TL;DR
Time tracking in Plutio lets freelancers and agencies start a timer, log billable hours against projects and tasks, set billing rates, and convert completed time entries into invoice line items without switching tools.
Plutio includes a global timer in the navigation bar that runs while working, with timesheets organized by date in the Timesheets section. Each entry stores a billing rate, a cost rate, and a billable status (unpaid, invoiced, paid, or non-billable), so the billing amount calculates automatically. The real value: tracked hours flow directly into invoices as line items, so the gap between finishing the work and getting paid shrinks from days to minutes.
Time tracking comes with all Plutio plans starting at $19/month, with a 7-day free trial. The global timer appears in the navigation bar on every page, so starting and stopping takes one click from anywhere in the app.
What time tracking is
Time tracking is the process of recording how long work takes on a project or task, categorizing that time as billable or non-billable, and using the recorded hours to generate accurate invoices based on actual effort rather than estimates.
In Plutio, time tracking works through two core components: a global timer that runs from the navigation bar while working, and the Timesheets section where all completed and active time entries are stored, filtered, and managed. Each time entry records a title, an optional description, the project and task it belongs to, a start time, a duration, and billing details including the billing rate and billable amount.
Global timer and manual entries
The global timer sits in Plutio's navigation bar and stays visible on every page. Click the timer icon to start tracking, and the elapsed time displays in real time. Pause the timer for breaks, resume when work continues, and stop when the session ends. Plutio also supports manual time entry for work that happened without the timer running: open the Timesheets section, click the add button, and enter the date, duration, and billing details directly. Timers that have been running for more than 24 hours are auto-stopped by Plutio to prevent accidental overnight entries.
Billing rates and billable status
Every time entry in Plutio carries a billing rate (what the client pays per hour) and a cost rate (what the work costs the business internally). Billing rates can be set at three levels: the person's default rate, the project rate, or an override on the entry itself. When a time entry is linked to a project that has a billing rate and is marked as billable, Plutio pulls the project rate automatically. The billing status tracks each entry through four stages: unpaid, invoiced, paid, or non-billable. The billing amount (rate multiplied by hours) calculates automatically, so there is no manual math between logging time and knowing the dollar value of the work.
Plutio's time tracking changed how I bill. I used to estimate hours at the end of the week and always underbilled. Now the timer runs while I work and the invoice pulls from actual hours.
Why time tracking matters for freelancers
Freelancers who track time manually or estimate hours at the end of the week consistently underbill. A 2023 QuickBooks survey found that 38% of freelancers struggle to accurately track billable time, with over 25% admitting they estimate rather than log hours precisely.
The cost adds up fast. Missing 15 minutes per workday on a $75/hour rate means 5 unbilled hours per month and $4,500 in lost revenue per year. On a $5,000 project spanning four weeks, even a 10% tracking gap means $500 that never reaches an invoice. The problem gets worse with context switching: a developer working on three client projects in one day has three separate billing contexts to track, and without a timer tied to each project, the allocations become guesswork by Friday.
Toggl Track focuses on time tracking and reporting but has no native invoicing, so tracked hours sit in Toggl's reports until the freelancer manually recreates them as line items in a separate invoicing tool like QuickBooks or FreshBooks. The export-and-rebuild step introduces errors and adds 15 to 30 minutes per invoice cycle. Harvest includes basic invoicing but limits the free plan to 1 seat and 2 projects, so freelancers with 3+ active clients pay $11/seat/month before adding any team members.
The most expensive outcome is not a late payment but unbilled work that never reaches an invoice at all. Hours that exist in a timer app but never make it into an invoice are hours worked for free.
Plutio closes that gap by keeping time entries and invoices in the same workspace. Tracked hours convert into invoice line items directly, with the billing amount already calculated from the rate and duration, so nothing gets lost between the timer and the payment request.
How time tracking works in Plutio
Click the timer icon in the navigation bar to start tracking, assign the entry to a project and task, set a billing rate, and when the work is done, pull the completed entry into an invoice as a line item with the billable amount already calculated.
Before starting, make sure billing rates are configured. Set a default billing rate on each team member's profile, or set a project-level billing rate in the project settings. Plutio uses the project rate when one exists and falls back to the person's default rate otherwise.
Step by step
- Step 1: Click the timer icon in Plutio's navigation bar. The global timer starts and a counter appears showing elapsed time. Assign the entry to a project and optionally a specific task.
- Step 2: Work on the task. The timer runs in the background across all pages in Plutio. Pause the timer for breaks and resume when work continues. Multiple timers can run simultaneously for different tasks.
- Step 3: Stop the timer when the session ends. The time entry saves to the Timesheets section with the duration, project, task, billing rate, and calculated billing amount.
- Step 4: Open the Timesheets section to review all entries. Filter by project, person, date range, or billing status (unpaid, invoiced, paid, non-billable). Edit entries to adjust duration or billing details if needed.
- Step 5: Create an invoice and add a time entries block. Select the project, pick completed time entries, and Plutio adds them as line items with title, duration, rate, and billable amount. Send the invoice to the client.
Practical tip: set billing rates at the project level before starting the first timer. Plutio auto-fills the rate on every new time entry for that project, so team members never have to enter the rate manually on each entry.
Who needs time tracking
Freelancers and agencies billing hourly rates on client projects, particularly developers, designers, consultants, and virtual assistants working on multiple concurrent projects, get the most value from built-in time tracking.
A freelance developer billing $100/hour across four active clients needs to track time per project daily. Without a timer tied to each project, end-of-week estimates undercount billable hours by 10 to 15%, which on a 30-hour billable week means $300 to $450 in lost revenue every week. Built-in time tracking with project-level billing rates eliminates that guesswork and turns logged hours into invoiceable line items directly.
Agencies with multiple team members need both billing rates (what the client pays) and cost rates (what the agency pays the team member) on each entry. Plutio tracks both on every time entry, so the Timesheets stats show total billable amount, total cost, unpaid amounts, and paid amounts across all projects and team members. Over 40% of Plutio users on team plans use time tracking weekly to track how much each project earns versus what it costs.
Freelancers switching from Toggl often need invoicing built into the same tool where time gets tracked, so completed hours convert into invoice line items without exporting to a separate billing app. Freelancers moving from Harvest want the same time-to-invoice workflow but without Harvest's per-seat pricing that scales up as the team grows, since Plutio's plans cover unlimited projects on every tier.
Bottom line: any freelancer or agency billing hourly rates across more than one active project saves both time and revenue by tracking hours in the same workspace where invoices get created and sent.
