Tyme

Tyme is a Hamburg time tracker native to Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, developed by the same small team, Unit Numberfive oHG, continuously for more than a decade rather than assembled through a string of acquisitions the way several larger vendors in this category have been — a genuinely different profile from the cross-platform web apps that dominate the rest of this list, and one that shows in how deeply it integrates with Apple's own frameworks.

Because it is a native app rather than a browser tab kept open all day, starting and stopping a timer is as fast as tapping a watch face or a menu-bar icon, and project budgets and statistics stay available offline without waiting on a server round trip. Plugins connect tracked time directly to invoicing tools including GrandTotal, Lexware Office, WISO MeinBüro and sevdesk, so freelancers are not left re-typing the same hours into a separate invoicing app by hand.

The annual plan costs €4.99 per user per month, with a separate monthly option for anyone who would rather not commit upfront, and a 14-day free trial before either. Tyme reports more than 50,000 users and a 4.7-star average rating after a decade on the market. A web client exists in beta for cross-platform access, but Tyme's real strength remains the tightly built Apple ecosystem rather than serving larger, mixed-device teams.

What Tyme does well

• Native apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch
• Fast timer with no browser tab needed
• Invoicing plugins for GrandTotal, Lexware and sevdesk
• €4.99/user/month, among the cheapest here
• Over a decade of continuous development

Where Tyme falls short

• Apple platforms only; web client still in beta
• Smaller team than the larger vendors on this list
• No statutory working-time module
• Less built for larger teams than for individuals

Standout feature. The only tracker here built natively for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch instead of a browser.