For consultants
Built for consultants who bill by the hour.
If your week is a mix of monthly service work, hourly projects, and the occasional flat-fee engagement — and the invoice on the 1st has to be exactly right — Hoursmith is built around that loop. Track time against the right project at the right rate, turn it into a clean invoice in a few clicks, and get paid into your own Stripe account.
Free for solo freelancers · No credit card required
The pain we hear most
Hours slip when you don't log them on the day
Reconstructing last week's billable hours from a calendar is the slowest path to the wrong invoice. The Hoursmith timer lives in the top bar so logging is one click — and manual entry parses "1.5h" or "1:30" so backfill is fast when you forget.
Monthly service and project work mix on the same client
One client can have monthly service work at one rate, a discovery project at another, and a fixed-fee engagement on top. Hoursmith stores the pricing model per project, so hourly work is priced correctly while fixed-project time stays delivery-only; a recurring series may repeat a manual service fee without pretending to track included-hours or rollover balances.
Invoices need to look like you, not the tool
Custom invoice notes, your org's legal name and address, your tax id, your footer line. BYO email so the invoice arrives from you@yourcompany, not noreply@theirapp.
Per-seat pricing punishes you when you bring on help
A senior consultant who hires a part-time researcher shouldn't pay double for their tools. Hoursmith is flat-fee.
Where Hoursmith fits
Project-level pricing
Choose hourly, fixed-fee, or non-billable pricing per project. Hourly time is priced automatically; fixed projects invoice the contract amount instead of the hours.
Recurring service billing with a review ceiling
On Studio and Agency, schedule a monthly service charge, collect eligible unbilled hours and expenses, or combine both. Keep each occurrence as a Draft or auto-send variable billing only beneath the grand-total ceiling you approved; no client is charged automatically.
Stripe Connect for direct payments
On Studio and above, online payments via Stripe Connect direct charges. Money lands in your account, not ours.
Bring-your-own-email for sending
SMTP, Amazon SES, or Resend. The invoice email comes from your domain — even DKIM-aligned if your DNS is set up.
Multi-workspace on every plan
If you run two separate consulting practices (your personal practice + a partnership, say), each can be its own workspace under one login. Free included.
Client portal for invoice access
Studio and above can give clients a passwordless portal to see their invoices, current balance, and history.
Tasks stay connected to the bill
Plan client work on a global or per-project Kanban board, switch to a compact list, and keep multiple assignees, dates, priority, estimate, tags, checklist, comments, mentions, and files on the task. Start the timer there, add billable expenses to the client, then carry eligible time, fixed fees, expenses, and custom lines into the invoice.
Best fit
Service teams that want lightweight coordination and billing context in one web workflow.
Not designed for
Custom task columns, recurring tasks, Gantt charts, dependencies, resource planning, CRM, accounting, proposals, contracts, or native mobile apps.
Common questions
What's the minimum plan I need as a one-person consultancy?
Free is enough to ship 5 invoices per month for unlimited clients and projects, including time tracking, shareable invoice links, and view tracking. The moment you want recurring invoices, online payments to your own Stripe, BYO email, unlimited invoices, or reports — that's Studio at $4.08/mo billed annually.
Can I import my existing clients and time entries?
Yes. Hoursmith ships one-click importers for Paymo (clients, projects, tasks, time entries, historical invoices) and a CSV/Excel uploader for any other source. Re-running the same import is a safe no-op; there's a 24-hour undo.
Do I have to switch off my current tool to try it?
No. Most consultants run Hoursmith and their current tool in parallel for a billing cycle, then cut over once the math reconciles. The Free tier lets you try the full loop without a card.
Related
Start free. Upgrade when you grow.
Free for solo freelancers, $4.08/mo annual for studios up to 10, $8.33/mo annual for agencies up to 25. No card to try it.
Free for solo freelancers · No credit card · Cancel any time