Looking for powerful time management tools?
Effective time management is as important for an ambitious individual as it’s for a mission-driven team.
Fortunately, modern software can enable you to leverage powerful time management skills.
In this article, we’ll highlight ten powerful time management tools that can boost your focus and productivity. We’ll go over their key features, pricing, and ratings to help you make an informed decision.
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Let’s get started.
19 best time management tools to stay highly productive
A time management tool is any software that lets you plan, organize and track your time — so you get the most out of your day.
However, every individual has different needs when planning and managing time.
That’s why we’ve divided our list based on four types of time management software:
Now let’s take a look at the ten best time management tools:
A. Productivity management tools
Productivity tools help you utilize proven time management principles to maximize personal and team efficiency.
You can think of them as your trustful ally in checking and controlling poor time management decisions!
Here are our top picks for productivity management tools in 2022:
1. Time Doctor
Employees, managers, leaders, and even freelancers are always looking for ways to improve their efficiency at work, which ultimately increases overall productivity and profitability.
You must be aware of how you spend your time to manage it more effectively.
Time Doctor tracks all activities of the workday, giving you real-time, actionable insights to improve time management at your workplace.
With its wide range of features, Time Doctor can help if you or your team struggle with:
- Inability to focus during the workday.
- Tracking work hours accurately.
- Regularly missing project deadlines.
- Identifying the reasons why your team isn’t productive.
Key features
Let’s take an in-depth look at Time Doctor’s key features:
a. Interactive & silent time tracking
The key to ensuring workplace efficiency is to keep track of your time.
Time Doctor can do that for you with great accuracy and ease.
In the manual mode, all it takes is a single click.
Here’s how you can get started:
- Create a new task and hit the start button.
- Continue your work as the timer runs in the background.
- Hit stop if you’ve completed your task or you want to take a break.
- Repeat steps 2-4 for each task in your daily task list.
Time tracking can’t get any simpler than this!
But what if you forget to turn on the timer?
Time Doctor allows you to manually edit your work time.
However, you can also choose to automate the process with Time Doctor’s silent monitoring option. It’ll automatically start tracking time whenever the user turns on their PC.
b. Tasks and projects
For a more efficient workflow, Time Doctor allows you to create projects. You can then add relevant tasks under each project.
Creating projects can help you:
- Keep your entire workflow organized.
- Assign work to the relevant team.
- Monitor progress for each project.
- Analyze individual or team productivity during/after project completion.
- Track time spent on a project to bill clients or pay employees accurately.
c. Comprehensive reports
Time Doctor auto-generates real-time productivity reports that are accurate to the second.
These reports help you identify unproductive patterns during work hours and empower you to make better business decisions.
Here are a few reports you get with Time Doctor:
- Hours tracked: See how many hours you’ve tracked in a day, week, month, etc.
- Projects and tasks report: View the amount of time spent on projects and tasks.
- Timeline report: Know the time spent on tasks and breaks for each user.
- Web and app usage: Determine the amount of time you spend on various apps and websites.
- Activity summary: See the active, idle, productive, and unproductive time for a specific time frame.
d. Productivity ratings
Time Doctor allows you to analyze productivity based on the websites and apps you use during work hours.
Admins can assign any one of the four productivity ratings to a specific website or app:
- Productive
- Unproductive
- Neutral
- Unrated
For larger teams, you can set different productivity ratings for various user groups.
For example, social media websites can be rated as ‘productive’ for the digital marketing team while remaining ‘unproductive’ for the rest of the organization.
Once you set these ratings, the ‘Activity Summary’ report will paint a more accurate picture of your team’s productivity.
e. Extension and integrations
Integrations enable you to use Time Doctor with other tools.
Through Time Doctor’s powerful Chrome extension, you can track time directly from project management software like Trello, Asana, Todoist, and more.
This saves you the hassle of using separate apps for managing your projects and team productivity.
Additionally, Time Doctor integrates with a host of other workplace software like Jira, LiquidPlanner, etc. This way, you can manage your time and productivity across platforms.
Pros
- Easy to use and intuitive interface.
- Idle-time pop-ups can help you stay focused.
- Detailed reports that help gain insights into time management.
- Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome operating systems.
- Powerful invoicing management system to accurately bill your clients.
- State-of-the-art data encryption to ensure privacy and security.
- Can track time without an internet connection.
- Responsive customer support team.
- Feature-rich mobile app for Android devices.
- Offers inexpensive pricing plans that suit various needs.
Pricing
Time Doctor offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card details required.)
Paid plans start as low as $7/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (170+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (300+ reviews)
2. RescueTime
RescueTime is a productivity management tool that aims to minimize the time you waste on distracting websites and apps.
Read our in-depth review of RescueTime.
Key features
- Time tracking automation capability.
- Detailed reports to understand work habits and identify time sinks.
- Manually fill offline work hours using RescueTime dashboard.
- Block distracting websites while working.
- Integrates with tools like Google Calendar and Slack.
- Compatible with Windows, Android, and Apple (macOS and iOS) devices.
Pricing
RescueTime offers a limited free version. Its premium plan starts at $12/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (60+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (110+ reviews)
3. Clickup
ClickUp is a productivity task management tool that helps teams to plan, organize and collaborate.
Features
- Customizable task management
- Track time spent on different tasks
- Organize tasks using Gantt charts
- Create dashboards that suits your project
- Create mind maps to visualize plan, workflows and ideas
Rating
- Capterra 4.7/5 (2527 Reviews)
- G2 4.7/5 (3925 Reviews)
Pricing
They have a free account with limited features. Price starts at “Unlimited” $5 per user / mo, “Business” $9 per user / mo and “Business Plus” $19 per user / mo
4. Wrike
Wrike is a powerful project management tool for teams. It allows employees to do their best at their work no matter where they are.
Features
- Visualize plan progress using Gantt chart
- Organize workflow with Kanban boards
- Ready to use templates for different kinds of work
- Visual Proofing helps files organized and can notify automatically for approving
- Save time and quickly find files need from your DAM files
- Keep everyone in sync with shared calendars
- Project Portfolio Management provides a clear view of projects by getting real time data insights
- Time tracking software to keep track of billable hours
- Customizable project reporting tool
Rating
- Capterra 4.2/5 (1706 reviews)
- G2 4.2/5 (2357 reviews)
Pricing
They provide a free plan with limited features and all paid plans have a 14 day trial. Price starts at “Professional” $9.80 per user/mo and then “Business” $24 per user/mo
B. Time tracking tools
This set of time management tools primarily focus on tracking your work hours — some of them may offer basic productivity monitoring features.
However, before you commit to a tool, it’s essential to evaluate your time tracking needs based on factors such as:
- The size of your team.
- Whether you have an on-field or remote team.
- Integrations with your current productivity app.
- Manual vs. automatic tracking functionality.
- Your invoicing needs.
Note: While Time Doctor and RescueTime also track time, they primarily focus on boosting your productivity and time management skills.
Here’s a quick look at some time tracking software:
5. Toggl Track
Toggl Track is an easy-to-use time tracker that can run on multiple devices. It can accurately calculate your team’s work hours without interrupting their workflow.
Check out our comprehensive Toggl Track review.
Key features
- Supports manual or automatic tracking feature to record your work hours accurately.
- Calendar app integration to turn events into time entries.
- Track and sync data on multiple devices in one-click.
- Generate reports in CSV or PDF formats.
- Email reminders to achieve time tracking targets.
Pricing
Toggl Track has a limited free version. It offers paid plans starting at $10/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (1300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (1400+ reviews)
6. Harvest
Harvest is a cloud-based time tracking tool suitable for service businesses, such as healthcare and legal consulting.
Here’s our Harvest vs. RescueTime comparison to help you analyze both tools.
Key features
- Track time while working or edit the timesheet later.
- Track expenses for project, task, client, team members, etc.
- Visualize timesheet data using charts and graphs.
- Integrates with other workplace software like Asana, Trello, and Basecamp.
- Keep track of billable hours and expenses for easy invoicing.
Pricing
Harvest offers a free limited version. Its paid plan starts at $12/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (700+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (400+ reviews)
7. Everhour
Everhour is a time tracking tool that’s ideally suited for small teams. It helps you gauge your team’s performance through detailed timesheets.
Key features
- Track work hours by using clock-in, clock-out, and break buttons.
- Track vacations, sick days, and paid time off for your team.
- Central dashboard to access all time and expense data.
- Easy integration with tools like Asana, Trello, ClickUp, etc.
- Check your team’s schedule to see who’s available and assign tasks accordingly.
Pricing
Everhour offers a 14-day free trial. Plans start at $10/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (90+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (200+ reviews)
8. TimeCamp
TimeCamp is a time tracking app designed for monitoring and improving the productivity of one’s work.
Features
- Tracking time automatically
- Tracking time spent on productive sites and activities
- Intuitive reports
- Customizable billing reports
- Manageable timesheets
- Attendance tracking
- Intelligent invoicing
Rating
- Capterra 4.7/5 (545 reviews)
- G2 4.7/5 (177 reviews)
Pricing
Timecamp offers a 14 day free trial. Basic price starts at $6.3 user/mo and the Pro account at $9 user/mo
9. TMetric
TMetric is a simple time tracking app specially designed for freelancers and small teams.
Features
- Time tracking
- Customizable Billing & Invoicing
- Manage tasks and align your budget for time spent on projects
- Monitor every member of the team and get reports on their performance
- Manage tasks and track time spent on different applications
- A time off calendar that helps manage employee attendance
Rating
- Capterra 4.5/5 (242 reviews)
- G2 4.6/5 (105 reviews)
Pricing
All plans include a free 30-day trial with no credit card required. Price starts at Business $7 /mo per user and Professional $5 /mo per user.
10. Time Tracker by eBillity
eBillity’s Time Tracker can easily track the time of your employees even when they’re offline. It’s an easy to use tool for timekeeping with GPS location tracking feature.
Features
- Employee time tracking on different operating systems
- GPS Time Tracking with geofencing
- Share schedule across the team
- Manageable Invoicing
Rating
- Capterra 4.3/5 (2420 reviews)
- G2 4.3 (336 reviews)
Pricing
They have a 14-day trial with no credit card needed. Pricing is as follows:
- Time tracker $6 user/mo (+ $10 per month base fee)
- Time tracker + Billing $10 user/mo (+ $18 per month base fee)
- LawBility $24 user/mo (no base fee)
C. Project management tools
Managing multiple projects simultaneously can be stressful and overwhelming, especially when you’re using a notepad to create your daily task list.
But don’t worry!
Project management software can equally benefit a freelancer and a business owner in several ways.
It can help you:
- Streamline your workflow.
- Monitor different tasks and projects from one place.
- Get clarity on project targets to precisely set a daily and weekly schedule.
- Prioritize your time and resources well.
- Keep your project expenses in check.
- Collaborate with your team in a shared virtual workspace.
Let’s take a look at a few powerful project management tools:
11. Asana
Asana is a collaborative project management tool that lets you manage all your work from a centralized dashboard. It helps your team stay updated on work targets, responsibilities, and priorities.
Key features
- Use ‘Goals’ on the Asana dashboard to set strategic goals and monitor their progress.
- Supports visual tools like Gantt charts to create project plans. (Pro tip: Using a timeline maker or a Gantt chart is a great way to visualize your project plans so that it’s easier for everyone on the team to stay on track.)
- Track your project progress using Portfolios.
- Import and export spreadsheet data (CSV) to Asana’s workspace.
- Integrate with tools like Time Doctor, Slack, Evernote, Gmail, Dropbox, etc.
Pricing
Asana offers a free limited version. Paid plans start at $13.49/month per user.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (6500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (9300+ reviews)
12. Trello
Trello helps your team stay organized and productive by using the power of Kanban boards. These visual boards give you a bird’s eye view of all your projects and tasks.
Key features
- Board and card system for streamlining your work.
- Drag and drop to edit your task lists and boards.
- Automate your workflow with Power-ups.
- Prioritize your tasks using a calendar Power-up.
- Sync your data across platforms like Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android platforms.
Pricing
Trello offers a free limited version. Its paid plans start at $12.50/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (11,100+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (18,300+ reviews)
13. Todoist
Todoist is a task manager that adds useful functionalities to your regular to-do list.
It helps you leverage Getting Things Done( GTD) — a work management strategy to declutter your mind and get more work done in less time.
Key features
- Create recurring tasks, like “set up a meeting every Monday.”
- Set task priorities to differentiate between an important and urgent task.
- Track your daily/monthly progress using the productivity visualization feature.
- Compatible with PC, Android, and Apple(Mac / iOS) devices.
Pricing
Todoist offers a free limited version. Its paid plans start at $4/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1200+ reviews)
14. Bigtime
BigTime is an online time and billing solution designed for professional service firms like engineering, IT, legal, and accounting services. It helps manage teams from project planning to billing, and can also evaluate the profitability of the project.
Features
- Tracking time and expenses
- Project management that can help track multiple projects at once
- Resource management that helps you decide the right employee for a task
- Customizable billing & invoicing
- Payment processing with auto accounting posting
- Real-time insight on reporting & analytics
- Integrations with multiple apps
Rating
- Capterra 4.6/5 (560 reviews)
- G2 4.5/5 (1080 reviews)
Pricing
All plans are billed annually with a minimum of 5 users. Price starts at Express $10 user/mo, Pro $30 user/mo and Premier $40 user/mo.
15. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a software platform that offers collaboration and work management for teams.
Features
- Simple admin center to easily view admin tools
- Admin tools to manage everyone’s account
- API to secure data management throughout your company
- A baseline to keep everyone on track of their task schedules
- Customizable calendar to keep everyone in sync with updates
- Manageable cards to quickly update your team for work status changes
- Consolidate information across sheets using Cell Linking
- Content Collaboration allows colleagues, vendors, and clients to quickly plan, manage and review contents even without sheet access
- Data Retention Controls to protect customer data
- Gantt chart for project visualization
- Customized view of projects using Grid, which also helps keep teams on track of different tasks
- A mobile app to get real-time access to Smartsheet on the go
- Share, send, and publish reports to keep teams in the loop.
- Resource management that helps plan future projects based on the team’s current capacity
- Work Insights helps in decision-making by identifying trends, bottlenecks, and activity.
Rating
- Capterra 4.5/5 (2236 reviews)
- G2 4.4/5 (6554 reviews)
Pricing
All paid plans are billed annually with a minimum of 3 users. Price starts at “Pro” $7 per user/mo and “Business” $25/mo.
16. Monday.com
monday.com Work OS is a platform that allows teams to plan projects, and create tools they need for everyday work.
Features
- Use Gantt chart to keep track of schedules
- Customizable dashboards to help track progress, timelines and budgets
- Save time creating automations
- Real time collaboration on work documents
- Integrations with most used tools
- Easy to use and fully customizable project templates
Rating
- Capterra 4.6/5 (2579 reviews)
- G2 4.7/5 (4003 reviews)
Pricing
All paid plans are billed annually with a minimum of 3 users. Price starts at “Basic” $8 per user/ mo, “Standard” $10 per user/ mo and then Pro $16 per user/mo. They also offer a free account with limited features and only up to 2 users.
17. Basecamp
Basecamp is a web-based project management and collaboration tool for teams.
Features
- Message board to manage specific topics and conversions
- Schedules that displays any dated to-dos and events
- Shared documents & storage to easily find files
- Create to-do lists to assign tasks and set due dates
- Real-time group chat to get answers quickly from colleagues
- Automatic Check-ins let you asks questions under one manageable thread
- Work with clients directly in Basecamp. You can choose to share messages, to-dos and even forward emails
- Get quick insight from reports across the team
Rating
- Capterra 4.3/5 (13383 reviews)
- G2 4.1/5 (4947 review)
Pricing
Basecamp provides a 30 day trial with no credit card required and you can cancel anytime. Price is at $99 /mo for the entire team.
D. Focus boosting timers
This list would be incomplete without mentioning the reliable old ‘timers.’
Timers are basic time management apps that you can use with a productivity approach like the Pomodoro Technique.
They encourage you to focus on a specific task for a certain period, helping you beat procrastination and avoid multitasking — the two major productivity killers.
Reclaim your time with these focus boosting timers:
18. Tomato Timer
Tomato Timer is a web-based tool that uses the Pomodoro Technique to help you stay focused on work.
Here’s how you can use it:
- Use a prioritization technique to sort your task list.
- Choose an important task from the list and start the timer.
- Focus intensely on your work for just 25 minutes.
- Take a 5-minute breather and start again.
Working for a short duration minimizes the chances of procrastinating. You’ll be amazed to see the amount of work you could finish without tiring yourself out!
Key features
- Minimalistic and easy-to-use interface.
- Pause or reset the timer at your convenience.
- Set custom timer intervals.
- Audio notification when the timer ends.
- Keyboard shortcuts for start, stop, reset, long and short break, etc.
Pricing
TomatoTimer is a free-to-use web-based tool.
Customer ratings
- G2: N/A
- Capterra: N/A
19. Focus Keeper
Focus Keeper allows you to use the Pomodoro technique through a mobile device.
It works on the same principle we discussed above — short bouts of focused work to increase productivity and avoid burnout.
Key features
- Simple and intuitive interface.
- Track your progress with visual charts.
- Notification alerts even when the app runs in the background.
- Reminders to use Focus Keeper more frequently.
- Available on both Android and iOS devices.
Pricing
Focus Keeper is free to download on the App Store and Google Play store.
Customer ratings
- G2: N/A
- Capterra: N/A
Wrapping up
If there is one factor that can solely determine the success or failure of your efforts, it’s time management.
Fortunately, with the right suite of time management tools, you can gain insights into how to manage time better.
Check out the tools we shared in this guide to see what fits your needs best.
You can even complement a productivity tracker like Time Doctor with a project management app like Asana and a timer like Focus Keeper for maximum functionality.
To get started, why not sign up for Time Doctor’s 14-day free trial today?
Liam Martin is a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of Time Doctor, Staff.com, and the Running Remote Conference, and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller, “Running Remote.” He advocates for remote work and helps businesses optimize their remote teams.