TLDR (Summary)
Toggl Track is a time tracker. The free plan caps at five users with no billing rates. The Starter plan at $9/user/month adds billable rate reports but no invoice output. At no plan level does Toggl generate invoices, send proposals, handle contracts, manage project delivery, or give clients a portal to see their work. Freelancers using Toggl for billing run it alongside at least two other paid subscriptions: one for invoicing and one for project management. The combined cost typically runs $30 to $50 a month across three tools that share no client data. Plutio covers time tracking, invoicing, proposals, contracts, project management, and client portals starting at $19/month.
Why Toggl's project structure isn't project management
Toggl has projects and tasks, but they exist to organize time entries, not to track the work itself. There are no Kanban boards, no Gantt charts, no task deadlines, no task dependencies, and no way to show a client what is in progress and what is complete.
A Toggl task is a label that answers "what was this hour for?" not "is this work on track?" or "what is left before the project closes?" Freelancers running the actual work in Asana, Notion, or Trello end up with two separate views of the same project and nothing connecting them.
Plutio's project management starts from the signed proposal scope. When a client approves the proposal, the project opens from a template with tasks drawn from the agreed scope. Each task has a deadline, description, assignee, and file attachment section. Time tracks against specific tasks, so the hours logged always reflect the work they represent.
Kanban and Gantt views give both the freelancer and the client a live picture of project status without requiring a separate delivery tool. Milestones mark key checkpoints, and the client portal shows task progress in real time so clients check status themselves instead of emailing you.
Plutio's project management connects the agreed scope to the hours tracked and the invoice that bills for them, all in one account.
Toggl tracks hours but doesn't turn them into invoices
Toggl Track does not generate invoices at any plan level. The free plan has no billing rates. The Starter plan adds billable rate reports that show what hours are worth, but the invoice that collects that money goes out from a different app.
The gap shows up at billing time: the hours live in Toggl's reports, but the invoice goes out from a different app, so connecting the two means exporting a CSV, opening the billing tool, and rebuilding the line items by hand. If the logged hours don't match what the client signed off on, reconciling the difference adds another step before the invoice goes out.
In Plutio, time tracked against project tasks becomes invoice line items automatically. The task name, duration, and billable rate populate when the invoice generates. The invoice references the original proposal scope so the client can see the connection between the agreed work and the amount billed. Multi-currency invoicing works on all plans, and clients pay through Stripe or PayPal without needing a separate payment account.
Plutio schedules recurring invoices for retainer clients automatically. Plutio sends late payment reminders on a set schedule so manual follow-up isn't needed. Clients pay from the portal itself rather than clicking a forwarded payment link from a separate app.
Plutio generates invoices from tracked project hours with task names and rates already filled in, so billing means reviewing and sending rather than rebuilding from a data export.
Toggl has no proposals, contracts, or client sign-off
Toggl has no proposal builder, no e-signature capability, and no contract functionality. There is no way to get a client's written agreement on scope, price, or payment terms from within Toggl at any plan level.
A freelancer using Toggl still needs a separate tool for the proposal, another for the contract, and then a manual message to tell the client the project is open. Toggl has no record of what the client agreed to, so there is nothing to check the logged hours against.
Plutio's proposal builder includes scope sections, pricing tables, and built-in e-signatures. Proposals and contracts share one document so the client approves the scope and signs terms from a single link. When the client signs, the project opens from a template that matches the agreed scope, the contract attaches to the project record, the client portal goes live, and Plutio generates the deposit invoice from the agreed pricing, with time tracking starting from inside that project so every hour logged connects back to the scope the client signed.
In Plutio, when a client signs the proposal, the project, contract, and client portal go live immediately. In Toggl, every step that happens before the timer starts requires a separate tool.
Toggl has no client-facing workspace
Toggl has no client portal at any plan level. Clients receive no window into the project, no way to see logged hours in context, and no space to view invoices, share files, or communicate about the work outside of email.
Every hour you log stays in your Toggl account, and clients have no way to see any of it. A client who wants a progress update, a file, or an invoice status has nowhere to look, so every answer travels by email. Invoices reach the client as forwarded links from whichever billing tool runs alongside Toggl, and the project context that explains those hours lives somewhere else entirely.
Plutio's client portals run at a custom domain with your logo, brand colors, and email templates. Clients log in to see project tasks and status, shared files organized by phase, communication threads attached to specific deliverables, a live view of hours logged against the budget, and outstanding invoices with payment options.
File requests, deliverable approvals, invoice payments, and status questions all route through the portal rather than email threads. The portal handles routine project questions without adding another tool or monthly charge.
Plutio's client portals give clients a branded space to track hours, see project status, and pay invoices. Clients get the project context they would otherwise request by email, without having to ask for it.
Switching to Plutio meant I could finally stop switching apps. The project, the invoice, and the client portal are all in one place with my branding throughout.
How to switch from Toggl to Plutio
The transition from Toggl follows a predictable sequence: export client and time data, start new projects on Plutio, and let active Toggl projects close through their current billing cycle.
- Start a free trial: Plutio offers 14 days of full access with no credit card required. Every feature works from day one, including proposals, project templates, and the client portal.
- Export time data from Toggl: Go to Reports in Toggl and export time entries by date range, project, or client as CSV files. Download client records from the Clients section. Historical time entry data exports completely on all plan levels.
- Import clients into Plutio: Upload the client CSV to Plutio's CRM. Contact records import with name, email, and company mapped automatically. Historical time data and billing notes can be added to each client record so the project history stays in one place.
- Build a proposal template: Draft the standard scope structure, pricing format, and payment terms in Plutio's proposal builder. Proposals and contracts share one document so the client approves and signs from a single link.
- Create project templates: Set up templates for the most common engagement types. Each template includes task lists, deadlines, file folders, and milestone markers. When a proposal gets signed, the project opens from the matching template without manual setup.
- Configure the client portal: Add the custom domain, logo, and brand colors. The portal goes live from the first client project at your domain without a separate configuration step.
- Start new clients on Plutio: Send the next proposal from Plutio. When the client signs, the project, portal, and contract all go live. Start the timer inside that project instead of in Toggl.
- Finish active Toggl projects where they are: Active client projects tracked in Toggl continue through their current billing cycle. New client work starts on Plutio from the first proposal. Running both through one billing period keeps active client invoices from being disrupted.
- Downgrade or cancel Toggl: After active projects close and time data is exported, cancel the Starter plan or drop to the free plan. The free plan covers up to five users and keeps historical time data accessible for reference.
The timer is the easiest part to replace. The harder habit to break is treating time tracking and billing as two separate steps. In Plutio, tracking time against a task and billing for it are the same action from the same account.
Send the next new client proposal from Plutio. Let open Toggl projects close on their current billing cycle and start all new work in Plutio from that point.
