For freelancers
Hoursmith for freelancers who get paid by the hour.
Free for solo freelancers, forever. Track time the moment you start work, invoice from tracked time on the 1st, accept card payments to your own Stripe account, and send everything from your own email domain (Studio+). The whole loop, no scope creep into project management.
Free for solo freelancers · No credit card required
The pain we hear most
Forgetting time you actually worked
The single biggest billing leak for solo work is hours that were real but never logged. Hoursmith's top-bar timer makes starting the clock a one-click reflex; manual entry parses '1.5h' or '45m' for the times you remembered to track but forgot to start.
Invoicing eats half a Friday
Reconstructing the week from a calendar, copying hours into a spreadsheet, building a PDF — that's the wrong way to spend a billable day. Hoursmith previews eligible hourly work and fixed-project balances together; you choose exactly what to invoice, then send.
Tools that pretend to be billing but are really project management
Most 'time tracking' tools have grown into PM platforms with billing as a side feature. Hoursmith doesn't have Gantt charts, sprints, resource forecasting, or proposals. The thing it does, it does well; nothing else clutters the UI.
Sending from a 'noreply' that looks like a tool
Invoices from 'noreply@theirapp.com' look like spam to clients and erode trust over time. Studio's BYO email (SMTP / SES / Resend) sends from your own domain — DKIM-aligned if you set the DNS up properly.
Hidden third party in payment flow
Some tools 'process payments for you' and hold the funds for days. Hoursmith uses Stripe Connect direct charges — payments land in your own Stripe account immediately, we never touch the money.
Where Hoursmith fits
Free is genuinely free, forever
Unlimited clients, projects, time tracking, and 5 invoices a month — enough to test the full loop without a card. The moment you hit a real ceiling (unlimited invoices, online payments, BYO email), Studio is $4.08/mo annual.
Time → invoice in two clicks
Eligible hourly entries load into the invoice builder, rounded to 15 minutes and priced at the project's rate. Select a fixed-project contract amount when needed, attach a discount, and send.
Repeat billing without repeat setup
Studio+ can schedule a regular service line, collect eligible unbilled hourly time and expenses, or combine the two. Generate a Draft to review or use guarded auto-send beneath a required variable-billing ceiling; Hoursmith emails an invoice and never charges the client automatically.
Shareable invoice link + view tracking on every plan
Every sent invoice gets a polished public page with a green Viewed ✓ pip when your client opens it. It stays available as the paid receipt and is revoked if the invoice is cancelled. Free included.
Mobile installable
Hoursmith is a PWA. Add it to your phone's home screen and start a timer from anywhere.
Multiple workspaces under one login
Run a personal practice and a partnership? Each is its own workspace with its own clients and invoices, all on one login. Free on every plan.
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
Is the Free plan actually free?
Yes — forever. Unlimited clients, projects, time tracking, 5 invoices a month, shareable invoice links with view tracking. No card to sign up. The Free plan exists because we'd rather have you running our product than not, even at $0/mo.
When does it make sense to upgrade?
When you want recurring invoices, online payments to your own Stripe, BYO email, or you're shipping more than 5 invoices/month. Those are Studio+ features. Studio at $4.08/mo annual ($49/yr) usually pays for itself in saved hours on the first invoice cycle.
Can I move my Toggl/Harvest/Paymo history in?
Paymo: one-click importer covers clients, projects, time, and historical invoices. Toggl / Harvest / anywhere else: export to CSV or Excel and use the CSV importer. Both importers are free on every plan with 24-hour undo.
Does it work for non-USD billing?
Yes. Each client can override the workspace currency, and new invoice snapshots inherit that effective client currency. Multi-currency in one workspace is supported. Once a fixed-fee contract has billing history, Hoursmith blocks changing its effective currency instead of silently reinterpreting the amount.
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