Time Tracking for Your Business

Time Tracking for Freelancers

Sandtime.io helps freelancers capture forgotten work, track multiple clients without friction, send client-ready reports, and stop underbilling without surveillance.

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Freelancers: why they choose Sandtime.io

Reconstruct the week without invoice archaeology

Capture billable work as it happens, even when your day is split across calls, admin, revisions, and deep work.

Track multiple clients without friction

Keep every client, retainer, and project in one place so switching contexts does not break your tracking habit.

Send client-ready reports with confidence

Turn tracked time into clean, client-ready reports that support invoices, status updates, and scope conversations.

Protect margin on every client

See how much revenue slips away when work goes untracked, and stop underbilling before it becomes your normal.

How a freelancer sets up Sandtime.io for several clients

A freelancer sets up Sandtime.io with one project per client or per fixed-fee job, each with its own revenue rate and currency. Time goes in with a timer or after the fact, and at invoice time a report per client lists the hours and amounts to put on the invoice.

  1. One project per client, with its rateSet an hourly revenue rate and currency on each client project, and create a separate project for a fixed-fee job so you can see what it really paid per hour. Keep your own admin and marketing on a non-billable project.
  2. Pick the apps that fit your daySign in with email, Google, Microsoft or Apple and install the desktop app, the Chrome extension or the phone app. Developers can also log time from Claude Code or Cursor through the MCP server, and a subcontractor you bring in later joins as a User on that client only.
  3. Capture the small stuffStart a timer when work begins, and add the quick client call or revision round you forgot with its start and end time. A weekly goal on the dashboard shows whether you are on track for the hours you planned.
  4. Invoice from the reportAt the end of the month, run the Invoices template for time, rate, net revenue, tax and total revenue per client, rounding time to 15 minutes if your contract says so. Export it to Excel or CSV and copy the totals into your invoicing tool.

Step by step in the help center: invite the team with the right role, approve a week from the email, and turn on auto-locking.

Track your first client freeFree for unlimited users. No credit card required.

What should you actually charge per hour?

A rate that looked fine when you set it stops working once unpaid admin, time off, and the hours you never bill are counted. Work back from the income you want to the rate that supports it.

Work out your hourly rateSee the free plan

Common use cases

  • Rebuilding a client week before sending invoices
  • Tracking billable and non-billable work across several clients
  • Sending time reports that explain where hours went
  • Comparing estimated time with actual time before scope drifts
  • Understanding real hourly earnings on flat-fee projects

Key features

Flexible tracking for fragmented days

Start fast when work begins, then add retroactive entries later when a client call, revision round, or support task was easy to forget.

Client structure that supports clean billing

Keep clients separated by project, rate, and currency so billing stays clean when your freelance business grows.

Reports that make invoices easier to defend

Review client-ready timesheets and reports before invoicing, instead of stitching together notes from calendars, chats, and memory.

Visibility into profit before a project drifts

Check whether a project still makes sense financially before another round of revisions eats the profit.

Where Sandtime.io stops

Better to know before you invite the team. These are the gaps people in this line of work ask about most.

  • No invoicingSandtime.io does not send invoices. The Invoices report template lists time, rate, net revenue, tax, and total per project, and you export it to Excel or CSV for your billing software.
  • No project budgetsThere is no budget field or budget alert. A report grouped by project shows hours, cost, and revenue so far, and you compare them with the estimate yourself.
  • Reminders are a weekly emailThe fill-timesheet reminder is one email, sent on Friday at 6 PM while auto-locking is on. It is off by default, so each member switches it on in their notification settings.

Common questions

Is Sandtime.io free for freelancers?

Yes. Sandtime.io is free for unlimited users with no credit card, so it stays free when you bring in collaborators or subcontractors.

Can I track several clients at different rates?

Yes. Give each client its own project with its own revenue rate and currency, and mark entries as billable or non-billable. Past reports keep the rates that applied at the time.

Can I invoice clients straight from Sandtime.io?

No. Sandtime.io does not send invoices or process payments. The Invoices report template lists time, hourly rate, net revenue, tax and total revenue per project, and exports to Excel or CSV for your invoicing tool.

Can I fill in time I forgot to track?

Yes. Add an entry with a start and end time after the fact, so a client call or a revision round you forgot to time still reaches the invoice.

Which devices can I track time on?

Sandtime.io runs on the web, Windows, macOS, iPhone and Android, and as a Chrome extension. Every app works with the same time entries.

Free templates for this workflow

Use a practical file now, then move to Sandtime.io when collecting, approving, locking, and reporting records becomes ongoing work.

Daily, weekly, and monthly timesheets

Start with an editable daily, weekly, or monthly timesheet when a simple file still fits the process.

Freelancer and contractor timesheet

Log hours and rates for one client and get an invoice-ready billable total in a formula-driven Excel file.

Invoice and timesheet reconciliation worksheet

Compare approved timesheet hours and agreed rates with invoice lines, adjustments, final amounts, and supporting evidence.

Project time log

Log who worked on a project and for how long, with automatic total, billable, and non-billable hours.

Mileage and travel log

Record trips with distance and rate to reimburse or bill travel, with automatic total and billable amounts.

Project budget and billable-hours tracker

Track budgeted hours, billable value, labor cost, and remaining project budget in a formula-driven Excel workbook.

Keep exploring

Continue with the most relevant Sandtime.io pages for this topic.

Track breaks and other non-billable time

Sandtime.io has no dedicated break timer. Non-billable projects with the Billable switch off keep breaks in your timesheet and out of what you bill.

Open page

Billable Hours

Work hours that can be charged to a client or project. Essential for professional services firms to track revenue.

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Cost, revenue, and billable reporting

Use billable flags and rates to understand project profitability without losing the self-reported workflow.

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Cost

The expense associated with employee work hours. Calculated by multiplying time by cost rates for profitability analysis.

Open page

Create a project for reported time

Create projects that people can report against, mark them billable or non-billable, and keep reporting tidy.

Open page

Custom Reports

User-defined reports with flexible groupings, metrics, and filters. Custom reports answer specific business questions.

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Choose the best next step

Use this workflow page as the starting point, then move to the route that answers the next buying question - proof, product fit, pricing, or immediate setup.

Start with a timesheet template

Download a free daily, weekly, or monthly timesheet for Excel or PDF when a simple file is the right starting point.

Measure lost billable hours

Estimate how much forgotten client work may already be missing from invoices before you change anything else.

Explore time tracking software

See the main commercial overview built for teams that bill, budget, and report against time.

See pricing and plan details

Review the free plan, unlimited-user model, and trust-first approach before you invite the team.

Go straight to free time tracking

Start with the free product if the problem is already clear and you want to capture work immediately.

Compare Sandtime.io with other tools

See how Sandtime.io compares with Clockify, Harvest, Toggl, Jibble, and more, with each vendor's prices checked on its own site.

Related guides

Not quite the right fit? These pages cover the situations teams most often compare before choosing.

Best Time Tracking Apps for Freelancers

Compare ten apps freelancers use to bill several clients by the hour, with prices and plan limits checked on each vendor's site.

Time Tracking for Software Agencies

See the client-service workflow for retainers, scoped projects, and team-wide project visibility.

Time Tracking for Consultants

See the consultant workflow for advisory calls, workshops, and retainer-based delivery.

How to Set Your Freelance Rate

Build an hourly rate from your income goal, costs, time off, and real billable share - not by copying others.

How to Spot and Recover Billable Leakage

Find the gap between work done and work billed, estimate what it costs, and close it without surveillance.

Billable vs Non-Billable Hours

Learn which hours you can bill, why the split drives utilization and your real rate, and how to track it without surveillance.