Does Asana Have Time Tracking?
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Asana has no native time tracking. The Harvest integration works but adds cost and friction. If time tracking is important to your team, ClickUp includes it natively on all plans including free. This is one of the clearest feature gaps between Asana and ClickUp.
- Feature
- Time Tracking
- Tool
- Asana
- Native Support
- None
- Best Integration
- Harvest ($10.80 per user per month)
- Data Location
- Harvest (separate system)
- Verdict
- Complete gap. Use ClickUp, Jira, or a dedicated tool.
How Time Tracking Works in Asana
It does not. Asana has no built in timer, no time entry field, no timesheet report, and no way to mark hours as billable. This is a deliberate product decision: Asana positions itself as a work management platform focused on task coordination, not time logging.
To track time on Asana tasks, you must connect a third party tool. Harvest is Asana’s official integration partner and embeds a timer button directly in the Asana task pane. Toggl Track, Clockify, and Everhour also offer Asana integrations with varying depth.
How the Harvest Integration Works
Once connected, Harvest adds a “Track Time” button to every Asana task. Clicking it starts a timer linked to that task. You can also enter time manually. Time entries sync to Harvest where you can generate timesheets, mark entries as billable, create invoices, and run utilization reports. The integration is the tightest of any Asana time tracking option.
The downside: Harvest is a separate paid product ($10.80 per user per month) on top of Asana’s subscription. Two tools, two subscriptions, two admin panels. Time data lives in Harvest, not Asana, so cross referencing hours with task data requires switching between systems or building dashboard integrations.
The Real Cost of No Native Time Tracking
The friction is not just financial. When time tracking lives in a separate tool, adoption drops. Team members forget to start timers, enter time retroactively (less accurately), or skip tracking entirely. Data quality degrades, which makes timesheets, utilization reports, and project cost estimates unreliable. Platforms with native time tracking like ClickUp eliminate this friction because the timer is on the task itself.
Time Tracking Limitations in Asana
- No native timer. Cannot start or stop a clock on any task.
- No manual time entry field on tasks.
- No timesheet view or time based reporting.
- No billable hour marking or invoicing.
- All time tracking requires a paid third party integration.
- Time data lives in the integration tool, not in Asana. Cross referencing requires context switching.
Asana vs ClickUp Time Tracking
| Criteria | Asana | ClickUp |
|---|---|---|
| Native Timer | Not available | Yes (start/stop on any task) |
| Manual Time Entry | Not available (via Harvest only) | Yes (on any task) |
| Billable Hours | Via Harvest only | Yes (native toggle) |
| Timesheet View | Via Harvest only | Yes (native, filter by person/project/date) |
| Time Reporting | Via Harvest only | Yes (Dashboard widgets) |
| Integration Cost | Harvest: $10.80 per user per month additional | Included on all plans |
| Free Time Tracking | No | Yes (free plan includes time tracking) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Asana not have time tracking?
Asana has stated that time tracking is not part of their core product vision. They focus on work coordination and rely on integration partners like Harvest for time logging. This means Asana will likely not add native time tracking in the future.
What is the best free time tracking option for Asana?
Toggl Track and Clockify both offer free plans with Asana integrations. Toggl’s free plan supports up to 5 users. Clockify’s free plan is unlimited. Both add a timer to Asana tasks via browser extensions, but the integration depth is not as tight as Harvest’s native Asana panel.
Should I switch from Asana if I need time tracking?
If time tracking is a core requirement and you are paying for both Asana and Harvest, switching to ClickUp eliminates the second subscription and puts time data directly on tasks. If time tracking is a nice to have and you are otherwise happy with Asana, the Harvest or Toggl integration works adequately.