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Time tracking is a crucial part of running any business, especially for contractors and companies with remote employees. Knowing where your team is spending their time allows you to accurately bill clients, ensure projects stay on budget, and identify opportunities to improve efficiency.

Truein is a popular online time tracking tool designed specifically for contractors and distributed teams. It offers an intuitive interface, powerful reporting, and integration with other business apps - all at an affordable price. In this blog post, we'll take a deep dive into the key features of Truein and who it's best suited for.

What is Truein?

Truein is web-based time tracking software launched in 2015. It aims to provide an easy way for contractors, freelancers and remote teams to track time and expenses.

Some of the key features include:

- Online time sheets with clock in/out capabilities
- Automatic time recording via integrations
- Project and task tracking
- Visual reports and analytics
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Integration with accounting, billing and productivity software


Truein markets itself as an intuitive software for businesses who bill hourly and want better visibility into where time is being spent. It's designed to be easy to use for non-technical teams while still providing robust functionality under the hood.

Who is Truein Best For?

Truein positions itself strongly for contractors, freelancers and remote teams. The ability to track time from anywhere makes it well-suited for businesses with distributed workforces.

Specifically, Truein seems optimally designed for these types of users:

Contractors - Consultants, design agencies, IT services firms and other project-based businesses can benefit from Truein. The ability to track time against specific clients and projects lets you accurately bill for work completed.

Remote Teams - For companies with employees working remotely, Truein provides visibility into how time is being spent even when working apart. Time sheets across locations roll up into centralized reporting.

Field Service Businesses - Companies with technicians and field employees can track time onsite with Truein's mobile app. GPS coordinates can validate location to ensure accurate time keeping.

Professional Services - Law firms, accounting firms and other professional services companies often bill by the hour. Truein integrates with popular billing platforms to transfer time data.

The Bottom Line - Truein provides an easy-to-use solution for businesses that bill by time and need to understand how work hours are being allocated across clients and projects. The flat-rate pricing is attractive for cost-conscious contractors and small businesses.

Key Features and Benefits of Truein

Some of the noteworthy features in Truein that deliver value for users include:

Easy Time Tracking

Truein allows users to track time in a few different ways:

- Web browser timer for clocking time on projects and tasks
- Productivity tracker Chrome extension to record activity across websites
- Mobile apps on iOS and Android for tracking time on-the-go
- Integrations with tools like Asana, Trello, Jira to automatically pull in time logs


The flexible tracking options make it simple for employees to record their work time, even when shifting between devices and locations throughout the day.

Powerful Reporting

Robust reporting in Truein provides insights into where time is being spent across clients, projects, users and more.

Managers can dig into:

- Interactive data visualizations of time logs
- Weekly overviews of user timesheets
- Timeline view to identify trends and bottlenecks
- Filterable reports by client, project, user and date range


Reporting uncovers actionable data to help optimize team productivity and accurately bill clients.

Integrations

Truein integrates with many popular small business tools used by contractors and remote teams:

- Accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero
- Billing platforms like FreshBooks and Invoice2Go
- Project management tools like Asana and Trello
- Payroll systems like Gusto and BambooHR


These integrations allow time entry data to flow seamlessly from Truein into your other business systems and reduce double data entry.

Mobile Apps

Native mobile apps for both iOS and Android allow users to track time on-the-go. You can:

- Start timer for a specific project or task
- Log time with one tap using saved favorites
- Input notes along with time logs
- Sync data across devices


With mobile access, time can be tracked from anywhere whether in the office, at a client site or traveling.

Affordable Pricing

Truein is designed with cost-conscious small businesses in mind. Pricing starts at:

- $3 per active user per month
- Plus $20 per month base fee


Annual contracts receive 2 months free. There are also discounts for non-profits and teams with over 75 users.

The pricing aims to be reasonable even for freelancers and solo contractors while still providing enterprise-level features. Bulk discounts keep costs low as your team grows.

Ease of Use

While powerful under the hood, Truein focuses on simplicity in its interface design. The goal is for any team member to get up and running quickly with little training required.

Key ease-of-use elements include:

- Intuitive web and mobile interfaces
- Ability to duplicate projects and tasks
- Options to save favorite timers
- Email reminders for pending approvals
- No complex configuration required


Even non-technical employees can start tracking time immediately thanks to the user-friendly design.

Who Shouldn’t Use Truein?

While a great solution for many distributed and project-based teams, Truein isn't a fit for every type of business.

It may not be the best choice for companies with these needs:

- Tracking employees schedules and shifts (better suited for shift-based time clock software)
- Tracking inventory or equipment usage on production lines
- In-depth payroll management and processing
- Highly complex project management needs
- Advanced functionality like capacity planning and demand forecasting


The feature set focuses primarily on time and expense tracking for billing and client reporting. Teams needing wider production management capabilities may need a more robust system.

Getting Started With Truein

Ready to give Truein a try and see how it could work for your business? Here are a few tips to hit the ground running:

1. Start with a Free Trial - Get hands-on with all of Truein's features for 14 days without any payment required. Test it out on real projects to see if it's a good solution for your needs.

2. Set Up Projects - Add your active clients and projects into Truein. Define them with budgets and billing rates so you can track time against them.

3. Install Browser Extension - The Chrome extension makes time logging quick and easy directly within your browser sessions.

4. Configure Integrations - Connect the tools you already use like FreshBooks, Trello and Gusto to maximize value.

5. Train Your Team - Show your team how to track time through web, mobile and integrations. Make sure everyone gets hands-on practice.

6. Dive Into Reporting - Once your team logs some time, explore the reporting to uncover insights into productivity and profitability.

7. Get Support If Needed - Friendly customer support is available if you have any setup questions or issues.

The Truein free trial gives you a chance to get fully set up before committing any payment. Reach out to the sales team if you need any assistance getting your account configured.

Conclusion

Truein provides a straightforward yet powerful option for contractors, agencies and remote teams to track their time and bill accurately for work completed. The flexible tracking options, robust reporting and focus on user-friendliness makes it easy to implement across distributed workforces with minimal disruption.

If your business bills for time against clients and projects, give Truein a free trial to see if it could be the right fit to optimize your team's productivity and profitability. The flat-rate pricing keeps it budget-friendly as your business scales.

Visit Truein.com today to create your free account and start tracking time your way.

Comparing Truein to Alternative Time Tracking Options

Truein is far from the only time tracking software available today. Lots of solutions exist to choose from. How does Truein compare to some of the other top options?

TSheets

TSheets is one of the most popular time tracking apps on the market. Some key differences versus Truein include:

- Wider range of features beyond just time tracking
- More complex interface and steeper learning curve
- Geared towards larger enterprises
- Significantly higher pricing that scales per user


TSheets offers more robust functionality like scheduling, invoicing and payments. But for basic time tracking needs, Truein provides greater simplicity and affordability.

Harvest

Harvest pioneered online time tracking and remains a leader. How does it compare to Truein?

- More focus on tracking project expenses
- Manual entry rather than productivity tracking
- Fewer third-party integrations available
- Premium version required for multiple project tracking


Harvest has a polished interface but can prove more costly as your needs grow. Truein includes more automation and integration capabilities out of the box.

Hubstaff

Hubstaff specializes in time tracking for remote teams. Key differences from Truein:

- Extra features like screenshots and activity monitoring
- Required downloading of tracking apps rather than web timer
- Geared towards employers monitoring employees
- Significantly higher pricing per user


Truein focuses solely on streamlined time tracking for billing, not employee monitoring. Its web timer makes tracking quick and easy.

Clockify

Clockify offers free time tracking for unlimited users. How does it compare to Truein?

- Free version is limited to a single workspace
- Must upgrade to add user permissions or SSO
- Lacks native mobile apps - only web interface
- Light on reporting and analytics features


Clockify works for solo users but lacks capabilities to scale. Truein gives SMBs enterprise features at an affordable price.

Timely

Timely provides automated time tracking with AI. Key differences include:

- Fully automated tracking rather than manual entry
- Focus on productivity metrics over billing
- Currently iPad app only - no web or desktop
- Limited reporting on tracked time


Timely's automated tracking is innovative but may not support detailed client billing needs. Truein allows both manual and automated time logs.

When considering alternatives, Truein strikes a strong balance of ease-of-use, features, integration, scalability and affordability. It's positioned well for contractors, agencies and SMBs compared to options geared for solopreneurs or larger enterprises.

Getting More From Truein

Part of Truein's appeal is the broader ecosystem of integrations and add-ons to extend its value:

- Paid overtime rules can be configured to flag overtime for approval
- The ScheduleIt add-on allows shift scheduling for service teams
- Billing rules can be set up to automatically invoice clients
- The client portal lets clients view and approve timesheets


While the core features deliver plenty of utility, it's compelling to see the wider capabilities available as your needs grow and change.

For a budget-friendly solution, Truein packs a lot of depth in its platform while still emphasizing ease-of-use. The wider ecosystem is just another advantage that helps explain Truein's rising adoption among contractors and SMBs.

Truein Reviews

Don't just take our word for it. Let's look at a few real user reviews of Truein:

"Truein has been a game changer for our agency. Being able to track time remotely or on-the-go is crucial with our distributed team. The reports help keep everyone accountable and on track."

"As a freelancer, I needed an affordable option for simple time tracking. Truein has been perfect - I can quickly log my hours against clients and stay organized."

"I love how easy it is to use Truein. It only took me about 10 minutes to get set up and start tracking time on projects."

According to users, Truein delivers on its core promise - streamlined time tracking at an affordable price point. The intuitive interface clearly resonates with solopreneurs and distributed teams alike.

Ready to Try Truein?

Tracking your team's time is critical whether you bill clients by the hour or simply need to boost productivity. Truein aims to provide an easy-to-use solution designed for the needs of today's contractors, agencies and remote teams.

With its flexible tracking options, powerful reporting and ecosystem of third-party integrations, Truein balances simplicity and utility for SMBs. The affordable pricing makes robust time tracking accessible.

Visit Truein.com and get started with a free 14-day trial to experience the benefits firsthand. Truein's intuitive interface lets you hit the ground running quickly to maximize every minute.

What are you waiting for? Sign up for Truein today!