solidtime vs Toggl: Which Is Better for Tracking Time Across Projects in 2026?

Pick Toggl if your team bills clients and wants project planning, capacity, timesheet approvals and mobile apps. Pick solidtime if you want open source, EU hosting, free self-hosting or a Linux desktop app. Both have free plans that cover solo project tracking. Dayflow, our free Mac app, is a third option for remembering what you actually did, not for billing.

solidtime and Toggl (formerly Toggl Track) both log time against clients and projects with timers, timesheets and a desktop app that can follow what you work on, but they differ on ownership. solidtime is open source and can run on your own server for free, while Toggl is a closed cloud service that adds planning, capacity, approvals and AI on top of the timer. We cover Toggl in more depth in our Toggl for Mac comparison.

Disclosure: we make Dayflow, a free, open-source Mac app that records one frame of your screen every 10 seconds and has AI write your day into a readable timeline. It appears below as a third option, labeled as ours. It is not a project-billing tool, and this article says where that matters. Everything here comes from each vendor’s own documentation, checked on October 4, 2026, and Dayflow’s facts are reviewed against version 2.2.0.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	How it tracks	Price	Platforms
solidtime	Freelancers and agencies who want open source, EU hosting or self-hosting	Timer, calendar and weekly timesheet; desktop app adds automatic activity tracking (app and document in focus) and idle detection, kept on the device until logged	Solo cloud free for 1 user; Professional €8 / user / month billed annually or €9 billed monthly, excl. VAT; self-hosted €0	Web, Mac, Windows, Linux
Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Teams that need billing, profitability and capacity data	Manual and real-time timers, timesheets, calendar integrations; desktop app adds automated background tracking and a timeline	Free for up to 3 users; Starter $9 / user / month billed annually or $12 monthly; Premium $16 annually or $24 monthly	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions
Dayflow (ours)	Remembering what you actually did on your Mac	One screen frame every 10 seconds; AI writes a timeline of the day	$0, MIT licensed; optional Pro at $20 a month	Mac only (macOS 14 or later)

Key takeaways

• For one person tracking time across a handful of projects, both have a free plan. solidtime’s free Solo plan explicitly includes clients, projects, tags, tasks and reporting.
• Toggl is the better pick for teams: project timelines, capacity management, and on Premium, timesheet approvals, profitability reports and Jira and Asana integrations.
• solidtime is the better pick if you care where data lives: AGPL v3 source, EU-hosted cloud, free self-hosting, and desktop activity data that stays on your machine until you turn it into an entry.
• Toggl covers phones and browsers; solidtime covers Linux. Neither covers both.
• Neither writes a plain-language account of what you did all day. That is the gap Dayflow fills on a Mac, and it does nothing for invoices or team reports.

What solidtime does better

Can you run solidtime on your own server?

Yes, and this is the main reason to choose it. The open source version is licensed under AGPL v3 with source on GitHub, and self-hosting costs €0. Toggl is not open source and runs only as a cloud service, so there is no equivalent option.

The self-hosted route has one catch for project work that gets billed. Invoicing on a self-hosted install needs a paid Business license, which starts from €49 a year. solidtime shows €199 a year excl. VAT for one organization with 5 users.

Where does your data live?

On solidtime’s cloud, the vendor describes hosting as EU-based and GDPR-friendly. Self-hosted, it lives wherever you put it. The desktop app’s automatic activity tracking, which sees which app and document is in focus, stays on the device until you choose to log it as a time entry. That last point matters if you want automatic capture but do not want a raw activity stream sitting on someone else’s server.

Toggl describes itself as a web service whose data syncs across web, desktop and mobile apps. That is convenient, but it is cloud by design.

A free plan with more of the project basics

solidtime’s free Solo plan lists clients, projects, tags and tasks, calendar and timesheet views, breaks, automatic activity tracking in the desktop app, and reporting. For a freelancer who wants project totals without paying, that is a complete setup. The limit is one user.

Linux, and an easy way out of Toggl

solidtime ships desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux. Toggl lists Mac and Windows desktop apps but not Linux. solidtime also lists an import from Toggl, so moving existing entries over is a supported path rather than a weekend of retyping.

What Toggl does better

Is Toggl better for teams?

On the vendor’s own feature lists, yes. Toggl pairs time tracking with project planning: timelines, tasks and capacity management. Billable rates and team reports come with paid plans, and Premium adds timesheet approvals, profitability reports and integrations with Jira and Asana. The vendor targets agencies, professional services firms, software teams, and law and accounting firms that need billing, profitability and capacity data.

solidtime has team support and billable rates too, but on the Professional plan, and its pages do not describe planning, capacity or approval workflows the way Toggl’s do.

A larger free plan for small groups

Toggl’s Free plan, which the vendor calls free forever, covers up to 3 users with timers, focus mode, calendar integrations, tasks and boards. solidtime’s free cloud plan stops at one user. A two- or three-person shop can start on Toggl without paying; on solidtime’s cloud, the second user means Professional, or you self-host.

Phones and browsers

Toggl lists iOS and Android apps plus browser extensions, on top of web, Mac and Windows. If you log time from client sites, from a phone between meetings, or from inside the web tools you work in, that coverage counts. Mobile apps for solidtime were not confirmed on the pages checked.

AI and a trial

Toggl lists Toggl AI for natural-language questions about workspace data and admin tasks, an MCP server, and an AI Task Creator. No AI features were stated on solidtime’s pages. Toggl’s paid plans also come with a 30-day trial. solidtime’s pricing page says “Free to get started” and “No credit card to start” but states no trial length for Professional; see the vendor’s pricing page for the current terms.

One more point some people will care about: the vendor states that Toggl does not take screenshots or record keystrokes.

Head-to-head table

Capability	solidtime	Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Dayflow (ours)
Automatic capture	Desktop app tracks app and document in focus, with idle detection; kept on device until logged	Desktop app lists automated background tracking and a timeline	One screen frame every 10 seconds, written into a timeline
Timers and timesheets	Timer, calendar and weekly timesheet entry	Manual and real-time timers, timesheets, calendar integrations	Not how it works; recording runs in the background
Billable rates and invoicing	Billable rates, invoicing and estimates on Professional; self-hosted invoicing needs a Business license	Billable rates on paid plans; for invoicing, see the vendor’s pricing page	No invoicing
Team reports	Team support on Professional; PDF or shareable reports	Team reports; approvals and profitability on Premium	No team reports
Website blocking	Not listed on vendor pages checked	Not listed on vendor pages checked	No website blocking
AI	None stated	Toggl AI, MCP server, AI Task Creator	AI writes the daily timeline (local model, your own provider, or Pro)
Data location	EU-hosted cloud or self-hosted; desktop activity stays local until logged	Cloud, synced across web, desktop and mobile	Recordings and timeline stored on your Mac
Free tier	Solo cloud plan for 1 user; self-hosting free	Free forever for up to 3 users	Full app at $0
Platforms	Web, Mac, Windows, Linux	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions	Mac, macOS 14 or later
Open source	Yes, AGPL v3	No	Yes, MIT

Pricing compared

Plan level	solidtime (excl. VAT)	Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Dayflow (ours)
Free	Solo cloud, 1 user; Open Source self-hosted €0 forever	Free, up to 3 users	$0, MIT licensed
Entry paid	Professional: €8 / user / month billed annually, €9 billed monthly	Starter: $9 / user / month billed annually, $12 billed monthly	Pro: $20 a month
Higher tier	Business on-premise license from €49 / year (€199 / year shown for 5 users)	Premium: $16 / user / month billed annually, $24 billed monthly	None
Enterprise	Custom	Contact vendor	None
Trial	Not stated; see the vendor’s pricing page	30 days on paid plans	Not applicable

What does one person actually pay per year? If you only need hours per project, it can be nothing: solidtime’s Solo plan lists clients and projects for free, and Toggl’s Free plan covers timers and tasks for up to 3 users.

Once you need billable rates, both require a paid plan. solidtime Professional comes to €96 a year billed annually, or €108 a year paying monthly, before VAT. Toggl Starter comes to $108 a year billed annually, or $144 paying monthly. If you also want Toggl’s approvals and profitability reports, Premium is $192 a year billed annually or $288 paying monthly. If you self-host solidtime and want invoicing, the Business license starts from €49 a year. The prices are in different currencies, so convert at today’s rate before deciding on cost alone.

Dayflow is $0. Pro at $20 a month, or $240 over a year, only matters if you want Dayflow to manage the cloud analysis rather than running a local model or your own provider. If you bill by the hour, our real hourly rate calculator shows what untracked hours do to your effective rate.

When to choose solidtime

• You want the source code and the option to run it yourself. AGPL v3 and free self-hosting are things Toggl does not offer.
• You prefer EU hosting, or your clients ask where time data is stored.
• You want automatic activity tracking that stays on your device until you decide what becomes a time entry.
• You work on Linux, or across Mac, Windows and Linux.
• You are a solo freelancer who wants clients, projects and reports for free, and you are fine with one user on the cloud plan.
• You are leaving Toggl and want an import path.

When to choose Toggl

• You run a team that bills clients and needs billable rates, team reports and, on Premium, timesheet approvals and profitability.
• You plan work as well as track it: timelines, tasks and capacity management in the same product.
• Your work lives in Jira or Asana and you want those integrations (Premium).
• You log time from your phone or browser, where Toggl lists iOS, Android and extension apps.
• You have two or three people and want a free plan that covers all of them.
• You want AI features over your workspace data, or an MCP server for your own AI tools.

Where both fall short

Both tools are built around time entries: a description, a project, a duration. Their desktop apps help you fill those in. solidtime records which app and document had focus; Toggl lists automated background tracking and a timeline. What neither produces is a written account of what the work actually was. “Figma, 47 minutes” tells you where you were, not that you were revising the onboarding flow after client feedback. When you sit down on Friday to fill a weekly timesheet, the entries are only as good as your memory.

Toggl’s AI answers questions about workspace data that already exists. It does not describe what was on your screen. solidtime states no AI features at all.

This is the gap Dayflow covers, on a Mac only. It saves one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write the day as a timeline you can read, so you can reconstruct a timesheet from what happened rather than from what you remember. We walk through that workflow in building a Mac timesheet without manual entry and in how to remember what you worked on. The two kinds of tool also pair well: Dayflow to recall the day, then solidtime or Toggl to log and bill it. Dayflow can export a date range as Markdown from Settings → Export.

The tradeoff is real. Dayflow records your screen, which Toggl explicitly says it does not do. Full recordings and the timeline stay on your Mac. With a local model through Ollama or LM Studio, screenshot analysis also stays on-device. With your own cloud provider or Dayflow Pro, selected screenshots leave the machine; under the privacy policy Pro deletes screenshots after processing and may retain activity data for sync. Details are on our local and cloud processing page, and we discuss the broader question in time tracking without surveillance. AI summaries can also miss or misread work, so check them before you send anything to a client.

Where Dayflow is the wrong pick

Dayflow is the wrong pick for most of the job in this article’s title. If you need to track time across projects in order to bill for it, choose solidtime or Toggl.

• Invoicing clients: Dayflow has none. solidtime Professional adds billable rates, invoicing and estimates. Toggl’s paid plans add billable rates.
• Team reports and approvals: Dayflow has no team reports and no payroll approvals. Toggl Premium is the strongest fit here, with timesheet approvals and profitability reports.
• Windows, Linux or phone: Dayflow is Mac only, macOS 14 or later. solidtime covers Windows and Linux; Toggl covers iOS and Android.
• Blocking distracting sites: Dayflow does not block websites, and neither solidtime nor Toggl lists blocking on the pages checked. You would need a separate tool.
• No screen capture, ever: if any screen recording is off the table, Toggl, which states it takes no screenshots, is the better match.

If you are weighing more than these two, our roundup of the best time tracker for Mac options covers the wider field, including fully automatic trackers.

The bottom line

For tracking time across projects, the choice comes down to who you are. A team that bills clients and plans capacity should use Toggl: the free plan covers up to 3 users, Starter adds billable rates, and Premium adds approvals and profitability. A freelancer or agency that wants open source, EU hosting, Linux support or a self-hosted install should use solidtime, whose free Solo plan already handles clients and projects for one person.

Dayflow does not compete on that job. It is ours, it is free, and it answers a different question: what did I actually do today? If your timesheets suffer because you cannot remember the day, run it alongside whichever of the two you pick.

Frequently asked questions

Is solidtime free?

Yes, in two ways. The Solo cloud plan is free for one user and includes clients, projects, tags, tasks, calendar and timesheet views, breaks, reporting and automatic activity tracking in the desktop app. You can also self-host the open source version for €0. Billable rates, invoicing, estimates and team support need the paid Professional plan, and invoicing on a self-hosted install needs a paid Business license.

Is Toggl free?

Toggl has a Free plan the vendor describes as free forever for up to 3 users. It includes timers, focus mode, calendar integrations, tasks and boards. Billable rates need a paid plan. Starter costs $9 per user per month billed annually or $12 billed monthly, and paid plans come with a 30-day trial.

Which is cheaper, solidtime or Toggl?

For one person tracking projects without billing, both can cost nothing. For billable rates, solidtime Professional is €8 per user per month billed annually (excl. VAT) and Toggl Starter is $9 per user per month billed annually. The currencies differ, so compare in your own currency at checkout. Self-hosting solidtime is free, with invoicing needing a Business license from €49 a year.

Can I move my data from Toggl to solidtime?

solidtime lists an import from Toggl among its features, so existing time entries do not have to be retyped by hand. Check what carries over before you cancel anything, especially billable rates and client settings, which on solidtime's cloud depend on the Professional plan. If you self-host, the import feeds your own server rather than solidtime's EU-hosted cloud.

Is Toggl Track the same thing as Toggl?

Mostly. The product is now presented as Toggl, combining time tracking with planning, and toggl.com/track redirects to toggl.com. The vendor describes Toggl Track and Toggl Plan as legacy products that remain available to existing users. If you are signing up new, you are choosing among the Free, Starter, Premium and Enterprise plans on the current pricing page.

Does solidtime have a mobile app?

Mobile apps for solidtime were not confirmed on the vendor pages checked. It lists a web app plus desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux. If logging time from your phone matters, Toggl lists iOS and Android apps and browser extensions alongside its web, Mac and Windows apps.

Does Toggl take screenshots of my screen?

The vendor states that Toggl does not take screenshots or record keystrokes. Its desktop app does list automated background tracking and a timeline, and the core of the product is manual and real-time timers, timesheets and calendar integrations. solidtime's desktop app tracks which app and document is in focus and keeps that on the device until you log it.

Can Dayflow replace Toggl or solidtime for billing clients?

No. For client billing, Toggl or solidtime is the better pick. Dayflow has no invoicing, no payroll approvals and no team reports. solidtime Professional adds billable rates, invoicing and estimates, and Toggl's paid plans add billable rates, with approvals and profitability reports on Premium. Dayflow can help you remember what you worked on, but the hours still have to be logged in a billing tool.

Does solidtime or Toggl have AI features?

Toggl lists Toggl AI for natural-language questions about workspace data and admin tasks, an MCP server, and an AI Task Creator. No AI features were stated on the solidtime pages checked. Dayflow, our app, uses AI differently: it writes your screen activity into a readable timeline, using a local model, your own provider or Dayflow Pro.