Time tracking Software which allows categorisation

Question

I am looking for a personal time tracking software which allows me to set a category (project, task or whatever out is called) for each work item. This categories must be organizable into subcategories (sub projects, subtasks) and I need to be able to get statistics how much work I have spent on each category in some timeframe.

A desktop software (Linux) is preferable, but browser based (self hosted) is OK, too. Open Source is big bonus.

Answer 1

Have you tried Toggl? It should be able to do most of the things you want:

• it has a desktop software for Linux,
• it has a browser based app,
• you can create workspaces that you can divide into categories, work on tasks within the categories, assign tags, (even mark the clients you are working with, if you want to),
• you get a dashboard and reports to view how much time you spent on any given task,
• the above features are part of the free plan, if I am not mistaken, and
• if you decide that you want more, you can opt for a paying plan.

We used it for tracking the time we spend on tasks in our team and it worked quite well for us.

Answer 2

KTimeTracker

I've used KTimeTracker in the past and I believe it fits your requirements

Among its key features:

• Ability to organize tasks into subtasks and sub-subtasks (up to some 1000 levels)
• Desktop application that runs on Linux
• Tracks time spent on each task (also tracks time spent on active applications)
• Free and open source

Answer 3

Watson

This meets all your requirements except it's not exactly desktop software but command-line software. But since good time-tracking applications under Linux are notoriously rare and the command-line interface is really good with auto-completion etc., using this in a terminal emulator window should be an acceptable compromise.

Watson meets your other requirements as follows:

• "Set a category / project / task": watson start [projectname]

• "Categories must be organizable into subcategories / sub projects / subtasks": watson start [projectname] [+tagname]. Technically you can use multiple tags at the same time, but by only using one they take on the role of sub-tasks.

• "Statistics how much work I have spent on each category in some timeframe": watson report --from 2014-04-01 --to 2014-04-30, with an example output like this:

     Tue 01 April 2014 -> Wed 30 April 2014
  
     apollo11 - 13h 22m 20s
             [brakes    7h 53m 18s]
             [module    7h 41m 41s]
             [reactor   8h 35m 50s]
             [steering 10h 33m 37s]
             [wheels   10h 11m 35s]
  

• Linux software: yes (cross-platform as it's Python based).

• Open Source: Yes, MIT licence.

• Other features: log of daily activities, syncing with a team server, canceling and adapting logged times etc. – see the command reference.