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What’s the best free time tracking app for a self-employed tradesman?

Q: What’s the best free time tracking app for a self-employed tradesman?

For a self-employed tradesman, TradesTimer is the best free option because it removes manual effort. It uses background GPS to automatically reconstruct your workday by detecting jobsite stops and driving trips.

By Ryder Wishart — years on the tools, then time tracking in a contractor’s back office · Updated 2026-07-09

Eliminate Manual Timers

Most time-tracking apps require you to remember to hit 'start' and 'stop' for every client. This leads to missed billable hours when you're busy with a hands-on task.

TradesTimer works in the background using GPS to detect when you arrive at a jobsite and when you leave, providing rounded billable hours without any manual input.

Automatic Mileage Logging

Tracking mileage manually is tedious and prone to error. TradesTimer automatically identifies 'trips' between jobsite 'stops' and records the distance for every drive.

At tax time, you can export this data directly, turning your phone into an automated mileage log that simplifies your deductions.

Privacy-First Simplicity

There is no need to create an account, pre-configure job sites, or deal with complex setups. The app is designed for solo tradespeople who want a tool that just works.

All location data stays on your device, ensuring your work patterns and client locations remain private and secure.

From the tools: how this played out for me

A while back I watched a guy at church show his buddy the notebook where he keeps his hours. I knew that notebook — I've got a stack of my own from years of working for contractors: framing, fencing, roofing, concrete, drywall, painting. Dates, addresses, hours, in pencil, some pages water-stained from riding in the truck.

Paper is genuinely free and it genuinely works — if you have the discipline, every single day, including the fourteen-hour ones. I didn't, always. The entries that went missing were never the big framing days; they were the 40-minute service stops and the second visit to a job that got split by weather. Missing entries are missing money.

That's the honest comparison for a self-employed tradesman: not free app vs paid app, but any system that depends on your memory vs one that doesn't. I built TradesTimer to be the second kind — the notebook that writes itself — and kept it free because the notebook it replaces was free too.

— Ryder, founder of TradesTimer. Years on the tools across framing, fencing, roofing, concrete, drywall, and painting, plus the back office of an electrical contractor — orders, invoices, and yes, the time tracking.

People hitting this exact problem

Real threads — each quote links to the original discussion.

we've been in business for a few years already but are looking to move towards digital methods instead of paper methods as we are currently using.

r/GeneralContractor — "best software for GC business?"

The most common trigger for going digital isn't love of apps — it's paper finally costing too much at tax and invoice time.

Pen and paper. I have a grid I print out of 10-hr days, broken into .25 hr blocks. I’m old school but this is the only system that I have stayed consistent with.

r/freelance — "How do you remember to clock your time?" (comment)

Respect — a printed grid is a real system, and consistency is the whole battle. Automatic tracking is for the rest of us who lost that battle on the busy weeks.

FAQ

Does this app handle my client invoicing?

No, TradesTimer is strictly for tracking time and mileage; you should use your preferred software for invoicing and billing.

Do I need to keep the app open while I work?

No, the app runs in the background and uses GPS to detect changes in your location automatically.

Last updated 2026-07-09.