Creative studios juggle client work, revisions, and retainers. Everhour keeps time tracking tied to approvals, budgets, and billing.
Enter your time in and out for each day. Overtime and gross pay are calculated automatically.
| Day | Time In | Break Start | Break End | Break | Time Out | Total |
|---|
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
Creative-industry timesheets are for studios, agencies, freelancers, and small teams that need clean records by client, project, task, and billable status. A designer can log concept work, a copywriter can record revision time, and an account manager can separate client meetings from internal planning. The result supports invoices, retainer reviews, budget checks, and weekly team planning.
For U.S. employers, timesheets also support wage-and-hour records. The FLSA requires covered employers to keep accurate records for nonexempt workers, including hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. The law does not require one specific timekeeping system, but the records must be complete and accurate enough for payroll review.
A creative timesheet needs more than a date and total hours. Each entry should name the client, project, task or phase, person, time spent, billable status, and a short note that explains the work. Example: "Brand refresh, logo exploration, 2.5 hours, billable, first-round concept sketches." That note gives an invoice reviewer enough context without turning the timesheet into a project diary.
Billable hours are chargeable client work under a contract, retainer, scope of work, or project agreement. Common billable creative work includes deliverable creation, approved research, client meetings, implementation, reporting, and in-scope revisions. Common non-billable time includes internal meetings, new-business proposals, sales calls, staff training, onboarding, general administration, and internal documentation.
Creative teams often run on small operating models. U.S. federal arts statistics report that more than one-third of all artists are self-employed, and the National Endowment for the Arts notes that virtually all U.S. design firms have fewer than 20 workers. Small teams need timesheets that reveal scope pressure early, because one underpriced project can absorb a large share of available capacity.
Two practical checks matter most. Billable utilization equals billable hours divided by available hours, then multiplied by 100. Project profitability equals revenue minus total costs, with tracked labor time feeding the cost side. A studio that records 18 hours of unexpected revision work can compare the actual effort with the estimate, the retainer limit, and the next client conversation.
A free timesheet works for a one-off weekly total, a single freelancer invoice, or a small project recap. It is enough when you only need to total hours by client and attach a simple record to an invoice. It starts to break down when several people touch one campaign, approvals matter, or tracked time needs to feed budgets and billing.
A managed workflow fits creative teams that need submitted timesheets, locked periods, project assignments, team groups, and approval before billing or payroll review. Everhour can support that workflow by keeping time attached to projects and tasks, then carrying approved entries into reports, budgets, utilization reviews, and invoices.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
A creative-industry timesheet should capture client, project, task or phase, person, date, time spent, billable status, and invoice-ready notes. Those fields let a studio review work before invoicing, compare actual effort with estimates, and separate chargeable client work from internal time such as admin, training, and sales activity.
Creative teams should track at least by project and task when invoices, retainers, or profitability reviews rely on the data. A project total shows the overall workload, but task-level entries explain whether time went to concept work, production, revisions, meetings, reporting, or implementation. That detail makes scope conversations more specific.
Internal meetings, new-business proposals, sales calls, staff training, onboarding, general administration, and internal documentation are common non-billable creative-agency tasks. A contract or scope of work can classify specific activities differently, so the timesheet should follow the client agreement instead of relying on a generic category.
A creative agency should review retainer time by client, project, task, and billable status before invoicing or reporting. The review should compare tracked hours with the retainer allowance, approved scope, and current project stage. Time spent on out-of-scope revisions should be visible before it becomes unpaid labor.
Covered employers must keep accurate records for employees covered by the FLSA minimum wage or overtime provisions, including hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. Unless exempt, covered employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek at at least 1.5 times the regular rate.
Everhour Team Management lets creative teams use roles, project assignments, team groups, approval workflows, lock rules, admin time correction, personal tracking limits, and weekly capacity. Managers can review submitted time before billing or payroll use, then protect approved entries from regular-member edits.
Everhour Reporting turns logged time, project data, budgets, costs, and billable status into customizable reports. Creative teams can group time by client, project, member, or task, then export reports as CSV, Excel/XLSX, or PDF for invoice review, client sharing, or internal margin analysis.
Track creative work by client, project, and task, then approve time before billing or payroll. Everhour gives teams cleaner records, controlled edits, and stronger project visibility.
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