Time and Expense Tracking Software That Saves You Hours Every Week

Time and expense tracking is overwhelming when you rely on manual spreadsheets and paper receipts. These outdated processes lead to bottlenecks, costly errors, and poor ROI. According to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), manually processing a single expense report costs approximately $58, while automation reduces that cost by nearly 50%.

For growing teams, that difference adds up quickly.

Time and expense tracking software like Hubstaff automates everything from timesheets to expense tracking, making it easy to track time, control costs, and pay teams accurately (and with real-time productivity data).

Tracking time and expenses is not just about monitoring where the minutes and money go — it's about optimizing performance, fostering transparency, and driving business success.

In this guide, we'll explore:

• What time and expense tracking really means for your business

• How to use automation to save time and money

• How Hubstaff can help you scale with confidence

Is your team struggling with missed hours, manual spreadsheets, or inconsistent time logs? You're not alone.

Time tracking can feel like a chore when you don't have the right tools. With Hubstaff time tracking software, employees can easily track billable hours on desktop, with the mobile app, or via a web browser. There’s also an easy-to-use Chrome extension.

Time tracking has never been easier or more flexible. Track time to tasks and projects with one click and see real-time data on hours worked, earnings, productivity, and more. Hubstaff also generates automated, itemized timesheets the second you start tracking time.

What if someone forgets to start or stop the timer? Don't worry. Customizable idle timeout settings, manual time entries, and timesheet approvals ensure accurate payments in just a few clicks.

Most importantly, you get a clear breakdown of

• Time spent on projects

• Pinpoint areas of inefficiency

• Refine project management practices and workloads

Flexible time tracking can significantly impact your business, providing clarity and insights into your workdays.

If you find you’re having difficulty adhering to project budgets and you don't know where your money is going, Hubstaff makes expense management simple. With built-in expense tracking capabilities, you can:

• Log expenses accurately

• Gain clarity on how employees allocate time and resources

• Plan more efficient and cost-effective projects

• Store and organize expenses with digital receipt uploads

Hubstaff connects the dots between tracked time and billing, allowing you to create precise expense reports tied to actual employee hours.

Automated invoicing ensures clients are billed accurately, while real-time data helps you budget for current and future costs. You can invoice expenses, mark them as paid, and monitor spending across your team to save time, improve accuracy, and simplify financial oversight.

Manual timesheets aren't just tedious—they're expensive. In fact, each payroll error costs businesses an average of $291. After just two mistakes, 49% of employees begin looking for new jobs. These errors can also lead to missed payments, compliance risks, and even broken trust with international team members.

Time and payroll tracking removes the guesswork and likelihood of human error. Hubstaff converts work hours into automated timesheets ready for managers to review and submit. Integrations through popular payment providers like Wise, Payoneer, and Bitwage allow you to pay your team on their preferred app directly from Hubstaff.

With Hubstaff, you get:

• Auto-generated timesheets from tracked hours and productivity data

• Automated payments through PayPal, Wise, Payoneer, Bitwage, and more

• Multi-currency support for smooth payroll across international teams

• Custom payroll workflows for hourly, salaried, and contract workers

No more chasing down timesheets or calculating overtime by hand. Hubstaff ensures that every billable hour is accurately tracked and converted into ready-to-review timesheets to reduce admin workloads and prevent payroll mistakes.

Protecting projects from scope creep is crucial for maintaining healthy profit margins and ensuring long-term business growth. So, how can you combine time and expense tracking to stay profitable and avoid overruns?

You need a time tracking tool like Hubstaff that does more than just track work hours. The live dashboard provides powerful project cost tracking features that provide you with:

• Real-time updates on hours, earnings, overtime costs, and more

• Alerts when budgets are nearing limits

• Complete visibility into project profitability and expenses

• Detailed reports that show revenue vs. costs, highlight overruns, and help you plan for the future

Implementing multiple tools can be costly, and switching between them and aligning time and expense tracking workflows is time-consuming. You need an all-in-one system that serves as your single source of truth.

Hubstaff integrates with your existing tech stack, ensuring that existing workflows are well-connected to reduce duplicate work and maintain accurate data.

We designed Hubstaff to function as more than a basic timer app. Whether you're running a large enterprise or a small business, customizable settings and compatibility across an array of devices make it one of the most versatile tools on the market.

Hubstaff fits right into your workflow by catering to various industries, like:

• Professional services like agencies, legal teams, and consultants looking to track billable hours, manage client invoices, and build project budgets.

• Small business owners looking to limit admin time with automated payroll, reporting, and time tracking.

• Field service teams that utilize GPS tracking, geofencing, and mobile expense reporting to streamline operations.

• Remote and hybrid teams looking to increase transparency with more accurate time logs, payments, project budgets, and more.

• Software developers and IT teams looking to increase resource planning accuracy, plan more efficient sprints, and save on project costs.

• Healthcare professionals who need to ensure accuracy for grant budgets, volunteer hours, and other reimbursement expenses.

• Manufacturing businesses that need to manage overtime costs, travel time, and equipment costs.

However, if you're looking for a free timer or stopwatch to track time occasionally, Hubstaff may be more than you need. However, it can be a valuable tool for growing teams to keep projects profitable and expenses under control.

If you are ready to add Hubstaff to your workflow, remember that not every plan includes the project expense tracking feature. You must be on Hubstaff's Grow plan or higher to access expense tracking. These tiers also include other powerful capabilities like automated payroll and detailed business insights—ideal for teams that need more operational visibility and automation.

Check out the full Hubstaff pricing breakdowns to understand which one best suits your business needs. The free and Starter plans don't include expense tracking, so they're best suited for basic time tracking needs.