Hubstaff

Overview

Hubstaff is the time tracking view of the Hubstaff platform (founded in the United States in 2012), focused on timesheets and project costing within the productivity space. Its core is one-click timers, organizing time by project, client and task, project budgets and timesheet approvals, helping hourly-billed teams turn hours into accountable costs and bills. This page covers the time tracking angle; for the full employee monitoring and payroll capabilities see Hubstaff employee monitoring and payroll.

Hubstaff Time Tracking spans web, desktop (Windows/macOS/Linux), iOS and Android, and the official site reports over 140,000 global users. For consulting, design and development teams that bill by project, see freelance work management tips to set up time tracking workflows.

Key Strengths

• One-click timers with manual entry: Start and stop timers to record hours, with manual entry to cover field and offline scenarios.
• Organize time by multiple dimensions: Structure hours by project, client and task with role-based rates, turning time data into cost data.
• Project budgets and cost tracking: Track hours and amounts by project and client with two budget modes and real-time over-budget alerts to protect margin.
• Timesheet approvals and exports: Weekly/monthly approval flows plus PDF/CSV export, with timesheet data linked to payroll.
• Multi-platform and integrations: Track on web, desktop and mobile, integrated with Asana, Jira, Trello, Slack and 90+ other tools.

Product Ecosystem

Timer

Automatically record time spent in apps and URLs, with manual entry, pause and idle detection across desktop and mobile.

Timesheets

Summarize hours weekly/monthly with approval flows and multi-format export, forming the data foundation for payroll and client billing.

Project Budgets

Set hour or amount budgets per project/client with automatic over-budget alerts to control project costs.

Reports

Output time reports by member, project and client with CSV/PDF export and profitability analysis.

Integrations & API

90+ integrations (Asana, Jira, Slack, GitHub, Deel and more) plus an open API let time data flow into existing workflows.

Limitations

• 2-seat minimum: Paid plans start at 2 seats, so solo freelancers pay more than with some free tools.
• Limited free plan: Budgets, reports and approvals require paid plans; the free plan covers basic tracking only.
• Optional monitoring needs management: Screenshots and activity levels can feel intrusive for pure time tracking and should be turned off with clear permissions.
• Easy to confuse with hubstaff: Since it is the same platform, clarify whether you need time-and-cost tracking or full monitoring before choosing.

Use Cases

• Hourly-billed consulting/design/development teams (recommended ★★★★★): A clear hours-to-cost-to-bill loop; see freelance work management tips.
• Small and mid-size teams needing project cost transparency (recommended ★★★★): Track hours and costs by project and client to support quoting and reviews.
• Organizations needing timesheet approvals (recommended ★★★★): Approval flows and exports fit standardized work-hour management.
• Individuals needing lightweight tracking (recommended ★★): Features and entry bar favor teams; individuals may prefer free tools.

Pricing

Note: A 14-day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee apply; annual billing gives 2 months free; see the official site for current pricing.

FAQ

• What is the difference between hubstaff-time and hubstaff? They cover the same platform from different angles: this page focuses on timesheets, project budgets and costing, while Hubstaff employee monitoring and payroll covers screenshots, GPS and full supervision, with consistent data.

• Can I export timesheets? Yes. Weekly/monthly exports to CSV/PDF are supported, and data can be synced to payroll and client bills; see automated invoicing and billing systems.

• Can I track project costs? Yes. Set per-project or per-client budgets and automatically calculate costs from tracked hours, with real-time over-budget alerts; define measures with OKR and KPI metrics.

• Is there a free plan? Yes, a free plan covers basic tracking; paid plans start at Starter $4.99/seat/month with a 2-seat minimum, and freelance work management tips helps individuals evaluate the trade-off.