Sergey Novikov

Time-tracking for solo workers

I'm curious — am I the only one who's frustrated with modern time-tracking apps?

I recently built a tool for myself because I couldn't find anything that:

  • Doesn't require 50 sign-up steps

  • Isn't packed with team features I'll never use

  • Actually lets me own my data (looking at you, cloud-only services)

  • Doesn't eat RAM like Chrome with 100 tabs

My solution:

  • Pure offline tracking

  • Start/stop with one click

  • Data stored in simple CSV file

  • No "AI insights", no "productivity scores"

But here's what I want to know:

  1. Does anyone else feel like time tracking became overcomplicated?

  2. What's your "good enough" solution when you just need to log hours?

  3. Am I missing something — are all these fancy features actually useful to solo workers?

Maybe I'm weird, but I believe:

Simple things should be simple. Professional doesn't mean complicated.

Write what you think about this!

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Addau Rabiu

I've tried a dozen apps and each one feels like it's built for a corporate team not for someone freelancing from home. I just want a button to hit when I start and stop work. That's it. I don't need to be scored or nudged or have dashboards telling me I wasn't "productive enough."

Yi Zheng

This gadget of yours sounds fantastic. “Simple things should be simple, and professional doesn't mean complicated.” This quote should be framed!💯

Sergey Novikov

Thank you all for the interest and comments — it really means a lot!

Link to the app 👉 Tempo

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to say hi, feel free to drop a comment below.