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

For most designers on a Mac, Timing is the best pick. It tracks time by document and website, not just by app, and handles billing from $9 a month billed annually. Dayflow is the best free option and writes an AI timeline from what was on screen. Timemator suits one-time buyers at $39, and Harvest wins when invoicing clients is the main job.

This ranking is for designers who work on a Mac and spend most of the day inside a few apps: Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator and a browser full of references. You need the tracker to answer a question like “how long did the Acme onboarding screens take this week?” for an invoice, a quote or your own retro. An app-level log can only say “Figma, 6 hours 40 minutes.” That is accurate, and useless when four clients’ files sit inside the same app. So these tools are ranked on how well they capture the file or the work itself. For a broader ranking that isn’t specific to designers, see our roundup of Mac time trackers.

Disclosure: Dayflow is our product. It ranks second here, not first. It reads the screen instead of app names, so its timeline can describe design work at a useful level, and it costs nothing. It loses on two criteria that matter to many designers. It has no billing features: no invoices and no billable rates. And it doesn’t produce exact hour totals per document, which the top-ranked tool does.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	How it tracks	Price
Timing	Freelancers billing by the hour	Automatic, across apps, websites and documents	Professional $9/month billed annually, or $11 billed monthly
Dayflow	A free, readable record of each day	One screen frame every 10 seconds, written into an AI timeline	$0; optional Pro $20/month
Timemator	One-time purchase, per-file rules	Rules by app, file or project, plus a manual timer	$39 one-time (Mac, 2 devices)
Memtime	A local record that feeds billing tools	Automatic, across programs, documents, tabs and calls	Basic from $14/user/month billed annually

Quick picks by use case

Best overall for designers who bill: Timing. It tracks down to documents and URLs, and it handles billing status and reports. Professional is $9 per month billed annually, or $11 billed monthly. Here is how it compares with Dayflow in detail.

Best free: Dayflow. It costs $0, is MIT licensed, and writes an AI timeline of your day from screen captures. The optional Pro plan is $20 a month.

Best one-time purchase: Timemator. It costs $39 once for the Mac app on 2 devices. Rules can start timers based on the file or project you open.

Best local record for a billing stack: Memtime. It keeps activity data on your device, and on Connect it syncs entries to project and billing tools. Basic is $14 per user/month billed annually. See Memtime vs Dayflow.

Best for Mac and Windows: Rize. It uses AI to categorize apps and websites. Basic is $9.99/mo billed annually, or $12.99 billed monthly. See Rize vs Dayflow.

Best for studios: Toggl (formerly Toggl Track). It has shared projects, billable rates and capacity planning. The Free plan covers up to 3 users, and Starter is $9 per user per month billed annually. See Toggl on the Mac compared with Dayflow.

Best for invoicing: Harvest. It turns time into invoices with online payments. The Free plan covers 1 seat and 2 projects, and Teams is $9 per seat/month billed annually.

How we compared them

Each tool was scored on six criteria, weighted for designers who work in a few apps all day.

• Context-level capture (30%). High scores go to tools that record which file, document or on-screen work you were on without you typing it. Low scores go to tools that log only app names or only what you enter.
• Billing-ready output (20%). High means billable rates, invoices or sync to a billing tool. Low means you rebuild the numbers somewhere else.
• Effort to keep accurate (15%). High means it runs in the background through a three-hour Figma session. Low means it depends on timers you forget to start.
• Privacy of client work (15%). High means data stays on your Mac by default, which matters with unreleased client designs on screen. Low means cloud-only storage.
• Cost (10%). High means free or a one-time price. Low means a per-seat subscription with no free tier.
• Mac fit (10%). High means a native Mac app with support for other Apple devices. Low means a web-first tool with a desktop wrapper.

Every tool was compared from its vendor’s own pricing and product pages on October 4, 2026. Dayflow facts come from version 2.2.0. No benchmark was run, and the scores are judgments.

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

1. Timing

Timing is a Mac-only automatic tracker built around a detailed activity log and a billing workflow. It records time across apps, websites and documents, down to specific URLs and Mail threads. It also accepts manual entries, imports iOS activity and tracks calls.

For a designer, the document level is the point. The record can separate one file from another inside the same app, which is exactly where app-level tools fall short. Billing status tracking, customizable reports with rounding and a GrandTotal invoicing integration (plan dependent) cover the path from hours to invoice. AI activity summaries and an MCP integration come on all plans, along with AI suggestions for time entries. The vendor says tracked times are stored locally and never leave your Mac unless you opt into sync.

Pricing:

• Professional: $9 per month billed annually, or $11 billed monthly
• Expert: $11 per month billed annually, or $14 billed monthly
• Connect: $16 per user per month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly

There is a 30-day trial with no credit card. The limits: there is no free tier, it is subscription only, and Professional covers one Mac with limited web app access.

Pick it if you bill by the hour and want per-file totals with the least manual work.

2. Dayflow

Dayflow is our free, open-source Mac app. It records the screen at one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write the day into a readable timeline. It works from what was on screen, not from which app was in front, so the timeline can describe the work itself: the file name in the tab, the screens on the canvas, the reference site open beside it.

Full recordings and the timeline are stored on your Mac. You choose where analysis happens:

• Local AI: runs through Ollama or LM Studio and keeps screenshot analysis on-device.
• Your own provider: a cloud provider you configure receives selected screenshots, under its own terms.
• Dayflow Pro: Dayflow manages cloud analysis and, under the privacy policy, deletes screenshots after processing.

You can export a date range as Markdown to build a timesheet or recap.

Price: $0, MIT licensed. The optional Pro plan is $20 a month. It needs macOS 14 or later.

The limits: it has no invoices, billable rates, payroll approvals, team reports or website blocking. Its summaries can miss or misinterpret work, so check them before sending anything to a client.

Pick it if you want to remember what you designed each day without paying or starting timers.

3. Timemator

Timemator is a Mac tracker that pairs a manual timer with auto-tracking rules. The rules start and stop timers based on the app, file or project you have open. That model suits design work. Point a rule at a client’s project, and time spent in matching files lands on that task without a click. There is also an activity timeline on the Mac.

Billable hours, hourly rates and revenue are built in, and CSV import and export feed whatever you invoice with. The vendor says private data stays on your device, with iCloud sync and automatic backups. There are apps for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Price: $39 one-time for the Mac app on 2 devices, and a separate $7.99 one-time purchase for iOS. It is also available through Setapp, with a 30-day trial.

The limits: it runs on Apple platforms only and lists no AI features. Rules also need upkeep as clients and projects change.

Pick it if you would rather pay once, like per-file rules, and don’t need AI summaries.

4. Memtime

Memtime records time in every program, document, email, call, meeting and browser tab. It shows that activity as a timeline, which you then turn into time entries. For designers, that gives a document-level memory aid, and the vendor names design among the fields it targets. The vendor states that recorded activity data is stored only on your device and is not uploaded to a server.

On Connect and above, time entries sync to 100+ project and billing tools. Premium adds call system integrations and SSO, SAML and SCIM.

Pricing, per user/month:

Plan	Annual	Quarterly	2-yearly
Basic	$14	$18	$12
Connect	$21	$26	$18
Premium	$29	$35	$23

Enterprise is custom pricing for 50+ seats. No monthly billing option is shown. The 14-day trial needs no payment information and does not convert to a subscription.

The limits: there is no free tier and no mobile app. Integrations with project software start at Connect, and no AI features are listed, so turning the timeline into entries is your job.

Pick it if you work across Mac, Windows or Linux and want a local, document-level record that feeds a billing tool.

5. Rize

Rize is an automatic tracker for Mac and Windows. It logs apps and websites and uses AI to categorize and tag them. Connecting Google Calendar captures meeting time, and the vendor names designers among its audience. You get a low-effort record, AI chat and focus insights. On Pro and above, you also get client and scheduled reports in PDF and CSV, plus API, webhooks and Zapier.

Tracking is described at the app and website level. So separating several clients inside one design app depends on categorization and your tagging. Test this during the trial. Data is hosted on Amazon Web Services and encrypted at rest and in transit.

Pricing:

• Basic: $9.99/mo billed annually, or $12.99/month billed monthly (500 AI credits)
• Pro: $23.99/mo billed annually (1,000 AI credits)
• Max: $39.99/mo billed annually (3,000 AI credits)
• Team: $29.99/seat/month billed annually, or $39.99 billed monthly

For monthly Pro and Max prices, see the vendor’s pricing page. The trial runs 7 days.

The limits: there is no free tier, storage is in the cloud, and the trial is the shortest here.

Pick it if you split work between Mac and Windows and want AI to do the sorting.

6. Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)

Toggl (formerly Toggl Track) is a cross-platform timer-based tracker that now bundles time tracking with planning. You start timers, fill in timesheets or pull time from calendar integrations. The vendor also lists background tracking and a timeline in the desktop app. It states that Toggl takes no screenshots and records no keystrokes.

For designers at a studio, the value is shared structure: billable rates, team reports and capacity planning. Premium adds timesheet approvals, profitability reports and Jira and Asana integrations. Toggl AI answers natural-language questions about workspace data.

Pricing:

• Free: $0 for up to 3 users
• Starter: $9 per user per month billed annually, or $12 billed monthly
• Premium: $16 per user per month billed annually, or $24 billed monthly
• Enterprise: contact the vendor

Paid plans come with a 30-day trial.

The limits: it is mainly timers and manual entry, so per-file detail is only as good as your discipline, and billable rates need a paid plan.

Pick it if your studio already runs on it, or you want a free tool on every device.

7. Harvest

Harvest is a timer and timesheet tool built around getting paid. You track with one-click timers, daily and weekly timesheets, or a connected calendar. It lists no automatic activity capture and no AI features.

What it does better than anything else here is billing:

• Invoices from tracked time, with online payments
• Expense tracking
• QuickBooks and Xero integrations
• Team reporting, plus profitability and approvals on Enterprise

Its site footer shows it is now owned by Bending Spoons.

Pricing:

• Free: 1 seat and 2 projects, with time tracking, invoicing and expenses
• Teams: $9 seat/month ($108 per seat, billed annually), or $11 billed monthly
• Enterprise: $14 seat/month ($168 per seat, billed annually), or $17.50 billed monthly
• Enterprise Plus: custom pricing

The trial runs 30 days with no credit card.

The limits: the record holds only what you entered, and 2 free projects fill up quickly with several clients.

Pick it if invoicing is the main job and you will run timers anyway, or pair it with an automatic tracker.

Full comparison table

Tool	Price	Automatic capture	AI summaries	Where data lives	Open source	Platforms
Timing	From $9/month billed annually	Yes: apps, websites, documents	Yes, AI activity summaries	Local, optional sync	No	Mac
Dayflow	$0; Pro $20/month	Yes: screen frame every 10 seconds	Yes, AI timeline	Recordings and timeline on your Mac; analysis local or cloud by choice	Yes, MIT	Mac (macOS 14+)
Timemator	$39 one-time (Mac)	Rule-based by app, file or project	None listed	On device, iCloud sync	No	Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Memtime	From $14/user/month billed annually	Yes: programs, documents, tabs, calls	None listed	Local only	No	Mac, Windows, Linux
Rize	From $9.99/mo billed annually	Yes: apps and websites	AI categorization, chat and insights	Cloud (AWS)	No	Mac, Windows
Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Free up to 3 users; Starter $9/user/month billed annually	Mostly timers; background tracking listed in desktop app	No summaries listed; Toggl AI answers workspace questions	Cloud	No	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions
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

Why does app-level tracking tell designers so little?

A developer’s day is spread across an editor, a terminal, a browser and a chat app, so even a crude app log hints at what happened. A designer’s day is not. The whole morning can sit in one Figma window, moving between three clients’ files, a design system library and a prototype review.

An app-level tracker files all of that under one name. The total is correct, but it can’t support an invoice line, a quote for the next similar job, or your own question about why the dashboard redesign ran long.

There are three ways around this:

• Document or window level. Timing, Memtime and Timemator’s rules capture which file, document or tab was active. That gives you hours per file.
• Screen level. Dayflow looks at what was on screen and writes a description of the work. That gives you a narrative of the day rather than a ledger.
• Labels you type. Toggl and Harvest rely on the names you give your timers. That works if you are disciplined about switching them.

Can a time tracker see which Figma file you worked on?

Sometimes. It depends on how you run Figma and how the tracker captures context.

Browser. If you use Figma in a browser, the tab is a URL. Tools that record websites or browser tabs, such as Timing, Memtime and Rize, have more to work with.

Desktop app. A document-level tracker can only record what the app exposes as the active document or window. Timemator’s rules act on the app, file or project you have open, so they need something to match against.

Screen captures. Dayflow reads the screen itself. It can pick up a file name in the tab bar or the frames you were editing even when no structured document data exists. It writes an interpretation, though, not a measured total, and it can get things wrong.

Before you commit, run one test during the trial. Open two real client files, work 20 minutes in each, switch a few times, then open the report. If the tool can’t tell those two files apart, it won’t on a busy Thursday either.

If your goal is a timesheet you don’t type from scratch, see building a Mac timesheet without manual entry. If client confidentiality is the worry, read how local and cloud processing differ in Dayflow.

Where Dayflow is the wrong pick

• You send invoices from your tracker. Dayflow has no invoicing or billable rates. Harvest wins, including on its Free plan.
• You need exact hours per file with billing status. Dayflow writes a timeline, not a per-document ledger. Timing is built for that.
• You want to pay once. Timemator is $39 one-time for the Mac app.
• Part of your week is on Windows. Dayflow is Mac only. Rize covers Mac and Windows, and Memtime adds Linux.
• Your studio needs approvals and team reports. Dayflow has neither. Toggl Premium includes timesheet approvals and profitability reports.
• Your Mac runs an older macOS. Dayflow needs macOS 14 or later. Rize supports macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or later.

Where Dayflow fits is the free, low-effort record of what you actually did. You can export a date range of your work history and paste it into whatever bills the client.

How much do they cost?

Tool	Plan	Price
Dayflow	Free	$0
Dayflow	Pro	$20 a month
Timing	Professional	$9/month billed annually, or $11 billed monthly
Timing	Expert	$11/month billed annually, or $14 billed monthly
Timing	Connect	$16/user/month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly
Timemator	Mac	$39 one-time (2 devices)
Timemator	iOS	$7.99 one-time
Memtime	Basic	$14/user/month billed annually, $18 quarterly, $12 2-yearly
Memtime	Connect	$21/user/month billed annually, $26 quarterly, $18 2-yearly
Memtime	Premium	$29/user/month billed annually, $35 quarterly, $23 2-yearly
Rize	Basic	$9.99/mo billed annually, or $12.99 billed monthly
Rize	Pro	$23.99/mo billed annually
Rize	Max	$39.99/mo billed annually
Rize	Team	$29.99/seat/month billed annually, or $39.99 billed monthly
Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Free	$0, up to 3 users
Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Starter	$9/user/month billed annually, or $12 billed monthly
Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Premium	$16/user/month billed annually, or $24 billed monthly
Harvest	Free	$0 (1 seat, 2 projects)
Harvest	Teams	$9/seat/month ($108 billed annually), or $11 billed monthly
Harvest	Enterprise	$14/seat/month ($168 billed annually), or $17.50 billed monthly

The cheapest sensible setup for a solo designer is Dayflow for the automatic record plus Harvest Free for invoices, at $0 total while you stay within 2 projects. If you want hours per file and billing in one app, Timemator at $39 once costs less over time than any paid subscription here. Full Dayflow plan details are on the pricing page.

The bottom line

If you bill by the hour and need hours per file, pick Timing. If you want a free, readable record of what you designed each day, pick Dayflow. If you would rather pay once, pick Timemator. If invoicing is the whole job, pick Harvest, and if your studio already plans in Toggl, stay there and add an automatic tracker for memory.

Frequently asked questions

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

Timing is the strongest all-round choice for designers who bill clients. It records time across apps, websites and documents, so two client files in the same design app show up separately. It also has billing status tracking and AI activity summaries. Professional costs $9 per month billed annually or $11 billed monthly, with a 30-day trial. If you don't bill by the hour, Dayflow covers the daily record for $0.

Is there a free time tracker for designers on a Mac?

Yes, three. Dayflow is $0 and MIT licensed, and it builds an automatic AI timeline from screen captures. Toggl has a Free plan for up to 3 users, but it is timer based. Harvest's Free plan covers 1 seat and 2 projects and includes invoicing, but you enter the time yourself. Timing, Rize, Timemator and Memtime have trials but no free tier.

Can a time tracker tell which Figma file I worked on?

Some can get close. Timing records time down to documents and specific URLs. Memtime records documents and browser tabs. Timemator's rules react to the file or project you have open. Dayflow reads what was visible on screen, so its summary can mention the file or screens you had up. Results depend on what each app exposes, so test with two real client files during a trial.

Which time tracker is best for invoicing design clients?

Harvest, and it beats Dayflow here outright. Harvest creates invoices from tracked time, accepts online payments, tracks expenses and connects to QuickBooks and Xero. Its Free plan covers 1 seat and 2 projects. Teams costs $9 per seat per month billed annually or $11 billed monthly. Dayflow has no invoicing or billable rates at all, so it can only serve as the memory you check your timesheet against.

Do designers need a timer to bill by the hour?

No. A timer only records what you remember to start, and long sessions inside one design app make forgotten timers common. An automatic tracker such as Timing, Memtime or Dayflow keeps a record in the background that you review afterward. You still need a billing tool for rates and invoices. Timing and Timemator include billable features, and Memtime syncs entries to billing tools on Connect and above.

Is there a Mac time tracker with a one-time price instead of a subscription?

Timemator is the only paid option in this ranking sold as a one-time purchase. The Mac app is $39 for 2 devices, and the iOS app is a separate $7.99 one-time purchase. It has rule-based auto-tracking by app, file or project, plus billable hours and CSV export. It is also on Setapp. It lists no AI features, and it runs on Apple platforms only.

Which time tracker works for designers on both Mac and Windows?

Timing, Timemator and Dayflow run only on Apple hardware. Rize runs on Mac and Windows and costs from $9.99 per month billed annually. Memtime runs on Mac, Windows and Linux and keeps activity data on the device, from $14 per user per month billed annually. Toggl and Harvest run on web, desktop and mobile, but they are timer based.

Does Dayflow send my screen to the cloud?

Only if you choose a cloud mode. Full recordings and the timeline are stored on your Mac. With Local AI through Ollama or LM Studio, screenshot analysis stays on the device. If you configure your own provider or use Dayflow Pro, selected screenshots are processed off-device. Under the privacy policy, Pro deletes screenshots after processing and may retain activity data for sync.

Is Toggl the same as Toggl Track?

Yes. The product is now presented as Toggl and combines time tracking with planning. The old toggl.com/track address redirects to toggl.com. The vendor describes Toggl Track and Toggl Plan as legacy products still available to existing users. Pricing runs from a Free plan for up to 3 users to Starter at $9 per user per month billed annually, or $12 billed monthly.