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I used to feel overwhelmed by everything on my to do list. Sticky notes, scattered reminders, and mental checklists just weren't cutting it. Tasks slipped through the cracks, and I was always rushing to meet deadlines. That is when I decided to try out different time management tools to see what could actually help.
After testing a bunch of them, I found the ten best time management tools that made a real difference, and helped me take back control of my work day. Some helped me track my time more efficiently, while others made it easier to plan projects or work with my team. If you’re looking for a way to feel more in control of your time and get things done without stress, one of these tools might be just what you need.
5 Key features to look for in a time management tool
While I was testing different time management tools, I found that some features were more helpful than others. These five features stood out, and made the biggest difference in how easy and effective each tool was to use. If you’re looking for a time management tool, these are the key things I recommend paying attention to.
Ease of use: The best time management tools are intuitive right from the start. A clean, user-friendly interface with simple navigation helps you feel comfortable and confident quickly. Minimal onboarding means less time learning the tool and more time getting things done. Look for a time management tool with helpful tutorials. When a tool is easy to use, the whole team can start using it faster.
Robust task management: At the heart of every great time management tool is strong task organization. Features like to-do lists, recurring tasks, priority tags, and deadline reminders help keep everything on track. The ability to group tasks into projects or workflows makes complex work more manageable. A solid task management setup helps you spend less time juggling and more time executing.
Seamless integrations: Your time management tool should fit into your existing workflow, not disrupt it. Seamless integration with tools like Slack, Google Calendar, Microsoft Teams, and others saves time and reduces context-switching. It also means fewer errors. The more connected your tools are, the better your workflow will be.
Reporting and insights: A good time management tool should offer visual dashboards, performance summaries, and reports. These help you understand what’s working, where time is being lost, and how to optimize your schedule. Custom reports are great for tracking individual, team, or project-level progress. With clear data, you can make smarter decisions.
Affordable and flexible pricing: The right time management tool should offer a plan that fits your needs and your budget. It’s important to compare what you get in each plan and decide what is and isn’t worth paying for. A good time management tool gives you value without stretching your project budget too far.
Quick glance: 10 Time management tools
Tool
10 Best time management tools
1. Teamwork.com
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As a content marketer, my days are packed with deadlines, projects, and countless tasks that need to be managed and executed seamlessly. I’ve tried a lot of time management tools, but Teamwork.com has transformed the way I work. From planning content calendars to tracking my writing progress, it helps me stay organized, hit my deadlines, and collaborate with my team.
The way it streamlines everything from task management to reporting has made managing multiple content campaigns much easier. If you’re like me and need a tool to juggle various marketing tasks, Teamwork.com could be the solution for you.
Best features
Resource and workload management: Teamwork.com helps you see who is busy and who has free time, so you can assign tasks without overloading anyone. You can plan ahead by checking your team's availability and adjusting workloads as needed. The Project Health Report allows you to move tasks around quickly to keep projects on track. It also helps you predict future resource needs, so you're always prepared. With clear visibility into your team's workload, you can make smarter decisions and keep projects running smoothly.
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Time tracker: Teamwork.com makes it simple to track how much time you and your team spend on tasks. You can start and stop a timer while working or add time manually if you prefer. This helps you see exactly where your time is going and makes billing clients easier.
With the Time Tracking Report, you get a clear view of all the time logged across projects. It shows you billable and non-billable hours, helping you understand how your team's time is spent. This report is useful for checking if you're meeting your billing goals and for planning future work more accurately.
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Project views: Teamwork.com offers several ways to view your projects, so you can work the way that suits you best. You can switch between list views, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and more. Each view shows your tasks in a different way, helping you stay organized. This flexibility is great for teams with different working styles.
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Client collaboration: Teamwork.com makes it easy to work with clients by letting you share project updates, files, and comments in one place. You can invite clients to view their project and choose what they can see and do.
The Proofs feature lets clients review and give feedback on files like images or PDFs. They can click directly on the file to leave comments, which makes the review process faster and clearer. This keeps communication simple and helps everyone stay on the same page.
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Customizable templates: Teamwork.com lets you create task templates for projects and task lists, so you don’t have to repeat the same setup again and again. You can make changes to fit each project, like setting new dates or assigning tasks later. It saves time and keeps your work organized and consistent. This is especially helpful if your team runs similar projects often.
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Integrations: Teamwork.com connects with many popular tools your team already uses, making your work easier. You can link it with apps like Slack, Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook to keep everything in one place. It also works with tools like QuickBooks, Xero, HubSpot, and Salesforce, so you don’t have to enter the same info twice. By bringing your tools together, Teamwork.com saves you time and helps you stay focused on what matters most.
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Limitations
Teamwork.com packs in a lot of great features, but having so much in one place can feel like a lot at first. If you’re new to time management software, it might take a little while to find your way around. The good news is, Teamwork Academy has step-by-step videos to guide you through everything.
Pricing
Deliver: $10.99/user/month
Grow: $19.99/user/month
Scale: $54.99/user/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing (contact for a demo)
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.5/5
A Capterra user, Meredith, shared, “Easy to use and navigate, keeps our team on track with multiple projects and deadlines (which is critical for a marketing agency with so many clients to keep track of). Overall great experience and we will continue to use.”
Read real user reviews of Teamwork.com here.
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2. Trello
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I decided to give Trello a try to see if its visual boards could help me manage my tasks more effectively. After using it for a while, I found that Trello offers a unique way to organize and track work. It's simple design and flexibility made it easy to adapt to my workflow. Here's what I found.
Best features
Trello’s Kanban boards let you organize tasks with a simple drag-and-drop system to track progress.
You can connect Trello with apps like Slack and Google Drive to streamline your workflow and keep everything in one place.
Trello lets you customize boards and cards with labels, due dates, and checklists to fit your project needs and keep tasks organized.
By adding a time tracking Power-Up, you can monitor how long tasks take and generate reports to analyze productivity.
Limitations
Trello’s comments work for basic updates, but it doesn’t offer full messaging features, which can make team communication difficult.
Trello mainly uses a Kanban board view, which makes it hard for project managers to see different perspectives, like status and priority, at the same time.
Pricing
Free
Standard: $5/month
Premium: $10/month
Enterprise: $17.50/month
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.5/5
A Capterra user, Kyle, shared, “My overall experience with Trello has been positive. I've been using it for nearly a decade as a CRM. I've also used in my personal life to keep things on the track, to keep lists of websites and other things I don't want to lose track of, etc. It's a great tool for organizing thoughts and goals and executing on them long term.”
3. Clockify
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As someone who works in content marketing, I often jump between writing, editing, meetings, and planning. I wanted a better way to see where my time was actually going during the day. That’s what led me to try out Clockify. It’s a free time tracking tool, and I was curious if it could help me stay focused and work smarter. Here are my thoughts.
Best features
You can start a timer while you work or manually add time entries for tasks you’ve already finished, which makes it easy to stay accurate whether you're tracking in real time or logging hours at the end of the day.
View your logged hours in a calendar or weekly timesheet format. This gives you a clear picture of how your time is spread across the week and helps you stay balanced.
Mark entries as billable and set hourly rates for different projects, so you can track revenue and stay on top of budgets without needing a separate finance tool.
Limitations
Clockify doesn't offer multiple project views like Gantt charts or Kanban boards, which can make it difficult to visualize project timelines.
While you can add comments to time entries, Clockify lacks built-in messaging or chat features for team communication.
Pricing
Free
Standard: $5.49/month
Pro: $7.99/month
Enterprise: $11.99/month
Cake.com bundle: $12.99
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.8/5
A Capterra user, Arona, shared, “I have loved everything about my experience with Clockify. It has been easy to use and has responded diligently to all my time tracking requests. Clockify has made it so effortless to track my time usage and offers informed time insights that help me manage my time more effectively.”
4. Notion
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I was curious to try Notion after hearing so many positive reviews. I wanted to see if it could live up to the hype and help me manage tasks and content plans, and track time all in one place. I’ve heard a lot about its flexibility, and since I’m always looking for new tools to explore and see how we can improve our product, I decided to give it a try. I quickly realized that Notion is more than just a note-taking app. It’s an all-in-one workspace that’s definitely worth trying out.
Best features
With access to over 30,000 templates, you can quickly set up pages for product roadmaps, meeting notes, or editorial calendars.
Notion AI helps with drafting content, summarizing notes, and answering questions, improving productivity.
The time tracker template lets you log hours on tasks, providing insights into time usage and project progress.
Limitations
Notion’s task management is basic, missing features like recurring tasks and detailed reporting.
Large databases can slow down performance and increase load times.
Pricing
Free
Plus: $9.50/month
Business: $14/month
Enterprise: Contact sales
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.7/5
A Capterra user, Victoria, shared, “I can confidently say Notion has been a great tool! There's a bit of a learning curve process to go through at first since there are so many options available for customizing your dashboard, but after you get there, you'll be able to plan efficiently! I love that I can have shared dashboards with other team members as well as my own. Another plus is the fact that I can link external documents so that everything is in one place and has easy access.”
5. Jira
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As someone who’s worked with various project management tools, I decided to give Jira a try based on its reputation for handling complex workflows, especially in software development. I’d heard it’s a great tool for tracking detailed tasks and issues, which seemed like a perfect fit for the more intricate projects I handle. After trying it out, I found it to be a great tool for managing big teams and projects that need a clear, detailed plan.
Best features
Jira allows you to create workflows tailored to your team’s specific needs, making it ideal for complex projects.
With built-in reporting tools, Jira provides real-time insights into project progress, team performance, and bottlenecks, helping project managers make informed decisions.
Jira is built for agile teams, with features like Scrum and Kanban boards, sprint tracking, and task prioritization to make the development process easier.
Tempo timesheets let you easily track work hours, set up reminders, and generate detailed reports.
Limitations
For small teams or simple projects, Jira may feel too complex and include unnecessary features.
Some users have reported that the interface is difficult to navigate.
Pricing
Free
Standard: $7.53/month
Premium: $13.53/month
Enterprise: Contact sales
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.4/5
A Capterra user, Daniele, shared, “We use the tool with an on-premise infrastructure, and it has been highly modified to fit our company processes. Nevertheless, Jira is able to handle our specific use case, and it became an integral part in the development, monitoring and security processes.”
6. Asana
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I wanted to try Asana because I kept hearing how user-friendly it is, especially for task tracking and team collaboration. Right away, I loved how clean and intuitive the layout was—it made managing tasks feel less stressful. That said, I did find myself wishing for a bit more flexibility when handling complex projects. Some things felt a little too simple, and I had to find workarounds to get the structure I needed.
Best features
You can break projects into tasks and subtasks, assign them to team members, and set deadlines to keep everything moving.
Asana offers list, board, calendar, and timeline views so you can manage work in the way that suits you best.
Embedded timer measures exact time spent on tasks.
Limitations
For teams managing detailed workflows or technical tasks, Asana might not offer enough depth.
Some useful features like timeline view and reporting are only available in paid plans.
Pricing
Free
Starter: $10.99/month
Advanced: $24.99/month
Enterprise: Custom prices
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.5/5
A Capterra user, Katie, shared, “Asana is a strong choice for teams that need structure and visibility in their workflows. It’s flexible enough for different types of projects and has helped us stay organized, especially as we've grown—but be ready to invest a bit of time (and possibly money) to get the most out of it.”
7. Harvest
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I kept hearing about Harvest from other marketers who swear by it for tracking billable hours, so I finally gave it a try. I wasn’t expecting much, but it’s simple, clear, and doesn’t get in the way of my actual work. Being able to turn time logs into reports and invoices with just a few clicks was a nice bonus. It’s definitely made me more aware of where my time goes every day.
Best features
You can generate invoices directly from tracked time and send them to clients, simplifying the billing process.
Harvest provides visual reports that help you understand where time is spent, helping with project management and budgeting.
You can connect your calendar to Harvest so it’s easier to log time based on the events you already have scheduled.
Limitations
Harvest can be pricey for small teams, especially compared to other tools with more features.
Harvest doesn’t have task management, so you’ll need another tool to track tasks.
Pricing
Free
Pro: $11/month
Premium: $14/month
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.6/5
A Capterra user, Sierra, shared, “I have used Harvest for contract work and love that it creates projects with tasks that are fully customizable with things like fee schedule. It automates your invoice and tracks payments, so handy. And I love that it also has an app and you can track time live or go back and change as needed. As someone with ADHD, this works really well for time tracking.”
8. TimeCamp
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I decided to try TimeCamp after hearing it was great for simplifying time tracking, especially for teams. What drew me in was the promise of automating time entries, which seemed like a great way to save me time in the long run. After testing it, I was impressed by how it automatically tracked my work without me having to manually start and stop timers. But I found that while TimeCamp integrates with many tools, its project management features are a bit limited compared to other tools I use.
Best features
TimeCamp automatically tracks your work hours, breaks, and idle time, providing a comprehensive overview of your daily activities.
The mobile app includes GPS tracking, allowing you to track time based on location, and automatically start timers when entering designated job sites.
Generate detailed reports on billable and non-billable hours and create invoices directly from your time entries.
Limitations
TimeCamp’s role management is only available on the Premium plan, limiting access for Free and Starter users.
It also lets you set time limits on projects, but only for the overall duration, not for weekly or monthly limits.
Pricing
Free
Starter: $2.99/month
Premium: $4.99/month
Ultimate: $7.99/month
Enterprise: $11.99/month
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.7/5
A Capterra user, Michele, shared, “TimeCamp was a recent implementation for us after using a different time tracking system. It is a clean easy to use software with barely any learning curve. It has everything we need, min by min tracking, notes, projects, tasks, multiple reports, etc. It has been a huge asset to our remote business.”
9. ProofHub
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I decided to try ProofHub after hearing about its all-in-one approach to project management. What stood out to me was its combination of task management, time tracking, and collaboration tools in a single platform. After giving it a try, I found that ProofHub offers a streamlined experience for managing projects and teams.
Best features
You can track time spent on tasks manually or using a timer and generate timesheets for accurate billing.
Assign custom roles to team members and control access to specific information.
You pay one flat price with no extra cost per user, so you can add as many team members, projects, and files as you need without worrying about limits.
Limitations
Some features, like calendar and Gantt views, are limited in the mobile app, which can affect on-the-go access.
ProofHub lacks integrations with popular apps like Slack, Trello, and Asana.
Pricing
Flat: $89/month
Essential: $45/month
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.5/5
A Capterra user, Jennifer, shared, “ProofHub has made my work much easier and more organized. It has completely replaced all the tools I used to manage my client relationships, making my workflow smoother and efficient. It combines everything I need into one platform, from task management to collaboration and client communication.”
10. Monday.com
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What caught my attention about Monday.com was its highly customizable boards and the range of views it offers. After testing it out, I found that Monday.com can be a great tool for teams that need flexibility in managing tasks and projects. It felt intuitive at first, but as I tested it further, I realized there were some pretty complex features that made me think twice.
Best features
You can set up your own workflows and choose how you want your boards to look, so it fits the way your team works.
You can track how much time you spend on tasks and see where your time goes through simple time logs and reports.
You can leave comments, tag teammates, and share files within tasks to keep everyone in the loop.
Limitations
Some features cost more, which might be too pricey for small teams or freelancers.
There are a lot of features, so it can take a while to learn how to use everything.
Pricing
Free
Basic: $9/month
Standard: $12/month
Pro: $19/month
Enterprise: Contact sales
Ratings & reviews
Capterra rating: 4.6/5
A Capterra user, Jonathan, shared, “I've used several project management apps that different workplaces have required, such as Asana and Jira, and Monday.com is by far my favorite to use. The best way to describe Monday.com is that it doesn't just feel like a corporate project tool; it's useful, convenient, user-friendly, and, best of all, a joy to use.”
Take control of time with Teamwork.com
When it comes to managing your time, Teamwork.com gives you more than just a basic timer. It’s a complete platform that helps you stay on top of projects, manage your team’s workload, and even handle client communication—all in one place. Features like built-in time tracking, flexible project views, and detailed reporting give you the features you need to stay organized. Whether you're working with freelancers or as part of a growing team, you can easily see where your time goes, and plan better.
But what makes Teamwork.com truly shine is how well it balances time management with project collaboration. It’s not just about tracking hours; it’s about getting work done smarter. You can assign tasks, use templates for repeat projects, and even bring clients into the platform without losing control. If you’re looking for a tool that keeps everything running how you want, Teamwork.com is a great choice.
We were using Harvest, but cancelled since Teamwork.com has stronger time tracking and Timesheets. It’s easy for my team to see what they worked on and enter their time.
Shomari Moorehead
President / Creative Director at CrucianPoint
FAQs about time management tools
What is the 7-8-9 rule for time management?
The 7-8-9 rule helps you plan your day. You spend 7 hours working, 8 hours sleeping, and 9 hours on personal things like eating, relaxing, or being with family. It helps you stay balanced and not feel too tired. This rule makes sure you have time for work, rest, and fun.
What is an example of a time management strategy?
One very popular time management strategy is the Pomodoro Technique. It’s when you work in 25-minute intervals (called "Pomodoros") followed by a 5-minute break. After four Pomodoros, you take a longer break of 15–30 minutes. This method helps maintain concentration and prevents mental fatigue.
What are 5 key elements of time management?
Five key elements of time management are
Goal setting
Prioritization
Planning
Delegation
Time tracking
Setting clear goals gives direction, while prioritization helps you focus on what matters most. Planning and scheduling tasks ensures efficient use of time, delegation distributes work effectively, and tracking time helps identify and improve productivity.
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