Asana Time Tracking: How to Track Hours and Actually Get Paid

Asana is great at managing work. It is not great at turning that work into money.

You can use Asana to track time, organize tasks, assign deadlines, and watch projects move through columns. But when it is time to handle Asana invoicing for a client, you are often left reconstructing what happened from email threads, Slack chats, and scattered notes.

This article covers how time tracking in Asana actually works, common workarounds, and how to close the gap between completed tasks and paid invoices.

Time Tracking in Asana: Native Features

Asana added native time tracking in 2023. Here is what you get:

• Built-in time fields: You can add a "Time tracking" field to any project. Team members click a timer to start, then stop when they are finished.
• Time totals in reporting: Asana's dashboards can sum up tracked time across a project. You can see how many hours went into a campaign or a specific client's work.

Limitations:

1. No automatic tracking: Someone has to remember to start and stop the timer.
2. No billing rates: You cannot assign hourly rates to team members within the tool.
3. No invoice generation: Time data stays in Asana. Getting it into an invoice is your responsibility.

Asana Integrations for Time Tracking and Billing

Most teams use a third-party app to fill the gaps. Here are the most popular options:

Asana + Everhour

The most popular integration. It puts timers directly into the Asana interface.

• Pros: Tight integration and budget tracking.
• Cons: You still have to start timers manually and export data for invoices.

Harvest

An established option that has built-in invoicing.

• Pros: Connects to accounting tools like QuickBooks and Xero.
• Cons: It feels like two separate systems and requires discipline to use.

Toggl Track

A simpler interface with a generous free tier.

• Pros: Easy to start and good for freelancers.
• Cons: No built-in invoicing; data must be moved elsewhere.

Manual tracking in spreadsheets

Exporting tasks to a CSV file and building an invoice in Excel.

• Pros: Free and flexible.
• Cons: Very slow and easy to make mistakes.

The Real Problem: Tracking Does Not Equal Billing

Here is where most teams get stuck. Even if you track the time, you still have to:

1. Export the data.
2. Cross-reference with Asana tasks to ensure accuracy.
3. Apply different rates for different people.
4. Format the final invoice.

Agencies report spending 10-12 hours per month just preparing invoices. That is a full workday of work you are not getting paid for!

A Different Approach: Asana Invoicing That Runs Itself

Rinkta works differently. Instead of asking you to click a timer, Rinkta connects to Asana and watches work happen in real time.

When a task is finished, Rinkta:

• Captures it automatically with a link to the Asana task.
• Estimates time based on how complex the task was.
• Creates a billing entry and adds it to a draft invoice.

Common Questions (FAQ)

How does Rinkta estimate time without a timer?

Rinkta’s AI looks at the task title, description, and patterns from your past work. It builds an estimate based on the actual work done. You can always adjust the hours before sending the bill.

What if I already use Everhour or Harvest?

You can keep them for internal viewing, but you might find you do not need them anymore once your billing is automated.

Does it work for retainer clients?

Yes. It works for both hourly billing and tracking how much of a retainer you have used.

The Bottom Line

Asana handles project management well, but Asana billing is usually a struggle. Tools like Everhour give you data, but Rinkta gives you finished invoices.

By removing the manual "tracking" step, you save hours of admin work every month.