TimeMagick vs Toggl: take project time all the way to profitability
Toggl combines time tracking with strong project and capacity planning. TimeMagick goes further for client-service teams by connecting activity visibility, project communication, client access, approvals, billing, expenses and deeper client profitability inside the same workspace.
Comparison last reviewed: September 2026
At a glance
TimeMagick
Built for client-service teams whose projects have to end in an invoice and a margin. TimeMagick combines time and manager-facing activity tracking with a project board, Gantt and resource planning, project channels, a client workspace, billable-percentage approval, Project Billing, recurring invoices, expenses and a client KPI layer, all on the same project data.
Toggl
A privacy-first time tracker with a board, timeline and capacity planning, guest access, profitability reporting and invoices from reports, plus a public API, integrations and a free plan.
Feature comparison
Toggl plan names show where a feature sits on its pricing page. "No … identified" means the feature is not in Toggl's current official documentation.
| Feature | TimeMagick | Toggl |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking | ||
| Timer and manual time | Yes; manual time requires a written reason and approval | Yes; timers, manual entry and calendar-based tracking |
| Project and task tracking | Yes; every hour carries its client, project, task and member into budgets, billing and profitability | Yes |
| Desktop, mobile and web | Web, Windows desktop, iOS and Android | Web, desktop, mobile and browser extensions |
| Automated activity timeline | Yes; each member's day of worked, idle, manual and private time | Yes; stored locally and private to each user |
| Manager-facing activity % | Yes; Activity % from keyboard clicks, mouse clicks and mouse movement, with a configurable calculation | No; activity data stays private to the individual by design |
| App and URL productivity classification | Yes; classified productive, neutral or unproductive per role or member | Private app and site timeline for the user only |
| Private Time | Yes; time still counted, app and URL detail withheld | All automated activity is private by default |
| Screenshots | No, by design: activity data instead of screen images | No, by design |
| Projects | ||
| Kanban board | Native drag-and-drop board with custom and automatic statuses | Yes; Kanban board |
| Gantt / timeline | Native; per project and across the client portfolio | Yes; timeline and Gantt views (Starter and above) |
| Resource and capacity planning | Native project scheduling and resource planning | Yes; capacity, utilization targets, PTO and holidays |
| Project budgets | Yes; budget vs spent on cards, overview, Gantt, approvals and dashboards | Yes; estimates and fixed-fee budgets |
| Alerts and forecasting | Yes; alerts and forecasting connected to project profitability | Yes; budget and estimate alerts, forecasting charts |
| Recurring tasks and projects | Default task templates | Yes; recurring tasks, recurring projects and templates |
| Collaboration and clients | ||
| Task comments and notes | Auto-saving Project Notes, plus a chat channel in every project | Yes; task comments |
| Project channels | Native; a channel inside every project | No project chat channels identified |
| Direct and group messaging | Native direct messages and groups | No direct or group messaging identified |
| External guest or client access | Native CLIENT workspace: Dashboard, Projects, Timesheets, Report, Message Channels, Sensai | Guests (Premium): free seats scoped to invited projects |
| Client dashboard | Yes; projects, tasks, weekly hours, overdue tasks and team hours | No; guests can't access reporting or financial dashboards |
| Client timesheets | Yes; Member's Timesheet with hours per day | No; guests can't track time or access reporting |
| Client reports | Yes; a detailed Report inside the client workspace | Shared and scheduled reports; no reporting access for guests |
| Client messaging | Yes; project channels and groups in Message Channels | Guests can add task comments |
| Billing and money | ||
| Billable time | Yes; client rates in their own currency | Yes; billable rates (Starter and above) |
| Timesheet approval | Manual time, tracked time with billable percentage, expenses and recurring invoices | Yes; approve or reject timesheets (Premium) |
| Billable % adjustment during approval | Yes; e.g. 5 worked hours approved at 80% become 4 billable hours | No billable-percentage step identified |
| Billable vs billed hours | Project Billing: billable vs billed hours per client and project | No billable-vs-billed view identified |
| Invoice creation | Duration and quantity lines, tax, notes, PDF, status, multiple entities and billing accounts | Yes; from reports, with custom charges, tax, custom fields and PDF |
| Recurring invoices | Scheduled recurring invoices with an approval workflow | No native recurring-invoice scheduling identified |
| Multi-entity invoicing | Yes; legal entities with their own logo, VAT ID and invoice prefix | No multi-entity invoicing identified |
| Multiple billing accounts | Yes; multiple bank accounts, chosen per invoice | Payment details edited per invoice |
| Project expenses | Project-linked, custom categories, approval, Lunch | Via Toggl Work, a separate Toggl product |
| Recurring expenses | Yes; schedules, approval and payment history | No native recurring-expense workflow identified |
| Analytics | ||
| Project profitability and margin | Profit and margin by client and project | Yes; revenue, cost, profit and margin by project, client, task, member and tag (Premium) |
| Utilisation | Yes; Utilisation % as a headline KPI | Yes; utilization targets and workload reports |
| Low-profit projects | Yes; Low-Profit Projects list | Via profitability reports by project |
| Uninvoiced hours | Yes; Uninvoiced Hours by client | No uninvoiced-hours metric identified |
| Client retention metrics | Yes; Repeat Client %, Retention %, Avg Cooperation and Avg Project Gap | No client-retention metrics identified |
| Revenue concentration | Yes; Revenue Concentration % with a risk indicator | No revenue-concentration metric identified |
| Client Health | Active, warm or cold status per client | No native equivalent identified |
| Platform | ||
| Custom roles | Yes; custom roles across 40 permission modules on every plan | Enterprise plan |
| API and integrations | No public API or third-party integrations | Yes; public API, MCP and CLI; calendar, Jira and Asana integrations |
| Free plan | No; 1-month free trial on the Business plan | Yes; for a limited number of users |
| Pricing model | Per user; every feature on every plan | Per user; features tiered from Starter to Premium |
Toggl information reviewed September 2026 from Toggl's public product, help and pricing pages. Features and plans change; verify before purchasing.
Time tracking that feeds the commercial workflow
Every TimeMagick hour is recorded against a client, project and task, and it keeps working after the timer stops: it burns the project budget, goes through approval with a billable percentage, shows up in Project Billing, is invoiced, and lands in the client's margin and Client Health. Nothing is exported or re-keyed.
The Windows desktop app and the iOS and Android apps track time and activity, desktop and mobile time are reported separately, and manual time carries a written reason and goes to approval.
Toggl is a strong time tracker too, with timers, calendar-based tracking, browser extensions and a private automated timeline.
Explore TimeMagick time trackingMore operational visibility without screenshots
Neither product takes screenshots. The difference is who can see activity. Toggl deliberately keeps automated activity data private to the individual. TimeMagick is designed for teams that also need managers to understand activity levels, app and URL use and productivity classifications, without capturing screenshots.
Activity % is built from keyboard clicks, mouse clicks and mouse movement with a calculation you configure, apps and URLs are classified productive, neutral or unproductive per role or member, and members keep Private Time for work whose detail should stay private.
TimeMagick
Activity data, never screen images
- Activity % from keyboard clicks, mouse clicks and mouse movement
- A configurable activity calculation
- Active app and URL, with time per item
- Productivity classification per role or member
- Idle time with a configurable threshold
- Private Time: time counted, app and URL detail withheld
- No screenshots are taken
Toggl
Private to the individual by design
Toggl's desktop app records the apps and sites a person used and stores them locally, visible only to that person, to help them reconstruct their day. Toggl takes no screenshots and records no keystrokes.
Both can plan projects. TimeMagick connects more of the client workflow.
TimeMagick has a native drag-and-drop board with custom and automatic statuses, an interactive Gantt per project and across the portfolio, resource planning, and budgets with alerts and forecasting. The difference is what that project is connected to: its own chat channel, the client's workspace, billable-percentage approval, Project Billing, expenses and client profitability, all on the same record.
Toggl plans well: a Kanban board, timeline and Gantt views, recurring tasks and projects, templates, estimates, alerts, forecasting and capacity planning with PTO and holidays.
Explore project managementGive clients more than guest access
Toggl Guests can participate in specific projects. TimeMagick gives clients a broader client-facing workspace with project, timesheet, reporting and communication visibility: a Dashboard with Total Projects, Total Tasks, Completed, Weekly Hours Logged and Overdue Tasks, plus Project Status, Task Status Breakdown, Team Members & Hours and Overall Due Tasks.
| Client can | TimeMagick | Toggl Guest |
|---|---|---|
| Scoped to their projects | ||
| Dashboard with weekly hours and overdue tasks | ||
| Timesheets | ||
| Reports | ||
| Project channels and groups | ||
| Create tasks and comment |
Toggl Guests are on Premium and don't use a paid seat; guests can't track time or access reporting and billing.
See the client portalKeep conversations inside the project
Toggl collaboration centers on tasks and task comments. TimeMagick adds a dedicated messaging system with project channels, direct conversations and groups: every project automatically gets its own channel next to its tasks, hours and budget, with attachments, emoji, unread badges and search.
Client Members use project channels and groups too, so client conversations stay with the work they are about.
Explore project communicationBilling starts before the invoice
- Time is tracked against the project and task.
- The approver sets a billable percentage: 5 worked hours at 80% become 4 billable hours.
- Project Billing shows billable against billed hours per client and project.
- A one-off invoice, or a scheduled recurring invoice that goes through approval, is created.
- The result flows into project and client profitability.
Invoices have duration-based and quantity-based lines, taxes, notes, PDF download, a status and a due date, in the client's currency.
Toggl creates invoices from report data, pre-filled with tracked time, with custom charges, tax, custom fields and PDF download. No billable-percentage step or native recurring-invoice scheduling is identified in its current documentation.
Explore billing and invoicingInvoice from the right company and bank account
TimeMagick supports several legal entities, each with its own logo, VAT ID, business registration details and invoice prefix, and several billing accounts. Every invoice picks its issuing entity and the account it should be paid into.
No multi-entity invoicing is identified in Toggl's current documentation; payment details are edited per invoice.
Track expenses with the project
TimeMagick records company expenses against the project, with your own categories and an approval queue. Recurring costs have their own schedule, approval and payment history, and a Lunch workflow covers meal allowances. Those costs feed the same project margin as the hours.
In Toggl's product family, expense management is handled by Toggl Work, a separate Toggl product.
Explore expensesGo beyond project margin into client health
TimeMagick extends the commercial layer from projects into client relationships and the business as a whole: Revenue, Profit, Avg Client Profit, Avg Client Margin, Effective Rate, Active and Cold Clients, Utilisation, Avg Cooperation length, Projects Over Budget, Repeat Client %, Retention %, Avg Project Gap and Revenue Concentration %, plus Most and Least Profitable Clients, Falling Activity, Uninvoiced Hours, Low-Profit Projects and Client Health.
Toggl provides strong project and team profitability reporting on Premium: labor costs, revenue, cost, profit and margin by project, client, task, member and tag, with fixed-fee projects, utilization and forecasting.
TimeMagick illustration (demo data).
Custom roles on every plan
Every TimeMagick plan includes custom roles, set across 40 permission modules with View, Create, Update and Delete where they apply. Reports and Export Report, Projects and All Projects, and Project Channel and All Project Channels are separate modules, and clients get the locked CLIENT role.
Toggl lists custom roles on its Enterprise plan.
Explore roles and permissionsThe full client workflow on every plan
TimeMagick
- Freelancer$4.50/month, or $3.80 billed yearly; up to 2 users
- Business$9.50/user/month, or $7.60 billed yearly; 30-day free trial
- EnterpriseCustom pricing for 30+ users
TimeMagick includes the full feature set on every plan:
- Activity and productivity visibility
- Board, Gantt and resource planning
- Project channels and messaging
- Client workspace
- Approvals with billable percentage
- Project Billing and recurring invoices
- Multi-entity invoicing
- Expenses and recurring expenses
- Profitability KPIs and Client Health
- Custom roles
Toggl
Per user/month, billed annually (monthly)
- Free$0
- Starter$9 ($12)
- Premium$16 ($24)
- EnterpriseCustom
Toggl offers a Free plan for a limited number of users.
Toggl pricing checked: September 2026. Verify before purchasing.
Toggl's profitability reports, labor costs, fixed-fee projects, project dashboards, timesheet approvals and guests are on its Premium plan: $16 per user per month billed annually, or $24 monthly. TimeMagick's Business plan includes its profitability KPIs, project budgets, approvals, client workspace and every other feature for $7.60 per user per month billed yearly, or $9.50 monthly. See TimeMagick pricing
One project dataset, from work to profitability
In TimeMagick, the work, its conversation, the client's view, the billing and the profitability all sit on the same project, client and time data. That is also why TimeMagick needs fewer integrations for its core project workflow: communication, client access, billing and profitability are already native.
Tracked work. Against a task, with manager-facing activity detail.
Project. Board, Gantt, resource planning and a project channel.
Client workspace. Clients see the same projects, hours and reports.
Approval. The approver sets the billable percentage.
Project Billing. Billable against billed hours.
Invoice. One-off or scheduled recurring, from the right entity.
Expenses. Project-linked and recurring costs.
Profitability. Project margin and client KPIs.
Client Health. Which relationships are active, warm or cold.
Why choose TimeMagick over Toggl?
Choose TimeMagick when the project needs to go beyond planning
Toggl is a strong time tracker and planner. TimeMagick is the better fit for client-service and project-based teams when:
- Managers need activity and productivity visibility
- Clients need dashboard, timesheet and report access
- Project conversations need real channels
- Billability needs approval control
- Billing needs billable-versus-billed visibility
- Recurring invoices need a workflow and approval
- Expenses need to connect to projects
- Invoices come from several entities or bank accounts
- Management wants client and business KPIs
- Every feature, including custom roles, on every plan
Toggl may fit specific requirements
- A free plan
- A public API, MCP and CLI
- A broad integration ecosystem
- Capacity planning with PTO and holidays
- Calendar and browser-extension tracking
- Activity data kept private to each person
See how TimeMagick fits agencies and engineering studios, or compare TimeMagick vs Clockify and TimeMagick vs Harvest.
TimeMagick vs Toggl: key facts
- TimeMagick gives managers structured Activity %, app and URL usage and productivity classifications, without screenshots.
- TimeMagick gives clients a workspace with Dashboard, Projects, Timesheets, Report, Message Channels and Sensai.
- TimeMagick has a chat channel in every project, plus direct messages and groups.
- TimeMagick lets the approver set a billable percentage on tracked time before billing.
- TimeMagick's Project Billing shows billable against billed hours per client and project.
- TimeMagick includes scheduled recurring invoices with an approval workflow.
- TimeMagick invoices from multiple legal entities and billing accounts.
- TimeMagick includes project-linked expenses, recurring expenses with payment history and Lunch.
- TimeMagick adds client KPIs such as Retention %, Revenue Concentration, Uninvoiced Hours and Client Health.
- TimeMagick includes every feature on every plan, including custom roles.
- Toggl has a native board, timeline and capacity planning, a public API with MCP, integrations and a free plan.
- Toggl keeps automated activity private to each user and takes no screenshots.
- Toggl information reviewed September 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How TimeMagick compares with Toggl. Toggl information reviewed September 2026.
Is TimeMagick a Toggl alternative?
Yes. TimeMagick is particularly strong for project-based companies that want time tracking connected to client access, communication, billing, expenses and profitability. Toggl is a capable time tracker with strong planning, capacity and integrations; TimeMagick goes further on the client and commercial side of the project.
Does Toggl have project management?
Yes. Toggl has a Kanban board, timeline and Gantt views, recurring tasks and projects, templates, estimates, budget alerts, forecasting and capacity planning. TimeMagick also has a native board, interactive Gantt and resource planning, and connects project delivery further into project channels, a client workspace, billable-percentage approval, Project Billing, expenses and client profitability.
Does Toggl monitor employees?
No. Toggl deliberately avoids employee surveillance: it takes no screenshots, records no keystrokes, and keeps its automated app and site timeline private to each user. TimeMagick also avoids screenshots, but provides managers with structured Activity %, app and URL usage and productivity classifications when the organization needs operational monitoring, with Private Time for members.
Does TimeMagick take screenshots?
No. TimeMagick never captures screen images. It measures activity from keyboard clicks, mouse clicks and mouse movement, records app and URL usage classified by productivity, and tracks idle time, while members can use Private Time to withhold app and URL detail.
Does Toggl have client access?
Yes. On its Premium plan, Toggl Guests can view the projects they are invited to, create and manage tasks and add comments without using a paid seat; guests can't track time or access reporting and billing. TimeMagick gives CLIENT users a broader workspace with a Dashboard, Projects, Timesheets, Report, Message Channels and Sensai.
Does Toggl have project chat?
Toggl collaboration centers on task comments. TimeMagick adds a dedicated messaging system: an automatic channel for every project, direct messages and groups, with attachments, and Client Members can use project channels and groups too.
Can Toggl create invoices?
Yes. Toggl creates invoices from report data with custom charges, tax, custom fields and PDF download. TimeMagick's billing starts earlier: billable percentages at approval, Project Billing's billable-versus-billed view, scheduled recurring invoices with approval, and invoices from multiple legal entities and billing accounts.
Does Toggl support recurring invoices?
No native recurring-invoice scheduling is identified in current Toggl documentation; Toggl's recurring features cover tasks and projects. In TimeMagick, you schedule a recurring invoice and choose when it becomes due; it then appears in TimeMagick and goes through approval.
Does Toggl track profitability?
Yes. Toggl's Premium plan reports revenue, cost, profit and margin by project, client, task, member and tag, with labor costs, fixed-fee projects and utilization. TimeMagick extends the commercial layer into client relationships: Avg Client Margin, Effective Rate, Uninvoiced Hours, Low-Profit Projects, Repeat Client %, Retention %, Revenue Concentration and Client Health.
Which is better for agencies and engineering firms?
TimeMagick is the stronger fit when client projects need time tracking, operational monitoring, communication, client reporting, billing and profitability in one connected workflow. Toggl suits teams whose priority is individual, privacy-first time tracking with capacity planning, a free plan or a wide integration ecosystem.
Take your project time all the way to profitability
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