Solo
€0 forever
Everything you need to stop pressing buttons.
- Unlimited folders & URL patterns
- Basic dashboard
- 30-day history
- Weekly reports
You forgot to start the timer.
- started Tuesday’s timer at 14:00 work began 9:30
- stopped Friday’s timer on Monday one 67-hour “entry”
- misc / admin — 6.5 h no memory of any of it
— life with timer apps
For people switching from timer apps
There is no timer.
Temporal.ist builds your timesheet from file saves and URL visits. Timers can’t be forgotten if they don’t exist.
Free with unlimited folders · no credit card · run it alongside your timer for a week
01 — why you’re here
The seven failure modes of timers
None of these are your fault. They’re what happens when a billing record depends on a human pressing a button. Temporal.ist removes the button.
Forgot to start
The morning’s deep work happened off the books.
Captured from the first file save
The desktop client watches your project folders. The first save opens the session — anchored to the save, not to when you remembered.
Forgot to stop
Eight billable hours of lunch, last seen running at 02:00.
Idle timeout closes the session
No activity for 15 minutes (configurable) and the session closes itself — at the last real event, not whenever you noticed.
Retroactive guessing
Sunday evening: reconstructing Thursday from calendar crumbs.
Timestamps, not memories
Every entry is built from timestamped file saves and URL visits. Your invoice cites evidence, not estimates.
Wrong project selected
Three hours of Client A, billed to Client B.
Folder = project — can’t misfile
Sessions attach to the folder you actually worked in. Misfiling time would require editing reality.
Browser work invisible
Research, pull requests, staging checks — all happened, none logged.
URL patterns track web tools
Add patterns for the web tools you bill — design apps, repos, docs — and browser time lands on the right project automatically.
Timer anxiety — 14 alt-tabs a day
Every context switch starts with “wait, is the timer right?”
Zero interaction, by design
No start button, no stop button, no project dropdown. You work; the timesheet happens.
Export hell
Lock-in, dressed up as a feature.
CSV, PDF, JSON — any time
Your hours are yours. Export everything, on every plan, whenever you like.
02 — the honest comparison
Three ways to track time
Timer apps are good software with one flaw: they trust your memory. Surveillance trackers fix accuracy by watching you. Temporal.ist fixes accuracy by watching the work.
| Capability | Timer apps | Surveillance trackers | Temporal.ist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requires starting & stopping | Yes — every task, every switch | —No | No — there’s nothing to press |
| Accuracy after one week | Whatever you remembered to log | —High, at a cost | High — rebuilt from timestamps |
| Screenshots & activity scores | None | Screenshots, keystrokes, scores | Never — by design |
| Idle handling | Manual — keep or discard? | Penalises you for thinking | Auto-close after 15 min idle |
| Invoice generation | —Sometimes, via add-ons | Rarely | Built in, from tracked hours |
| Data export | Yes — credit where due | —Limited | CSV, PDF, JSON — any time |
| EU hosting & GDPR rights | —Varies by vendor | Often outside the EU | EU-hosted, GDPR-native |
Yes, timer apps export your data just fine. The problem was never the export — it’s what got logged in the first place.
03 — the switch protocol
Run both for a week
Don’t take a landing page’s word for it. Keep your timer app exactly as it is and let the two records argue it out.
- Day 0
Install — 3 minutes
Download the desktop client, point it at your project folders, add URL patterns for your web tools. Then forget about it.
- Days 1–7
Change nothing
Track with your timer like you always do. Temporal.ist watches silently in the background — no buttons, no new habits.
- Day 7
Compare totals
Put the two timesheets side by side. The gap is the work you’ve been doing for free.
“I ran both for a week. Same work, two records — the timer missed 11 hours. Mornings I forgot, browser research, the small fixes between meetings. That was the last week I started a timer.”
Start the side-by-side
Day 0 takes 3 minutes. Days 1–7 take zero.
04 — the payoff
What you’ll stop doing
- starting timers
- stopping timers
- re-categorizing entries
- reconstructing Thursday
- apologizing on invoices
“I discovered I was undercharging by 20%. The timer never told me that.”
05 — pricing
Cheaper than the timer you keep forgetting
Start free. Upgrade when the first accurate invoice pays for the year.
Most switchers pick this
Pro
€8 / month
Less than most timer apps. €80/year if billed yearly.
- Everything in Solo
- Unlimited history
- Analytics
- Client & project tags
- Invoice generation
- Exports — CSV, PDF, JSON
Team
€6 / user / month
Minimum 4 seats.
- Everything in Pro
- Team dashboard
- Manager reports
- Billable rates
- Client portal
- DPA
06 — the objections
Fair questions from timer people
Can I import my old data?
Start fresh — and lose nothing. Your history stays exportable in your old tool, so it’s never gone. Temporal.ist rebuilds its record from real activity, and within a week you have a timesheet you can actually defend. Importing the old guesses would just carry the guesses over.
What about meetings and calls?
URL patterns catch the web call tools — video calls in the browser land on the right project automatically. Anything else, like a phone call or an on-site workshop, you add manually in seconds. Temporal.ist is automatic, not read-only.
What about work on my phone?
Not tracked — add it manually. In practice, most billable desk work is files and browser tabs, and that’s exactly what gets captured.
Will my totals differ from my timer’s?
Yes — usually upward, by 15–25% in the first comparison week. That’s not a bug; it’s the work your timer never saw. The pre-coffee fix, the “quick look” that took 40 minutes, the browser research. That’s the point of switching.
Is this surveillance?
No. Temporal.ist records timestamps and file paths, plus the URL patterns you explicitly configure. No screenshots, no keystroke logging, no activity scores — ever. It’s evidence for your invoices, not a leash.
Stop starting timers.
Your next timesheet can be a record instead of a reconstruction. The week-long side-by-side costs you nothing — not even a new habit.
Switch in 3 minutesFree with unlimited folders · no credit card · run it alongside your timer for a week