Guides
How to bill by the hour, done right.
Field-tested guidance on tracking billable time, structuring hourly invoices, and getting paid — useful whether or not you ever use Hoursmith.
Free for solo freelancers · No credit card required
4-min read
Close the billing month with one clear checklist
A free checklist for web, design and development studios: reconcile time, fixed fees, expenses and recurring invoices before you send. No signup.
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How to track billable hours so nothing slips
The single biggest billing leak is hours that were real but never logged. Here's a practical, tool-agnostic system for tracking billable hours cleanly.
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How to invoice hourly work cleanly
Hourly invoicing is mostly about consistency: same units, same rounding, same line shape, every time. Practical guide for freelancers and small agencies.
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How to send invoices from your own domain
Invoices that arrive from your domain (not a SaaS noreply) get opened and paid faster. Guide to SMTP, Amazon SES, Resend, and the DNS records that matter.
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Stripe Connect for invoice payments — funds in your account, no middleman
Stripe Connect direct charges let billing tools accept payments without holding your money. Funds settle to your Stripe account at the moment of payment.
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Flat-fee or per-seat? It's a question about your hiring volatility
Per-seat pricing scales with headcount; fixed seat blocks scale in 25-seat steps on Agency. Honest cost analysis for billing tools at 3, 10, and 25 members.
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Time tracking for consultants who bill the messy real world
Time-tracking patterns for consultants: retainers vs project work, rate management, the daily cadence, and how to invoice the mix cleanly.
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Time tracking for agencies, without the bureaucracy
Agency time-tracking patterns: per-project rates, member roles, utilization math, and what to expose to whom. Start with 25 seats and add quantities as you grow.
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Choose hourly or fixed-fee billing from the work—not habit
Choose hourly or fixed-fee billing from scope certainty, risk, and client expectations—then track delivery work without mixing the two invoice models.
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Track the expense once—and keep the receipt with it
A practical workflow for recording client expenses, keeping receipt evidence, deciding billability, and adding the right costs to an invoice once.
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Let contractors track work without exposing what you bill
Let contractors work on assigned projects, tasks, and time while keeping rates, invoice totals, billing data, and financial reports private.
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Give every invoice one clear place to check and pay
Use one secure invoice destination for PDFs, supporting documents, balances, payment options, receipts, and follow-up without email confusion.
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Put it into practice.
Free for solo freelancers — no card. Track an hour and see the loop for yourself.
Free for solo freelancers · No credit card · Cancel any time