The Time Tracker for Creative Agencies
Your team juggles a dozen clients, hundreds of tasks, and thousands of billable hours. TRCR keeps it all visible, organized, and profitable.
Why creative agencies choose TRCR for time tracking
Agencies lose margin in the gaps — the 20-minute call no one logged, the round of revisions billed to the wrong retainer, the freelancer whose hours never made it onto the invoice. TRCR is a time tracker for creative agencies that closes those gaps: a one-click timer your designers and account managers actually use, every entry tied to a client and project, and rates that flow straight onto the invoice.
Because tracking, projects, profitability, and invoicing live in one workspace, you can see which accounts make money before a retainer goes underwater. See how we stack up as a Harvest alternative for agencies, read our take on the best Harvest alternatives for agencies in 2026, and note that TRCR is free for every team until the end of 2026 — no credit card, no seat minimum.
Track Every Billable Minute
Creative work doesn't happen in neat blocks. A designer jumps between three projects before lunch. An account manager spends 20 minutes on a call that should be billed to the client. TRCR's one-click timer makes it effortless to capture every minute as it happens — no reconstructing timesheets on Friday afternoon.
Assign different billing rates per team member, per client, or per project. When it's time to invoice, TRCR already knows what to charge.
Client-Level Visibility Without the Noise
Give clients their own role with read-only access. They see progress, leave comments, and review deliverables — without seeing internal discussions, cost data, or other clients' work. Board-level permissions mean you control exactly what each person can see and do.
Custom Workflows for Every Team
Your design team works in “Brief → Concept → Review → Revision → Approved.” Your dev team uses “Backlog → In Progress → QA → Deployed.” With custom workflow statuses, each team defines their own pipeline. Progress bars show exactly how far along each task is within its current stage.
Know Which Projects Make Money
Set worker rates (what you pay) and client rates (what you charge). TRCR calculates profitability in real time so you can spot underpriced retainers before they drain your margin. The profitability report shows revenue, cost, and margin per project, per client, or across the entire agency.
From Tracked Time to Invoice in Seconds
Select a date range, pick a client, and TRCR generates a detailed invoice from your tracked time entries. Line items, rates, totals — everything is pre-filled. Export as PDF or send it directly. No copy-pasting into spreadsheets.
Real-Time Collaboration Across the Studio
Task updates, timer changes, and new assignments sync instantly across every tab and device. Your project manager sees the designer start working the moment they hit the timer button. Built-in team chat keeps conversations linked to tasks — not lost in Slack threads.
Common Use Cases
Track hours against monthly retainer caps. See at a glance which clients are near their limit and which have hours to spare.
Organize tasks by campaign phase. Use task groups to separate strategy, creative, media buying, and reporting.
See who's overloaded and who has capacity. Complexity estimates and priority levels help you balance workloads before deadlines hit.
Generate time reports filtered by client, project, or date range. Share them directly or include them with your invoice.
Start tracking your agency's time today
Free until 2026 — every feature, no credit card, no auto-charge. Set up your first client project in under two minutes.
Try TRCR Free →Creative agencies — frequently asked questions
Is TRCR a good time tracker for creative agencies?
Yes. TRCR is built for agencies juggling many clients: a one-click timer captures billable hours as designers and account managers switch between campaigns, every entry is tied to a client and project, and profitability reports show which accounts actually make money. You can invoice straight from tracked time, and it's free for every team until December 31, 2026 with no credit card and no seat minimum.
Can I manage multiple client accounts and keep their work separate?
Yes. TRCR has a built-in client CRM, so every project is tied to a client and their work stays organized in its own space. Role-based permissions let you give each client a read-only role that shows progress and deliverables without exposing internal discussions, cost data, or other clients' work.
How does TRCR track billable hours across different campaigns and projects?
Use the one-click persistent timer to capture time as designers and account managers move between campaigns throughout the day, and switch it to a different project in a single click. Every entry is tagged to its project, and projects carry their own budgets and hourly rates, so billable hours are attributed correctly across all your active work.
Can I see which client projects are actually profitable?
Yes. Set worker rates for what you pay and client rates for what you charge, and TRCR calculates profitability in real time. The profitability report is one of 7 built-in report types, and alongside the utilization report it shows revenue, cost, and margin per project, per client, or across the whole agency so you can spot underpriced retainers early.
How do I turn tracked time into client-ready invoices?
Pick a client and a date range and TRCR generates an invoice straight from your tracked time entries, with line items, rates, and totals pre-filled. Invoices support multiple currencies and tax, export to PDF, and can record payments against them. During early access every feature is free until December 31, 2026 with unlimited users and no credit card.