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Accurate time tracking may help a virtual assistant with client invoicing, project management, productivity tracking, and more.
But there are a lot of time tracking tools out there, and you might need assistance to decide on one which suits your requirements.
In this text, we’ll explore the 12 best time tracking software for virtual assistants, their features, pricing, and customer rankings. We’ll also explain how one can select an appropriate time tracking tool and the advantages of time tracking.
Table of Contents
Let’s start.
12 best time tracking software for virtual assistants
A virtual assistant is a distant worker who may help a business owner or manager with their every day administrative tasks, otherwise managed by an in-house executive assistant.
The virtual assistant service list includes the next:
- Scheduling meetings.
- Email marketing and management.
- Social media management.
- Accounts management.
- Content creation for digital marketing, etc.
Attributable to their distant location, using manual spreadsheets to trace a virtual assistant’s work hours or attendance might not be accurate or efficient.
Fortunately, you’ll be able to log time with online time tracking tools.
Let’s take a look at the 12 popular time tracking tools for a virtual assistant:
1. Time Doctor
Utilized by small businesses like Thrive Market in addition to large enterprises like Ericsson, it automates several repetitive tasks like recording time entries, managing projects and tasks, etc.
Key features
A. Interactive and silent time tracking
Here’s how you should utilize the manual (interactive) mode:
- Add a brand new task or select a pre-existing task to trace time.
- Click Start whenever you start work and Stop whenever you’re done or need a break.
It mechanically starts tracking time whenever you switch your computer on. And because it has no interface, it runs within the background without interrupting your workflow.
B. Idle time tracking
If it detects no mouse or keyboard activity for a predetermined time, it sends you a pop-up, nudging you to restart work. In case you don’t reply to the pop-up alert, the tool assumes you’re not working and stops tracking time.
C. Offline time tracking
Offline time tracking helps you to track your time even with no functioning web connection.
Once the web connectivity gets restored, the tracked time and the screenshots sync to your account mechanically.
D. Screencasts
The screencasts feature offers 3 different settings:
- Screenshot: Takes screenshots inside a specified time interval.
- Video: Captures video that’s divided into 3-minute intervals.
- Off: No screenshots or video.
Note: The screenshots might be blurred or deleted in the event that they contain sensitive data like personal information to guard your privacy.
E. Project and task management
Managers can create a parent project and divide it into easy tasks. This permits them to trace time spent on each task individually.
They can even use the feature to view vital project information, like:
- Total time spent.
- Productivity levels of the team.
- Productivity of individual virtual assistants.
F. Work scheduling
Work scheduling enables managers and admins to:
- Add or edit multiple shifts at a time.
- Add the minimum work hours per shift.
- Customize the work schedule in response to worker availability.
After it has been activated, work schedules appear within the settings menu and the attendance report.
G. Productivity rankings
- Productive.
- Unproductive.
- Neutral.
- Unrated.
For instance, a digital marketing virtual assistant can have to make use of social media sites like LinkedIn or Facebook for marketing campaigns. So these web sites might be classified as productive.
H. Productivity reports
The tool generates several in-depth productivity reports based in your tracked work hours. These reports provide you with a greater idea of your productivity patterns.
- Activity summary report: Displays your energetic, unproductive, manual, and mobile device time for a specific period.
- Timeline report: Helps you to view how long you spend working and on breaks.
- Hours tracked report: Shows your total hours tracked during a particular date range.
- Web connectivity report: Shows the time you spent offline and the way much percent it’s of the entire tracked time for the day.
- Attendance report: Lets your manager know in case you were present, absent, partially absent, or late to your work shift. It’s only available with the work scheduling feature turned on.
- Projects & tasks report: Displays the time you spend working on different tasks and projects.
- Web & app usage report: Lists the sites and applications you employ during work hours and the time you spend on each.
I. Payroll management
Employers can integrate the tool with popular payment gateways like Gusto, ADP, Paypal, and Clever to pay a distant worker directly.
Also, it allows employers so as to add pay rates for every virtual assistant and specify the payment currency.
J. Chrome extension and integrations
Pricing
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (460+ reviews)
G2: 4.4/5 (320+ reviews)
2. Toggl Track
Toggl Track is a time tracking software that may help a virtual assistant with tasks like reporting and invoicing.
Key features
- Helps you to track time through its mobile app, desktop app, web app, or browser extension.
- Mechanically tracks the web site or app you employ for greater than 10 seconds.
- Permits you to track time while working on a Google doc and streamlines scheduling through Google Calendar integration.
- Helps you to pin time entries to the highest of the Timer page for straightforward accessibility.
Pricing
Toggl Track offers a free version for as much as five users. Its paid plans start at $10/user per 30 days.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (2100+ reviews)
G2: 4.6/5 (1510+ reviews)
3. Harvest
Harvest is a straightforward time tracking and reporting app which helps with invoices and payments. It’s an intuitive tool that may help virtual assistants easily track time for his or her distant work.
Key features
- Helps you to easily track time with desktop and mobile apps.
- Helps distribute work evenly amongst team members through capability reporting.
- Allows a virtual assistant to set reminders to trace time.
- Helps you to review past project data and estimate the scope and expenditure of future projects.
Pricing
Harvest offers a free plan for single users. Its paid plans start at $12/user per 30 days.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (520+ reviews)
G2: 4.3/5 (770+ reviews)
4. Clockify
Clockify is a time tracker that distinguishes billable time from non-billable time and generates precise invoices.
Key features
- Helps you track time using an easy start/stop timer and supports manual entry.
- Permits you to submit timesheets and set reminders once they’re due.
- Shows productivity trends and displays how your time gets divided between different projects and tasks.
- Helps you to integrate the tool with Asana, Jira, and Trello and sync data via API & Webhooks.
Pricing
Clockify offers a free plan. Its paid plans start at $4.99/user per 30 days.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (4340+ reviews)
G2: 4.5/5 (130+ reviews)
5. MyHours
MyHours is a time tracking tool that helps organize projects and track expenses. You can even coordinate tasks and create detailed reports for clients.
Key features
- Permits you to track time on the undergo its web app or using a dedicated app for iPhone and Android mobile devices.
- Lets you set an hourly rate for every project, task, or team member.
- Helps you to assign a project to a client and classify it as billable or non-billable.
- Helps you to fast-track admin work by organising templates.
Pricing
MyHours offers a free plan. Its paid plans start at $7/user per 30 days.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.8/5 (840+ reviews)
G2: 4.6/5 (200+ reviews)
6. RescueTime
RescueTime is a virtual assistant software that provides an automatic time logging system. It might help virtual assistants gain more control over their time and boost their productivity.
Key features
- Tracks work hours and notifies you whenever you’re distracted.
- Generates time reports to assist you discover which tasks are time-consuming.
- Helps you to begin Focus Sessions to avoid distractions like social media.
- Shows the way you’re spending time to enhance time management.
Pricing
RescueTime offers free and paid features. Pricing is obtainable on request.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.6/5 (130+ reviews)
G2: 4.1/5 (80+ reviews)
7. Paymo
Paymo is a time tracking software that serves as a project management tool, tracks time, and invoices clients. It also offers budgeting features to maintain your project costs in check.
Key features
- Mechanically logs your time on projects and helps you to add notes to them.
- Offers a desktop widget that helps you to easily track time and offers a visible breakdown of your day’s activities.
- Helps you to switch between every day, weekly, and monthly timesheets easily.
- Offers a Kanban board view of your tasks to assist you manage them effectively.
Pricing
Paymo offers a free plan for a single user. Its paid plans start at $ 5.95/user per 30 days.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (430+ reviews)
G2: 4.6/5 (570+ reviews)
8. TimeCamp
TimeCamp might be used as a virtual assistant software that records billable hours and offers time reports to gauge productivity.
Key features
- Helps you to turn the timer on and off with only a click.
- Lets you track time through its desktop app or Chrome extension.
- Offers a graphic timesheet where you’ll be able to easily add, modify, or delete time entries.
- Uses keywords specific to tasks and projects to mechanically track time as you turn between them.
Pricing
TimeCamp offers a free plan. Its paid plans start at $7/user per 30 days.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (570+ reviews)
G2: 4.6/5 (180+ reviews)
9. QuickBooks Time
QuickBooks Time helps simplify client invoicing and other activities by accurately tracking the time a virtual assistant takes to finish a task.
Key features
- Helps you to clock out and in with a 4 digits pin code.
- Offers GPS tracking functionality to your distant teams.
- Generates payroll, project, and worker wage and hour reports.
- Mechanically tracks mileage to reimburse travel expenses.
Pricing
QuickBooks Time offers a free plan for 30 days. Its paid plans start at $15/month for freelancers.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (6000+ reviews)
G2: 4.5/5 (1410+ reviews)
10. DeskTime
DeskTime is an automatic time tracking software suitable for teams and even a freelancer. It also offers attendance tracking and workflow management features.
Key features
- Tracks time based on document titles, email subject lines, chat group names, etc.
- Tracks offline billable time spent attending calls, meetings, etc.
- Offers a ‘Private Time’ feature that pauses all monitoring activity when a user engages in non-work activities like social media browsing.
- Integrates with popular tools like Trello and Google Calendar to make sure uninterrupted workflow.
Pricing
DeskTime offers a free plan. Its paid plans start at $7/user per 30 days.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (470+ reviews)
G2: 4.6/5 (170+ reviews)
11. Hubstaff
Hubstaff is a virtual assistant software for time tracking, and workforce and project management. It also goals to administer in-house and distant teams efficiently.
Key features
- Offers an automatic timer that starts and stops based on GPS locations.
- Generates a timesheet showing a breakdown of employees’ work hours with respect to a client and project.
- Tracks the URLs and apps accessed during work hours for worker monitoring.
- Gives you key productivity insights through the Hubstaff dashboard.
Pricing
Hubstaff offers a free plan. Its paid plans start at $7/user per 30 days for at least two users.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.6/5 (1320+ reviews)
G2: 4.3 (400+ reviews)
12. TopTracker
TopTracker is a time tracking tool suitable for a small business owner, entrepreneur, or virtual assistant. It offers a centralized dashboard to assist manage projects with ease.
Key features
- Offers hotkeys (shortcuts) to begin, stop, and manage time tracking.
- Takes screenshots of your monitor, which may then be used as proof of time-use for the clients.
- Generates real-time summaries of your productivity based on time tracked data.
- Carries out payment processing via Payoneer, a trusted third-party payment provider.
Pricing
TopTracker offers all its features without spending a dime.
Customer rankings
Capterra: 4.6/5 (5+ reviews)
G2: N/A
Now that you recognize the distinguished time tracking apps for virtual assistants, let’s learn how one can select one of the best one to your needs.
Find out how to select the proper time tracker for virtual assistants?
Listed here are a couple of things to take note while selecting a time tracker:
1. Device compatibility
Make sure the time tracking software might be used from all devices. This fashion, you’ll be able to work from any device at your convenience.
For instance, select a time tracking software that might be used on each desktop and mobile devices to conveniently switch between devices.
2. Availability of vital features
Analyze why you wish a time tracking tool and select a software that provides all of the needed features.
For instance, in case you need advanced time management and monitoring features, purchase a tool offering idle time tracking, scheduling, URL tracking, etc.
3. Easy app integration
Subscribe to a tool that provides app integration capability with tools you or your organization already use. This helps to save lots of time, avoid confusion, and increase productivity.
For instance, a time tracking software that integrates with popular tools like Google Workspace will allow you to track time without switching or downloading extra apps – saving effort and time.
4. Budget-friendly plans
Understand the tool’s pricing plans and discover one which most closely fits your budget and provides the needed virtual assistant service.
Now, let’s see how time tracking may help a distant worker like a virtual assistant.
6 key advantages of time tracking for virtual assistants
Listed here are a couple of major advantages of time tracking for virtual assistants:
1. Boosts focus
Time tracking can assist you concentrate entirely on one task at a time, and consequently, reduce the likelihood of multitasking – which may increase productivity.
2. Create an accurate timeline
With detailed time-use data, you’ll be able to accurately estimate project timelines and set realistic deadlines. This can assist you make timely submissions.
3. Make practical decisions
Time tracking helps you make decisions on budgets, resource allocation, etc. For instance, you’ll be able to spot time-consuming tasks and choose whether to automate them or get trained on handling them efficiently.
4. Track hidden tasks
Time tracking can assist you record activities like client meetings, task planning, email marketing, etc., which can be typically a part of a virtual assistant’s workflow. It’ll provide you with more accurate data in your total work hours.
5. Establish transparency
Time tracking helps establish a transparent workflow through individual task tracking and reporting. You possibly can assess your productivity and supply the client with a transparent account of the time you invested in a selected task.
6. Ensure an accurate payroll process
Payroll software ensures an error-free billing process when supplied with accurate time tracked data and billing rates. This fashion, employers can conveniently generate invoices for each flat-priced and hourly-priced tasks.
Wrapping up
Time tracking is important to the virtual assistant business as it might ensure accurate client billing, efficient project management, and better productivity.
But there are a lot of virtual assistant tools available out there, and you need to buy the proper tracker to enjoy the advantages of recording time.