TimeTracker vs Sling: Full Comparison
Sling builds next week's rota for shift teams and is free for up to 30 people. TimeTracker proves what the hours were, then turns them into an invoice.
Free to start. No credit card needed.
Our quick verdict on both tools
For most people comparing these two, Sling is the right buy. Sling builds the rota, handles swaps, and starts free for 30 people, and TimeTracker has no rota builder at all. Pick TimeTracker when the weekly job is proving what the hours were and billing them, not covering shifts.
Start tracking freeWhat this comparison covers
TimeTracker and Sling are both time tracking tools, compared here side by side so you can see how they differ.
Anyone deciding between TimeTracker and Sling for time tracking should start with the quick verdict above.
Compare the two products at a glance
Both tools solve time tracking. Here is what each one includes, side by side.
TimeTracker
Every task carries operational and financial context together. Tracked time, budget impact, and invoicing live in one connected system, so you know if a project is still profitable before it becomes a problem.
- Best for
- Agencies and consultancies of 2 to 50 people who bill clients for time and need to see project profit, not just hours.
- Pricing
- Free for up to 3 people, no credit card needed. Pro is $15 per user a month, or $12 per user a month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial.
- One-click task timers
- Timesheet submission and approvals
- Effective-dated billing and cost rates
- Live project budgets and profitability
- Client invoicing and payments
- Client portal with a cost firewall
- Reports and dashboards
- Expense tracking with billable markup
Sling
The cheapest real scheduling tool in this group by a wide margin. The free plan covers up to 30 users, and the paid tiers are $2.00 and $4.00 a user a month, or $1.70 and $3.40 billed yearly.
- Best for
- Small shift-based teams that want free scheduling for up to 30 people and will pay little or nothing for it.
- Pricing
- Free for up to 30 users, scheduling only with no time clock. Premium $2.00 and Business $4.00 per user a month, or $1.70 and $3.40 billed yearly. Now owned by Toast, so restaurant customers may be steered to Toast plans.
- Free plan for up to 30 users, scheduling only
- Shift scheduling and swaps, free tier included
- Time clock with labour costs, paid tiers only
- Team messaging and newsfeed
- Time-off requests
- Payroll reports
See how they stack up
Pricing, best fit, and top strengths for both tools, side by side.
Pricing checked 2026-07-31. Confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.
Which one fits your team
Choose TimeTracker when…
A manager has to sign off hours before anyone bills or pays them.
A submitted timecard routes to an approver who can approve it, ask for changes, or reopen it. Paid plan.See how
You need last month's hours to stay exactly as they were signed off.
Approved periods lock, and every edit after that is recorded, so the record cannot quietly change. Paid plan.See how
You round billed time and someone may later ask what really happened.
Each entry keeps the exact raw duration next to the rounded one, so you can always show both.See how
You want to stop a clock-in from the wrong place, not just log where it came from.
Location rules use geofences, IP ranges and accuracy limits to block the punch outright. Paid plan.See how
Those hours have to become a client invoice at the end of the month.
Approved time flows into an invoice, so what you bill matches what the team actually logged.See how
You need hours split by client, project and task, not just by week.
Every entry ties to a client, project and task, so a report shows where the time really went.See how
Choose Sling when…
Your week starts with covering shifts, and someone always calls in sick.
Sling builds the rota and runs swaps and open shifts, which TimeTracker does not do at all.See how
You have more than a handful of staff and almost no budget.
Sling is free for up to 30 people, where our free tier stops at 3.See how
Price per head is the number that decides it.
Sling Premium is $2.00 a user a month, or $1.70 billed yearly. Ours is $15, roughly seven times more.See how
Staff share one tablet at the counter instead of each having a login.
Sling supports clocking in on a shared device. Everyone in TimeTracker signs in as themselves.See how
You want to see the wage cost of a week before you publish it.
Sling shows labour cost as you fill the rota, so you can cut hours before the week starts.See how
Your team needs one place to message about cover and swaps.
Sling has built-in messaging and a newsfeed, so shift chatter does not live in a group text.See how
Popular features
Timesheets your team submits on time
Hours build into a timecard as people work. Send the week for approval, lock it once it is signed off, and bill from a number that cannot quietly change.
Explore Timesheets→Invoicing software that bills from tracked hours
Approved time turns into itemised invoice lines with tax and multiple currencies handled for you. Check it over, then send it.
Explore Invoicing→See where the time really goes
Break hours down by client, project, and team member. Find the work that pays off and the projects that run over.
Explore Reports & Dashboards→Use cases this solves
Timesheet Approvals
Route a week's hours to an approver, then lock them once they are signed off.
Explore→Audit Trail & Compliance
Keep a record of every change made after a period was approved.
Explore→Invoicing From Tracked Time
Bill the hours you approved, at the rate that was live when the work happened.
Explore→
Compare other tools
Frequently asked questions
- Which is cheaper, TimeTracker or Sling?
- Sling, by a wide margin. Sling is free for up to 30 people, then $2.00 or $4.00 a user a month, or $1.70 and $3.40 billed yearly. TimeTracker is $15 a user a month, or $12 yearly, and free for up to 3 people. Plan by plan, see what Sling is.
- Does Sling's free plan include a time clock?
- No. Sling's free plan covers scheduling only, so free for 30 people does not mean free time tracking. Clocking in starts on a paid Sling tier. Our own time tracking is on the free plan, but only for up to 3 people.
- Does TimeTracker build shift schedules like Sling?
- No. Sling owns that job, and TimeTracker has no rota builder at all. What we do have is a scheduled-hours figure a timecard is measured against, which you can see in team time reporting.
- Can Sling send an invoice to a client?
- No. Sling covers rotas, hours and payroll reports, but it does not build client invoices. TimeTracker does, and you can see how in invoicing from tracked time.
- How good is reporting in Sling?
- It depends on the tier, and the gap is bigger than most reviews say. Reporting is absent below Sling's $4.00 Business tier, not just thin. TimeTracker puts built-in reports on screen for everyone, though downloading them as CSV, Excel or PDF is paid only.
- Are timesheet approvals free in TimeTracker?
- No. Approvals and period locking come with our one paid plan. The good news is there is nothing above it, so you are not upsold again later. See how timesheet approvals work before you pay.
- Can TimeTracker stop someone clocking in from the wrong place?
- Yes, on a paid plan. Location rules use geofences, IP ranges and accuracy limits to block the punch, not just record where it came from. That record is what feeds audit trail and compliance.
- What happens to my hours if TimeTracker rounds them?
- Nothing is lost. Rounding is half-up to the nearest 6, 15 or 30 minutes, set once for the whole workspace, and the exact raw duration is stored alongside it. See billing for how the two numbers are used.
- Can a team run Sling and TimeTracker together?
- Yes, and some do. Sling covers next week's cover and swaps, TimeTracker proves and bills the hours after the fact. If you would rather have one tool, the full list of Sling alternatives is a better starting point.
- Which one should a cafe or small shop pick?
- Sling, almost every time. A 5 to 30 person hourly team mostly needs next week's rota published cheaply, and Sling does that for nothing. If you want a closer match with a stronger time clock, compare TimeTracker and When I Work.
Need the hours proved, not just covered?
Set up a client and a project in minutes, track hours against them, and see what the week really cost. Free for up to 3 people, no credit card needed.
Start tracking free