Timely Review: Pros, Cons, & How to Use It 2025

AI is all the rage lately. Everyone wants to know how you can use it to improve operations, cut costs, and get an edge over your competition.

So what if you could use AI in a time tracker to create business reports, run timesheets, and manage teams?

Enter Timely.

Timely is a leading productivity management software that can keep your business on track.

But where Timely really stands out among the competition is through its use of AI and automation. These tools allow you to create reports and timesheets with just a few clicks. Unlike other time trackers, you won’t waste valuable work minutes typing data into a timer.

This software supports large enterprises, remote teams, and small businesses worldwide. But is it a good fit for your brand?

In this in-depth Timely review, we’ll discuss Timely’s top features, pricing tiers, customer opinions, and pros and cons. Then we’ll show you how to use it so you can make an informed decision on whether this time tracker is right for you.

Key Takeaways

• Timely is a strong time tracking tool that employs AI and automation. Through its Memory app and AI component it can track all of your activities on your computer in the background automatically and catergorize whats work and not and then create timesheets. No wonder the big boy companies love it.
• The project management features aren’t best in breed but the analytics reports are powerful because the data gathered by AI can be helpful in optimizing workflow and billing rates.
• Despite all the AI tracking, there is no employee monitoring at the level of tracking keystrokes and screen shots. But Timely will track what sites you visit.
• It’s fairly easy to use and learn. Customer support is powerful but its a bit pricey.
• If you are a solo entrepreneur or smaller team with limited budget, Timely is probably not the best tool. But medium to large organizations can benefit greatly from the improvement in effeciency Timely offers.

What is Timely?

Timely was first launched in December 2013 by Mathias Mikkelsen and continues to grow in popularity. Many consultation firms, software companies, educational facilities, hospitality establishments, and health and beauty salons choose Timely to meet their needs.

Since Timely supports over 50 currency types, it works well on an international level. This software is based out of Oslo, Norway, and currently services over 20,000 users across 20 different countries.

Timely offers detailed reporting, encourages team communication, and incorporates many AI automations, setting it apart from the competition. Whether your team is in-house or works remotely, you can track progress through a desktop app, web app, or on your mobile device.

This app has hundreds of positive reviews from users around the globe and is leading the way in innovation among its peers. Its fans include small start-ups as well as household names like Marriott, Havas Media Group, Kellogg’s, Pepsico, and Yale University.

So the big boys clearly love what Timely is cooking. But is this time tracker right for your brand?

Let’s take a look at a few of Timely’s best features.

Timely’s Best Features and Benefits

1. Automatic time tracking features

While many time trackers force you to enter data and babysit a timer by clicking start and stop, Timely offers a simpler solution through automatic time tracking.

Once you download the Memory tracker, it works in the background to record your time spent on the web, apps, files, and across multiple projects. Then, it creates a personal timeline from your desktop activity based on the trends it finds. It also detects and logs idle time–and for remote workers, it can register GPS locations.

Not only does the Memory app help employees with time management, it also ensures that employers only pay for hours worked.

However, if you prefer manual time logs, you also have that option.

2. AI Timesheets

Timely’s AI timesheets are one of the top features of this innovative time tracker. AI scans your work habits, organizes the information into projects, and then suggests future timesheets based on what it finds.

In February 2025, the AI model underwent a few changes. It now learns from your timeline version and focuses on your dominant activities to create more accurate predictions.

So you can see how the AI component works hand in hand with the Memory App to track your activity and workflow. Once enough data is collected, the Timesheet Assistant button lights up letting you know that AI is ready to prepare your timesheets.

By using this virtual duo of AI and the Memory App, you can cut down on the hassle and headache of creating timesheets. No need to figure out what is considered what related or when you were working on it. With just one click of a button, the hard work is done. Now all you have to do is review for accuracy and edit as desired.

3. Task Management, Projects, and Reports

Timely collects data painlessly and provides useful, comprehensive reports that allow managers to identify trends, follow project progress, and see employee work habits.

In the project tracking interface, managers can get an overview of their team’s real-time performance and recent projects all in one place. The project reports and analytics are useful for identifying the team’s strengths and weaknesses, and ensure that they meet deadlines.

Armed with this information, employers can make informed decisions on how to better distribute workloads, motivate team members, effectively plan business strategy, and run their operation efficiently.

4. Budgeting and Profitability

As you track your team’s project progress, Timely also helps you track costs and stay within your budget. You can set labor costs and compare them to billable rates to understand if your employees’ performance is in line with their job expectations.

To send billing to clients, you can choose from reporting templates or create your own custom reports with your brand.

5. Integrations

Timely supports multiple integrations including Asana, BaseCamp, QuickBooks, Xero, Adobe XD, Google Calendar, and Mailchimp. The Memory App tracks over 100 apps so you have access to all the best resources.

Connect Timely to your favorite accounting, invoicing, and marketing software for an all-in-one solution to your business needs.

6. Timely Mobile App

Timely offers a web app, desktop app, and mobile app for iOS and Android, which ensures permanent access for both in-house staff and remote workers.

Timely’s mobile app provides on-the-go access to your work calendar, appointment updates, and team messages. However, unlike other apps, it cannot track time in offline mode. For the best experience using the app, make sure your mobile device has all the current updates installed.

7. Security and Privacy

Timely follows standard industry guidelines for protecting your sensitive information. It uses SSO authentication, has ongoing security testing to check for system vulnerability, employs network and edge protection by world-class providers, and is GDPR compliant.

Also, Timely account owners can protect information by allowing access to just a few select team members. Appointment calendars auto-lock when inactivity is detected and you can also use fast and secure PIN switching between profiles.

Timely promotes a workspace built on trust, which means that its dedication to privacy and security also extends to employees. With this time tracker, you won’t find invasive employee tracking features like webcam snapshots, keystrokes, or screenshots. Employees also have control over their data and can choose to share or delete it.

8. Employee Monitoring

While Timely doesn’t allow managers to invade employee privacy, it is capable of monitoring some employee work habits. So while it doesn’t record keystrokes or take screenshots, the app can report which websites were visited and which apps were used during work hours.

These insights can be useful to understand how time is being spent and which projects require the most hours.

9. Timely Customer Support

Many users have high praise for Timely’s customer service. The support team is completely human-run so you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in frustrating chatbot loops.

Instead, get your questions answered by a representative by filling out a help form or booking a call. There are also several online guides and tutorials available to answer common questions and walk new users through the different features.

With the Enterprise Plan, you also benefit from extra support options.

Timely’s Pricing Tiers

Timely offers four plans to fit your business team size and budget. Like most time tracking software, Timely charges by the user. Although there is no free version of this app, you can try out all the features in all the plans for a 14-day trial before you commit.

Starter

Timely’s starter package is perfect for a small team or business just starting out. It includes features like:

• automatic time tracking
• billable hours reports
• AI tools
• idle detection
• location tracking
• API access and more.

This tier costs $9 per user per month with annual billing and is good for up to five users and 20 projects.

Premium

The Premium plan is designed for small businesses with 50 team members or less. This tier includes:

• everything from the Starter plan
• plus team management and planning features
• budget and cost reporting
• integrations with accounting tools
• and unlimited projects.

With annual billing, the Premium plan costs $16 per user per month.

Unlimited

The Unlimited Plan offers the most flexibility for business growth. This plan allows you to add unlimited users and unlimited projects for just $22 per user per month.

Some of the perks included in this tier are:

• large-scale management and reporting
• overtime and undertime
• Azure User Management, and more.

With over 50 currencies offered, the Unlimited plan is perfect for businesses ready to go international.

Enterprise

The Enterprise Plan is tailored to meet your business’s needs. This package includes all the features offered in the other plans, as well as:

• Timely team training
• tailored onboarding
• reporting support
• priority customer service and more.

The Enterprise Plan is perfect for well-established businesses with large teams.

Contact the Timely sales team for specific pricing.

Add on: Tasks

You can add task management to any plan for an extra $5 per user. The tasks add-on enables teams to schedule projects and track progress. This add-on can be useful to keep teams motivated while meeting deadlines.

Pros, Cons and Customer Reviews

Timely’s use of AI to automate time tracking and tedious tasks is truly groundbreaking. But how do users feel about applying this innovative software to their business?

Based on G2, Capterra, and GetApp, here are customers’ main pros and cons when it comes to this time tracker.

Pros

• User-friendly system–even for those who aren’t tech savvy.
• Employee timesheets are simple to create from automated data, saving valuable time.
• Includes helpful features such as idle detection and location tracking even in its most basic plan.
• AI detects trends and work habits to create insightful reports.
• Managers can see an overview of project progress and team work habits in real-time to give useful feedback.
• Timely protects employee privacy and prevents invasive surveillance.
• Timely’s customer support team is knowledgeable and helpful.

Cons

While Timely has plenty to offer, users also found a few drawbacks.

• Timely does not track time offline.
• It is difficult to set up recurring appointments and templates.
• The automatic time tracker lacks detail on where and how employee time is spent.
• The AI component sometimes has difficulty identifying tasks.
• The mobile app can be glitchy.
• No free forever plan.

How to Use Timely: A Step-By-Step Guide

You’ve seen what Timely has to offer, but how do you use it in your business and daily life? We’ll walk you through a simple step-by-step guide for how to get started with Timely.

Step 1: Create an account wth Timely

Go to the Timely website, and click on the 14 Day Free Trial. Enter your information on the registration page.

Next you will be asked a few questions to customize your experience such as:

1. Your industry and number of employees
2. Your primary goal for using Timely
3. Your experience using time tracking software

Step 2: Download and Connect Memory Tracker

Next you will be asked to download the Memory app to your computer. Choose either the Apple or Microsoft option.

Open the Memory app is on your computer, follow the instructions to connect your account and allow access to your computer.

Once connected, Memory will now be able to log all your desktop activity and website visits. You can also adjust the settings of the Memory app, including:

• tracking and when to pause the app
• schedule for when Memory automatically starts to track activity
• idle time detection and when to ignore activity

If you skip downloading the app, you can come back to it later by going to the “Integrations” icon in the left hand menu.

Step 3: Add team members

Click on the “People” icon on the left hand menu, then click on the “New User” button. Here you can set each team members

• access levels
• hourly rate
• capacity and working days
• associated teams and projects

Step 4: Add projects and tasks

Projects are how you keep track of all major to be done, for which clients, and who is working on them.

To add a new project, click on the “Project” icon in the left hand menu, then click on “New Project” button.

Here you will be asked to:

• fill in the name of your project
• add a client
• set a project budget
• add team members and their individual pay rates
• assign tags to categorize each team members work

Once done, click on “Create Project”. At any time you can go back into each project to review activities, timesheets and tasks or create invoices for that project.

Now you can add tasks to each of your projects. This helps organize all the work that needs to get done to complete your project.

Simply click on the “Tasks” icon in the left hand menu, then click on “New Task”. Now you can add the title, the project its under, who is working on the task and how long it will take to complete. Then click “Create”.

Step 5: Track and Submit Time

Since the Memory app does all the heavy lifting of tracking everything you do, all that’s left is to fill in your timesheets with your activities from your personal timeline.

Simply click on the “Hours” icon on the left hand menu. Make sure you are on “Solo”view. Highlight the parts of your personal timeline that is work related and drag it to the time sheet section. Select a project for this work, then click “Save”.

To view timesheets for all submitted time, go the “Reports” icon, and click on the “Timesheets” tab.

How Does Timely Compare to the Competition?

Timely shares similar features with other popular time trackers like Harvest and Toggl Track, including project management, reports, invoicing, and timesheets. But how does Timely’s overall performance measure up?

We reviewed these time trackers’ main features side by side. Here are the results:

Timely VS. Harvest

• Timely features automatic time tracking while Harvest relies on manual entries.
• Timely offers more privacy to users than Harvest. This system does not allow employers to take screenshots of private data.
• Timely includes live reporting.
• Unlike Timely, Harvest offers a basic “free forever” time tracking plan which can benefit freelancers or small teams. Harvest also allows potential customers a free trial of any plan for up to 30 days while Timely’s trial period is limited to 14 days.
• Harvest continues to track time offline and syncs with saved data once an internet connection is reestablished.
• Harvest pricing plans range from $0 to $14 per user per month, making it a slightly more affordable option.

Check out our review of Harvest here: Harvest Time Tracking Review (& Who It’s Really Best For)

Timely VS. Toggl Track

• Timely can create AI-generated time sheets based on manual or automatic time tracking. Toggl Track also offers manual and automatic time tracking without the robust AI components.
• Timely and Toggl Track both value customer privacy and have less invasive employee monitoring than other time trackers.
• Timely makes time reporting easy and seamless with timesheet suggestions. Toggl Track takes more effort to set up, but offers more detailed time reports.
• Timely offers more ways to filter information searches while Toggl Track provides more view options.

Check out our review of Toggl Track here: Toggl Track Review: Pros, Cons, & How to Use It

Final Verdict

There is no doubt about it, Timely’s software is one of the most user-friendly options available on today’s market. We love the fact that you don’t have to tediously tag every project, client, and coffee break manually. The fact that Timely automatically runs in the background and makes a quick summary of your working hours is like a dream come true.

The app even tracks idle time, so you know which hours to include on your time sheet. With Timely, you can spend more of your time doing your job and less time fiddling with a timer. At the end of the day, you get a report to see your progress and work habits.

We also love the fact that Timely is employee-centered. Employees can rest at ease knowing that no selfies or screenshots will invade their privacy while they are trying to work.

However, the downside of all the cool AI automation tools is that they can be fallible. So even though Timely does the nitty gritty work for you, you should still check your timesheets and reports for accuracy before submitting them.

Overall, Timely has a nice balance of providing businesses with useful information to streamline their workload and boost profits without investing too much time or energy into a timer.

Still on the fence? Try out all the features of Timely for 14 days for free and see if it is the right solution for your business needs.

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