Timesheet approval software for small service teams
Timesheet approval software lets each person submit their week of hours and a manager check it: approve it, or send it back with a reason. In PLYNTUM, from the Core plan, weeks are submitted, approved or rejected with a note, and a submitted or approved week is locked against edits. Project cost counts all logged hours, approved or not. Core costs $150 a month for up to 10 members.
The free trial runs on Launch. Core and higher plans add: manager timesheet approval. The trial does not include this, so book a call to see it working before you choose a plan.
Why approve timesheets at all
Unchecked hours drift. Time lands on the wrong client, a day goes unlogged, and someone rounds a morning up to a full day. None of it shows until an invoice is questioned or a project that looked profitable was not. A weekly approval is a five-minute check that catches it while people still remember the week.
- Accuracy: hours on the right task and client.
- Completeness: missing days are visible before the week closes.
- A settled record: once a week is approved it cannot be quietly edited.
How timesheet approval works in PLYNTUM
- Log hours against a task. Use the timer on the task or add hours by hand in the weekly grid. Every entry belongs to a task, and the task to a project and a client. Hours can be marked billable or non-billable.
- Submit the week. Each person submits their own week when it is complete.
- Approve or reject. A manager, or anyone with a higher role, approves the week, or rejects it with a note saying what to fix.
- The week locks. Submitted and approved weeks cannot be edited. A rejected week opens again for the person to correct and resubmit.
Timesheet approval comes with Core and above. Launch has the timer, the weekly grid and attendance, but no approval step. Project cost counts every logged hour on every plan, approved or not. See time tracking, and time and billing software for how hours, expenses and invoices fit together.
A week, worked through
An example. A 9-person studio approves every Monday. Last week the designer logged 38 hours: 31 on two client projects and 7 on internal work. The account lead saw 4 hours on the wrong client, rejected the week with the note “Tuesday afternoon is Harbor, not Northwind”, and the designer fixed it and resubmitted before lunch. The lead approved it. Across the team, 331 hours were approved, 268 of them billable: 81%.
The billable share is the number to watch week to week. The utilization rate calculator shows what a few points are worth.
What it costs compared with other tools
List prices billed annually, per month for 10 people, for the plan where the vendor’s pricing page places timesheet approval (checked 24 October 2026).
| Tool and plan with approval | Per user | 10 people | Also includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clockify Standard | $5.49 | $54.90 | Invoicing |
| TimeCamp Ultimate | $5.99 (annual; $7.99 monthly) | $59.90 | Invoicing, billing rates, expenses |
| Harvest Enterprise | $14; usage fees extra and not included | $140 | Invoicing, expenses |
| Toggl Track Premium | $16 | $160 | Labor cost, profitability; invoicing not listed |
| Paymo Pro | $16.90 (annual; $23.90 monthly) | $169 | Tasks, invoicing |
| Productive Professional | $25 (minimum 3) | $250 | Projects, budgets, rate cards; invoicing integrations |
| Asana Starter + Timesheets & Budgets | $10.99, plus the add-on (no published price) | $109.90 plus the add-on | Tasks; no invoicing. The add-on is sold per user on Starter, Advanced and Enterprise. |
| ClickUp Enterprise | Price on request | Quote | Business has timesheets without approval |
| PLYNTUM Core | Per workspace | $120 ($150 monthly) | Tasks, invoices, draft invoices from approved time, recurring invoices, expenses, project profitability, client portal |
Harvest bills some usage, such as additional invoices, projects, clients and tasks, by use. The amounts are not on its pricing page, so the $140 excludes them. For approval alone, Clockify ($54.90) and TimeCamp ($59.90) cost less than PLYNTUM Core; Productive approves time entries on Professional, which costs $250; submitting timesheets for approval and locking time need Ultimate, priced on request. PLYNTUM is worth comparing when you want the approved week in the same place as the tasks, invoices and profitability.
What PLYNTUM’s approval does not do
- One step, not a chain. A single approval by a manager. There are no multi-level or finance sign-offs. Multi-stage automations with conditions and approvals are planned for Scale and above.
- No approval by reporting line. Any manager in the workspace can approve any person’s week; approvals are not limited to direct reports.
- Approval does not issue invoices. From Core, approved, billable hours can become a draft invoice, priced at the billable rates set in PLYNTUM. Only approved time is drafted, and nothing is issued or sent until you issue it.
- Cost counts all logged hours. Project cost uses every hour people log, approved or not. Approval locks the week; it does not decide what counts as cost.
- No automatic capture. Hours are entered by timer or by hand. Private desktop time capture is in development.
Getting started
- Start on Launch’s 7-day trial and log one week against real tasks.
- Move to Core to switch on approvals.
- Pick one approver per team and a fixed day, for example Monday before 12:00.
- Reject with a note, never silently edit. The note is what teaches the habit.
Still on paper or a spreadsheet? The free weekly timesheet template shows the minimum fields.
For the steps, who approves and a weekly checklist, read how the approval process works. To compare tools on approval, invoicing and price, see our guide to timesheet software.
Sources
Every price was checked on the vendor’s own pricing page on 24 October 2026. If something has changed, tell us at info@plyntum.com and we will correct it.
Related pages
Common questions
Start with the work that keeps getting stuck.
Bring one project into a connected workspace. See the work, the people and the cost together.