Monday.com includes a native time tracking column that lets teams start and stop timers against any item, but it lacks billable hour classification, approval workflows, and AI agent tracking — features most service businesses need.
Monday.com has over 225,000 customers worldwide and is one of the most popular work management platforms on the market. Yet when it comes to time tracking, the platform’s native capabilities are surprisingly thin. The built-in timer works for basic logging, but teams that bill clients, manage contractors, or deploy AI agents quickly hit walls. This guide covers what monday.com offers natively, the best integrations to extend it, and when you should move to a dedicated time tracking tool.
Monday.com Native Time Tracking Features
Monday.com provides time tracking through a column type rather than a standalone module. Here is what the native experience includes.
The Time Tracking Column
The time tracking column adds a start/stop timer directly to any board item. Team members click to begin tracking and click again to stop. Each entry logs the duration, the user, and the date. You can also enter time manually if you forget to start the timer.
The column supports multiple sessions per item, so you can track work across several days without creating duplicate entries. However, there is no way to categorise time as billable or non-billable within the column itself — every entry is treated the same.
Time Tracking Widget and Dashboards
Monday.com’s dashboard feature includes a time tracking widget that aggregates data from time tracking columns across boards. You can filter by person, group, or date range to see where hours are going. The widget displays totals and breakdowns, but it is a summary view — not a detailed timesheet.
For teams managing multiple projects, the dashboard gives a reasonable overview. However, it cannot produce the kind of client-ready reports that agencies or consultancies need for invoicing.
Reporting and Exporting
Time data can be exported to CSV or Excel from any board view. You can also pull time tracking data through the monday.com API for custom reporting. According to monday.com’s own documentation, the time tracking column supports API queries for total duration per item and per user, which is useful for teams building custom dashboards in tools like Google Sheets or Power BI.
The native reporting, however, does not support billable rate calculations, project profitability analysis, or timesheet approval workflows — all of which are standard in dedicated time tracking tools.
Best Monday.com Time Tracking Integrations
When the native column is not enough, these integrations fill the gaps. Each connects to monday.com through the marketplace or via API.
| Integration | Free Plan | Billable Rates | In-Board Timer | Invoicing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toggl Track | Yes (5 users) | Yes (paid) | Via extension | No | Teams needing detailed reporting |
| Clockify | Yes (unlimited) | Yes (paid) | Via extension | Yes (paid) | Budget-conscious teams |
| Harvest | No | Yes | No | Yes | Agencies billing clients hourly |
| Everhour | Yes (5 users) | Yes | Yes | No | Teams wanting embedded tracking |
Toggl Track Integration
Toggl Track connects to monday.com through a native integration in the monday marketplace. Once configured, you can start Toggl timers from within monday.com items and sync time entries back to your Toggl workspace. Toggl’s strength is its reporting — detailed breakdowns by project, client, and team member with visual charts that monday.com’s native column cannot match.
The integration works best for teams already using Toggl who want to keep monday.com as their project management hub. For a deeper comparison of Toggl against other standalone trackers, see our Toggl vs Clockify analysis.
Clockify Integration
Clockify offers unlimited free users, making it an attractive option for larger teams. The monday.com integration syncs projects and tasks, allowing time entries to flow between both platforms. Clockify adds timesheet views, approval workflows, and basic invoicing on its paid plans — features entirely absent from monday.com’s native tracking.
The trade-off is that Clockify’s integration is less deeply embedded than Everhour’s. You will typically switch between the two tools rather than tracking entirely within monday.com.
Harvest Integration
Harvest connects to monday.com primarily through Zapier or the Harvest API. It is the strongest option for teams that need a direct line from tracked hours to client invoices. Harvest includes expense tracking, project budgets, and polished invoice templates — all built around the billing cycle.
The downside is that there is no native monday.com marketplace integration, so setup requires more configuration. Harvest also lacks a free team plan, starting at around £10.80 per seat per month.
Everhour
Everhour is the most tightly integrated option. It embeds timers directly into monday.com boards, so team members never leave the interface. Time entries appear alongside tasks, and Everhour adds budgeting, billable rates, and timesheet approvals on top. According to Everhour’s integration documentation, the tool syncs tasks, assignees, and time entries in real time.
For teams that want a single-window experience, Everhour is the closest you will get to proper time tracking without leaving monday.com. The free plan supports up to five users, with paid plans starting at around £7.20 per user per month.
Setting Up Time Tracking in Monday.com
If you want to use the native time tracking column, here is how to get started.
Step 1: Add the Time Tracking Column
Open any board, click the plus icon to add a new column, and select “Time Tracking” from the column type list. The column appears on every item in that board, ready for use.
Step 2: Configure Automations
Monday.com’s automation recipes can remind team members to log time. For example, you can create a recipe that sends a notification when an item’s status changes to “Working on it” but no time has been tracked. Another useful automation sends a weekly summary of tracked hours to a manager.
Step 3: Create a Time Tracking Dashboard
Add a new dashboard and include the time tracking widget. Select the boards you want to aggregate data from, then configure filters for team members, date ranges, or groups. This gives you a centralised view of hours across multiple projects.
Step 4: Encourage Team Adoption
The biggest challenge with any time tracking rollout is consistency. Set clear expectations — for example, all billable work must have time tracked before items move to “Done.” Use monday.com’s automations to nudge rather than police, and keep the process as simple as possible.
Limitations of Monday.com for Time Tracking
Even with integrations, monday.com has structural limitations for serious time tracking.
No native billable hours classification. The time tracking column records duration but cannot distinguish between billable and non-billable work. You need an integration or manual tagging to separate the two — introducing friction and error.
Limited approval workflows. Monday.com has no built-in timesheet approval process. Managers cannot review and approve weekly timesheets before they feed into billing. This is a basic requirement for most agencies and consultancies.
Reporting gaps for client billing. The native reports show hours per item and per person, but they do not calculate costs, apply billable rates, or generate client-facing summaries. Exporting to spreadsheets and processing manually is the common workaround.
No support for AI agent work. Monday.com tracks human activity exclusively. If your team uses AI agents for coding, research, or content generation, that work is invisible to the platform. There is no mechanism to log API calls, token usage, or compute time — a growing gap as AI-assisted workflows become mainstream. For more on this challenge, see our guide on what AI agent time tracking involves.
When to Use a Dedicated Time Tracking Tool
Monday.com is excellent project management software, but it is not a time tracking tool. Here are the signs you have outgrown its native features.
You bill clients hourly. If time directly translates to revenue, you need billable rate management, approval workflows, and invoice-ready reports. Monday.com cannot deliver this without significant integration work.
You run an agency or consultancy. Professional services firms need project profitability analysis, client-level reporting, and timesheet compliance. These are core features in dedicated trackers but bolt-on extras in monday.com.
You manage a hybrid team of humans and AI agents. This is the gap no project management tool addresses. When AI agents perform billable work — writing code, generating documents, running analyses — that time must be captured alongside human hours. A platform built for unified time tracking across human and AI workers is the only solution.
You need compliance-grade records. Industries like legal, accounting, and government contracting require detailed, auditable time records. Monday.com’s time tracking column does not provide the granularity or audit trail these sectors demand.
Key Takeaway: Monday.com’s native time tracking works for lightweight internal logging, but it falls short for billing, client reporting, and AI agent tracking. If time tracking is core to your revenue model, use a dedicated tool — either integrated with monday.com or as a standalone platform.
Go Beyond Monday.com for Time Tracking
Keito gives you billable hours, AI agent tracking, and client reporting that monday.com cannot match.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does monday.com have time tracking?
Yes. Monday.com includes a native time tracking column that you can add to any board. It provides start/stop timers, manual time entry, and a dashboard widget for aggregating hours across projects. However, the feature is basic compared to dedicated time tracking tools — it lacks billable hour classification, approval workflows, and detailed reporting.
How do I add time tracking to monday.com?
Open your board, click the plus icon to add a new column, and select “Time Tracking” from the available column types. The column will appear on every item in that board. You can also enhance tracking by installing integrations like Toggl, Clockify, Everhour, or Harvest from the monday.com marketplace.
What is the best time tracking integration for monday.com?
It depends on your needs. Everhour offers the deepest integration with in-board timers and real-time syncing. Clockify is best for budget-conscious teams thanks to its unlimited free plan. Harvest suits agencies that need time-to-invoice workflows. Toggl Track excels at detailed reporting and analytics. All four connect to monday.com through the marketplace or API.
Can monday.com track billable hours?
Not natively. The time tracking column records total duration but cannot distinguish between billable and non-billable time. You would need to use a formula column or status column alongside the time tracker to tag entries manually, or integrate a dedicated tool like Harvest or Everhour that supports billable rate management out of the box.
Is monday.com good enough for time tracking?
For basic internal time logging — yes. If you just need to see how long tasks take and get a rough overview of team workload, the native column is adequate. For anything involving client billing, project profitability, timesheet approvals, or AI agent tracking, monday.com’s native features are insufficient. Most teams in professional services, agencies, or consultancies will need either a dedicated integration or a standalone time tracking platform.