Time Tracking for Marketing & Creative Agencies
Retainer clients expect their hours to be tracked - but most agency time walks out the door as unbilled pitches, quick revisions, and internal reviews that never made it into a timer. Sandtime.io makes it easy to log time against the right client or campaign as you go, so retainer conversations are backed by numbers and invoices don’t require memory.
Marketing & Creative Agencies: why they choose Sandtime.io
Track time by client or campaign
Give each client, or each campaign, its own project, and every hour lands where it belongs. Retainer reviews and scope conversations take minutes when the time is already organized.
Capture every billable hour
Log time across strategy, creative, copy, design, and reporting as it happens. No more reconstructing a week from briefs and Slack threads.
Monitor retainer usage
See how many retainer hours each client has consumed in real time. Have the scope conversation before the client goes over - not after.
Your whole team, one account
Track time across account managers, creatives, strategists, and freelancers from one account. Know who worked on what without chasing timesheets.
The approval chain that gets agency timesheets in
Client billing waits on the last timesheet. Sandtime.io closes the loop without anyone chasing, and every step is free for unlimited users.
- RemindAutomatic fill-timesheet reminders on the dashboard, by email, and as a popup, so the request never has to come from a person.
- ApproveSubmitted weeks reach the reviewer by email. Approve or reject in one click, with a note on rejection so the fix is obvious.
- LockApproved and past periods lock automatically, so the hours on the invoice do not move after it goes out.
Common use cases
- Log billable hours across strategy, creative, and production work
- Monitor retainer hours so clients never go over budget unnoticed
- Separate billable client time from non-billable pitches and internal work
- Track freelancer and contractor hours alongside full-time staff
- Pull a monthly billing summary per client without rebuilding the week
- Export time logs by project and date range for invoicing or reporting
Key features
One-click timers
Start timing the moment client work begins. One click logs to the right client and campaign without interrupting the work.
Retroactive time entry
Add time entries after a creative session, a client call, or a review cycle ends. Nothing slips through because you forgot to start a timer.
Multiple clients at once
Run separate timers for different clients at the same time. Switch between accounts mid-day without losing time on either.
Export and report
Pull time reports by project, team member, or date range. Export to CSV for invoicing or client-facing billing summaries.
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 pageBillable Hours
Work hours that can be charged to a client or project. Essential for professional services firms to track revenue.
Open pageCost, revenue, and billable reporting
Use billable flags and rates to understand project profitability without losing the self-reported workflow.
Open pageCost
The expense associated with employee work hours. Calculated by multiplying time by cost rates for profitability analysis.
Open pageCreate a project for reported time
Create projects that people can report against, mark them billable or non-billable, and keep reporting tidy.
Open pageCustom Reports
User-defined reports with flexible groupings, metrics, and filters. Custom reports answer specific business questions.
Open pageTrack your first hour today
Create your free account and see results in minutes.