient and productive.
What is project time tracking software?
A creative project management software with time tracking enables teams and businesses from various industries to plan, execute, and manage projects efficiently while keeping track of time spent by individuals and groups on various tasks. Also, the tool can also be used to track billable hours for invoicing clients.
A time tracking tool provides valuable metrics to project managers and stakeholders as they can see what’s getting done in what time. Accurate time entries help people to analyze their productivity and further improve their efficiency at work.
What are the benefits of using the best time management tools in project management?
Every type of business, whether small or big, strives for maximum utilization of work time while eliminating time-wasting activities. Here’s how using a reliable time-tracking tool has important benefits for teams and businesses.
- Time tracking helps project managers to keep a record of the time spent on tasks and the project as a whole
- Time tracking helps you to analyze the daily/weekly/monthly productivity level of your employees
- You can assess the accuracy of time estimates set for different tasks
- Precise tracking of billable hours ensures fair and transparent client billing
- Task assignees have a clear idea of the start and due dates and there’s no uncertainty
- Companies can identify time-wasting activities at the workplace and take steps to remove them from work processes
- Helps you discover reasons why certain tasks are taking longer than expected
- Time tracking makes people accountable at work in case they miss deadlines
5 of the Best PM software with an inbuilt time tracking tool
We’ve read what project management software with time tracking is and its benefits. Now it’s time to take a look at the best options available today as the market is flooded with a plethora of PM software.
It can be overwhelming to choose the ideal software solution when every product markets itself as the “best in the market.” It helps when you know the best options available, which helps you make the right decision.
ProofHub
One of the most popular project management and time collaboration software, ProofHub, offers a suite of powerful features (including time tracking) that enable users to organize and manage their work in one place while seamlessly collaborating with others. Project managers and team leaders can use ProofHub to have ultimate control over teams and projects as they get a detailed view of all activities from one place.
The app streamlines the complete project management process and helps you stay on top of deadlines through smart time tracking. Unlike some other complex PM tools, ProofHub is an easy-to-use and intuitively designed software, which means you and your team can effortlessly navigate the tool whether managing simple or complex projects.
Some powerful features of ProofHub are:
- Time tracking: Now, businesses can utilize work time efficiently, identify and avoid time-wasting activities by creating timesheets, set time estimates, track time spent on tasks manually or by using timers, create time-logged reports, and more.
- Task management: ProofHub’s robust Task management tool helps Project managers ensure a clear distribution of individual and group roles & responsibilities. You can create tasks, assign these to individuals or groups, set deadlines, and track progress at every stage.
- Online proofing: Relying on email threads for collaborating on files and documents takes much of your time, but Online proofing helps collaborators to quickly access, review, and add actionable feedback on all digital files and documents with markup tools.
- Multiple views: This feature helps you avoid losing track of your project progress due to project delays as you get a complete view of your tasks and projects with Table, Board, Calendar, and Gantt views.
- Chat & Discussion: ProofHub helps you avoid vital information falling through the cracks and have a smooth flow of communication with features like Instant chat and Discussions that allow you to share vital information with others in time.
Most suitable for: Businesses of all sizes and types
Pricing: The top-tier Ultimate Control plan is priced at $89 per month when billed annually. Unlimited users are allowed.
Wrike
Wrike is a versatile project management software that offers a wide range of features, including but not limited to time tracking, extensive integrations, Kanban boards, etc. This work management platform gives you 360-degree visibility of your team’s work, true cross-departmental collaboration, and powerful automation. Wrike offers several functionalities that enable even casual project managers to effectively manage and collaborate on projects. The tool enables structuring via folders, tasks, projects, and auto-assignments based on task statuses.
Some powerful features of Wrike are:
- Time tracking: Helps teams automatically log worked hours, focus on billable hours, create and lock timesheets, and streamline forecasting to avoid project delays.
- Project dashboards: A shareable project status dashboard automatically prioritizes tasks for you, gives you access to real-time data, and a widget builder to add new items to track as you need.
- Automation: Automate everyday workflows with Wrike’s best-in-class Automation Engine that automates, streamlines processes, and reduces errors.
- Project resource planning: Store all your resources in one place, prioritize goals, and streamline resources to get the most out of them.
- Dynamic request forms: Allows you to create seamless request processes across your organization and eliminate delays.
Most suitable for: Large enterprises and SMBs
Pricing: The Paid plan starts at $9.80 per user per month.
ClickUp
ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity app with a scalable architecture, intuitive user interface, and loads of customizable features so you can plan, track, and collaborate on projects without any hassles. The tool allows managers and team leaders to set project goals and track team’s progress to ensure projects stay on track. ClickUp offers users 15+ different views to view your work – List, Board, Box, Calendar, Timeline, Workload, etc.
Its high degree of customization and comprehensive visibility into each task and project make it one of the most popular tools among teams from various industries.
Some powerful features of ClickUp include:
- Time tracking: Track time automatically or manually, add time estimates, access detailed reporting, and automatically create reports for billable time.
- Real-time reporting: Allows you to create, import, and customize reports to have a clear picture of how your team is performing, who’s working on what missed deadlines, and tasks that have been completed.
- Customization: A fully configurable software solution enables you to manage projects as suits you, and customize workflows, preferences, and other necessary factors.
- Automation: Automating routine features is simple as teams can choose from pre-built automation recipes or customize them.
- Real-time reporting: Powerful reporting features enable you to set goals, track progress, and manage resources more effectively.
Most suitable for: Freelancers and large-sized teams.
Pricing: The Paid plan starts from $5 per user per month.
Teamwork
Teamwork is an effective project management software designed specifically for client work. The app offers several features, from time tracking to budgeting to resource allocation, that helps you complete and deliver work on time. Project managers get a bird’s eye view of every project and collaborate in real-time with their team and clients to exchange crucial information, which helps in the timely completion of projects.
Teamwork offers a suite of products, like a help desk, chat, and sales CRM that work together to support your team with improved collaboration, seamless communication, and faster project delivery.
Some powerful features of Teamwork include:
- Time tracking: Effectively track and bill for all your client projects and effortlessly record all time spent on a project across various tasks and team members.
- Resource management: Helps managers with longer-term forecasting to daily capacity planning and get a detailed picture of everyone’s capacity at a glance, easily reassign tasks, and avoid bottlenecks.
- Task list templates: This helps you save time by creating and storing task list templates and using them when creating new similar task lists.
- Notebooks: Lets you write and share content on a project, and update and review changes to ensure clear visibility of the progress.
- Messages: Use this feature to communicate with context with your team and categorize messages accordingly.
Most suitable for: Ideal for teams who want a rich workload management and profit tracking experience.
Pricing: The Paid plan starts from $9.99 per user, per month when billed annually.
Mavenlink (Kantata)
Mavenlink or Kantata is a project management tool designed specifically for agency teams to help them optimize resources and boost operational performance. This dedicated project management tool offers a strong list of features including a robust time-tracking feature.
The software empowers business users with no-code tools and helps them analyze forecasts and trends in real time. The tool streamlines the project management process with a neat, intuitive user interface and a range of helpful templates. Project managers get an in-depth understanding of the working of their teams with informative reports and data-driven outputs.
Some powerful features of Trigger include:
- Time tracking: Track your team’s activity and productivity, so you can increase the team’s efficiency and minimize time wastage.
- Team collaboration: Features like chat and file sharing help users with easy collaboration and swift communication to ensure uninterrupted work processes.
- Accounting: Track employee expenses, receive payments, and set budgets effortlessly. Project teams can track changes in real-time, control budgets, and manage client expectations.
- Reporting: Identify tasks that are slowing down or consuming more resources than necessary. You can also check individual productivity and take action to help people struggling at work.
- Gantt charts: Check your project progress, identify potential bottlenecks, and check if budgets are in control. You can switch between various chart views for tighter task handling.
Most suitable for: Agencies and consultancies
Pricing: Contact the sales team for pricing plans.
The Final Word
Project management and time tracking go hand in hand. Efficient utilization of work time is essential to help project teams deliver quality work within specified timeframes to avoid project delays and loss of the business’s reputation.
We’ve listed five widely used project management time-tracking software with an inbuilt time-tracking tool, so you can keep track of how much time your team members are spending on what tasks while identifying and eliminating potential time wasters from your work processes.
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