Timely vs Timing: Which Is Better for Automatic Timesheets in 2026?

Pick Timing if you work alone on a Mac and want automatic tracking that stays on your machine unless you turn on sync, plus billable-hour reports, from $9 a month billed annually. Pick Timely if a team needs AI-drafted timesheets across web, desktop and mobile, from $9 per user per month billed yearly. Dayflow, our free Mac app, records your day but does not do billing.

Timely is a cloud service, priced per user, that records your work into a private timeline and has AI draft timesheet entries for you to approve. Its web, desktop and mobile apps are built for teams. Timing is a Mac-only app that tracks apps, websites and documents and keeps that data on your Mac unless you opt into sync. It is priced for individuals first.

Disclosure: Dayflow, which shows up below as a third option, is our product. We have separate pages on each competitor: Timely alternative and Timing alternative. This comparison is based on each vendor’s own documentation as checked on October 4, 2026. We compared what the vendors publish; we did not run either app for this article.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	How it tracks	Price	Platforms
Timely	Teams that bill hours: consultancies, agencies, professional services	Background Memory tracker builds a private timeline, AI drafts entries for approval, manual timer included	From $9 per user per month billed yearly, $11 billed monthly	Web, desktop app, iOS, Android
Timing	Individuals and Mac teams with billable hours	Automatic tracking of apps, websites, documents, URLs and Mail threads on the Mac, plus manual entries	From $9 per month billed annually, $11 billed monthly	Mac
Dayflow (ours)	Remembering and reviewing what you worked on	Screen recording on your Mac, AI writes the day into a timeline	$0, MIT licensed. Optional Pro at $20 a month	Mac, macOS 14 or later

Key takeaways

• Timing is the stronger pick for one person on one Mac. It is Mac-only, stores tracked time locally by default, and its cheapest plan matches Timely’s cheapest on price.
• Timely is the stronger pick for teams. Team and budget management, accounting integrations and capacity reporting sit on its higher plans, and it runs on web, desktop, iOS and Android.
• Both draft timesheets with AI, and neither is free. Timely auto-completes and auto-allocates entries. Timing suggests entries and writes activity summaries. Trials are 14 days for Timely and 30 days for Timing.
• Data location is the clearest split. Timely is a cloud web service. Timing keeps data on your Mac unless you turn on sync.
• Dayflow is not a timesheet tool. It is free and open source and writes a readable timeline of your day, but it has no invoicing, payroll or team reports.

What does Timely do better?

It works across devices. Timely lists a web app, a desktop app, and iOS and Android apps. If you approve timesheets from your phone, or your team has people on different machines, that matters more than anything else in this article. One caveat: the vendor pages we read did not confirm which desktop operating systems the app supports, so check Timely’s site for Mac and Windows details.

It is designed around approval. Timely’s Memory tracker records work in the background across web and desktop apps into a private timeline. AI then drafts timesheet entries, and you approve them before anything is shared. Timely states that only approved entries are shared, which draws a clear line between raw activity and what a manager sees. If that line is what your team is worried about, our note on time tracking without surveillance covers the trade-offs in more depth.

It handles team management. On Premium and above, Timely includes team and budget management plus project management and accounting integrations. On Unlimited, it adds capacity reporting and overtime tracking. There is also a Tasks add-on, listed at “as little as $5 per person.”

It scales to large teams. Starter caps out at 5 users, Premium at 50 users, Unlimited has no listed cap, and Enterprise is custom. Timely names consultancies, agencies, SaaS companies, professional services and enterprise teams that bill hours as its audience.

What does Timing do better?

Your data stays on your Mac by default. Timing states that tracked times are stored locally and never leave your Mac unless you opt into sync. Every plan lists Sync and Cloud Backup, so you choose whether data goes off the machine. For a lawyer, consultant or developer handling client material, local-by-default is a meaningful difference from a cloud-first service.

It tracks in more detail on the Mac. Timing records time across apps, websites and documents, down to specific URLs and Mail threads. It also lists manual time entries, iOS activity import and call tracking. For reconstructing a billable day after the fact, that level of detail is the raw material you need.

It has tools for solo billing. Timing lists billing status tracking, customizable reports with report rounding, and a GrandTotal invoicing integration that depends on your plan. It also lists two-way sync with ClickUp, Linear and Clio, which lines up with its stated focus on freelancers, developers and legal professionals. Scripting, a Web API and Zapier are available depending on plan.

It has a longer, lower-friction trial. Timing’s trial runs 30 days and does not ask for a credit card. Timely’s runs 14 days. A month of real client work tells you more about how well automatic tracking maps to your projects than two weeks does.

Its AI features are on every plan. Timing lists AI activity summaries and an AI integration via MCP on all plans, plus AI-powered suggestions for time entries. You do not have to move up a tier to get them.

Head-to-head table

Capability	Timely	Timing	Dayflow (ours)
Automatic capture	Yes, Memory tracker across web and desktop apps	Yes, apps, websites, documents, URLs and Mail threads	Yes, screen recording turned into a timeline
Manual timer or entries	Manual timer included	Manual time entries	Not part of the documented feature set
AI features	AI timesheets (auto-completed, auto-allocated entries), AI categorization	AI activity summaries, MCP integration, AI time entry suggestions	AI writes the timeline, with local AI, your own provider, or Pro
Invoicing	Not listed; accounting integrations on Premium and above	Billing status tracking and GrandTotal invoicing integration (plan dependent)	No
Team reports	Team and budget management (Premium+), capacity reporting (Unlimited)	Shared projects on Connect	No
Website blocking	Not listed	Not listed	No
Data location	Cloud web service; timelines private, only approved entries shared	Local on your Mac unless you opt into sync	Recordings and timeline on your Mac; analysis on-device or off-device depending on mode
Free tier	None, 14-day trial	None, 30-day trial, no credit card	Free app at $0
Platforms	Web, desktop app, iOS, Android	Mac	Mac, macOS 14 or later
Open source	No	No	Yes, MIT

Pricing compared

Plan	Timely	Timing	Dayflow (ours)
Entry	Starter: $9 per user per month billed yearly, or $11 billed monthly (max 5 users)	Professional: $9 per month billed annually, or $11 billed monthly	Free: $0
Middle	Premium: $16 per user per month billed yearly, or $20 billed monthly (max 50 users)	Expert: $11 per month billed annually, or $14 billed monthly	Pro: $20 a month
Team	Unlimited: $22 per user per month billed yearly, or $28 billed monthly	Connect: $16 per user per month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly	No team plan
Enterprise	Custom, contact sales	Not listed	Not listed

For one person doing automatic timesheets, the cheapest plans cost the same. Timely Starter is $108 a year billed yearly or $132 a year paid monthly. Timing Professional is also $108 a year billed annually or $132 a year paid monthly. The limits are what separate them. Starter allows 20 projects. Professional covers one Mac and has limited web app access.

If those limits pinch, the next step costs more on Timely. Timing Expert runs $132 a year billed annually or $168 paid monthly. Timely Premium, the tier where accounting integrations start, runs $192 a year billed yearly or $240 paid monthly. Timing notes that its prices may vary by region or tax, so check its pricing page for your locale before you budget.

Dayflow is $0. If you have Dayflow Pro manage cloud analysis, it is $20 a month, or $240 a year. If you use your own cloud AI provider instead of Pro, that provider’s charges apply. Details are on our pricing page.

When should you choose Timely?

• A team approves timesheets. Timely’s draft-then-approve flow, with only approved entries shared, is built for groups where individuals keep their raw timeline private.
• You need budgets, capacity or overtime. Team and budget management start on Premium, and capacity reporting and overtime tracking are on Unlimited.
• People work on different devices. Web, desktop, iOS and Android apps cover more of a mixed office than a Mac-only tool can.
• You want AI to allocate time to projects for you. Auto-allocated entries are central to how Timely describes itself, and they matter most when many people log against many projects.
• Cloud storage is acceptable. If your clients and policies allow a web service holding activity data, Timely’s model is not a drawback.

When should you choose Timing?

• You work alone, or mostly alone, on a Mac. Timing is built for the Mac and priced for individuals.
• You want local data by default. Tracked time stays on your Mac unless you opt into sync.
• You bill by the hour and need clean reports. Billing status tracking, report rounding and the GrandTotal integration cover the path from tracked time to an invoice.
• You live in ClickUp, Linear or Clio. Two-way sync with those tools, depending on plan, saves re-entering time.
• You want to try it for a month without a card. The 30-day trial is the easiest low-risk test in this comparison.

For a wider view of the category, our roundup of the best time tracker for Mac options covers tools beyond these two.

Where do both fall short?

Neither is free, and neither is open source. Once the trial ends, both are subscriptions. You cannot read their code or run them without paying. For someone who only wants to know where the day went, and not to bill it, paying $108 or more a year is hard to justify.

Both are built around time entries, not a readable account of the day. A timesheet answers “how many hours on Client X.” It is less good at “what did I actually get done on Tuesday.” Timing’s AI activity summaries narrow this gap. Still, the output of both tools is shaped for billing and reporting.

Dayflow covers part of that gap. It is $0, MIT licensed, and runs on macOS 14 or later. It records your screen, keeps full recordings and the timeline on your Mac, and has AI write the day as a timeline you can read. With local AI through Ollama or LM Studio, screenshot analysis stays on your device. If you use your own cloud provider or Dayflow Pro, selected screenshots are processed off-device; local and cloud processing explains what leaves the machine in each mode. You can export a date range as Markdown from Settings, which is useful as raw input for writing up hours by hand. Our guide to a Mac timesheet without manual entry walks through that workflow, and exporting work history covers the export itself.

Dayflow does not cover the billing side. It has no invoices, no payroll approvals and no team reports, and its AI summaries can miss or misread work, so you have to check them before sharing. For a team gap, such as approvals plus mobile, the answer within this comparison is Timely, not Dayflow.

Where Dayflow is the wrong pick

If your job is automatic timesheets for client billing, Dayflow is the wrong tool and either of the two in the title beats it.

• You invoice clients from tracked hours. Pick Timing. Billing status, report rounding and the GrandTotal invoicing integration are exactly the features Dayflow lacks.
• A team needs approvals, budgets or capacity planning. Pick Timely. Dayflow has no team reports or approval workflow at all.
• You need to track time on Windows, iPhone or Android. Timely lists web, desktop, iOS and Android apps. Dayflow is Mac only.
• Your Mac runs something older than macOS 14. Dayflow requires macOS 14 or later.
• You want a timer you start and stop. Timely includes a manual timer, and Timing supports manual entries. Dayflow is built around recording and summarizing, not timers.
• You need distracting sites blocked. Dayflow has no website blocking, and neither Timely nor Timing lists it either, so look outside this comparison.

Dayflow fits when the question is “what did I do this week” rather than “what do I bill this client.” If you are not sure which question is yours, what an automatic time tracker is is a useful place to start.

The bottom line

For automatic timesheets, the decision mostly comes down to who and where. One person on a Mac who bills hours and wants data kept local should start with Timing. Its cheapest plan costs the same as Timely’s, and its trial is twice as long with no card. A team that needs AI-drafted entries, approvals, budgets and apps on every device should pick Timely and expect to pay for Premium or above once team features matter.

Dayflow, our product, is the free, open-source option for Mac users who want a readable record of the day rather than billable timesheets. It does not replace either tool for invoicing. To weigh it against more Mac time trackers, start with the full roundup.

Frequently asked questions

Is Timely or Timing better for a freelancer on a Mac?

For a solo freelancer working only on a Mac, Timing is usually the better fit. It is built for the Mac, stores tracked time locally unless you opt into sync, and lists billing status tracking, report rounding and a GrandTotal invoicing integration depending on plan. Timely makes more sense once you need mobile apps, a web app or a team approving timesheets together.

Does Timely work on a Mac?

Timely lists a web app, a desktop app, and iOS and Android apps. Its Memory tracker records work across web and desktop apps. The vendor pages checked on October 4, 2026 did not spell out which desktop operating systems the app supports, so confirm macOS support and version requirements on Timely's own site before you buy.

Does Timing upload my tracked time to the cloud?

Not by default. Timing states that tracked times are stored locally and never leave your Mac unless you opt into sync. All of its plans list Sync and Cloud Backup as an option, so data goes off the machine only if you turn that on. Timely, by contrast, is a cloud web service that keeps your timeline private and shares only entries you approve.

Is there a free version of Timely or Timing?

No. Neither has a free tier. Timely offers a 14-day trial, and Timing offers a 30-day trial with no credit card required. After the trial, both are paid subscriptions. If you need a free option on a Mac, Dayflow costs $0 and is MIT licensed, though it is not a billing or timesheet approval tool.

How much does Timing cost per year?

Timing's cheapest plan, Professional, is $9 per month billed annually, which comes to $108 a year, or $11 per month billed monthly, which comes to $132 a year. Expert is $11 per month billed annually or $14 billed monthly. Connect, the team plan, is $16 per user per month billed annually or $20 billed monthly. Prices may vary by region or tax.

How much does Timely cost for one person?

Timely Starter is $9 per user per month billed yearly, or $11 per user per month billed monthly, so one person pays $108 or $132 a year. Starter is capped at 5 users and 20 projects. Premium, which adds team and budget management and accounting integrations, is $16 per user per month billed yearly or $20 billed monthly.

Can Dayflow replace Timely or Timing for billable hours?

No, and for this job either of them beats Dayflow. Dayflow has no invoicing, no payroll approvals and no team reports. It records your screen and has AI write a timeline you can review or export as Markdown. If you bill clients by the hour, Timing on a Mac or Timely for a team is built to produce timesheets, and Dayflow is not.

Which has the longer free trial, Timely or Timing?

Timing does. Its trial runs 30 days and does not ask for a credit card. Timely's trial runs 14 days. If you want a full month of real client work before you decide, Timing gives you more room to see whether its automatic tracking maps cleanly onto your projects and billing reports.

Do Timely and Timing use AI to fill in timesheets?

Both do, in different ways. Timely lists AI timesheets that auto-complete and auto-allocate entries, plus AI time categorization; you approve the drafts. Timing lists AI-powered suggestions for time entries, AI activity summaries, and an AI integration via MCP on all plans. In both cases you still review the result before it reaches a client.

Is Dayflow free?

Yes. The Dayflow app is $0 and MIT licensed, and it runs on macOS 14 or later. Analysis can run on your Mac with a local model through Ollama or LM Studio, or through a cloud provider you configure, whose charges apply. An optional Dayflow Pro plan at $20 a month manages cloud analysis for you.