actiTIME vs ClickTime (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, actiTIME grades higher than ClickTime: 2.2 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
actiTIME grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
actiTIME
Timesheets with project budgets, billing and a self-hosted option
ClickTime
Timesheets and labor cost tracking for finance and project teams
Which one is for you
Pick actiTIME if
- Fits if you run projects and want budgets and profit tracked down to the task
- Works for companies that must keep timesheet data on their own server
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free, as it stops at 3 users and approvals, overtime, budgets and the API are switched off
- Skip it if you want a desktop app with a timer, because actiTIME Online is browser only
- Pricey if you self-host for years, as each major upgrade costs the full $120 a user again
- Watch out: self-hosting puts maintenance on your own IT staff, engineer sessions are $40 an hour, and prices exclude taxes
- Too light for teams that connect lots of tools, as the integrations are QuickBooks Online, Zapier and actiPLANS
Pick ClickTime if
- Fits if you run a services firm that needs approvals on timesheets
- Makes sense if you are happy to book a demo before seeing any price
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to try before talking to sales, as there is no free plan or trial
- Pricey if you are a small team, as the $12 starting price is in the dearest tenth
- Watch out: expense tracking is a $4 per user a month add-on and many integrations cost extra
- Watch out: approvals, cost rates and time off need Team, and budgeting needs Premier, neither with a published price
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAactiTIMEFair | 1.6GPAClickTimeWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | COnline is $6 a user a month billed yearly for up to 40 people, $5 above that, which is the middle of what time tracking charges. The one-time Self-Hosted license is $120 a user, but every major upgrade costs the full $120 again. | DListed from $12 per user a month with the billing basis not shown, where the dearest tenth of time tracking starts at $12; other plans show no price. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree takes 1 to 3 users, and the list of what's switched off is long: approvals, overtime, task estimates, budgets, custom fields, the API, the Chrome extension, Zapier and QuickBooks. A 30-day card-free trial covers the full product. | FThe page offers no free plan and no free trial; every plan is bought through a demo request. |
| Features | COn the accounting side it has weekly timesheets with approvals, tasks with estimates and a Kanban view, time, cost and billing budgets, profit and loss reports, invoices and a QuickBooks hand-off. But there's no desktop app with a timer at all, so tracking happens in a browser tab, on a phone or in a Chrome extension. | CTimesheets, reporting and AI chat, but approvals, cost rates and time off need Team, and budgeting and resource management need Premier. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record, and this is the kind of tool somebody sets up: customers, projects, tasks, billing rates, budgets and an approval workflow all have to be in place before the numbers mean anything. | CNo store rating on record. Plans are set up through a sales demo, with approvals and cost rules to configure. |
| Platforms and integrations | BBrowser, iPhone, Android and a Chrome extension, with a REST API on the paid plans. No desktop app on any operating system, and the integrations list is short: QuickBooks Online, Zapier and actiTIME's own actiPLANS. | BWeb, iPhone and Android with 8 integrations on record, and no desktop app. |
| Best for | timesheets tied to project budgets | timesheets with approvals for service firms |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: actiTIME and ClickTime. How we grade
Price against what you get
actiTIME starts at $5 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. ClickTime starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and actiTIME starts $7 a month lower. Of the other time tracking apps on the chart, 12 score higher than actiTIME for less, and 31 score higher than ClickTime for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- actiTIME is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- actiTIME can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- actiTIME also covers tasks and invoicing.
- ClickTime also covers expense tracking, time off and dashboards.
At a glance
| actiTIME | ClickTime | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $5 per user / month, billed yearly ($6 for up to 40 users) | $12 per user / month (starting price; billing basis not shown) |
| Free plan | Free actiTIME Online for 1 to 3 users with limited functionality: no approvals, overtime, task estimates, budgets, custom fields, API, Chrome extension, Zapier or QuickBooks integration. | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | actiTIME Inc | ClickTime |
| Price read from | actitime.com | clicktime.com |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
actiTIME
- The free version stops at 3 users and omits approvals, overtime, budgets, task estimates, custom fields, the API and the Chrome extension.
- actiTIME Online is browser-only: there is no desktop app, only iOS and Android apps and a Chrome extension.
- Self-Hosted maintenance falls to your own IT staff, major upgrades cost 100% of the initial price, and engineer sessions are $40 an hour.
- Listed prices exclude taxes.
ClickTime
- Per-plan prices are not displayed on the pricing page, and every plan is bought through a demo request.
- Expense tracking is a $4 per user a month add-on, and many integrations are add-ons rather than included.
- Approvals, cost rates and time off need the Team plan; budgeting and resource management need Premier.
- The page offers no free plan or free trial.
Key features
actiTIME
- Timesheets and calendar
- Time is entered in a weekly timesheet or as start and stop time cards on a calendar, with comments, overtime and leave. Timesheets can be locked and sent for approval.
- Task management
- Tasks carry estimates, deadlines, priorities, assignments and custom workflow statuses, and a Kanban view shows progress across a project.
- Budgets
- Time, cost and billing budgets can be set for tasks, projects and customers, over a date range or the lifetime of the work, in any number.
- Reports
- Reports cover staff performance, overtime, leave balances, estimated against actual time, billing summaries and profit and loss, with charts and CSV export.
- Billing and invoicing
- Billable amounts come from billing rates and logged time, and invoices are generated from them. A QuickBooks Online integration passes time data to accounting.
- Online or self-hosted
- actiTIME Online runs in a browser on Amazon servers with daily backups. The self-hosted edition runs on an internal server, and both offer a REST API.
ClickTime
- Web and mobile timesheets
- Daily, weekly or biweekly timesheets on web, iPhone and Android with a timer, notes, copy-forward entry and required-field rules.
- Automated time capture
- Team and above can pull time from calendars, Jira, GitHub, Zoom, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, with AI matching entries to projects.
- Cost structure at entry
- Billing and cost rates by person, project and date, plus custom fields for cost codes, CapEx and OpEx, grants and R&D.
- Approvals and audit trail
- Approval workflows, timesheet locking, overtime rules and a full change history; DCAA-compliant timesheets are listed in the plan table.
- Reporting and Ellie AI chat
- 70+ pre-built reports and dashboards, plus an AI chat that answers labor-cost questions and builds reports, limited on the Team plan.
- Budgeting and capacity
- Premier adds project budgets, resource allocation and capacity planning that use approved hours.
Plans
actiTIME
Free$0
1 to 3 users on actiTIME Online with limited functionality, unlimited customers, projects and tasks, and CSV reports.
Online, 41-200 users$5
per user / month, billed yearly ($6 billed monthly)
The full online product at the lower rate that applies to accounts with 41 to 200 active users.
Online, 1-40 users$6
per user / month, billed yearly ($7 billed monthly)
Full functionality in the cloud, with the API, QuickBooks and Zapier integrations, the mobile app, the Chrome extension and daily backups.
Self-Hosted$120
one-time per user
Installed on your own Windows or Unix server, with direct database access. Minor upgrades are free; major upgrades cost 100% of the initial price.
Online, 200+ users$1,250
per month for unlimited users, billed yearly ($1,500 billed monthly)
A fixed cost for accounts with more than 200 users, in place of per-user pricing.
ClickTime
Starter$12
per user / month; billing basis not shown
Web and mobile timesheets, 70+ reports, email reminders. Page data lists $15 per user a month for up to 25 users. Sold via demo request.
TeamCustom
Adds automated time capture and AI mapping, approvals, cost rates, Work Types and time off. Page data lists $19 per user a month, up to 200 users.
PremierCustom
Adds project budgeting, resource management, custom reports and dashboards. Page data lists $31 per user a month, up to 200 users.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Premier, plus custom integrations, advanced security and onboarding with a dedicated expert, for 1,000+ employee organizations.
Ways to pay less
actiTIME
- Annual discount
$1 less per user a month with yearly billing
The pricing calculator shows $6 per user a month billed yearly against $7 billed monthly for up to 40 users, and $5 against $6 for 41 to 200 users.
- Nonprofit
Discounted rates for nonprofits
The pricing FAQ says actiTIME offers discounted rates for nonprofit organizations that contact support. No percentage is published.
- Lifetime license
One-time Self-Hosted license at $120 per user
actiTIME Self-Hosted is a one-time payment of $120 per user in place of a subscription, with a fixed-cost option for unlimited users.
ClickTime
- Nonprofit
Nonprofit pricing
The pricing page asks "Are you a nonprofit?" and links to separate nonprofit pricing; the figures are not on the page itself.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, actiTIME or ClickTime?
As of Nov 12, 2026, actiTIME is cheaper to start with: $5 a month for each person, against $12 a month for each person for ClickTime. actiTIME starts at $5 per user / month, billed yearly ($6 for up to 40 users), and ClickTime starts at $12 per user / month (starting price; billing basis not shown).
Which has a free plan, actiTIME or ClickTime?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only actiTIME has a free plan. ClickTime does not.
Which platforms do actiTIME and ClickTime run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only actiTIME lists a browser extension. Both list a web app and iOS and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.