Best Time Tracking Software for Remote Teams in 2025

Remote teams face unique time tracking challenges: No physical oversight, different time zones, varied work schedules, and the constant question: "Are people actually working?"

The right time tracking software provides visibility without micromanagement, ensures accountability while respecting autonomy, and helps distributed teams stay productive and coordinated.

This guide evaluates the best time tracking solutions specifically for remote teams in 2025—comparing features, pricing, and effectiveness for distributed work.

What Remote Teams Need

Top Solutions for Remote Teams

1. TrackLabs Best Overall

Why it's great for remote teams:

• ✓ Automatic tracking—no manual timers to forget
• ✓ Activity monitoring shows actual work
• ✓ Team dashboards for remote managers
• ✓ Privacy-respecting (no keystroke logging)
• ✓ Works across time zones
• ✓ Easy setup for distributed teams

Key Features:

• Automatic time tracking
• Application & website tracking
• Activity levels
• Optional screenshots
• Project/client tracking
• Detailed reports
• Team productivity insights

Best For:

• Fully remote companies
• Hybrid teams
• Remote agencies/consultancies
• Distributed software teams

Pricing: Competitive plans. View pricing →

2. Time Doctor

Why it's good for remote teams:

• ✓ Comprehensive monitoring
• ✓ Screenshots & video recording
• ✓ Client portals for transparency
• ✓ Distraction alerts

Best For:

• Teams needing detailed monitoring
• Client-facing transparency
• Large remote teams

Pricing: Starts at $7/user/month.

Cons:

• ✗ Can feel surveillance-heavy
• ✗ Expensive for advanced features
• ✗ Frequent screenshots impact performance

3. Hubstaff

Why it's good for remote teams:

• ✓ Activity monitoring
• ✓ Screenshots
• ✓ Mobile apps
• ✓ Payroll features

Best For:

• Remote teams with mobile workers
• Companies needing GPS tracking
• Teams with payroll integration needs

Pricing: Starts at $7/user/month.

Cons:

• ✗ Manual timers (easy to forget)
• ✗ Interface can be complex

4. Toggl Track

Why it's okay for remote teams:

• ✓ Simple, clean interface
• ✓ Good reporting
• ✓ Browser extensions

Best For:

• Small remote teams
• Teams comfortable with manual tracking
• Freelancers going remote

Pricing: Starts at $10/user/month.

Cons for remote:

• ✗ Manual timers (no verification)
• ✗ No activity monitoring
• ✗ Limited accountability features

5. Clockify

Why it's decent for remote teams:

• ✓ Free tier
• ✓ Unlimited users
• ✓ Basic remote tracking

Best For:

• Budget-conscious remote startups
• Very small distributed teams

Pricing: Free. Paid from $4.99/user/month.

Cons for remote:

• ✗ No automatic tracking
• ✗ Limited features in free tier
• ✗ No activity verification

Features Comparison for Remote Work

Why Automatic Tracking Matters for Remote Teams

The problem with manual tracking remotely:

• Remote workers forget to start/stop timers even more than office workers
• No physical reminders or oversight
• End-of-day reconstruction is even less accurate
• Managers have no verification of work

Why automatic wins:

• ✓ Runs invisibly—team doesn't need to remember
• ✓ Captures all work time
• ✓ Provides activity verification
• ✓ Gives managers confidence
• ✓ Fair to honest remote workers (proves their productivity)

Remote Team Best Practices

1. Transparency from Day One

Announce time tracking before implementing. Explain why, what's tracked, how data is used. Surprise monitoring destroys trust.

2. Focus on Outputs, Not Just Activity

Time tracking provides data, but results matter most. High activity + poor results = problem. Low activity + great results = fine.

3. Respect Different Time Zones

Don't force everyone to work same hours. Track total productive time, not specific 9-5 schedule.

4. Give Team Access to Their Data

Let remote workers see their own tracking data. Transparency builds trust.

5. Use Data for Support, Not Punishment

"You're working 60 hours—let's rebalance your workload" not "You were idle for 10 minutes yesterday."

Common Remote Team Scenarios

Scenario: "How do I know remote workers are actually working?"

Solution:

• Automatic time tracking with activity monitoring
• Regular check-ins and deliverable tracking
• Focus on results, not hours at keyboard
• Trust but verify through data

Scenario: "Team spread across 5 time zones"

Solution:

• Async time tracking (everyone tracks their own hours)
• Tool that handles time zones automatically
• Focus on total hours, not when they work
• Weekly summaries instead of daily micro-management

Scenario: "Worried about privacy invasion"

Solution:

• Choose tools with privacy controls (like TrackLabs)
• Clear policies about what's monitored
• No keystroke logging
• Configurable screenshot frequency (or off)
• Employees can pause for personal tasks

ROI for Remote Teams

Cost of poor remote time tracking:

• 20-30% of billable hours lost through poor tracking
• Disputes with clients over hours worked
• No visibility into team capacity
• Can't identify who's overloaded vs. under-utilized
• Payroll inaccuracies

Benefits of good remote time tracking:

• ✓ Capture 90%+ of actual work time
• ✓ Clear visibility for managers
• ✓ Accountability without micromanagement
• ✓ Data for capacity planning
• ✓ Fair performance evaluation
• ✓ Client trust (transparent billing)

Conclusion

For remote teams, TrackLabs offers the best solution: automatic tracking (solves the "forgetting" problem), activity verification (provides accountability), and privacy-respecting design (maintains trust).

Manual tracking tools like Toggl work for small, highly disciplined teams but fail at scale. Surveillance-heavy tools like Time Doctor provide data but damage morale.

The ideal remote time tracking balances three priorities:

1. Accuracy: Captures actual work time
2. Accountability: Verifies work is being done
3. Autonomy: Respects remote workers' independence

Get this balance right, and your remote team thrives. Get it wrong, and you either have no visibility or a surveillance state that drives top talent away.