QuickBooks Online / Time tracking
Time tracking that integrates with QuickBooks Online: for payroll, invoices or both
Short answer. For payroll, QuickBooks Time is Intuit’s own and syncs approved timesheets; Hubstaff syncs hours hourly for payroll on QuickBooks Online Plus. For invoicing, Harvest copies invoices and payments, Clockify sends billable time entries to build invoices in QuickBooks, and Toggl Track creates an invoice from a report. None of the third-party tools here keeps time entries in a live two-way sync.
Check before you connect
- Payroll or invoicingIntegrations are usually built for one or the other; pick by what you need hours for.
- QuickBooks plan and payrollSome need QuickBooks Plus, and some do not work when QuickBooks Payroll is enabled.
- Name matchingEmployee and customer names often must match exactly between systems.
- After sendingMost lock or disconnect entries once sent; corrections then happen in QuickBooks.
Connections, by situation
Payroll inside the Intuit stack
QuickBooks Time
- ←Customers, jobs, service items
- →Approved timesheets for payroll
- →Billable time for invoices
QuickBooks Time imports customers and service items every minute and exports approved timesheets for payroll and billable time for invoices.
Watch out: Needs QuickBooks Online Essentials or higher, and Intuit is moving the classic experience inside QuickBooks Online.
Payroll hours from a tracked team
Hubstaff
- →Time entries for payroll
- ←Customers as projects, employees as users
Hubstaff syncs time entries every hour for payroll, linking QuickBooks customers to projects and employees to users.
Watch out: Needs QuickBooks Online Plus with time tracking enabled and Hubstaff’s Team plan; no direct invoicing.
Agencies invoicing from Harvest
Harvest
- →Invoices
- →Payments (optional)
- →Clients as customers
Harvest copies sent invoices, and optionally payments, into QuickBooks Online.
Watch out: Time entries are not synced, only invoice lines; not on Harvest’s free plan.
Billable time into QuickBooks invoices
Clockify
- →Time entries (for invoices)
Clockify sends billable time entries that you add to invoices in QuickBooks Online.
Watch out: Names must match exactly, it does not work with payroll enabled without an add-on, and sent entries are locked.
Occasional invoices from reports
Toggl Track
- →Invoices from summary reports
Toggl Track creates an invoice from a summary report and sends it to QuickBooks Online.
Watch out: Not connected after creation, and no payroll sync.
Compatibility matrix
| Connection | Built by | Direction | Timing | QuickBooks Online plans | App plans | Region / currency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Time | Built by Intuit | ⇄ both ways | Scheduled: QuickBooks changes import every minute; time is exported after approval. | Essentials, Plus or Advanced | QuickBooks Time add-on | US (help articles) |
| Hubstaff | Built by the app vendor | ⇄ both ways | Scheduled: Time syncs every hour. | QuickBooks Online Plus with time tracking enabled | Hubstaff Team plan and up | Not stated |
| Harvest | Built by the app vendor | → into QuickBooks | On each event: Invoices copy when sent; edits sync automatically or on re-copy. | Not Self-Employed or Desktop | Not on Harvest’s free plan; Invoices module required | Not stated |
| Clockify | Built by the app vendor | → into QuickBooks | When you send it: Sent from the Detailed Report; sent entries are locked. | Essentials, Plus or Advanced; not with payroll enabled (separate add-on) | Clockify Standard plan or higher | Not stated |
| Toggl Track | Built by the app vendor | → into QuickBooks | When you send it: Create an invoice from a Summary Report and send it to QuickBooks. | Not stated on pages checked | Toggl Track Starter plan or above | Not stated |
→ into QuickBooks Online · ← from QuickBooks Online · ⇄ both ways · ? not stated. Directions are per object in the cards above; the matrix shows the overall pattern.
Documented limits
| Connection | Limits the vendor documents |
|---|---|
| QuickBooks Time | Intuit is moving the classic Time experience inside QuickBooks Online in a phased rollout. |
| Hubstaff | No direct invoicing integration per Hubstaff’s setup guide. One QuickBooks organisation only. |
| Harvest | Time and expense entries are not synced, only as invoice lines. Retainers and negative invoices cannot be copied. |
| Clockify | User names must match QuickBooks employees exactly; contractors set up as vendors fail. Edits after sending do not sync. |
| Toggl Track | Not connected after creation; no payroll sync. |
Hours for payroll versus hours for invoices
Payroll needs approved hours per employee and pay type; invoicing needs billable hours per customer and service. Very few integrations do both well, so decide which matters more. If both do, QuickBooks Time is the one built for both inside QuickBooks.
Before you connect
Make employee and customer names identical in both systems, and decide who approves time before it is sent.
Sources
Other QuickBooks Online integration guides
- QuickBooks Online CRM integrations: what actually syncs between your CRM and your books
- QuickBooks Online ecommerce integrations: Shopify, Amazon and WooCommerce sales in your books
- Expense management integrations for QuickBooks Online: cards, receipts and reimbursements
- Inventory software that integrates with QuickBooks Online: what reaches the books
- Payroll software that integrates with QuickBooks Online: how each one posts payroll