StrataTime
A time tracker for freelancers that lives in your Mac's menu bar.
For Mac with Apple silicon, macOS 26 or later. 14-day free trial. No account.
By buying you accept the terms of sale.
Question before you buy? Ask here. Already using StrataTime? Get support.
A timer you can forget about.
StrataTime is a native Mac time tracker for freelancers. It sits in the menu bar, starts in a click, and keeps your hours honest through sleep, crashes and coffee breaks. Then it turns them into a timesheet you can send.
Pay once
One payment unlocks the app. No subscription, no per-device charge, nothing to renew.
Private
Your hours live in one file on your Mac. No account, no analytics, and nothing is uploaded.
Never loses time
The start is saved before the screen changes. A crash, a power cut or a night asleep leaves the timer where it was, and asks you what to do.
Hours that add up
Each line of a timesheet is rounded to hundredths of an hour and the totals are sums of what is printed, so the page always agrees with your calculator.
Start in a click, from the menu bar.
No window to find and no timer to remember to open. The menu-bar item is the app.
The menu-bar timer
Quick to start, quiet while it runs.
The time at a glance
While a timer runs, the menu bar shows hours and minutes. Click it and the popover shows the seconds and today's total.
Search, then Return
Click the item, type part of a client or project name and press Return to start the first match.
Recent projects first
The projects you used last are listed at the top, one click each.
Switch without gaps
Starting another project stops the first and starts the second at the same instant, so nothing is lost or counted twice between them.
A note on the running timer
Type what you are working on and it is saved as you type.
Option-click
Option-click the menu-bar item to stop the timer, or to start the last project again.
A new project in seconds
Add a client, a project, a colour and an hourly rate from the popover, without opening a window.
It keeps the time even when you do not.
A time tracker has one job above all: to be right about when you started. StrataTime writes the start to disk first and works out the elapsed time from the clock, never by counting.
What it does when things go wrong
Each case asks you, and never decides quietly.
Saved before it shows
The start time is written to disk the moment you start, before the screen changes.
Quit, crash or power cut
Open StrataTime again and the running timer is still there, with the elapsed time worked out from the clock.
Sleep and gaps
If the Mac was asleep or off with a timer running, StrataTime asks: keep the whole gap, stop where you were last seen, or stop at a time you choose.
Away from the keyboard
After 3, 5, 10 or 15 minutes with no keyboard or mouse (5 by default, or off), it asks what to do with the time when you return: keep it, discard it, or discard it and start a new entry. It reads only how long since the last input. It never sees what you type or what is on your screen.
Forgotten timers
A timer running past a limit you choose, 10 hours by default, asks whether to keep it running or stop it at a time you pick.
A daily backup
A copy of your data is made once a day and the last 14 are kept, in a folder you can open from Settings.
Careful with upgrades
Before the data format ever changes, StrataTime copies your data aside. It will not open data made by a newer version.
Fix the day afterwards.
Everyone forgets to start a timer sometimes. The timeline shows your day or week, and the gaps in it.
The timeline
Day or week, with every entry editable.
Day and week views
Step back and forward, or jump to today. Each entry shows its project, times, duration and note.
Edit an entry
Change the project, the times or the note. Double-click an entry, or use its menu.
Split and merge
Split one entry in two at a time you choose, or merge an entry with the one after it.
Add missed time
Gaps between entries are shown with an Add entry button, so missed time takes a moment to put back. You can also add an entry by hand.
No overlaps
Two entries cannot overlap. If an edit would, StrataTime says so, and the entry in the way is the one to change first.
Delete with a check
Deleting an entry asks first.
Rates that stay put.
Set what you charge once, and change it later without disturbing the past.
Clients and projects
Colours, rates and tidiness.
Clients and projects
Group projects under clients, give each project a colour, and rename them whenever you like.
A rate for the client, or the project
Give a client a default hourly rate, and a different one to any project that needs it. Each client has its own currency.
Rate changes are not retroactive
A new rate applies from now on. Hours already worked keep the rate they were worked at, so last month's figures never move.
Archive what you have finished
Archived clients and projects leave the lists but keep their history. Deleting is refused while there is any history.
Timesheets that add up as printed.
Pick a period, see the timesheet as it will print, and export it as a CSV for your spreadsheet or a PDF for your client.
Reports and export
Never gated: you can always get your hours out.
Any period
This week, last week, this month, last month, or any dates.
Everything, one client or one project
Choose what the report covers, and group it by day, project, client or as one list, each with subtotals.
Rounding you choose
None, or to the nearest 5, 6, 10 or 15 minutes. Each line is rounded, then shown in hours to two decimals.
The page adds up
Amounts are the printed hours times the rate, and totals are sums of the printed lines, so a client checking with a calculator gets your figure. Several currencies get a total each.
Midnight and clock changes
A session that crosses midnight is split into a line for each day, and clock changes are handled, so a night of work is neither doubled nor lost.
A CSV that opens properly
UTF-8 that opens with accents intact in Excel and Numbers, a totals row, and a semicolon version for Excel in countries that use decimal commas. Text a spreadsheet could run as a formula is made safe.
A PDF you can send
Real, selectable text on A4 or US Letter, with your name or business and a title you choose, a repeating column header, and Page 1 of 3 on every page.
A timer still running
It is left out, and the report says so. You can include it, counted up to that moment.
Remembered
Your choices are kept, so next month is two clicks.
No lock-in. Ever.
StrataTime keeps everything in a single SQLite database in your Library folder. It is an ordinary file that you can back up, copy to another Mac, or open with any SQLite tool.
- No account or sign-in
- Works fully offline
- Nothing is uploaded, tracked or analysed
- Export is never locked, even after the trial
~/Library/Application Support/StrataTime/
StrataTime.sqlite
Backups/
StrataTime-2027-01-15.sqlite
StrataTime-2027-01-14.sqlite
…
# Times are stored in UTC, with the time
# zone each entry was made in.
# Money is stored in whole cents.
$9.99. Pay once. Yours to keep.
Try StrataTime free for 14 days with every feature on. If it earns a place in your day, one payment unlocks it for good.
- 1. TryDownload StrataTime and use it for 14 days. No card, no account.
- 2. UnlockPay once and open the licence file we email you.
- 3. KeepNo renewals. Your hours stay yours either way.
The price is shown at checkout.
Good to know.
What happens when the 14 days end?
You cannot start new timers until you enter a licence. A timer that is already running carries on and can be stopped, and you can still see, edit and export all your hours. Nothing is deleted and nothing is held back.
Is it an invoicing app?
No. StrataTime records time and produces timesheets as CSV and PDF. It does not make invoices, take payments or send anything for you.
Does it watch what I do on my Mac?
No. It never records keystrokes, screens, apps or websites. For idle detection it asks macOS one question every fifteen seconds while a timer runs: how long since the last keyboard or mouse input. You can turn that off in Settings.
Do I need an account or an internet connection?
No account, and no internet connection is needed to use it. The trial and your licence are checked on your Mac. About once a week, when you are online, StrataTime fetches a small public list of withdrawn licences. Nothing about you or your hours is sent.
Which Macs does it run on?
Macs with Apple silicon, running macOS 26 or later. There is no Intel version.
How are hours rounded?
You choose: none, or the nearest 5, 6, 10 or 15 minutes, applied to each line of a report. Hours are then shown to two decimals, and each amount is the printed hours times the rate, so the figures on the page always agree.
What if I forget to stop the timer?
After 10 hours, or the limit you set in Settings, StrataTime asks whether to keep it running or stop it at a time you pick. If you step away, the idle prompt asks the same sort of question when you come back.
Does it sync with my iPhone or another Mac?
No. Your hours live on the Mac where you track them. To move to another Mac, copy the StrataTime folder from your Library, or a backup from its Backups folder.
Can I import hours from another tracker?
Not yet. You can add entries by hand, and they can be edited, split and merged like any other.
Where can I get it?
StrataTime is available now. Use the buttons at the top of this page.