People look at the Hubstaff vs. Toggl Track debate objectively. In reality, there’s no such thing as a perfect time tracking tool, and Hubstaff and Toggl are each great for different use cases.
Some need simple, no-fuss time tracking. Others are managing remote teams, handling payroll, or trying to understand how work gets done with team productivity metrics.
Time tracking itself is just the starting point. What really matters is what each tool helps you do with that time, whether that’s billing clients, staying compliant, keeping projects on track, or just protecting team members from burning out.
Different teams need different levels of structure, automation, and visibility, and that’s where these tools start to diverge.
Both are solid in their own way, but they serve different kinds of teams. This guide compares them side by side, so you can figure out which one fits how your team works.
112,000+ businesses trust Hubstaff for time tracking
Hubstaff vs Toggl: Feature by Feature
How do these two tools stack up against each other? Before we get into an in-depth breakdown, here are some key features of these time tracking software worth comparing:
| Feature | Hubstaff | Toggl |
|---|---|---|
Best for | Teams needing scalable time tracking with payroll, scheduling, and comprehensive insights into team efficiency | Freelancers and small teams wanting simple, intuitive time tracking |
Free plan | No free plan — 14-day trial only | Free forever for up to 5 users |
Paid pricing plans (Monthly) | Starter: $7/user/month Grow: $9/user/month Team: $12/user/month Enterprise: $25/user/month | Starter: $10/user/month Premium: $20/user/month Enterprise: Custom pricing |
User minimum | 2-seat minimum on all paid plans | No minimum |
Time tracking methods | Manual, timer, idle timeout customization (Grow+), background tracking (Enterprise only), GPS (add-on), desktop, mobile apps | Manual, timer, calendar integrations, auto-tracking, desktop, mobile apps |
Timesheet approvals | Available in Team and Enterprise plans | Available in Premium and Enterprise |
Idle time detection | Basic in Grow; customizable in Team; auto-discard with Insights or Team+ | Basic in all plans |
Work monitoring | Screenshots (500–1,500/month); activity percentages; app/URL tracking for all tiers above Starter | No screenshots or activity monitoring; only passive URL/app tracking |
Productivity analytics | Insights: Included in Enterprise; 3-month trial in Team, $3/user/mo add-on for Starter & Grow | Not available |
Payroll & payments | Built-in payroll + integrations (Wise, PayPal, Deel, Gusto) | Not included |
Invoicing | Native invoicing (clients & team, expense tracking | Not available — manual export only |
Scheduling & attendance | Available in Team and Enterprise: PTO, breaks, holidays, daily/weekly limits | Not available |
Task management | Hubstaff Tasks add-on ($3/user): Kanban, deadlines, labels, attachments | Toggl Plan (separate product): Kanban, timelines, templates, subtasks |
Reporting & dashboards | 20+ automated reports; real-time widgets; scheduled reports (Grow+); customizable analytics | Productivity reports (Free+); custom reports on Premium+ |
Integrations | 35+ integrations + Zapier (Grow: 1 only; Team+: unlimited) | 100+ integrations + Zapier |
Support | Starter: Help center Grow: Chat + 1-day SLA Team: Enhanced support Enterprise: Concierge setup + 2hr SLA | Starter: Help docs + email Premium+: Chat Enterprise: dedicated onboarding & support |
Mobile capabilities | Full-featured iOS & Android apps; GPS tracking (add-on); geofenced job sites; background tracking | iOS & Android apps, calendar view, timer |
Compliance & security | SOC 2 Type II; optional 2FA; HIPAA (Enterprise); Silent App (Team+); account provisioning | 2FA only — no enterprise compliance certifications |
API access | Grow: Limited Team & Enterprise: Full API access | Full public API |
Who is it for?
Hubstaff and Toggl Track both handle time tracking well.
However, the real difference shows up when you look at who they’re built for. Depending on how your team works and what you need from a tool beyond tracking hours, one will likely stand out.
| Use case | Best tool | Why |
|---|---|---|
Freelancers & consultants | Toggl Track | Lightweight, no setup needed, and easy to start using right away. Perfect for solo work. |
Remote teams with payroll needs | Hubstaff | Combines time tracking, approvals, and payroll in one workflow. This saves a lot of time when managing multiple people across regions. |
Field service / GPS needs | Hubstaff | GPS tracking and mobile app support are built-in, making it easier to manage teams in the field. |
Agencies with external clients | Hubstaff | Offers deep visibility into where time goes with comprehensive reports and insights that help justify costs and improve margins. |
Smaller teams with basic time tracking needs | Toggl Track | Offers just enough without overcomplicating things. A great choice for simple tracking and basic reporting. |
Teams needing compliance and security | Hubstaff | Includes enterprise-grade options like HIPAA and SOC 2 compliance, two-factor authentication, and audit trails for accountability. |
Time tracking and timesheets
Hubstaff and Toggl both offer intuitive start and stop timers and the ability to seamlessly shift between desktop and mobile apps without losing tracked time.
Hubstaff’s time tracking is part of a broader workforce management structure. You can seamlessly convert time tracking data into detailed timesheets. Users can add manual time, add notes, and submit for one-click approvals. Idle time discard and required approvals (from the $12/user Team plan) help keep data accurate.
Toggl is more about simplicity and speed. A helpful auto-tracking feature and a generous free plan suit freelancers and small teams, but it lacks other tools' robust timesheet and payroll functionality.
In short: Hubstaff fits teams needing oversight. Toggl suits those wanting lightweight tracking.
Productivity and insights
Some teams need to record hours, while others want to understand how that time is used with employee productivity features.
Hubstaff offers full-scale productivity and employee monitoring features like keyboard and mouse activity tracking, website and app usage, and optional screenshots (with privacy controls). The Insights add-on helps you manage utilization rates, balance meeting and focus time, and spot unusual activity.
Toggl Track is about clean, minimalistic time logs but lacks team or individual productivity insights.
In short: Toggl tracks time, but Hubstaff helps you understand it.
Project and task management
Tracking time is only as helpful as the tasks and projects you’re tracking to.
Hubstaff offers a Tasks add-on ($3 per user/month) with Kanban, Sprint, and Timeline views. With this add-on, you can see real-time updates on hours worked and spending and set budget limits to adjust on the fly.
Toggl offers task management features with Toggl Plan (separate from Track). For $8 per user/month, you’ll have access to timelines, boards, scheduling, and time tracking.
In short: Hubstaff excels as an affordable, integrated time + project management solution. Toggl has a separate task management tool that offers some basic time tracking.
Reporting and dashboards
Reporting and analytics features help managers understand how time is spent for better budgeting and strategic decision-making.
With Hubstaff, you can access 20+ detailed reports for Time & Activity, Expenses, PTO, and more. You can also see real-time updates on hours, projects, activity, website and app usage, and more from the dashboard.
Toggl Track offers a simple approach to reporting with three main reports: Summary, Detailed, and Weekly. While summary reports are helpful and easy to use, Toggl does not have a dashboard for live insights, and custom reports will require more costly plans.
In short: Hubstaff is a full-fledged workforce analytics solution with detailed, automated reporting and live data. Toggl is better for those who need basic, beautiful reporting.
Payroll & invoicing
Time tracking data is crucial, but it’s a means to an end: getting paid.
Hubstaff seamlessly converts tracked time into detailed, itemized timesheets. From there, approvals trigger automated payments through various integrations with payroll and accounting software like PayPal, Wise, and Deel — directly from the Hubstaff app. Automatic invoicing rounds out a versatile payment app. You can create custom branding, add automatic line items, and send invoices directly from the app.
Toggl Track can track time, but you’ll need to rely on separate payroll tools to pay your team.
In short: Hubstaff can help you pay freelancers, contractors, and remote employees on their preferred payment platform from one central location. Toggl will require manual invoicing, which can be hard for larger teams to keep up with.
Shift scheduling & attendance
Shift scheduling and attendance features are crucial for teams that work in hourly shift-based roles. Hubstaff Team and Enterprise plans have built-in shift scheduling, PTO, and attendance features. Managers can build schedules and set alerts for late, missed, or abandoned shifts to spot money leaks and cut unnecessary overtime costs.
Toggl Track lacks traditional scheduling features entirely, so it’s best for freelancers or small teams that can manage schedules manually.
In short: Hubstaff offers built-in scheduling features, while Toggl requires you to find other tools or manually manage schedules.
Customer support
Customer support is your best friend — especially for teams new to time tracking.
Hubstaff offers a support plan designed to scale with you: basic help docs with the Starter plan, live chat for Grow, expedited response times for Team, and concierge onboarding and two-hours SLA for Enterprise.
Toggl Track provides email support, help docs, and onboarding assistance for higher-tiered plans. It’s a lightweight, self-serve support system that’s great for smaller teams.
In short: Hubstaff’s support system grows alongside your team, while Toggl is great for small business needs.
Ease of use
Both Hubstaff and Toggl Track are user-friendly tools with clean interfaces.
Hubstaff offers a more well-rounded suite of features like built-in timesheets, payroll, and scheduling. It also offers real-time analytics and add-ons for additional data and project management capabilities. Despite the versatility, it’s still easy to use and helps simplify complex workflows.
Toggl Track was built with designers in mind, so it’s one of the prettier time trackers on the market. While it lacks the in-depth features of Hubstaff, it offers easy tracking on a beautiful interface with minimal setup.
In short: Hubstaff is easy to use relative to its large feature set, but Toggl is great for frictionless tracking and a virtually nonexistent learning curve.
Integrations
Even with great automated time tracking and a versatile feature set, you’ll still need to integrate Hubstaff or Toggl into your existing tech stack.
Hubstaff offers 35+ integrations with tools like Asana, QuickBooks, and Slack. The Zapier integration helps you create custom integrations for more connections.
Toggl Track offers an impressive 100+ integrations, often without plan limits. This makes up for some of its limitations in terms of timesheets, payroll, and scheduling.
In short: Hubstaff fits teams needing targeted, workflow‑driven integrations. Toggl suits those wanting wide, flexible options.
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What our customers say
“We work in a lot of different industries, so I can’t always know what’s a 45-minute task and what’s a four-hour task. With tools like Hubstaff, you can tell. You then decide if a whole project should’ve taken 16 hours or if someone is just not the right fit.”
OneIMS President and Founder
“We believe — just like Hubstaff — that talent is everywhere and people should be able to work any time, anywhere, even in their pajamas,” says Kothari. “As a company, we believe in the same future of work as Hubstaff, which is great because our values align.”
Co-founder at Tallyfy
Hubstaff vs. Toggl: The final verdict
Hubstaff and Toggl Track are both strong time tracking software solutions, but the right choice depends on how your team works today and how you plan to scale tomorrow. Let's take one last minute for a quick overview.
Toggl Track shines for individuals and smaller teams that want simple, intuitive time tracking without a lot of setup. It’s especially appealing if you’re billing clients, tracking your total hours, or managing just a few people, and you want something you can use immediately.
Unlike Toggl, Hubstaff is built for teams that need more structure.
If your workflow includes shift planning, payroll, billable rates, approvals, or workforce oversight, Hubstaff brings those pieces together in one platform. It connects time tracking to real-world operations, which makes it easier to stay compliant, save admin time, and grow your team without growing your back office.
In short:
Choose Toggl Track if your time tracking needs are lightweight, flexible, and mostly self-managed.
Choose Hubstaff if your team is distributed, scaling, or needs built-in systems for tracking, paying, and managing work.
Both offer free trials, so it’s worth testing them to see what fits your team best.
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