Question for my readers!

My designer friend Anke is researching applications that help her with project budgeting and time/expense tracking. So far she’s looked at mindsalt, functionfox and a few others. She wonders if there’s anything out there that would also include invoicing features like blinksale. What do you use?

24 Comments leave a comment below

  1. Check out “101 Essential Freelancing Resources”:

    http://freelanceswitch.com/general/101-essential-freelancing-resources/

    includes Time Tracking and Invoicing software as well as loads of other links.

  2. Billings has an impeccable interface, does time tracking and invoicing as well.

    I tried many apps like this, and I think it’s the best one out there.

    http://www.billings2.com/

  3. On The Job is a neat little app:
    http://stuntsoftware.com/OnTheJob/

  4. Harvest is great for time tracking: http://www.getharvest.com

  5. i have had great luck w/ this:
    http://www.copperproject.com/

  6. I use Project Calculator ( http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22205/project-calculator ) and have been very pleased with it. Not the best looking of the tracking apps, but the features are very easy to use.

  7. http://www.freshbooks.com/

    These guys are great. Excellent service. Though i haven’t compared it with above sources

  8. I’ll second the nod for Copper Project but only if she collaborates on a regular basis. Otherwise Billings has a great interface and reasonable features for the money. I haven’t tried getharvest and project calculator though.

  9. I use On The Job, my web developer uses Blinksale….

  10. Been using freeagent central (http://www.freeagentcentral.com/) which has just extended its services to outwith the UK. Perfect for freelancing and project-based work with invoicing, bank account synchronising, client-specific time tracking, tax calculations, the works.
    Heartily recommended – if anyone wants to try it out can supply a referral code for mutual satisfaction ;)

  11. Billings, does it for me. Looked at loads of similar software until I finally stuck with this one.

  12. Khronos is a free little app that tracks time elegantly across several projects. Entering hours manually is a tad cumbersome but it works well for me:
    http://khronos.enure.net/

    I send invoices and do everything else with Quick Books for Mac, a program that integrates with my Washington Mutual accounts, my bookkeeper and my CPA.
    http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/pro-mac-business-finance-software.jhtml

  13. http://www.getharvest.com
    easy to track by client, by project, estimate by people or time, its mindless on my computer (just runs all day and I switch the time clock back and forth between clients), it now calculates billing and coordinates with quickbooks

  14. I also recommend freshbooks!

    https://helloleticia.freshbooks.com/signup/

    It’s GREAT! time tracking, expenses, estimates, invoices, you can personalise it with your logo/colors AND they have a friendly phone assistance too.

  15. Well I’m a little biased on this one, but you could give Tick (http://www.tickspot.com/) a try. We stop short of dollars right now so Tick would be great if you’re interested in tracking your time budgets.

  16. Harvest http://getharvest.com is hands down the best time-tracker I’ve used (and I have tried many). It’s pretty, intuitive and has very powerful reporting. I’ve been using it for over a year and would never use anything else.

    They recently added support for estimates, and they are beta testing integrated invoicing. I am a beta tester, and it works like a dream. Invoicing should be generally available soon.

    I highly recommend it, and the developers are extremely responsive to questions and feedback.

  17. We use Harvest (www.getharvest.com) as well and we love it. It’s simple to set up and simple to use. There is alot of flexibility in setting up projects, reports and invoicing is coming soon.
    Plus the Harvest creators are great.

  18. I use a free program (web-based) called Paymo. It’s so simple, it actually works for me.

    The others I tried were more complicated, although several listed above I’ve never heard of so I’m sure there are others that are simple and intuitive.

    Another he nice thing is that it works on Mac via a widget. If you don’t want to install anything, it also works in a web browser.

    http://www.paymo.biz

  19. I have been using Cashboard for a while now. The invoicing and estimating is what got me. You can now create your own invoice templates, so it’s completely customizable. The one thing that it doesn’t really do is keep track of expense items and random purchases that need to be billed back to the client. But, if you bill mostly for time, then Cashboard is great. http://www.getcashboard.com

  20. I have been using Cashboard for a while now. The invoicing and estimating is what got me. You can now create your own invoice templates, so it’s completely customizable. The one thing that it doesn’t really do is keep track of expense items and random purchases that need to be billed back to the client. But, if you bill mostly for time, then Cashboard is great. http://www.getcashboard.com

  21. If your friend is also looking at desktop applications, then I would strongly recommend Studiometry.

    http://www.oranged.net/studiometry/

    Tschuessli.

  22. 1time (http://1timetracking.com ) is defo the best time tracking application I’ve seen. Works out project estimates, employee utilization and has email reminders along with all the standard time tracking stuff. main thing is its really easy to use.

  23. So I came across this post a couple of weeks ago (was looking for a project based time tracking system for my office of 7) and gave a few of the recommendations a try: mindsalt, clicktime, harvest, and freshbooks. QuickBooks integration and invoicing were most important to me… Mindsalt hit them both and the support guys were very helpful. I liked freshbooks, but there was not QuickBooks integration. The other 2 just didn’t meet our needs (not to say that they were not effective in what they did).

    Great post and recommendations – thanks.

  24. Hello,

    You may want to check TiMeister.com too!