BigTime vs Tempo Timesheets (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Tempo Timesheets grades higher than BigTime: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
BigTime grades higher on features. Tempo Timesheets grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
BigTime
Professional services platform with time, billing and projects
Tempo Timesheets
Time tracking and timesheet approvals built into Jira
Which one is for you
Pick BigTime if
- Fits if you run a services firm that tracks time, expenses and invoices together
- Makes sense if you already use QuickBooks or Salesforce
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you are a freelancer: $20 a user is nearly three times the category middle
- Skip it if you want to try first, as no free plan or trial is listed
- Watch out: only Essentials has a price, and the others come after a demo
- Watch out: Quotes, Resource Management and the Data Hub are extra modules
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
| 1.8GPABigTimeWeak | 2.4GPATempo TimesheetsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DEssentials is $20 a user a month with the billing basis not stated, against a time-tracking dearest tenth from $12. | 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 | FNo free plan or trial is listed on the page. | 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 | BTime, expenses, billing, projects, resource management and quotes cover the services job, though Quotes and Resource Management are extra modules. | CLogging, team approvals, reports and workload schemes, but project approvals and planned-versus-actual views need other Tempo products. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. A services platform means setting up projects, rates and billing first. | CNo store rating on record. An app to install and configure inside Jira, with accounts and work attributes to set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web service with QuickBooks, HubSpot, Salesforce, Jira and Sage Intacct. | BWeb inside Jira Cloud or Data Center, with an API and 8 integrations on record; no desktop or phone apps. |
| Best for | professional services firms that bill by the hour | 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: BigTime and Tempo Timesheets. How we grade
Price against what you get
BigTime starts at $20 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Tempo Timesheets starts at $10 a month and scores 2.3.
BigTime scores higher, and starts $10 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other time tracking apps on the chart, 16 score higher than BigTime 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
- BigTime also covers invoicing, expense tracking and quotes and estimates.
- Tempo Timesheets also covers calendar.
At a glance
| BigTime | Tempo Timesheets | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | $20 per user / month, billing basis not stated | $10 per month for up to 10 users, billed monthly ($100 billed yearly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | Free trial offered; length not stated on the page |
| Web | ||
| Made by | BigTime Software | Tempo |
| Price read from | bigtime.net | tempo.io |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
BigTime
- Only Essentials has a published price; Advanced, Premier and Enterprise are quoted after a demo request.
- The pricing page does not say whether $20 assumes annual or monthly billing, and shows no free plan or trial.
- Quotes, Resource Management and the Data Hub are extra modules, and some AI agents are marked coming soon.
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
BigTime
- Time and expense management
- Staff log time and expenses on the web or in a mobile app, with approvals and rate management for billable work.
- Billing and invoicing
- Invoices come from tracked time and expenses, with automatic reconciliation; higher plans add custom invoice templates and multi-currency invoicing.
- Project portfolio management
- Track projects across the firm; Premier adds project budgeting and custom cost and rate management.
- Resource Management module
- A separate module for demand and capacity planning, a staff availability heat map, skills records, time-off requests and utilization reports.
- Quotes module
- A separate module that builds quotes and statements of work and converts approved quotes into live projects.
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
BigTime
Essentials$20
per user / month, billing basis not stated
Time and expense, project portfolio management, billing and invoicing, automatic reconciliation, QuickBooks integration, AI Assistant.
AdvancedCustom
Essentials plus multi-currency expenses, custom reporting center, project templates and custom invoice templates. Request a demo for pricing.
PremierCustom
Advanced plus multi-currency invoicing, custom cost and rate management, project budgeting and multi-level approvals. Request a demo.
EnterpriseCustom
For organizations with established systems: Enterprise PSA, Services CPQ and resource management. Speak with an expert.
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
BigTime
No public discounts listed.
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, BigTime or Tempo Timesheets?
As of Nov 12, 2026, BigTime starts at $20 per user / month, billing basis not stated, 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, BigTime or Tempo Timesheets?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither BigTime nor Tempo Timesheets has a free plan. Tempo Timesheets has a free trial.
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.