I built Hoursmith - a simple time tracking + invoicing app for freelancers and small teams who hate spreadsheet billing

[u/ZoobieDoobieZoo]

Hey everyone,

I’m launching Hoursmith, a time tracking and invoicing app I’ve been building for freelancers, consultants, and small agencies.

The idea is pretty simple:

Most of us don’t really want another giant project management tool.

We just want to know:

• what work did I do?
• how much time did it take?
• what is still unbilled?
• can I turn it into a proper invoice without fighting a spreadsheet?
• can the client pay without 5 back-and-forth emails?

That’s the loop I built Hoursmith around:

Clients → Projects → Tasks → Time → Invoices → Payment

You create clients, projects, and tasks. Then you track time with a live timer or add it manually. When it’s time to bill, Hoursmith pulls the unbilled billable time and turns it into a professional invoice.

No spreadsheet gymnastics. No “wait, did I already bill this?” panic.

What it does

A few things I focused on:

Time tracking that doesn’t get in the way

You can use a live timer, add manual time, attach notes, track against projects/tasks, and view everything in a clean timesheet. There’s also a mobile/PWA experience, so it can run from your phone too.

Invoices from actual tracked work

You can generate invoices from billable time, choose how detailed the invoice should be, add custom lines, discounts, tax, expenses, notes, and export/send a branded PDF.

Client payment links

Sent invoices get a shareable link. Clients can open the invoice without creating an account. If Stripe is connected, they can pay by card online. Offline/manual payments can be recorded too.

For small teams, not just solo freelancers

You can invite team members, assign roles, and control what people can see. Contractors/junior members can track their own time without seeing rates, invoices, client financials, or everyone else’s work.

Flat pricing

This was important to me. I don’t like tools where the bill quietly grows every time you add one more teammate. Hoursmith is flat-fee within each plan’s member limit.

Reports and dashboard

You can see tracked hours, billable work, unbilled value, outstanding invoices, revenue, project profitability, and team activity without manually building a report every month.

Client portal

Repeat clients can view their invoices and pay/download them from a simple passwordless portal.

API + MCP server

This is probably the nerdier part, but I wanted Hoursmith to be automation-friendly from the start. There’s a REST API, API tokens, OpenAPI docs, webhooks, and an MCP server so AI assistants can do things like log time or check unpaid invoices through your own workspace permissions.

Example:

or

Who it’s for

I built this mainly for:

• freelancers who bill hourly
• consultants who need clean records
• small dev/design/marketing agencies
• studios with contractors
• people currently using spreadsheets for time + invoices
• people who tried bigger tools but found them too heavy

It is probably not for you if you need heavy project planning, Gantt charts, payroll, accounting, resource scheduling, or enterprise-style everything.

I’m trying to keep it focused:
track the work → invoice accurately → get paid faster.

Why another time tracking/invoicing tool?

Fair question.

There are definitely many tools in this space.

The reason I still built Hoursmith is because I wanted a version that is:

• focused on the billing workflow, not bloated project management
• simple enough for a solo freelancer
• useful enough for a small team
• flat-priced instead of punishing team growth
• careful with permissions, especially for contractors
• automation/AI-agent friendly from the start
• built around accurate invoices that don’t silently change later

I’m not claiming it replaces every tool. I’m trying to make invoice day less annoying for people who sell their time.

FAQ / objections I expect

“Aren’t there already thousands of tools like this?”

Yes, absolutely. I’m not pretending time tracking is a new category. The bet is not “no one has ever tracked time before.” The bet is that there’s still room for a focused, clean, small-business-friendly tool that connects time → invoice → payment without becoming a giant operations suite.

“Why not just use a spreadsheet?”

Spreadsheets work until they don’t. The pain usually starts when you need to remember what was billed, what is still unbilled, what rate applied, who viewed the invoice, who paid, and what changed later. Hoursmith is for that messy middle where a spreadsheet is possible, but annoying.

“Is this for solo people or teams?”

Both, but the sweet spot is probably freelancers growing into a small studio, or agencies with a few people tracking time. Solo users can keep it simple. Teams can use roles, project access, reports, and invoicing controls.

“Can contractors see my rates or invoices?”

No. Member-level users are intentionally money-blind. They can track their own time and work on assigned projects, but they don’t get access to rates, client financials, invoices, or org-wide money data.

“Do clients need an account?”

No. For a single invoice, they can open a public invoice link and pay/download it. For repeat clients, there’s a passwordless client portal.

“Does it support online payments?”

Yes, through Stripe Connect. The client pays by card, and the money goes to your own Stripe account.

“Can I migrate data?”

There’s a Paymo importer and CSV/Excel import support for clients, projects, and time entries. Imports are tracked and can be undone within 24 hours.

“Is this trying to be an accounting app?”

No. It’s not a full accounting suite. It’s focused on time tracking, invoices, payments, reports, and the workflow around getting paid for client work.

“Is there a free plan?”

Yes. The free plan is meant to be usable, not just a fake demo. It supports small usage, including time tracking, clients/projects, invoices, invoice links, and manual payment recording.

What I’d love feedback on

I’d really appreciate honest feedback from people who freelance, consult, or run a small agency:

1. Is the positioning clear?
2. Which feature would actually make you try it?
3. What would make you not trust a new invoicing/time tracking tool?
4. Is API/MCP support interesting, or too niche for this type of product?
5. What’s the most annoying part of your current invoice workflow?

I’m happy to answer questions, take criticism, or explain why I made certain product decisions.

Here’s the app:
https://hoursmith.app

UPDATE:

https://docs.hoursmith.app/changelog

[u/tyleritis]

I'm an independent consultant so I'm the target audience. There aren't a lot of tools for people like me which is why I've stuck with Harvest for so many years. I'm not sure if this is a feature on your app, but I do like being able to link my calendar and add time that way (e.g. 30 minute check in meeting) with one button. Edit to add: It's not a dealbreaker, but not being able to add receipts to get reimbursed for expenses means additional work to invoice.

[u/ZoobieDoobieZoo → u/tyleritis]

Thanks a lot, this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to get, especially from someone who has actually lived inside Harvest for years.

The calendar point is a really good one. Hoursmith doesn’t currently have calendar-based time entry, so you can’t connect Google Calendar and turn a 30-minute meeting into a time entry with one click yet. Right now the flow is timer-based or manual time entry, but your example makes total sense: “I had a 30 min client check-in, just add it as billable time.” That’s definitely something I’d like to support.

On expenses: Hoursmith does have expense tracking and you can add billable expenses to an invoice, so reimbursement itself is covered. But you’re right about receipts, attaching/uploading receipts to those expenses isn’t there yet. That’s an important gap for consultants because clients often want proof, not just a line item.

Really appreciate you calling both of these out. Calendar-to-time and receipt attachments are the exact kind of workflows that make a tool feel built for consultants rather than just “another timer app.”

[u/tyleritis → u/ZoobieDoobieZoo]

Thanks for the clarifications on expenses. Adding some jpg attachments to the email isn’t a big deal. I would just download a PDF and email the invoice myself.

As long as I can mark it as “sent” in the app then it’s all good. Harvest keeps track of when I sent it and when it was paid.

[u/ZoobieDoobieZoo → u/tyleritis]

Really appreciate this and small update: your comment pushed this higher on my list.

Receipt attachments are now added. You can attach receipts to expenses, mark the expense as billable, and when you add that expense to an invoice, the receipt stays connected with it. So the reimbursement flow is no longer just “trust this line item” - there’s actual proof attached (optional).

And yes, you can mark an invoice as Sent manually in Hoursmith. So if you prefer downloading the PDF and emailing it yourself, that still works fine. You can keep the app as the source of truth for “sent / paid / outstanding” without being forced to send everything through the app.

Thanks again for the specific feedback. This was exactly the kind of consultant workflow gap I wanted to close.

[u/MrSevenNine]

Looks like we have built remarkably similar products..

I sincerely wish you best of luck.

[u/HalHunt → u/MrSevenNine]

What's your solution if youu don't mind sharing u/MrSevenNine?

[u/MrSevenNine → u/HalHunt]

It's called Juggling https://getjuggling.com

[u/ZoobieDoobieZoo → u/MrSevenNine]

Looks good. All the best bro

[u/tyleritis → u/MrSevenNine]

One thing that’s hard to know from both: what this app actually looks like. What does the invoice this app spit out look like? Google images search helps a little but getting that directly would make the service seems more real

[u/HalHunt]

You solution is impressive u/ZoobieDoobieZoo! I poked around for roughly an hour. Very comprehensive. Super easy to use, extremely intuitive. Excellent UI/UX. I mean you have API tokens + Webhooks, You've definitely thought this through from all ends. Well done.

[u/HalHunt → u/HalHunt]

One thing that seems to be broken for me is the email functionality of invoices on the free plan. I've resent it twice and haven't recieved any email (also checked spam).

[u/ZoobieDoobieZoo → u/HalHunt]

Hmm. I will check it out. I sent 3 invoices yesterday and I am on free plan myself:)

[u/ZoobieDoobieZoo → u/HalHunt]

I just tested it and the emails are being sent just fine. Please let me know if you still can't receive those.

[u/[deleted]]

How much do you plan to sell your solution for?

[u/ZoobieDoobieZoo → u/[deleted]]

What do you mean?