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Upwork’s time tracker only works on Upwork contracts, and every payment carries platform fees on both sides. WebWork tracks hours for anyone on your team, with screenshots, activity levels, and automated timesheets, at a flat $3.99 per user/month.
No commission and no fees on payments.
Upwork’s time tracker, work diary, exists to support hourly payment protection on the platform. It takes screenshots during tracked sessions, records activity levels, and ties every logged hour to a specific Upwork contract and its weekly billing cycle. For that purpose, it works as freelancers get paid for verified hours, and clients see proof of the work.
But Upwork time tracker has limitations. It only runs on Upwork contracts, so you can’t use it with a direct hire, a referral, or an in-house employee. And because its job is billing verification, the data stops at screenshots and activity. It doesn’t offer timesheet approvals, payroll reports, or any view of your team as a whole.
Upwork charges freelancers a variable service fee of up to 15% per contract and clients pay a marketplace fee on top of every payment, plus a one-time contract initiation fee for each new hire. Because these fees are percentages, they grow with the size of the contract.
A time tracker, on the other hand, is a fixed cost. On WebWork, a team member costs $3.99 per month whether they bill $500 or $5,000.
Upwork can’t track anyone you didn’t hire through Upwork. Teams that combine Upwork hires with direct contractors or in-house staff end up running two tracking systems and reconciling two sets of hours. WebWork tracks everyone in one workspace, regardless of where you found them.
Upwork time tracker shows screenshots and activity per contract, updated on Upwork’s weekly cycle. But it doesn’t give you approvable timesheets, real-time visibility into who is working right now, app and website usage across the team, or payroll reports built from tracked hours.
WebWork records the same proof of work that Upwork’s tracker provides — screenshots, activity levels, tracked hours — and adds management tools. Here is what your team gets after the switch.
WebWork takes automatic screenshots at a configurable frequency (up to 10 per 10-minute interval) with optional privacy blurring, and records activity levels from mouse
and keyboard input. You set the rules per workspace, project, or contract.
Timesheets are generated automatically from tracked time, and managers review and approve them before they reach payroll.
See which apps and websites your team uses during tracked hours, with time spent per tool and a productivity rating for each.
A live dashboard shows who is working right now, what project and task they’re on, and how active they are, instead of waiting for Upwork’s weekly work diary cycle.
Set hourly rates per member or project, and WebWork calculates billable amounts and payroll reports from tracked hours, including overtime and paid time off.
Leaving Upwork’s tracker means leaving the rest of the platform’s payment machinery too. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Hourly rates and tracked time turn into payroll reports inside WebWork. It allows you to send timesheets to Deel automatically each pay period, or export payroll compatible with Wise, PayPal, Payoneer, and Gusto. WebWork takes no percentage of any payment.
Upwork’s hourly payment protection and dispute mediation stay on the platform and when you track time elsewhere, those guarantees don’t come with you. What replaces them is a verifiable record: approved timesheets, screenshots, and activity levels that both sides can check. That works when there’s an established working relationship, which is why this switch fits ongoing contractors better than first-time hires.
Upwork hires, direct contractors, and in-house employees all track time in one workspace, with the same reports, the same timesheet approvals, and the same payroll cycle.
Teams that hire through Upwork rarely stop there. Once contractors become a permanent part of the operation, the tracking moves to a system built for managing a team.
Agencies and BPOs managing dozens of contractors pay platform fees on every invoice. WebWork gives them detailed activity tracking, timesheet approvals, and payroll in one workspace, with the flexibility to manage multiple clients and contracts.
Dev teams that hired through Upwork keep working with the same people on WebWork but now with real-time activity, app and website monitoring, and task management alongside the tracked hours.
Hybrid teams of in-house staff and freelancers track every hour spent on SEO, content, or campaigns in one place, then bill clients from the same reports.
Create a workspace and invite your team members by email
Team members install the time tracker desktop app on Windows, macOS, or Linux
Set your screenshot and monitoring rules and hours will appear in reports from the first tracked session
