There are plenty of time trackers. There are fewer that turn the tracked hours into a Xero invoice you can actually send, and fewer still that handle the way agencies really bill: retainers, mixed rates, and review before send. This is a fair rundown of the main options for 2026.
The short version
If you bill time through Xero and run retainers, Hour Cap leads for the combination of native Xero invoicing, built-in retainers and a permanent free tier to start on. MinuteDock has deep Xero sync and retainer-style budget tracking, but no permanent free tier and a higher entry price. Harvest copies invoices to Xero but does not sync contacts and lacks retainer tracking. Toggl Track has invoicing but no Xero path. Clockify connects to Xero on its paid tiers, with invoicing paywalled and a free tier now capped at five users. Everhour pushes draft invoices to Xero on a paid plan, but carries a five-seat minimum.
Heads up: the competitor details below were confirmed in mid-2026. Pricing, plans and integrations change often, so re-check each vendor's current offering before deciding.
How we judged them
For an agency billing time through Xero, the things that matter are: does it push real invoices to Xero rather than a CSV; does it sync contacts so you are not re-keying clients; does it handle retainers; how does it group line items; and what does it cost for a small team. We weighted Xero-native invoicing and retainers heavily, because those are the steps that otherwise become manual work every month.
1. Hour Cap
Best for: agencies that bill time and retainers through Xero and want to start free.
Hour Cap is built around the Xero billing flow. Connect once and it syncs contacts, sold items, tax rates, revenue accounts, branding themes and tracking categories, with OAuth tokens that refresh automatically. Tracked time becomes a Xero draft invoice you review before sending, never an auto-authorised one. You get four line-item grouping modes (per entry, project, date or member), descriptions preserved and joined when grouped, and up to two tracking categories per line resolved across project, invoice and organisation levels.
Retainers are first-class: weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly or a custom number of days, with hours used and remaining, days remaining, an alert threshold, and the ability to invoice past uninvoiced periods. The billable rate cascades from project to member to organisation default. There is a free tier for single-user tracking, with the Xero integration and retainers on the Team plan at $10 a month, and timesheet approvals on the Business plan.
- Strengths: native Xero draft invoicing, built-in retainers, contact sync, free tier to start, low team price.
- Trade-offs: the Xero integration is a paid feature, so the free tier is tracking only.
2. MinuteDock
Best for: teams that want deep Xero sync and retainer budgets and do not need a free tier.
MinuteDock has a long-standing, well-regarded Xero integration and is a solid time tracker, and it does offer retainer-style budget tracking with recurring targets and time used and remaining, which it markets for retainer clients. The gaps for agencies are the lack of a permanent free tier, a 14-day trial only, and a higher entry price at around $19 per month for a single user. For a fuller side-by-side, see our Hour Cap versus MinuteDock comparison.
- Strengths: mature, deep Xero sync, retainer-style budget tracking.
- Trade-offs: no permanent free tier, higher entry price from $19 a month.
3. Harvest
Best for: established teams already invested in Harvest's wider feature set.
Harvest is a capable time tracking and invoicing tool and it can copy invoice data across to Xero. The catch for Xero-first agencies is that it does not sync contacts, so client records are not kept in step automatically, and it has no dedicated retainer tracking. You get invoicing, but the Xero connection is shallower than a native push with contact matching.
- Strengths: broad feature set, can copy invoices to Xero.
- Trade-offs: no contact sync, no retainer tracking.
4. Toggl Track
Best for: pure time tracking where invoicing happens elsewhere.
Toggl Track is one of the most pleasant time trackers to use, with strong reporting. It does have invoicing, including PDF invoices and a push to QuickBooks, but there is no Xero integration at all. If your workflow is track in Toggl, then invoice manually in Xero, it works, but you are doing the Xero invoice assembly yourself every time.
- Strengths: excellent tracking and reporting experience.
- Trade-offs: invoicing, but no Xero path (PDF and QuickBooks, no Xero).
5. Clockify
Best for: cost-conscious teams that can accept invoicing and Xero on a paid tier.
Clockify is an affordable tracker that now has a native Xero integration, sending invoices to Xero with payment-status sync. The catch for Xero shops is that both invoicing and the Xero integration are paywalled to the Standard tier and up, around $5.49 per seat per month, and the free tier was capped at five users in April 2026, so it is no longer unlimited. The features a Xero agency wants sit on a paid tier.
- Strengths: affordable per-seat, native Xero integration on paid tiers.
- Trade-offs: invoicing and Xero only on paid tiers (Standard+), free tier now capped at five users.
6. Everhour
Best for: larger teams that want tracking embedded in project tools.
Everhour shines when embedded in project management tools and has good reporting. For Xero billing it pushes draft invoices directly to Xero, with line items, tax and the client, but the integration is on a paid plan that carries a five-seat minimum, which makes it an awkward fit for small agencies and freelancers. Smaller teams will find the seat floor adds cost they do not need.
- Strengths: strong integrations with project tools, pushes draft invoices to Xero.
- Trade-offs: Xero invoicing needs a paid plan, five-seat minimum.
At a glance
| Tool | Xero invoicing | Contact sync | Retainers | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour Cap | Native draft push | Yes | Yes | Yes (tracking) |
| MinuteDock | Deep sync | Yes | Yes | No (14-day trial) |
| Harvest | Copy to Xero | No | No | Limited |
| Toggl Track | No (PDF/QuickBooks) | No | No | Yes (tracking) |
| Clockify | Paid tiers (Standard+) | Limited | Not built in | Yes (up to 5 users) |
| Everhour | Paid plan (5-seat min) | On paid plan | Not built in | Yes (up to 5 seats) |
How to choose
If you bill time through Xero and run retainers, prioritise a native draft push and built-in retainers, which points to Hour Cap. If you want a mature, sync-heavy tracker with retainer budgets and do not need a free tier, MinuteDock is worth a look. If you want a low-cost tracker and can accept invoicing and Xero on a paid tier, Clockify fits. And if you only need tracking with invoicing handled elsewhere, Toggl Track is a strong tracker. Match the tool to how you actually bill, not to the longest feature list.
Where this fits
Once you have picked a Xero-native tool, the next steps are the same: send tracked time as draft invoices, get the GST and VAT right, and tag lines with tracking categories. For the complete walkthrough, read how to track billable hours and invoice through Xero. To check whether your rates and utilisation actually leave a margin, try the agency profitability calculator and the billable utilisation calculator. To start, see pricing.