Can I migrate from my current tool?

Yes. CSV importer for clients, projects, and time entries — most teams migrate in an afternoon.

Is there a desktop app?

Yes — a native macOS menu bar app on every plan. Start and stop timers, add time, and see your week without opening a browser tab. It signs in with your normal Tempough login (no separate setup), stays in sync with the web in real time, and keeps working offline — entries you log without a connection sync automatically when you're back. Download it from Settings → Desktop app. A Windows version is on the way.

Can I control what different roles see?

Yes. Permission groups bundle granular keys (view team time, approve timesheets, see project health reports, etc.) and you assign them to staff. Admins can revoke the Dashboard entirely for specific roles, or set a per-user default landing page so contributors jump straight to Timesheet and payroll goes straight to Reports.

Does everyone have to use the dashboard?

No. The Dashboard is a permission — turn it off for a role and those users land directly on their chosen default view after sign-in. Individual gauges adapt too: managers see team-wide utilization, contributors see their own.

Who processes invoice payments?

Your own Stripe account. Payments settle directly to your bank — Tempough never holds funds.

Workspace-level isolation so data never crosses between accounts. Two-factor authentication with backup codes. Scoped tokens for integrations and AI access. Every change recorded in a searchable audit log with configurable retention.

Can I connect Claude, Cursor, or Zed?

Yes. Tempough exposes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server from Partnership up. Each user mints a personal token in Profile → AI access — the AI client then acts as that user, scoped to their permissions. A contributor's AI sees their own time; a manager's AI sees the team. Per-token rate limits and sustained-abuse auto-cooldown built in.

What if I pick the wrong tier?

Move between tiers any time. Features turn on or off tenant-wide when you switch — data stays put, no migration, no downtime. Individual plans can upgrade to Partnership when a co-founder joins, and Partnership plans can move to Team when the business grows past two people.

Does it work for solo freelancers or partnerships?

Yes to both. Free covers the basics — timer, timesheet, projects, and CSV export — for one user, forever. Individual at $8/mo adds invoicing and QuickBooks export. Partnership at $15/mo adds a second seat for a partner or co-founder. All three plans support unlimited clients and projects; the difference is whether you need to send invoices and how many people are logging time.

Are there any add-on fees or metered usage charges?

No. The monthly price on this page is the full cost. Tempough does not charge per email sent, per API call, per integration, or per any other usage metric. No overage charges, no tiered add-ons, no "starter" features that get unlocked for extra money. If you ever see a surprise line item on your invoice, it's a bug — email us and we'll fix it.

What's the most important feature for a consulting firm time tracker?

Three things, ranked: (1) utilization tracking with annual targets per consultant — this is the KPI that drives partner draws; (2) margin reporting that includes OT-aware cost math — answers "did this engagement actually pay out?"; (3) capacity planning so taking on a new engagement doesn't overload the bench. Tools that nail all three are rare; most do one or two well.

How does Tempough handle effective-dated cost rates?

Each user has a cost rate with an effective-from date. When you give a consultant a raise, you create a new rate row dated today; old time entries continue to use the old rate, new ones use the new. Margin reports for any historic period use the rate that was effective during that period. Important for partnership-distributable calculations and historic reproducibility.

Can we handle different billing rates per consultant per phase?

Yes — both Tempough and BigTime support per-member + per-phase rate cards. So a consultant can bill $275/hr in discovery and $250/hr in delivery on the same engagement, with the hierarchy resolving automatically when generating invoices. This is rare in cheaper tools (Harvest, Toggl) — they tend to have simpler rate models.

What if we do government / DCAA-compliant consulting?

Replicon is the right product. Tempough, Harvest, BigTime, and Productive aren't DCAA-compliant — they can be used for non-government engagements but you'd need separate compliance tooling for federal contracts. If 100% of your work is government, Replicon. If federal is one of several practice areas, you can run Tempough for commercial work and Replicon for federal.

How much does this cost for a 15-consultant firm?

At 15 seats: Tempough Team = $165/mo. Tempough Team Pro = $195/mo. Harvest Pro + Forecast = $281.25/mo. BigTime Premier = $600/mo. Productive Ultimate = $585/mo. Replicon Polaris = $435/mo+. For most consulting firms under 30 people, Tempough Team Pro at $195/mo is the right anchor — full feature set, predictable pricing.

Why is Tempough your top pick for consulting firms?

Because we built it — explicit disclosure. The case stands on specifics: Tempough is the only product on this list that bundles utilization + cost-rates-with-history + margin + capacity planning + approvals + multi-rate billing into a single $11/seat plan without an implementation phase. The next-cheapest options (Harvest, Productive Starter) miss margin reporting. The pricier options (BigTime, Productive Ultimate) add complexity most firms don't need.

Best Time Tracking Software for Consulting Firms in 2026

Tempough

● Our top pick

Best for

Mid-market consulting firms (5-50 consultants) that want utilization + margin + capacity in one tool

Pricing

Team $11/seat — Team Pro $13/seat

Built for the three numbers that matter to a consulting firm — utilization, margin, capacity. Cost rates with effective dates so historic margin reports stay reproducible. Multi-rate-card billing per consultant per phase. All bundled in Team at $11/seat, which is half the per-seat cost of a comparable BigTime setup.

When we're not the right pick

BigTime is the right answer if your billing rules require overtime + retainer drawdowns + multi-jurisdiction rate cards at the line-item level (mature mid-market with formal practice management). Replicon is the right answer if you have DCAA / federal-contracting compliance requirements. Kantata is the right answer if you're a 200+ person consultancy with PSA admins. We rank ourselves #1 because most 5-50 consultant firms don't need PSA-grade tooling — but if you do, BigTime is the honest pick.

Pros

Utilization report with per-consultant annual hour targets and variance
Cost rates with effective-dated history — important for partnership-distributable math
Multi-rate billing per consultant + per phase, resolved automatically at invoice generation
OT-aware margin reports (with snapshot-at-approval so historic numbers stay reproducible)
Webhooks + REST API at Partnership+ for piping data to a warehouse

Honest cons

Single-currency per workspace — multi-currency billing across entities isn't supported
No DCAA compliance — if you do federal contracting, Replicon is required
No native mobile apps yet (PWA-installable web app)
Smaller integration marketplace than BigTime or Productive

Try Tempough free → Tempough for consulting firms → →

Harvest

Best for

Smaller consulting firms (1-10 consultants) where invoicing matters more than margin reporting

Pricing

Pro $13.75/seat/mo (+ $5/seat for Forecast)

Harvest is the established choice for small consulting practices — mature invoicing, well-known brand. The catch for consulting firms specifically: no margin reporting at all (Harvest tracks revenue but has no cost rate concept), and Harvest Forecast is a separate product for capacity planning.

Pros

Mature invoicing + payment processing
Brand recognition with accountants + finance teams
Large Zapier integration marketplace
Harvest Forecast (separate product) for capacity planning

Honest cons

No cost rates means no margin reporting — fundamental gap for consulting firms
No rate-card history (rates change over time and Harvest can't express that)
Harvest Forecast at $5/seat is on top of Pro at $13.75/seat
New usage-based fees rolling out on top of seat pricing

See getharvest.com ↗ Read Tempough vs Harvest comparison →

BigTime

Best for

Firms with complex billing rules — retainers + T&M + fixed-fee blends, multi-entity, advanced revenue rec

Pricing

Premier $40/seat/mo

A mid-market PSA built for accounting / consulting / AEC firms with complex billing structures. If your billing rules can't be expressed in a handful of cases — multi-rate cards, retainer drawdowns at line-item level, revenue recognition, multi-entity consolidation — BigTime is built for that complexity.

Pros

Sophisticated billing rules — overtime rates, role-based rates, retainer drawdowns
Multi-entity / multi-currency at scale
Mature revenue recognition for accrual-basis accounting
Industry vertical depth with accounting + AEC + consulting templates

Honest cons

Premier at $40/seat is 3.5x Tempough Team for the same time-and-billing scope
UI feels like mid-2010s enterprise software
Requires implementation phase — not self-serve
Overkill for firms with simple billing models (T&M + fixed-fee + retainers)

See bigtime.net ↗ Read Tempough vs BigTime comparison →

Productive.io

Best for

Consulting firms that want sales pipeline + delivery + invoicing in one PSA platform

Pricing

Starter $11/seat — Ultimate $39/seat (5-seat minimum)

A full PSA — sales pipeline + deal management + delivery + invoicing + capacity planning. Closer to Mavenlink for SMBs than Harvest with extras. If you run a 30+ consultant firm that has formal sales pipeline workflows, Productive consolidates more in one platform than the other picks.

Pros

Built-in sales pipeline / CRM — opportunities flow into projects
Deeper "PSA operations" features (utilization targets, scenario planning)
Modern UI, well-designed
Better fit for firms with formal sales-to-delivery handoff workflows

Honest cons

Ultimate at $39/seat for full PSA — 3x Tempough Team Pro
5-seat minimum on every tier
Heavier setup — requires configuring pipeline stages, opportunity types
Overkill for firms under 15 consultants who don't have a formal sales pipeline

See productive.io ↗ Read Tempough vs Productive comparison →

Replicon

Best for

Firms with compliance-grade requirements (DCAA, multi-jurisdiction labor law, audit-grade time-and-attendance)

Pricing

Polaris PSA $29/seat/mo (base tier, custom Enterprise pricing common)

Replicon is the right answer when your time tracking has compliance requirements — DCAA (US federal contracting), audit-grade time-and-attendance, multi-jurisdiction labor law support, certified timesheets. If you don't need compliance auditing, Replicon is more product than you need.

Pros

DCAA compliance + audit-grade time-and-attendance
Multi-jurisdiction labor law tracking (US + global)
Certified timesheets, electronic signatures, punch-in attestations
Deep payroll integrations across all major providers

Honest cons

Pricing starts at $29/seat and scales up to enterprise contracts with implementation
UI reflects enterprise-software DNA
Compliance feature set you're paying for whether you use it or not
Not self-serve — implementation phase required

See replicon.com ↗ Read Tempough vs Replicon comparison →

Feature	Tempough	Harvest	BigTime	Productive.io	Replicon
Starting price	$11/seat (Team)	$13.75/seat	$40/seat (Premier)	Starts $11/seat	$29/seat+
Utilization w/ targets	✓ (Team+)	Basic	✓	✓	✓
Cost rates + margin	✓ (Team+)	✗	✓ (higher tier)	✓ (Ultimate)	✓
Effective-dated rates	✓	✗	✓	Limited	✓
Capacity planning	✓ (Team+)	Separate $5/seat	✓ (higher tier)	✓	✓
Multi-rate billing	✓ (per-phase + per-member)	Basic	✓ (complex rules)	✓	✓
DCAA compliance	✗	✗	Limited	✗	✓
Setup complexity	Self-serve	Self-serve	Implementation phase	Heavier setup	Implementation phase

Best time tracking
for consulting firms.

What consulting firms actually need

Tempough

Pros

Honest cons

Harvest

Pros

Honest cons

BigTime

Pros

Honest cons

Productive.io

Pros

Honest cons

Replicon

Pros

Honest cons

At a glance

FAQ

Try our top pick free.

Best time trackingfor consulting firms.

What consulting firms actually need

Pros

Honest cons

Pros

Honest cons

Pros

Honest cons

Pros

Honest cons

Pros

Honest cons

At a glance

FAQ

Try our top pick free.

Best time tracking
for consulting firms.