actiTIME vs Tempo Timesheets (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Tempo Timesheets grades higher than actiTIME: 2.4 against 2.2 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 the free plan. Tempo Timesheets grades higher on value for money. 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
Tempo Timesheets
Time tracking and timesheet approvals built into Jira
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 Tempo Timesheets if
- Fits if your team already lives in Jira and wants time logged there
- Works for admins who need team approvals and reports on Jira work
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you don't use Jira, as it runs only inside it
- Watch out: the licence must match your Jira user count, not the number who log time
- Watch out: project approvals and revenue reports are separate Tempo products
- Tight if you use Data Center, which has no calendar, IDE or AI suggestions
- Pricey if your team passes 10 users, as the flat $10 becomes about $5.99 a user
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAactiTIMEFair | 2.4GPATempo TimesheetsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | A$10 a month for up to 10 users, which is $2 a head for five, under 60% of the cheaper quarter of time tracking at $2.70. It also needs a Jira licence. |
| 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. | DA free trial is offered, but the page states neither its length nor whether a card is needed, and there is no free plan. |
| 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. | CLogging, team approvals, reports and workload schemes, but project approvals and planned-versus-actual views need other Tempo products. |
| 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. An app to install and configure inside Jira, with accounts and work attributes to set up. |
| 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 inside Jira Cloud or Data Center, with an API and 8 integrations on record; no desktop or phone apps. |
| Best for | timesheets tied to project budgets | time logging inside Jira |
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 Tempo Timesheets. 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. Tempo Timesheets starts at $10 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and actiTIME starts $5 a month lower. Of the other time tracking apps on the chart, 12 score higher than actiTIME for less, and 30 score higher than Tempo Timesheets 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.
- Tempo Timesheets also covers calendar.
At a glance
| actiTIME | Tempo Timesheets | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $5 per user / month, billed yearly ($6 for up to 40 users) | $10 per month for up to 10 users, billed monthly ($100 billed yearly) |
| 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 | Free trial offered; length not stated on the page |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | actiTIME Inc | Tempo |
| Price read from | actitime.com | tempo.io |
| 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.
Tempo Timesheets
- It runs only inside Jira, and the license must match your Jira user count, not the number of people who log time.
- Project-level approvals, revenue reports and planned-versus-actual views need other Tempo products.
- The calendar, IDE and AI suggestion features are not available on Data Center.
- Prices are for Jira Cloud and Data Center licenses bought through Atlassian Marketplace.
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.
Tempo Timesheets
- Logging from where work happens
- Log time from Jira issues, a calendar view, a timesheet view or a list view, with Cloud suggestions from calendars, IDEs and connected work systems.
- Team-level approvals
- Organize people into Tempo teams whose leads approve timesheets; once a period is approved, no more time can be logged or changed.
- Accounts and work attributes
- Group worklogs by customer or cost center, mark them billable or non-billable, and add custom fields such as overtime or travel.
- Reports and exports
- Logged-time reports by team, project, account or user, with export to CSV or XLS, PDF summaries and a Tempo API with webhooks.
- Holiday and workload schemes
- Define holidays and working-week lengths per country or office so expected hours are right for each team.
- Financial and capacity add-ons
- Project-level approvals and revenue reports need Financial Manager, and planned-versus-actual views need Capacity Planner, both sold separately.
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.
Tempo Timesheets
Cloud, 1 to 10 users$10
per month for up to 10 users, billed monthly ($100 billed yearly)
Flat fee for the whole Jira site. Yearly billing is listed at $100 for 1 to 10 users.
Cloud, 11 to 100 users$5.99
per user / month, billed monthly, for 11 to 100 users
Price falls with size, to $4.21 at 101 to 250 users. Yearly: $898.50 for 11 to 15 users, $5,990 for 51 to 100.
Data Center$2,622
per year for up to 50 users
Self-managed Jira. $5,245.15 a year for 51 to 100 users; calendar, IDE and AI suggestions are Cloud only.
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.
Tempo Timesheets
- Annual discount
Yearly billing option
The pricing page offers a yearly billing toggle: $100 a year for 1 to 10 users on Cloud, against $10 a month on monthly billing.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, actiTIME or Tempo Timesheets?
As of Nov 12, 2026, actiTIME starts at $5 per user / month, billed yearly ($6 for up to 40 users), and Tempo Timesheets starts at $10 per month for up to 10 users, billed monthly ($100 billed yearly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, actiTIME or Tempo Timesheets?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only actiTIME has a free plan. Tempo Timesheets does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do actiTIME and Tempo Timesheets run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only actiTIME lists iOS and Android apps and a browser extension. Both list a web app. 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.