Time Tracking Software for Architects and Engineers in 2026: Track Hours by Project Phase Against Fees

Architects and engineers bill against a fee, so the best time tracking software for architects logs hours by project and phase, compares them with the budget and keeps billable work apart from overhead. For small studios, Harvest and Paymo both publish pages for architecture firms and link timesheets to invoices. For firms that need project accounting, Scoro and Deltek (Vantagepoint and Ajera) are aimed at architecture and engineering practices. For self-hosting, Kimai, Solidtime and OpenProject are open source.

Enlisted lists only a couple of products built for architecture and engineering firms, so most of this guide covers general-purpose trackers that fit phase-based work once configured. The picks are grouped by job: full project accounting, phase-and-fee tracking, self-hosted tools and automatic capture.

How we picked

Enlisted checks whether a tool records time against projects and tasks, whether the vendor's own pages name architecture or engineering, how it handles budgets and billing, its licence, whether you can self-host it and, for open-source projects, how recent the code is. Deltek and Scoro publish products for architecture and engineering firms, Harvest, Paymo and actiTIME name architecture on their sites, and the rest are general trackers that handle project-based billing. See how Enlisted ranks tools for the full method.

What architects and engineers should check before buying

Two things separate the tools in this guide.

Phases against a fee. Design work is usually budgeted by phase, so the tool needs a level below the project where hours land: a task, sub-project or phase. Harvest describes phase-based tracking with over-budget alerts, and Scoro describes tracking time against hourly work or fixed-fee phases. With simpler timers you build the phase structure yourself, so ask how easily a phase budget can be set and reported.

How far you want billing to go. Some firms only need hours that feed an invoice or an export to the accounting system. Others want project accounting: costs, revenue and profitability by project, which is where Scoro and Deltek sit. Also check that the tool can log non-billable time such as admin and business development, since staff in a design firm rarely bill every hour.

Best for full project accounting in architecture and engineering firms

Deltek: best established A&E platform for firms that want accounting and time in one system

Deltek is a commercial vendor of project-based ERP and professional services software, with products for architects, engineers, consultants and government contractors. For architecture and engineering it offers Vantagepoint, described as unifying project management, accounting, business development and resource planning, and Ajera, described as project management and accounting software for small architecture and engineering firms. The catalogue lists project accounting, job costing, resource and time management and project lifecycle tools from bid to delivery.

• Best for: established architecture and engineering practices that want time, project accounting and resource planning in one system.
• Watch out for: pricing is by contacting sales, and the vendor's A&E page does not detail the timesheet workflow, so ask for a demo of how staff enter time against phases. It is ERP-scale, which is more than a studio that only wants a timer needs. See Deltek's site for the product editions.

Scoro: best professional services platform with fixed-fee phase tracking

Scoro is professional services automation software that combines projects, quotes, billing, time tracking and resourcing. Its pages for architecture and engineering firms describe tracking time against hourly work or fixed-fee phases, project accounting by client, project and service line, and resource planning with confirmed and tentative bookings. Integrations include Xero, QuickBooks and Sage Intacct.

• Best for: studios and firms that sell fixed-fee phases and want quotes, time, billing and capacity in one tool.
• Watch out for: it is paid, priced per user by app combination, and its trial has a minimum number of users, so it is a larger commitment than a timer. It has no free plan.

Best for tracking hours by phase against a fee

Harvest: best for phase-based tracking and invoices in a small studio

Harvest is a hosted time tracking and invoicing product for professional services teams. Its architecture page describes phase-based tracking, budget monitoring with over-budget alerts, billable and non-billable hours, automatic invoices from tracked time with online payment, profitability reports by client, project and team, and the option to log tasks such as revisions and client meetings separately. It has mobile access for time logged on site and integrates with tools including Asana, Trello and Jira.

• Best for: small and mid-sized studios that want hours, budgets and client invoices in one hosted tool.
• Watch out for: its free plan is sized for one person, so a team will need a paid plan, and it is a tracker and invoicer rather than full project accounting. Check the Harvest architecture page for what it covers.

Paymo: best for studios that want planning, time and invoicing together

Paymo is hosted project management software with time tracking, invoicing, Kanban task boards, Gantt charts and team scheduling. The vendor publishes an architecture page and lists automatic time tracking, invoicing and estimates, a leave planner, and desktop and mobile apps, so people on site can log time from a phone or tablet.

• Best for: small architecture studios that want a single tool for project plans, timesheets and invoices.
• Watch out for: it is cloud-only, and larger firms that need project accounting across many offices will outgrow it. The free plan is for one user.

actiTIME: best for comparing actual hours with estimates

actiTIME is time tracking and timesheet software for project budgeting, billing, leave management and payroll. Employees log hours against projects and tasks, and managers compare actual effort with estimates. Its site names architecture and engineering among the industries it serves, and Enlisted's listing notes that a self-hosted licence is sold alongside the hosted plan.

• Best for: firms that already have estimates per task and want a clear budget-versus-actual view, with approvals and leave in the same tool.
• Watch out for: the free plan covers a very small team, so check the limits, and it is a timesheet product rather than a project planner.

Toggl Track: best simple timer with project budgets

Toggl Track is a hosted time tracker with timers, timesheet reports, project budgets and profitability views, invoicing, and apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. It does not target architecture specifically, but its project and budget features cover hourly work and reports.

• Best for: designers and engineers who want a quick timer on every device and basic budget tracking.
• Watch out for: you build phases yourself with projects and tasks. For more on switching tools see Toggl alternatives.

Teamwork: best for firms that want project delivery and billing together

Teamwork is professional services automation software that combines client project management, time tracking, billing and resource planning, with budgets and profitability reports. It is a general professional services platform, not an architecture product, so it fits firms that want delivery, hours and budgets in one place and have a manager to set it up.

• Best for: multi-person firms that manage client projects, capacity and profitability together.
• Watch out for: it covers far more than timesheets, so a studio that only needs a timer will find it heavier than necessary.

Best open-source and self-hosted options for design and engineering firms

Kimai: best self-hosted tracker with invoicing

Kimai is an open-source time tracker (AGPL-3.0) with timesheets, reports, invoicing and a JSON API, where people record time against customers and projects. Tags are available, so a firm can model design phases with separate projects or tags. It supports SAML, LDAP and two-factor sign-in, role and team permissions, and its site describes Docker self-hosting; a paid hosted version also exists.

• Best for: firms that want a self-hosted tracker with invoice templates and user permissions.
• Watch out for: nothing in it is built for architecture, so phase budgets are something you set up yourself.

Solidtime: best modern open-source tracker with billable rates

Solidtime is an open-source time tracker (AGPL-3.0) with projects, tasks inside projects, clients and billable rates set per project, member or organization. Tasks inside projects give you a natural place for phases. It offers a hosted version with a free solo plan, and imports from Toggl and Clockify.

• Best for: small studios that want a modern open-source tracker with rates and the option to self-host.
• Watch out for: its releases are still numbered below 1.0, so check the project's activity before depending on it for client billing.

OpenProject: best open-source project plan with time and cost reporting

OpenProject is open-source project management software (GPL-3.0) with Gantt charts, agile boards, roadmaps, and time tracking with cost reporting and budgeting. Its Community edition is free and can be self-hosted, and paid Enterprise plans and a hosted version are offered.

• Best for: engineering teams that want project schedules, budgets and time in one self-hosted system.
• Watch out for: it is project management first, so timesheet and invoice workflows are less focused than in a dedicated tracker. Check which edition includes the budget and cost features you need.

Best for automatic capture of time spent in drawing and design files

ManicTime: best automatic tracker with local or on-premise storage

ManicTime is an automatic tracker for Windows, Mac and Linux that logs the applications and documents in use, then lets you assign that time to projects or tasks. It stores data locally or on a cloud or on-premise server, and includes timesheets, reports and invoicing. Timing does something similar for Mac only, recording app, website and document use so timesheets can be built without manual timers.

• Best for: designers who forget to start timers and want a record of which files and apps they worked in.
• Watch out for: the vendor lists a trial but no free plan, and both tools record activity, so decide with your team what is logged before adopting either.

Time tracking software for engineers

For civil, structural and mechanical engineering firms, the same split applies: Scoro and Deltek publish products for engineering practices, and actiTIME names engineering among its industries. If "engineers" in your search means software engineers, timers that live inside the issue tracker are a better fit. Tempo adds timesheets and capacity planning on top of Jira, and Everhour runs timers inside project management apps such as Asana, ClickUp, Jira and Linear.

How to choose time tracking software as an architect or engineer

• You run a small studio and invoice from hours: Harvest or Paymo.
• You sell fixed-fee phases and want quotes, time and accounting together: Scoro, or Deltek for larger established firms.
• You need budget versus actual by task: actiTIME or Harvest.
• You want to own your data and run it yourself: Kimai, Solidtime or OpenProject.
• You want a plain timer with budgets: Toggl Track.
• You track time in the files you draw in: ManicTime or Timing, with a clear logging policy.

To plan the work itself, see our guide to project management software for architects and the roundup of free project management software. If you also draw and model, best CAD software covers that side. Related reading: time tracking software for construction. Browse everything in the project management category or the productivity category.