Hubstaff vs Toggl Track
Side-by-side total cost of ownership: subscription fees, labor, hidden costs, and AI alternatives.
Published pricing
The subscription is only part of the cost.
| Hubstaff | Toggl Track | |
|---|---|---|
| Published rate | $10/seat/mo | $9/seat/mo |
What the invoice doesn't show
Hubstaff
Every paid plan has a 2-seat minimum, and the card prices are annual-toggle rates ('2 months free') — monthly-billing prices are not printed on the plan cards at all.
The lower tiers rebuild the higher ones through add-ons: Insights $2.50, Tasks $2.50, extra screenshots $2.50, 6-year data retention $1.67, silent app $2.50 per seat/mo. A Starter seat with three add-ons costs more than a Team seat.
Team to Enterprise is +150% ($10 to $25/seat, annual-only billing) — the gates are HIPAA, SOC-2 Type II, SSO, SCIM, silent tracking, and locations, so regulated teams pay 2.5x on every seat.
Support is metered too: Starter's email SLA is 2 business days, and VIP support runs $29-59/mo per organization on top of seat fees. Removed seats earn no prorated refunds.
Toggl Track
The headline Premium price is a first-year rate: '$14 per license per month applies to your first year of Premium annual, then renews at $18 per license per month' — a +29% jump printed in a footnote below the plan card.
The free plan's user limit is not published: the pricing page says only 'free for a limited number of users,' so teams cannot tell from the page when the paid cliff arrives.
The metrics that justify the tool for billing — profitability, labor cost, timesheet approvals, SSO — are all Premium; Starter tops out at revenue and billable-percent reporting.
Free workspaces with no new time entries for 6 months are deleted under the inactive-account policy, and API limits ladder steeply: 30 requests/hour on Free vs 240 on Starter and 600 on Premium.
What teams are switching to
Replacing Hubstaff
Clockify
Free; Basic $3.99, Standard $5.49, Pro $7.99, Enterprise $11.99 per seat/mo billed annually
The category's price floor: a free tier that includes the automatic tracker, and a paid ladder from $3.99/seat. Standard ($5.49/seat annual) covers invoicing and QuickBooks payroll/billing sync — the two features that usually justify far pricier incumbents.
Toggl Track
Free; Starter $9/seat/mo; Premium $14 first year then $18/seat/mo
The free plan carries calendar auto-tracking, keyword-triggered tracking, idle detection, and 100+ browser-extension integrations — automation that is rules-based rather than AI, but included at $0. Paid tiers add billable rates and reporting from $9/seat.
Solidtime
Solo free (cloud), Professional EUR 8/user/mo billed annually, self-hosted $0
Open-source time tracking (AGPL) with timers, timesheets, invoicing, and a self-host option that removes the per-seat meter entirely. The tool departing Harvest customers actually name in migration threads. Not AI-automatic — the savings story is open source and no usage fees.
Replacing Toggl Track
Rize
Basic $9.99/mo annual ($12.99 monthly), Pro $23.99/mo, Max $39.99/mo
AI-native tracker: automatic app and website tracking with AI auto-categorization and tagging from the base tier, AI automations and MCP access on Pro. Honest caveat: it is a single-user desktop tool — SSO, SOC 2, and mobile live in its custom Enterprise tier, so it replaces the personal timesheet, not a team system of record.
Clockify
Free; Basic $3.99, Standard $5.49, Pro $7.99, Enterprise $11.99 per seat/mo billed annually
The category's price floor: a free tier that includes the automatic tracker, and a paid ladder from $3.99/seat. Standard ($5.49/seat annual) covers invoicing and QuickBooks payroll/billing sync — the two features that usually justify far pricier incumbents.
Solidtime
Solo free (cloud), Professional EUR 8/user/mo billed annually, self-hosted $0
Open-source time tracking (AGPL) with timers, timesheets, invoicing, and a self-host option that removes the per-seat meter entirely. The tool departing Harvest customers actually name in migration threads. Not AI-automatic — the savings story is open source and no usage fees.
StackCut doesn't sell or recommend any of these tools. We show them for context. The decision is yours.
Total Cost of Ownership
Subscription fees plus labor and error costs, modeled at $50/hr loaded rate (BLS ECEC). Both vendors are costed at the same team size so the two columns can be compared directly.
| Cost Component | Hubstaff | Toggl Track |
|---|---|---|
| Annual subscription | $1,200 | $1,080 |
| Labor cost | $9,000 | $9,000 |
| Error & rework cost | $3,000 | $3,000 |
| Total Cost of Ownership | $13,200/yr | $13,080/yr |
| Est. AI alternative | $1,940/yr | $1,940/yr |
Labor rate based on BLS ECEC June 2025 ($45.65/hr private industry total compensation, rounded to $50). Your actual numbers depend on team size, role mix, and usage. Run it with your own data.
Which one fits your team?
Both Hubstaff and Toggl Track cost more than their published pricing suggests. The right choice depends on your team size and how you weigh each tool's trade-offs.
Hubstaff starts at $10/seat/mo , but watch for Every paid plan has a 2-seat minimum, and the card prices are annual-toggle rates ('2 months free') — monthly-billing prices are not printed on the plan cards at all.
Toggl Track starts at $9/seat/mo , but watch for The headline Premium price is a first-year rate: '$14 per license per month applies to your first year of Premium annual, then renews at $18 per license per month' — a +29% jump printed in a footnote below the plan card.
An AI-native alternative may replace the workflow at a fraction of the TCO.
See all SaaS cost comparisonsBrowse alternatives for every tool
FAQ
Hubstaff vs Toggl Track: quick answers
Is Hubstaff or Toggl Track cheaper?
On total cost of ownership, Hubstaff runs about $13,200/year (10-person team) versus $13,080/year for Toggl Track (10-person team) once labor and hidden costs are counted, not just the published subscription. Adjust the inputs to your own team to compare them directly.
What can replace Hubstaff or Toggl Track?
Hubstaff is often replaced by Clockify and Toggl Track; Toggl Track by Rize and Clockify. StackCut shows the cost case for each AI-first alternative without taking referral fees.
What are the hidden costs of Hubstaff and Toggl Track?
Hubstaff: Every paid plan has a 2-seat minimum, and the card prices are annual-toggle rates ('2 months free') — monthly-billing prices are not printed on the plan cards at all. Toggl Track: The headline Premium price is a first-year rate: '$14 per license per month applies to your first year of Premium annual, then renews at $18 per license per month' — a +29% jump printed in a footnote below the plan card.
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