Home Compare Project Time Tracking

Best Project Time Tracking Software in 2026

Compare 8 project time tracking tools in 2026. See which ones code hours to jobs and cost codes, prove job site location, and hand time to payroll.

Rouselle Isla

From software comparisons to workforce tools, Rouselle covers construction tech at Workyard with one focus: helping contractors make better decisions and run tighter operations.

Last updated: October 13, 2026 10 min read

Quick Answer

Workyard is the best project time tracking software for construction and field crews. The three things to look for are job and cost-code tagging, clock-in location proof, and a clean payroll handoff. Workyard covers each one. Starter is $6/user/month, billed annually, and job and cost-code tracking starts on Pro.

For office-only project timers, Toggl Track ($9/user/month, billed annually) and My Hours (free for up to 5 users) offer simpler time tracking. Hive and Teamwork.com suit teams that want project management with time logging. These office-focused tools do not provide the same GPS job site verification as Workyard.

Disclosure: Workyard publishes this review, and Workyard is one of the products ranked. We apply the same criteria to every tool and check pricing on each vendor’s site. Read our review methodology for details.

Project time tracking software records where hours go, not just how many there were. Good time and project tracking gives each block of time a job, task, or cost code. That label lets the same record drive payroll, billing, and job costing.

For contractors, the hard part is the day spent on more than one job. A worker who starts at one site and finishes at another needs both blocks coded correctly. Otherwise, the job cost report is wrong before anyone opens it.

This guide covers how to track workers’ time across 8 project time tracking tools. We compared how each one assigns hours to projects and tasks, verifies job site location, and moves approved time into payroll. We also checked what each tool costs in 2026.

What's changed in this update (October, 2026)

Retitled the page around project time tracking software. The Quick Answer now names the right tool for field crews and for office teams.
Added a section on tracking time by project, task, and job site, with an example of a worker who switches jobs mid-day.
Added how coded hours feed job costing, project budgets, and payroll exports.
Rechecked 2026 pricing and plans for all 8 tools.
Updated the Workyard section with its latest 2026 Time Cards features and clarified which plans include job and cost-code tracking.

List of best project time tracking software

Software	Hours by project and task	Job site location proof	Payroll or billing handoff	Starting price
Workyard	Jobs and cost codes selected manually or defaulted by location (Pro and above); automatic project-time assignment (Autopilot)	GPS verification and job site geofencing, subject to configured settings	Payroll and accounting integrations, including QuickBooks, Sage, ADP, and Gusto	$6/user/month
Hive	Time tracking on Teams ($12/user/month, billed annually)	None	Time report exports	$5/user/month (Starter)
Jibble	Projects and activities	GPS stamps and geofencing	QuickBooks and Xero integrations	Free for unlimited users
Insightful	Projects and tasks (Workforce Analytics)	None (computer activity only)	Reports and exports	$8/seat/month, billed annually
TimeCamp	Projects, tasks, budgets, and estimates	Geofenced timers on Enterprise; check GPS options by plan	Invoicing and Excel exports	Free plan; $3.99/user/month (Starter)
Teamwork.com	Projects, task lists, and tasks	None	Invoicing from tracked time	Free for up to 5 users; $9.99/user/month (Basics)
My Hours	Projects, tasks, and clients	None	Invoicing and report exports	Free for up to 5 users; $4/user/month (Basic)
Toggl Track	Projects, tasks, and tags	None	Invoices, CSV exports, QuickBooks invoice export on paid plans	Free for up to 3 users; $9/user/month (Starter)

How we chose

Every tool here records time against projects or tasks, not just total hours. We rechecked each one’s pricing and features then compared how each handles a multi-job day, from job coding to location proof and payroll handoff. Our review methodology has the full criteria.

How to choose the best project time tracking software

Start with where the work happens. Desk timers and field time clocks solve different problems, even when both are sold as project time tracking software.

How project time tracking software works

Project time tracking software records hours against jobs, projects, or tasks. Office teams typically use timers or manual time entries, while construction crews may clock in on mobile devices and assign hours to jobs and cost codes.

For contractors, foremen or admins review coded hours before approving them for payroll or job costing. GPS verification can help confirm where work happened. Construction time tracking software connects these field records to job-level labor reporting.

What to look for in project time tracking software

Field or office: Crews moving between job sites need a job site time clock on their phones, with location proof. Office teams usually need a timer, timesheets, and billing rates. See our comparison of construction time clock apps for more field-focused options.
How hours get coded: Check whether workers pick a job and cost code, get a default from their location, or have time assigned by rules. Fewer choices in the field usually means cleaner data.
What happens at a job switch: Ask how a worker, or a foreman for the whole crew, changes jobs mid-day. Then ask how the office fixes it when nobody does.
Proof on the time card: GPS and geofences show where a phone was on the clock. They don’t show which task someone was doing, so cost codes still matter.
The handoff to payroll and job costing: A native integration that maps jobs, cost codes, and workers saves re-keying. A CSV export works too, but it adds a mapping step.
Offline behavior: Basements and rural sites often lose signal. The app should store punches and location on the phone and sync them later.

Best software for tracking construction hours by job, task, and job site

For construction crews, choose Workyard. With GPS verification enabled, Workyard captures location evidence with time entries. On Pro and above, hours can be assigned to jobs and cost codes before approval and transfer to supported payroll or accounting systems.

For office teams that only need project timers and client billing, Toggl Track or My Hours may be a better fit.

How to track time by project, task, and job site

Tracking hours across several job sites starts with a job list, a short set of cost codes, and a geofence around each site. In Workyard (Pro and above), workers can switch jobs and cost codes on their phones, while foremen can switch an entire crew using Shortcuts. On Autopilot, automatic project time uses location and configured rules to allocate hours.

For example, a worker spends 1 hour at Project A, drives for 20 minutes, makes a 30-minute stop outside a job site geofence, then works 1 hour at Project B. With Autopilot continuous location tracking and a configured next-project allocation rule, this example assigns 1 hour to Project A and 1 hour 50 minutes to Project B. Other settings can result in different allocations.

A general manager at a large restoration contractor described how Workyard helped allocate labor across job sites: “If you’ve got someone going to multiple sites in a given day, we know how many hours they spent at each site and we can allocate the hours to the appropriate project.”

Missed job switches can still happen, so review and correct coded hours before payroll. For crews spread across sites, see our roundup of multi-site GPS time tracking tools.

How project time tracking supports job costing and project budgets

Project management time tracking pays off when hours turn into costs. Crews capture time on a job and cost code, and the system multiplies those hours by each worker’s pay rate. A foreman or admin reviews the labor allocation, then approved hours export to payroll and accounting.

Workyard handles field time capture, job and cost-code allocation, time card approvals, and labor cost reporting. Pro and above provides labor cost views by job, cost code, and worker. Full project budget tracking and broader financial reporting remain in the contractor’s accounting or project management system. Our guide to construction job costing software covers that side.

Office tools handle budgets inside the app. Teamwork.com offers time budgets on Accelerate and financial budgets with profitability reporting on Optimize and above. My Hours and Toggl Track compare tracked time against budgets or estimates.

In each case, time tracking for project management depends on workers starting the right timer.

A Massachusetts painting company that grew to 15 painters across several job sites used job-level hours this way. Precise hours let the owners bill clients accurately and track costs per project (Read the case study).

8 of the best project time tracking software

Below, we compare eight project time tracking tools, covering their key features, pricing, pros and cons, and user ratings.

1. Workyard: Best overall

Workyard is a construction operations platform built to protect job margins by automating the work around each job. With GPS verification enabled, time entries include location evidence. On Pro and above, crews can assign hours to jobs and cost codes before those records reach payroll and job costing.

Workyard focuses on field labor rather than project planning, so it doesn’t include Gantt charts or RFIs. Its value lies in giving contractors more accurate labor costs by job. As a general manager at a large property management firm put it: “We’ve improved leaps and bounds in the accuracy of our job costing analysis.”

Features

GPS time clock with circular or polygon geofences for each job site
Job and cost-code tracking with location-based defaults (Pro and above)
Automatic project time from location and your rules (Autopilot)
Crew-wide job and cost-code switching with foreman Shortcuts
Offline clock-ins that sync when the phone reconnects
Time Cards page with bulk edits and approvals by project or cost code
Time Assistant for reviewing and correcting time cards using plain-English instructions (Autopilot, web app)
Live labor cost reports by job, cost code, and worker (Pro and above)
Payroll and accounting integrations with QuickBooks, Sage, ADP, Gusto, and Paychex (varies by plan)

Hours coded to the right job as crews move

Each job gets a geofence. On Pro and above, crews can select a job and cost code at clock-in or use location-based defaults. Autopilot can assign project time using location and configured rules. On Pro and above, admins can enable Auto Fill Clock Out Time to adjust a worker’s recorded finish time to their last project geofence exit after they clock out.

Workyard automatic project time example showing 1 hour at Project A, two 10-minute drives, a 30-minute Home Depot stop, and 1 hour at Project B. With the next-visited-project rule enabled, 1 hour is allocated to Project A and 1 hour 50 minutes to Project B.

Clean up and approve coded time before payroll

You can clean up a full pay period without opening time cards one at a time. On Autopilot, Time Assistant lets authorized staff use plain-English instructions to correct time entries, such as moving hours from one job to another.

Time Assistant shows the proposed changes before applying them. Nothing is saved until the changes are reviewed and approved. The feature is available through Workyard’s web app.

Approved Time Assistant changes enter the audit log with an approval record and reason. You can undo an applied batch. The Time Cards page also supports bulk editing and time card approvals, helping admins review multiple entries before payroll.

Pricing

Free trial or free plan: Yes, a 14-day free trial.
Starter: $6 per user / month, billed annually. Monthly billing also available.
Pro, Autopilot, and Enterprise: Contact our sales team (workyard.com/contact-sales) for pricing.

If you have 50+ users, speak to our sales team for a discounted quote.

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
GPS-verified clock-ins when location tracking is enabled, with configurable job site geofences.	Job and cost-code tracking and detailed labor cost reports require Pro or above.
Hours can be assigned to jobs and cost codes, with automatic project-time allocation on Autopilot.	Automatic project time requires Autopilot and continuous location tracking.
Clock-ins, breaks, and GPS data can be recorded offline and synced later.	No built-in budget-versus-actual comparison screen; contractors compare reported labor costs with their estimates separately.
Bulk time card edits and approvals before payroll.	Not a full project management suite; project planning stays in another tool.
Supported payroll and accounting integrations reduce manual data entry.	Jobs sharing one location may require manual project selection.

Ratings

Workyard holds a 4.7 out of 5 on Capterra across 100+ reviews, a strong score for a field app that crews use every day.

App Store	Google Play	Capterra	G2
4.0 ⭐(243 ratings)	3.7 ⭐(254 reviews)	4.7 ⭐(102 reviews)	4.8 ⭐(52 reviews)

Workyard is best for contractors whose crews move between job sites and need hours coded to the right jobs before payroll. Its focus is field time, labor costs, and the work around each job, rather than full project management.

2. Hive: Best for project management with built-in time logging

Hive is project management software with time logging built into its task workflow. Office teams can record hours against tasks and subtasks, then use project views to manage the work alongside those entries.

Starter costs $5 per user/month, billed annually. Teams, at $12 per user/month billed annually, explicitly includes time tracking. Structured Timesheets is an additional $5 per user/month on Teams, so teams needing consolidated time submissions and approvals should account for that cost.