Hubstaff and the Upwork time tracker are both well-known ways to log hours, but they’re built for different kinds of work.
Hubstaff is a full-fledged time tracking platform with features for managing teams, projects, and payroll across clients.
Upwork’s tracker is a built-in tool designed specifically for hourly contracts on the Upwork platform.
For teams, those differences show up quickly.
The Upwork tracker only works inside active Upwork contracts, with mandatory screenshots and activity scoring on every project. Meanwhile, Hubstaff works anywhere you do and includes optional monitoring and the flexibility to track billable hours across multiple clients and platforms.
This comparison looks at Hubstaff and the Upwork time tracker feature by feature, so you can decide which one fits your team’s needs today and where you want to grow.
112,000+ businesses trust Hubstaff for time tracking
Hubstaff vs. Upwork time tracking comparison
| Feature | Hubstaff | Upwork |
|---|---|---|
Best for | Teams needing scalable time tracking across clients, with payroll, scheduling, and productivity insights | Freelancers working on Upwork hourly contracts who need client-verified time logs |
Free plan | No free plan — 14-day trial only. | No standalone use — must be tied to an active Upwork contract |
User minimum | 2-seat minimum for all paid plans | Single user only per contract |
Time tracking methods | Manual, timer, idle timeout customization (Grow+), background tracking (Enterprise only), GPS (add-on), desktop and mobile apps | Timer with mandatory screenshots and activity scoring; no manual time for hourly work |
Timesheet approvals | Available for Team and Enterprise plans | Not applicable. Upwork handles approvals via client-side visibility in Work Diary |
Work monitoring | Optional screenshots; activity %; app/URL tracking (configurable by user/project), work time classification | Mandatory screenshots every 10 minutes; activity tracked via keystrokes/mouse input |
Data ownership | You control and export your data across clients and platforms. | Data is owned by Upwork; limited export or reporting outside the platform |
Payroll & payments | Built-in payroll + integrations (Deel, Wise, Gusto, PayPal) | Platform-locked. Payments only via Upwork hourly contract invoicing |
Platform flexibility | Works for any client or project, inside or outside Upwork | Can only be used for active Upwork hourly contracts |
Compliance & privacy | SOC 2 Type II, optional HIPAA (Enterprise), silent app, customizable monitoring | No enterprise compliance; fixed monitoring defaults |
Who each tool is for
Choosing between Hubstaff and the Upwork time tracker depends on how and where your team works. Some need a tool that adapts to different clients, projects, and workflows. Others simply need to log hours for hourly contracts on a single platform.
Take a look at the table below, which breaks down some common use cases, to see where each app shines.
| Use case | Best tool | Why |
|---|---|---|
Managing time across multiple clients or projects | Hubstaff | Track and report hours for any client, platform, or contract — not limited to Upwork. |
Distributed or hybrid teams | Hubstaff | Optional screenshot monitoring and productivity insights support different workflows and trust levels. |
Agencies or teams scaling beyond Upwork | Hubstaff | Built-in payroll, permissions, and team-level visibility across roles and departments. |
Freelancers working exclusively on Upwork | Upwork time tracker | Provides hourly protection, client visibility, and automatic billing tied directly to the Upwork platform. |
Teams with privacy or compliance requirements | Hubstaff | SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA options, screenshot opt-in, and silent tracking. Avoids one-size-fits-all monitoring. |
Time tracking and timesheets
Hubstaff’s time tracking feeds into detailed timesheets, reports, and payroll. With the right permissions, you can add manual time, leave notes, or edit entries. Features like idle timeout and one-click approvals help keep data accurate for teams managing multiple clients.
The Upwork tracker is designed to protect payments inside the platform. You select a contract, run the timer, and the app captures periodic screenshots and activity levels. That setup ensures work gets done, but it also means your records stay inside Upwork, with no way to pull the data into reports or repurpose it for other projects.
In short: While both Hubstaff and Upwork offer intuitive time tracking features, Hubstaff offers flexible time tracking that supports teams working across different clients, projects, and even outside platforms, while Upwork’s tracker is locked to active hourly contracts within its marketplace.
Monitoring and visibility
With Hubstaff, monitoring is optional and highly configurable. You can enable or disable screenshots, adjust how often they’re taken, and decide whether to track app and website usage. Settings can be applied by project or by user role, so managers can configure visibility to the needs of each client or team member.
Upwork’s tracker takes a stricter approach. Screenshots are mandatory every 10 minutes, and activity levels based on mouse and keyboard input are always visible to clients. These settings can’t be changed — even if the team and client have a high-trust relationship or different privacy expectations.
In short: Hubstaff lets teams decide how much monitoring is appropriate. Upwork enforces the same level of surveillance for every hourly contract, regardless of context.
Productivity and insights
Hubstaff collects employee productivity data, but it’s not meant to micromanage. See real-time updates on employee activity levels, website and app usage, and real-time project spend for better decision-making. Try Insights for workforce analytics data on utilization rates, meeting and focus time, suspicious activity, and more.
Upwork’s tracker offers basic productivity data, but it stops at the basics. The Work Diary records hours with screenshots and activity percentages, but there’s no breakdown of where the time went, no categorization, and no analytics to guide process improvements.
In short: Tracking hours is one thing, but understanding how that time is actually used is another. Hubstaff helps teams understand and optimize how time is spent. Upwork simply verifies that the work happened.
Payroll and payment flexibility
Start tracking time and watch as Hubstaff generates detailed, itemized timesheets in real time. Users can add manual time, write notes, and submit timesheets for approval. From there, built-in payroll functionality allows you to pay teams simultaneously across different payment apps like Wise, PayPal, and Deel. You can also tweak pay rates, currencies, and pay periods to match each agreement.
Upwork’s tracker ties payments directly to its hourly contracts. When you log time through the app, the platform invoices your client automatically and processes payment according to Upwork’s schedule and policies. You can’t use it to pay team members outside the platform or adjust terms beyond what Upwork allows.
In short: For teams working across clients, tools, and even countries, paying people shouldn’t depend on a single platform’s rules. Hubstaff gives teams control over how, when, and where they pay to reduce headaches and streamline payroll. Upwork offers users a full-fledged payment system, but it only works for contracts inside its marketplace.
Platform lock-in and data ownership
Hubstaff makes it easy to track your work history and create enterprise-grade compliance trails with ease. You can export timesheets, reports, invoices, expenses, and all other tracked data in a variety of formats and email them directly from the app. This makes it easier to maintain historical records, migrate tools, or consolidate reporting across clients.
Upwork’s tracker is tied entirely to its platform. Time logs, screenshots, and activity data live in the client’s Work Diary and can’t be transferred for use elsewhere. Once a contract closes, access to that data is limited. Plus, it’s structured primarily for client audits, not for your internal reporting needs.
In short: Time data is a part of your work history, reporting, and compliance trail. If it’s locked inside a single vendor’s system, you lose flexibility and long-term control. Hubstaff keeps your time data in your hands, Upwork keeps it in theirs.
Reporting and team oversight
Hubstaff offers over 20 customizable reports, from weekly timesheets to project cost summaries and productivity trends. Add filters, export them as PDF or Excel files, or schedule and email them to key stakeholders automatically, directly from the Hubstaff app.
Upwork’s reporting is limited to the Work Diary, which shows logs, screenshots, and an activity bar for each contract. While it’s enough to verify work for payment protection, it doesn’t provide higher-level analysis or consolidated views across projects.
In short: Hubstaff delivers reporting that helps managers spot trends, address bottlenecks, and keep projects on track. Upwork’s tracker is built to verify hours, not improve workflows. It’s Hubstaff’s real-time workforce analytics dashboard and Insights add-on that really stand out, though.
Support and reliability
When teams rely on a time tracking tool for payroll, compliance, and client reporting, they need to know help will be there when it’s needed.
Hubstaff offers tiered support that scales with your plan. All users have access to live chat, while higher tiers have access to concierge onboarding and service-level agreements for faster response times. This ensures larger teams get dedicated help when issues arise.
Upwork routes tracker support through its general platform help system. There’s no dedicated channel for the time tracker itself, and most troubleshooting starts with community forums or standard ticket queues. This can cause a slow resolution when you need a quick fix to keep projects moving.
In short: Hubstaff adapts its support to match team size and urgency. Upwork’s tracker gets the same one-size-fits-all assistance as the rest of the platform.
Each month, Hubstaff tracks:
Why customers are choosing Hubstaff
“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. Upwork time tracker:
Which is best for your team?
Hubstaff and the Upwork time tracker can both record hours accurately, but they’re designed for very different work environments. The choice comes down to whether you need a platform-specific tracker or a flexible tool that works anywhere your team does.
The Upwork time tracker is ideal for freelancers working exclusively on Upwork’s hourly contracts. It’s simple, automatic, and built to meet the platform’s payment protection requirements. If your work never leaves Upwork, it does the job without extra setup.
Hubstaff is built for teams that need more flexibility and control. It works across clients, projects, and platforms, with features for payroll, productivity insights, reporting, and compliance. It’s especially valuable for agencies, distributed teams, or any business that manages work both inside and outside Upwork.
In short:
Choose Upwork’s time tracker if you’re a freelancer who works only on Upwork and needs built-in hourly protection and client visibility.
Choose Hubstaff if you manage multiple clients, want control over monitoring and data, and need payroll and reporting that scale with your team.
Both can reliably track time, but only Hubstaff grows with you when your work expands beyond a single platform.
Ready to transform your team’s productivity?
Start your 14-day trial and see why Hubstaff is the ultimate choice for tracking work hours.