Overall, Clockify has helped streamline my small business. I no longer have to worry about keeping timestamps in my head while picking up the phone, or jotting a quick note down that I'll forget what it's in reference to later. Clockify has made me more efficient, and more accurate, two things that are wonderfully customer-centric.
Pros
I most love how easy this app is able to integrate into my workflow. It literally only takes me a few clicks to switch gears to a different project. So when a customer calls up and I need to start tracking my time differently, I can switch my time to a new task (before I even know what the task is) and once the customer fills me in on the needs of the call, I can start to detail the clock that is still running, without interrupting anything.
Cons
I wish that their was a report that was a mix between the summary and the detail report. The detail report is everything that you need, but summary gives some great summation which helps with invoicing. The only problem is that you can't see the summation with the detail. If there was either an expand/collapse that could be added to the summary report, or grouping that could be added to the detail report, we would have the best of all worlds.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
I previously used Toggl, which I like just fine, but was a bit limited on the free version, and I didn't like the interface that much. I tried Clockify just to see how it would go, and so far I like it and am sticking with it for the near future.
Pros
The interface is nice, the reports get me what I need for invoicing. I can tag any recorded time as billable or not billable and even enter the dollar amount.
I tag entries for specific clients or types of work with various colors which helps differentiate entries.
The weekly emailed report helps me make sure my time is on point.
Cons
I didn't find the Windows desktop tool all that helpful, I just use the web interface.
It's not as streamlined to create a new project or client easily. I have to type a project name (which doesn't exist) then I can create it on the fly, but with no details such as setting the color or client. So I have to go to another part of the interface, track down this new project so I can set the client and color, etc. I wish I could set up all the details about project and client directly from the time-entry page and not have to go around the interface to finish adjusting it.
I don't really care for tracking precise start and stop times separately. Each time I have to stop and start a particular project time, it creates another entry. I prefer a generic single timer that accumulates, rather than a bunch of sub-time-entries like 10:34-10:45, 11:02-11:18, 12:50-1:42. This doesn't do much for me. I just want a single timer that says I worked 3.4 hours or whatever. But this is pretty minor thing. I can ignore all the sub-entries for the most part. But where this gets ugly is when I want to come back and enter time manually. If I need to adjust times, it's nearly impossible because I don't want to create time entries that overlap with existing entries. There is a lot of fudging numbers around so I can line up my projects.
Thank you for the review Zack.
When you enable the group similar time entries in your profile settings all your subentries will be grouped into one as long as they share the same description project and tag.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Overall I've been loving my experience with Clockify. It's simple yet versatile and serves my needs. I generally charge my clients a flat fee per project or per month. One day I realized tracking the time spent per client or project might be a good idea. Then, I can see if the rate seems fair, or if certain tasks are taking longer than seems reasonable.
Pros
I like being able start a timer in one tab of my browser that runs in the background while I work. I also like having the option to manually add time worked if I was not running the timer. Being able to pause the timer to take a break and then resume the timer on the same task is very convenient. Clockify will keep track of the total time worked. If you need to, you can drill down to see the start and stop times for each session.
The reporting feature lets you choose from several common time intervals (this week, past two weeks, last month, etc.); but they also give you the flexibility to choose a custom range from a specific date to a specific date.
Cons
One thing has been annoying me about the Clockify interface. The field we can use for describing the specific task we're working on within a given project only displays the first 15 characters or so. If I have a few similar tasks, it's hard for me to tell them apart unless I put the distinctive keywords upfront.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 9/10
Pros
I use Clockify nearly daily for tracking time spent on design projects. It's a super valuable tool to my business to be able to see how much time I spend on a total project & how much time is spent on individual tasks. I also like that if I accidentally forget to turn off the clock, I can manually enter the time.
Cons
But the features are somewhat confusing and hard to edit/manage. For my use, I'd just like to be able to create a Project (instead of needing to create a Client & then also a Project) and then break that project up into tasks (ex. for a branding project, I'd do Research, Logo, Collateral, Website, Meetings) which I could then use to tag to time entries. I want to be able to click on that project and immediately see the breakdown of time spent on each part of the project. As it functions now, this feature feels buried under Status. & Tasks aren't easy to delete once they've been created. I'd also like to be able to merge tasks.
In Clockify, you can create projects without creating Clients. Also you can add tasks within a project and add time entries for those tasks which you can later see when running a report. You can filter the report so it displays only tasks you've worked on. While there is no option to click on the project directly and see the dropdown of tasks and how much you've worked on them, the reports give you a detailed overview of how much time you've spent on each task. Also while merging tasks is not possible, your feedback has been noted down. If you need more information feel free to reach out to our support at support@clockify.me
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 7/10
Deployment was a breeze, documentation on their website is excellent, and customer service has been good. For example, a few team members experienced a bug at one point, and after we sent them the details, they offered workarounds and got it fixed in a reasonable timeframe. As the administrator, it requires very little time from me to keep it running and get new team members trained, which is fantastic.
Pros
Most importantly - it's easy for team members to track their time, and the chrome extension means they don't even have to open a new tab to start/end a tracking session. Also, it was easy to deploy and the cost is low (unless you need the enterprise plan).
Cons
There are a couple of features from the enterprise plan that we wanted, but it wasn't worth the difference in cost. I wish there was more of an a la carte option, as I would've been willing to pay more for those features (but not as much as the full enterprise plan, as it's overkill for our use case).
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Clockify is free and unlimited, regardless of team size.