Comparison
BillNotch vs Timely: flat pricing, Linux and unbilled-time alerts
Timely is the closest tool to BillNotch on the market. Both record what you work on in the background, both draft the timesheet for you to confirm, and both invoice from it. The gap is in everything around the tracking. Timely prices every plan per user, caps its cheapest one at 20 projects and five people, builds its invoicing around a QuickBooks Online sync that starts on Premium, and has no Linux build. BillNotch is $9/mo flat for one person and $12/seat for a team, renders a PDF invoice on every plan, ships a native Linux tracker, and runs a Revenue Leak Finder over your hours to catch billable work that never reached an invoice. Here is the side-by-side.
| Feature | BillNotch | Timely |
|---|---|---|
Automatic background tracking records the active window — no timer to start | Yes | YesMemory tracker |
Drafts you confirm before they count nothing is written onto a project silently | YesReview screen | YesAI timesheets |
Rule-based categorization, AI optional deterministic keyword matching is the default | Yes | NoAI timesheets are the core workflow |
Built-in invoicing bill straight from tracked hours | YesPDF on every plan | YesInvoice tab, built around QuickBooks |
Accounting integrations | No | YesQuickBooks Online, Premium and up |
Revenue Leak Finder flags billable time that never reached an invoice | Yes | No“Mark as billed” only |
Linux desktop app | Yes | NoWeb, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
Windows & macOS desktop apps | Yes | Yes |
iOS & Android apps | No | Yesincl. GPS location tracking |
No screenshots or keystroke logging | Yes | Yesanti-surveillance policy |
Window titles can stay on your machine per-device sync mode | Yes | NoMemory syncs to Timely’s cloud |
Data processed in the EU | YesHetzner, Germany | YesAWS, EU |
Capacity & resource planning | No | YesPremium and up |
Budgets, cost rates & project health | Partialutilization reports on Team | Yes |
Projects on the entry plan | Yesunlimited | Partial20 on Starter |
Team size on the entry plan | YesPro is 1 seat, Team adds seats | Partialmax 5 users on Starter |
Flat price as the team grows no jump to a higher per-user tier | Yes$9 Pro, $12/seat Team | No$11 → $20 → $28 per user |
No paid add-ons on top of the plan | Yes | NoTasks from $5/person |
Free to try | Yes14 days, no card | Yes14 days |
Timely details are accurate to the best of our knowledge as of August 2026. Check timely.com for current pricing and features.
Moving over from Timely?
There is nothing to migrate mid-month. Export your Timely history to PDF, CSV or XLS, install the BillNotch desktop app on Windows, macOS or Linux, and add your clients and projects — tracking starts on its own, so there is no habit to relearn. Run both side by side for a week if you want the overlap: the 14-day trial is full access and needs no card.
When BillNotch fits better
You bill by the hour and want the invoice to come out of the same tool that recorded the work, a Revenue Leak Finder over unbilled hours, a native Linux tracker, per-device control over whether window titles ever leave your machine, or a flat price that does not climb into a $16–$22/user tier as the team grows.
When Timely might fit better
You need mobile apps and GPS-tagged time, capacity and resource planning, internal cost rates and project-health dashboards, or a QuickBooks Online sync — all things Timely has and BillNotch does not. Timely is also cheaper for a small team that fits inside Starter: five users at $11/user is $55/mo against $60/mo on BillNotch Team.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Timely cost, and how does BillNotch compare?
Timely prices every plan per user, solo included. Starter is $11/user/mo month-to-month or $9 billed yearly, capped at 20 projects and five users; Premium is $20/user/mo, or $16 billed yearly; Unlimited is $28/user/mo, or $22 billed yearly. A Tasks add-on starts at around $5 per person on top of any plan. BillNotch is $9/mo flat for a single seat on Pro ($90/yr) and $12/seat/mo on Team ($120/seat/yr), with projects, clients, invoices and history unlimited on both plans. Figures checked against timely.com/pricing in August 2026.
Does Timely do invoicing?
Yes. Timely has an Invoice tab that produces branded invoices from tracked hours, and its own feature page builds that workflow around a QuickBooks Online sync for payments and financial records. Two caveats worth knowing: the accounting integration sits on Premium and above rather than Starter, and QuickBooks Online is Timely’s only true accounting integration — Xero, FreshBooks, Wave and Stripe appear on its integrations page as apps the Memory tracker recognises, not as integrations. BillNotch renders a PDF invoice from a project’s billable total on every plan, with no second subscription in the chain.
Does Timely run on Linux?
No. Timely’s own software schema lists its supported platforms as Web, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, and there is no Linux build of the Memory tracker. BillNotch ships a native desktop tracker for Windows, macOS and Linux, and the tracker core’s tests run on all three in continuous integration. For people who work on Linux this is usually the line that settles the choice.
Does Timely take screenshots or monitor employees?
No, and it says so plainly: no screenshots, no mouse tracking, no bossware, and your memories stay private to you until you choose to log them. BillNotch captures no screenshots and no keystrokes either. The real difference is where the raw record lives. Timely’s Memory data syncs to Timely’s cloud; BillNotch lets you choose per device whether window titles sync at all or never leave that machine, and AI categorization is off unless you turn it on. Both process data on EU servers.
BillNotch or Timely for a solo freelancer?
BillNotch, in most cases. Month to month it is $9 flat against Timely’s $11/user, and $90/yr against $108/yr on the yearly plans. You also get PDF invoicing without an accounting subscription behind it, and a Revenue Leak Finder that scans tracked hours for billable work that never made it onto an invoice. Timely is the better pick if you want a phone app, or you already run QuickBooks Online and want the hours to land there.
BillNotch or Timely for a team of five to ten?
Under six people, Timely Starter is genuinely cheaper: five users at $11/user is $55/mo against $60/mo on BillNotch Team — though Starter caps you at 20 projects with no accounting integration and no team management. At six people Starter runs out and Premium takes over at $20/user: $120/mo, or $96/mo billed yearly, against $72/mo on BillNotch Team ($60/mo billed yearly). The gap widens with every seat you add.
What does Timely do that BillNotch does not?
A fair list: iOS and Android apps with GPS location tracking, capacity and resource planning, internal cost rates and project-health dashboards, a QuickBooks Online sync, around twenty first-party integrations (Zapier included), and a longer track record — Timely is a Norwegian company serving over 5,000 businesses across 160 countries, rated 4.8 out of 5 on G2. If those are the things you are buying, Timely is the more complete product and this comparison should send you there.
How hard is it to switch from Timely to BillNotch?
Not very. Export your history out of Timely first — its report exports come as PDF, CSV or XLS — then install the BillNotch desktop app on Windows, macOS or Linux, add your clients and projects, and let it track. There is no timer habit to transfer, because neither tool uses one, and past invoices stay wherever you raised them. Running both for a week is the usual approach: the BillNotch trial is 14 days of full access with no card, and if you stop, the account turns read-only with reports, CSV exports and invoice PDFs still working.
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