Time Tracking for Small Business
Small businesses usually do not need more software complexity. They need a clearer record of where work hours go, which client work gets forgotten, and where project margin starts slipping. Sandtime.io helps teams track time, bill more cleanly, and stay aligned without enterprise overhead or surveillance-heavy monitoring.
Small Businesses: why they choose Sandtime.io
Free for unlimited users
Keep everyone in one workspace from the start. Sandtime.io is free for unlimited users, so growth does not force awkward seat decisions or hidden access bottlenecks.
Start tracking without operational drag
Track billable work, internal time, payroll hours, and project effort in minutes. No enterprise rollout or heavy admin work required.
Protect visibility and margin
See where hours go before projects drift, payroll gets messy, or invoicing turns into guesswork. The earlier you see time drift, the easier it is to protect margin.
Keep trust without surveillance
Track time without screenshots, keystroke logging, or invasive monitoring practices that make adoption harder and trust weaker.
How a small business sets up Sandtime.io for the whole team
A small business sets up Sandtime.io with a project for each client job or internal area and invites the whole team at no cost, because there is no per-user fee. People log hours with a timer or after the fact, and the owner exports one monthly report for client billing, payroll and a check on where margin is slipping.
- Map projects to how you earnCreate one project per client or job, plus a few internal ones such as sales, admin and training. The billable flag separates work you can charge for from work you cannot.
- Invite everyone with the right roleInvite the team by email, with sign-in by email, Google, Microsoft or Apple. Keep Administrator for the owner and office manager, and give everyone else the User role, so they only see the projects they are assigned to.
- Pick one capture habit per roleOffice staff use the web app or the Windows or macOS app, people on the road use the phone app, and anyone can add a forgotten hour afterwards. An email reminder every Friday, switched on once by each person, asks them to fill in the week before it locks.
- Review once a monthAdd cost and revenue rates per project and per person, then run the Project revenue report and a custom report grouped by project. Export to Excel or CSV for payroll and invoices. Rates keep their history, so last quarter’s report stays correct after a raise.
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.
Common use cases
- Track client work so forgotten hours stop leaking between tasks, calls, and handoffs
- Compare hours per project with the estimate before an overrun shows up only on the invoice
- Generate cleaner reports for payroll, internal reviews, and client billing
- Keep the team accountable without surveillance-heavy monitoring
- Plan resourcing with a more honest view of where work hours really go
Key features
Fast team rollout
Invite team members by email and get them tracking fast. No seat approvals or complicated provisioning flow.
Role-based access
Control who sees and edits projects, reports, and billing data. Keep access aligned with how your team actually works.
Multi-currency billing support
Track revenue in the currencies you bill in and keep project reporting aligned with real client work.
Client-ready reporting
Export reports your team can use internally and clients can understand without manual cleanup at the end of the month.
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 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.
- No leave managementHolidays, sick days, and leave requests are not managed in Sandtime.io. Keep them in your HR tool, or start from the free leave policy template.
- 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.
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.