The 7 Best Time Tracking Apps for Independent Consultants on a Mac in 2026

For most independent consultants on a Mac, Timing is the best pick. It tracks automatically and adds billing status and rounded reports from $9 a month billed annually. Choose Harvest if invoicing matters most, since its free plan invoices for 1 seat and 2 projects. Use free Dayflow to rebuild forgotten hours, and Memtime if activity data must stay on your device.

This ranking is for independent consultants who work on a Mac and bill clients for their time, whether by the hour, against a retainer, or on a fixed fee where you still need to show the hours. The job you are hiring a tool for is narrow: capture the time even on days you forget to start a timer, turn it into a report a client accepts without questions, and get an invoice out. Most consultants don’t fail at tracking on purpose. They fail on Thursday afternoon, trying to remember what Tuesday morning went to.

Disclosure: Dayflow is our product. It ranks fourth here. It is strong at rebuilding a day after the fact, because it keeps a visual record of your screen, and it costs $0. It does not win the two criteria consultants care about most at billing time: client-ready reports and invoicing. Dayflow has no invoices, billing rates, billing status or team reports, so tools built for billing rank above it. For the wider field beyond consulting, see our list of Mac time trackers.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	How it tracks	Price
Timing	Automatic Mac tracking with billing-aware reports	Automatic, across apps, websites and documents	From $9 per month billed annually
Harvest	Invoicing straight from tracked hours	Timers, timesheets, connected calendar	Free (1 seat, 2 projects); Teams from $9 seat/month billed annually
Memtime	Device-local automatic record that feeds billing tools	Automatic timeline of programs, documents, email, calls and tabs	From $14 per user/month billed annually
Dayflow	Rebuilding forgotten days for free	One screen frame every 10 seconds, AI-written timeline	$0; optional Pro at $20 a month

Quick picks by use case

Best overall for a solo consultant: Timing. Automatic capture on the Mac plus billing status tracking, report rounding and a GrandTotal invoicing integration, depending on plan. Professional is $9 per month billed annually or $11 billed monthly. More detail in our Timing comparison.

Best for invoicing: Harvest. The Free plan includes time tracking, invoicing and expense tracking for 1 seat and 2 projects at $0. With more clients you move to Teams at $9 seat/month billed annually or $11 billed monthly.

Best free: Dayflow. $0 and MIT licensed, with an optional Pro plan at $20 a month. Use it to reconstruct hours, then bill from another tool.

Best for keeping activity data on your device: Memtime. Basic is $14 per user/month billed annually. Sync to billing tools starts at Connect, $21 per user/month billed annually. See our Memtime comparison.

Best for a consultancy adding people: Toggl (formerly Toggl Track). Billable rates and team reports on paid plans, with approvals and profitability reports on Premium. Starter is $9 per user per month billed annually or $12 billed monthly. Our Toggl on Mac page covers the Mac side.

Best AI-drafted timesheets: Timely. A background Memory tracker plus AI that drafts entries for approval. Starter is $9 per user per month billed yearly or $11 billed monthly. See our Timely comparison.

Cheapest paid option on Apple devices: Tyme. $4.99 a month per user on the annual plan ($59.99 a year) or $6.99 billed monthly, with Apple Watch timers and invoicing plugins.

How we compared them

Six criteria, weighted for someone billing clients alone or with a very small crew:

• Reconstructing time after the fact (25%). High scores keep a record you can return to when you forgot a timer; low scores only know what you explicitly started and stopped.
• Client-ready reports and invoicing (25%). High scores produce reports with rounding, rates or billing status, or an actual invoice; low scores leave you retyping hours into another tool.
• Cost for one person (15%). High scores are free or cheap for a single seat; low scores are priced for teams or lock billing features behind higher tiers.
• Where your data lives (15%). Consultants see client material on screen all day. High scores keep records on the Mac by default; low scores require a vendor cloud.
• Fit on a Mac (10%). High scores have a native Mac app with Mac-level capture; low scores treat the Mac as one more browser tab.
• Billing and accounting integrations (10%). High scores connect to invoicing or accounting software you already use; low scores stand alone.

Each tool was compared from its vendor’s own pricing and product pages as they read on 2026-10-04; no benchmark was run, and the scores are judgments.

The 7 best time tracking apps for independent consultants on a Mac, ranked

1. Timing

Timing is a Mac-only automatic tracker built with billable hours in mind. It records time across apps, websites and documents, down to specific URLs and Mail threads, and also lists manual entries, iOS activity import and call tracking.

The consultant value shows up after capture. Billing status tracking lets you mark what has already been billed, and customizable reports support report rounding, which is the difference between a raw activity log and something you can send. Depending on plan, Timing syncs two ways with ClickUp, Linear and Clio, and integrates with GrandTotal for invoicing. Scripting, a Web API and Zapier are also plan dependent. AI activity summaries, AI suggestions for time entries and MCP integration are on all plans. The vendor states tracked times stay on your Mac unless you opt into sync.

Price: Professional is $9 per month billed annually or $11 billed monthly. Expert is $11 billed annually or $14 billed monthly. Connect is $16 per user per month billed annually or $20 billed monthly. The trial runs 30 days with no credit card.

The honest limit: there is no free tier, it’s subscription only, and Professional covers one Mac with limited web app access. Invoices go through the GrandTotal integration rather than a billing module of its own.

Pick it if you want automatic capture and billing-aware reports in one Mac app.

2. Harvest

Harvest is a timer-based tracker with invoicing built in. Its site footer names Bending Spoons as the operator. You track with one-click timers, daily and weekly timesheets, or from a connected calendar.

For a consultant, it is the shortest path from hours to money. Tracked time becomes invoices with online payments, expenses are tracked alongside, and accounting integrations include QuickBooks and Xero. Profitability reporting and timesheet approvals sit on Enterprise. It runs on web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and browser extensions, so you can log a session from your phone in a client’s lobby.

Price: Free is $0 forever for 1 seat and 2 projects. Teams is $9 seat/month ($108 per seat billed annually) or $11 billed monthly. Enterprise is $14 seat/month ($168 per seat billed annually) or $17.50 billed monthly. Enterprise Plus is custom pricing. The trial is 30 days, no credit card. The pricing page names the paid plans Teams and Enterprise, while its FAQ still refers to older plan names, so read carefully before buying.

The honest limit: no automatic activity capture is listed. If the timer wasn’t running, Harvest has nothing to recover. No AI features are listed, and your data lives in its cloud.

Pick it if invoicing is your bottleneck and you are disciplined about timers, or you pair it with an automatic recorder.

3. Memtime

Memtime records your work automatically and keeps that record on your device. It captures time in every program, document, email, call, meeting and browser tab, shows it as a timeline, and you then turn the timeline into time entries.

That workflow suits consultants who reconcile hours at the end of the day or week rather than running timers. The vendor states automatically recorded activity data is stored exclusively on your device and not uploaded to a server, which matters when client documents are on your screen. From Connect upward, time entries sync to 100+ project and billing tools, so the invoice can come from software you already use. Built-in project management and custom reports are listed, and Premium adds call system integrations plus SSO, SAML and SCIM. It runs on Mac, Windows and Linux.

Price: Basic is $14 per user/month billed annually, $18 billed quarterly or $12 billed every two years. Connect is $21 annually, $26 quarterly or $18 two-yearly. Premium is $29 annually, $35 quarterly or $23 two-yearly. Enterprise is custom for 50+ seats. There is no monthly option. The 14-day trial needs no payment information and doesn’t convert to a subscription.

The honest limit: no free tier, no mobile or Chromebook app, no AI features listed, and the billing-tool sync that makes it useful for invoicing starts at Connect.

Pick it if you want a device-local automatic record that feeds your existing billing software.

4. Dayflow

Dayflow is our free, open-source Mac app. It records your screen at one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write the day into a readable timeline.

For consultants, it answers one question well: what did I actually work on? When a timer never got started, you scroll back to Tuesday, read what the AI wrote, and check it against what was on screen. Full screen recordings and the local timeline are stored on your Mac. Analysis runs through Local AI on your Mac via Ollama or LM Studio, through your own cloud provider, or through Dayflow Pro; our local and cloud processing page explains what leaves the machine in each mode. You can export a date range as Markdown from Settings → Export and paste it into a timesheet or status note.

Price: $0, MIT licensed, macOS 14 or later. Pro is optional at $20 a month.

The honest limit: Dayflow has no invoices, billing rates, billing status, payroll approvals or team reports. AI summaries can miss or misread work, so check them before anything reaches a client. You will still need a billing tool.

Pick it if forgotten hours cost you money and you already invoice elsewhere.

5. Toggl

Toggl is a timer-based tracker that now combines time tracking with planning under one product name. It offers manual and real-time timers, timesheets and calendar integrations, and the vendor also lists automated background tracking and a timeline in the desktop app. It states it does not take screenshots or record keystrokes.

What a consultant gets is solid billing data that scales past one person. Paid plans add billable rates and team reports, plus project planning with timelines, tasks and capacity management. Premium adds timesheet approvals, profitability reports, and Jira and Asana integrations. Toggl AI answers natural-language questions about your workspace data, and there’s an MCP server and an AI Task Creator. Apps cover web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and browser extensions.

Price: Free is $0 for up to 3 users. Starter is $9 per user per month billed annually or $12 billed monthly. Premium is $16 billed annually or $24 billed monthly. Enterprise means contacting the vendor. Paid plans have a 30-day trial.

The honest limit: it is primarily timers and manual entry rather than a full automatic record, and billable rates require a paid plan, so the free tier doesn’t cover billing clients. Data lives in its cloud. For invoice generation specifically, see the vendor’s pricing page at toggl.com.

Pick it if you’re growing from solo into a small consultancy and want planning and billing numbers in one place.

6. Timely

Timely is an automatic tracker aimed at teams that bill hours, with consultancies named among its targets. A background Memory tracker records work across web and desktop apps into a private timeline, and AI drafts timesheet entries for you to approve. A manual timer is included too.

That draft-and-approve loop is the appeal for consultants: you review proposed entries instead of building them from scratch, and AI time categorization helps sort them. The vendor states timelines are private and only entries you approve are shared. Team and budget management, plus project management and accounting integrations, start at Premium. Capacity reporting and overtime tracking are on Unlimited. A Tasks add-on is listed from as little as $5 per person.

Price: Starter is $9 per user per month billed yearly or $11 billed monthly, for up to 5 users. Premium is $16 billed yearly or $20 billed monthly, up to 50 users. Unlimited is $22 billed yearly or $28 billed monthly. Enterprise is custom. The trial is 14 days.

The honest limit: no free tier, Starter caps you at 20 projects, and accounting integrations need Premium. It’s a cloud service priced per user, and the pages we read didn’t confirm which desktop operating systems the app supports, so check before buying.

Pick it if you want AI to draft your timesheets and a cloud-hosted record is acceptable to your clients.

7. Tyme

Tyme is a timer-based tracker for Apple devices: Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with a web login in beta. You start and stop timers from the app, shortcuts or your watch, and it can clock you in and out by location with geofences and record breaks automatically.

For a consultant who moves between client sites, that location trigger and the expense and mileage tracking are practical. Invoicing plugins include GrandTotal, Lexware and sevdesk, so hours can reach an invoice without retyping. Team mode with admin and member roles exists if you bring on a subcontractor. A Tyme MCP Server is listed for connecting AI assistants, though no built-in AI features are described.

Price: $4.99 a month per user on the annual plan ($59.99 annual payment) or $6.99 a month per user billed monthly. The trial is 14 days.

The honest limit: there’s no automatic app or window capture listed, so forgotten time stays forgotten. It’s Apple-only, has no free tier, and the vendor describes cross-device sync without saying where that data is stored.

Pick it if you live on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch and want the cheapest paid tracker with invoicing plugins.

Full comparison table

Tool	Price	Automatic capture	AI summaries	Where data lives	Open source	Platforms
Timing	From $9/month billed annually; no free tier	Yes, apps, websites, documents	AI activity summaries and entry suggestions	Local, optional sync	No	Mac
Harvest	Free (1 seat, 2 projects); Teams $9 seat/month billed annually	No, timers and timesheets	None listed	Cloud	No	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions
Memtime	From $14 per user/month billed annually; no free tier	Yes, programs, documents, email, calls, tabs	None listed	Local (activity data)	No	Mac, Windows, Linux
Dayflow	$0; optional Pro $20 a month	Yes, one screen frame every 10 seconds	AI-written timeline	Your Mac; analysis local or cloud by mode	Yes, MIT	Mac (macOS 14+)
Toggl	Free up to 3 users; Starter $9 per user/month billed annually	Background tracking listed in desktop app; mainly timers	Natural-language questions via Toggl AI	Cloud	No	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions
Timely	From $9 per user/month billed yearly; no free tier	Yes, Memory tracker	AI-drafted timesheets and categorization	Cloud	No	Web, desktop app, iOS, Android
Tyme	$4.99/month per user billed annually; no free tier	No, timers and geofences	None built in; MCP server	Cloud sync, backend not described	No	Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, web (beta)

Can you rebuild billable hours you forgot to track?

Only if something was recording while you weren’t paying attention. The seven tools split into three groups.

Activity trackers (Timing, Memtime, Timely, and Toggl’s listed background tracking) log which apps, documents, sites or calls were in front of you. That’s usually enough to say “two hours in the client’s deck on Tuesday.” Timing goes down to specific URLs and Mail threads, which helps when two clients share the same tools.

A screen record (Dayflow) keeps what was actually on screen, then summarizes it. That’s useful when the app name alone is ambiguous: a browser tab titled “Doc” tells you little, while a frame of the doc tells you which client it was. The tradeoff is that it’s a record, not a billing system, so you still move hours into one.

Timers (Harvest, Tyme) are precise when you remember them and blank when you don’t. Harvest’s calendar tracking helps with meetings, and Tyme’s geofences catch on-site days, but desk work you forgot to start is gone.

A routine that holds up: review the record daily, while memory is fresh, then batch entries weekly before invoicing. Our guide to a Mac timesheet without manual entry walks through that, and remembering what you worked on covers the habit side.

Do you need invoicing inside your time tracker?

Not necessarily, but you need a short path to an invoice. Count the steps between “hours are known” and “invoice sent.”

• Built in: Harvest generates invoices from tracked time, takes online payments and connects to QuickBooks and Xero.
• Via a plugin: Timing (plan dependent) and Tyme both list GrandTotal; Tyme adds Lexware and sevdesk.
• Via sync: Memtime pushes entries to 100+ project and billing tools from Connect upward. Timely offers accounting integrations from Premium.
• None: Dayflow produces no invoices. Its Markdown export is a source for your entries, not a billing document.

Client-ready reports are a separate question from invoices. A report a client accepts usually has rounded time, clear task descriptions and a clean split by project. Timing’s report rounding and billing status cover that directly. If you send weekly summaries instead of line items, our weekly status report template and the export work history workflow show how to turn a Dayflow export into one.

Where Dayflow is the wrong pick

Be honest with yourself about which of these apply:

• You need to send invoices. Dayflow has none. Harvest wins, starting with its free plan for 1 seat and 2 projects.
• You want reports with billing status and rounding. Timing does this natively on the Mac, from $9 per month billed annually.
• You bill as a team or need timesheet approvals. Dayflow has no team reports or approvals. Toggl Premium or Timely Premium fit better.
• You also work on Windows or Linux. Dayflow is Mac only. Memtime covers Mac, Windows and Linux.
• You track on your phone or watch. Tyme covers iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch; Harvest and Toggl have iOS and Android apps.
• Your clients won’t accept any screen recording on a machine that shows their material. Even with local storage, some contracts rule it out. Toggl states it takes no screenshots, and Timing tracks apps and URLs. Our piece on time tracking without surveillance covers how to think about this.
• You run macOS older than 14. Dayflow requires macOS 14 or later.

How much do they cost?

Tool	Plan	Price
Timing	Professional	$9 per month billed annually, or $11 billed monthly
Timing	Expert	$11 per month billed annually, or $14 billed monthly
Timing	Connect	$16 per user per month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly
Harvest	Free	$0 forever (1 seat, 2 projects)
Harvest	Teams	$9 seat/month ($108 per seat billed annually), or $11 billed monthly
Harvest	Enterprise	$14 seat/month ($168 per seat billed annually), or $17.50 billed monthly
Harvest	Enterprise Plus	Custom pricing
Memtime	Basic	$14 per user/month billed annually, $18 quarterly, $12 two-yearly
Memtime	Connect	$21 per user/month billed annually, $26 quarterly, $18 two-yearly
Memtime	Premium	$29 per user/month billed annually, $35 quarterly, $23 two-yearly
Memtime	Enterprise	Custom, 50+ seats
Dayflow	Free	$0, MIT licensed
Dayflow	Pro	$20 a month, optional
Toggl	Free	$0 for up to 3 users
Toggl	Starter	$9 per user per month billed annually, or $12 billed monthly
Toggl	Premium	$16 per user per month billed annually, or $24 billed monthly
Toggl	Enterprise	Contact vendor
Timely	Starter	$9 per user per month billed yearly, or $11 billed monthly (max 5 users)
Timely	Premium	$16 per user per month billed yearly, or $20 billed monthly (max 50 users)
Timely	Unlimited	$22 per user per month billed yearly, or $28 billed monthly
Timely	Enterprise	Custom
Tyme	Annual	$4.99 a month per user ($59.99 annual payment)
Tyme	Monthly	$6.99 a month per user

The cheapest sensible setup for a consultant with one or two clients is Dayflow for reconstructing hours plus Harvest Free for invoicing, which costs $0. Once you have more than two projects, either move to Harvest Teams at $9 seat/month billed annually or consolidate into Timing Professional at $9 per month billed annually. See Dayflow pricing for what Pro adds.

The bottom line

If you want one Mac app that tracks automatically and produces billing-aware reports, pick Timing. If getting invoices out is the hard part, pick Harvest and start on its free plan. If forgotten hours are the problem and you already invoice elsewhere, add Dayflow for $0. If activity data must stay on your device and feed existing billing software, pick Memtime at the Connect plan.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best time tracking app for consultants on a Mac?

For a solo consultant who bills by the hour, Timing is the strongest all-round pick. It records time automatically across apps, websites and documents, then adds billing status tracking and customizable reports with rounding. Professional costs $9 per month billed annually or $11 billed monthly, with a 30-day trial and no credit card. If invoicing matters more than automatic capture, Harvest is the better fit.

Can I send invoices from Dayflow?

No. Dayflow does not create invoices and has no billing rates, billing status or team reports. Harvest beats it here: the Harvest Free plan includes time tracking, invoicing and expense tracking for 1 seat and 2 projects at $0, with online payments and QuickBooks and Xero integrations. Many consultants use Dayflow to reconstruct hours and Harvest to bill them.

How do I reconstruct billable hours I forgot to track?

You need a tool that recorded the day without being asked. Timing, Memtime and Timely capture app and document activity in the background, and Toggl lists automated background tracking in its desktop app. Dayflow records a screen frame every 10 seconds and writes an AI timeline, so you can read back what you worked on. Timer-only tools such as Tyme can't recover time that wasn't started.

Is there a free time tracker for consultants that also does invoicing?

Harvest is the main option. Its Free plan costs $0 forever and covers 1 seat and 2 projects, with time tracking, invoicing and expense tracking. That suits a consultant with one or two clients. Once you need more projects, Harvest Teams costs $9 per seat per month billed annually or $11 billed monthly. Dayflow is also $0 but has no invoicing.

Which consultant time trackers keep my data on my Mac?

Timing states tracked times are stored locally and never leave your Mac unless you opt into sync. Memtime states automatically recorded activity stays exclusively on your device. Dayflow stores full screen recordings and its timeline on your Mac, and its Local AI mode keeps screenshot analysis on-device. Harvest, Toggl and Timely are cloud services, and Tyme syncs across devices without describing its backend.

Does Toggl track time automatically on a Mac?

Partly. Toggl's core is manual and real-time timers, timesheets and calendar integrations, but the vendor also lists automated background tracking and a timeline in the desktop app. It states it does not take screenshots or record keystrokes. Billable rates require a paid plan: Starter is $9 per user per month billed annually or $12 billed monthly.

Which time trackers work with GrandTotal for invoicing?

Timing lists a GrandTotal invoicing integration, depending on plan, and Tyme lists GrandTotal among its invoicing plugins alongside Lexware and sevdesk. Both run on Apple platforms. Tyme is cheaper at $4.99 per month per user on the annual plan ($59.99 a year), while Timing adds automatic tracking starting at $9 per month billed annually.

Does Memtime have a monthly plan?

No monthly billing option is shown. Memtime bills quarterly, annually or every two years. Basic is $14 per user per month billed annually, $18 billed quarterly or $12 billed every two years. Connect, which adds sync to 100+ project and billing tools, is $21 annually, $26 quarterly or $18 two-yearly. Its 14-day trial needs no payment details and does not convert to a subscription.

Do consultants need AI in a time tracker?

It helps most with the tedious step of turning raw activity into entries. Timely's AI drafts timesheet entries for you to approve, Timing offers AI activity summaries and entry suggestions, and Dayflow writes an AI timeline of your day. AI can miss or misread work, so review anything before it reaches a client. Harvest and Memtime list no AI features.