Asana retainer tracking: give clients a live balance URL from your Asana time logs.
Asana is where many creative agencies and consulting teams manage client work — tasks, timelines, portfolios, and workloads. It’s built for project coordination, not for answering the question every retainer client asks: “how many hours do I have left this month?” Asana doesn’t have a retainer balance page you can share with a client. HourTab does. Export your Asana time data, paste the CSV into HourTab, and each client gets a public, no-login balance URL — one link that answers their question without any Asana access.
Free forever for your first retainer · no credit card.
Why Asana alone doesn’t solve the retainer question
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Asana Guests see tasks, not retainer balances.
Asana allows Guest access for clients — but Guests see tasks, timelines, and updates in a project, not billable hours or retainer balances. Your client in Asana can see what you’re working on; they can’t see how many hours they’ve consumed or how many they have left this cycle. HourTab provides that specific view: monthly allocation, hours consumed, hours remaining, work log.
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Asana doesn’t track billable time natively on all plans.
Asana’s native time tracking is on its Business plan. Most teams using Asana for client work also use a separate time tracker — Toggl, Harvest, Clockify, or Everhour — to record billable hours. HourTab imports from any of those trackers and adds the client-visible balance layer on top. Your Asana workflow stays intact.
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Retainer balances require cycle logic Asana doesn’t model.
A retainer balance isn’t just “total hours logged” — it’s a monthly allocation, minus hours logged this cycle, with an automatic reset on a set date. Asana’s project-level data doesn’t model this. HourTab is purpose-built for retainer cycle management: you set the allocation and reset date once, and HourTab tracks the balance automatically.
How it works with Asana
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Set up the retainer in HourTab. Client name, monthly hour allocation, cycle reset date. Two minutes.
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Export time data from Asana or your time tracker. If you use Asana’s native time tracking, export from Asana. More commonly, export from a connected tracker (Toggl, Harvest, Clockify) filtered by client and date range. Paste the CSV into HourTab.
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Share the balance URL. Each retainer gets a unique public link. Send it to the client at the start of the engagement. They bookmark it and check their balance whenever they need — no Asana login, no workspace access.
Works with any connected time tracker: Toggl, Harvest, Clockify, Everhour, or Asana’s native time tracking on Business plans.
“We manage everything in Asana. But clients shouldn’t need an Asana account just to check their hours.”
— Creative agency PM on 6 monthly retainers
HourTab gives your clients a clean balance URL without any Asana access — the answer to their question, nothing more.
Frequently asked questions
Does Asana have a built-in time tracking feature?
Asana added native time tracking on its Business plan. For lower-tier plans, most teams use integrations like Toggl, Harvest, or Everhour alongside Asana. HourTab works with CSV exports from any of these trackers.
Can I use HourTab if my team uses Asana but I track time in Toggl?
Yes. Export your Toggl time entries as CSV (filtered by client and date range), paste into HourTab. The Asana task structure doesn’t need to change — you’re only using HourTab for the client-facing balance.
Will my clients need an Asana account to see their balance?
No. HourTab’s balance URL is a standalone page — no Asana, no login, no account required for the client. They click the link and see their balance.
How often should I update the HourTab balance?
Most consultants update weekly or every few days on active retainers. You import a fresh CSV and the public URL reflects the latest data.
What if I use Asana Portfolios for multiple clients?
Each client still gets their own retainer in HourTab with their own URL. You import each client’s hours separately. HourTab doesn’t need to know about your Asana portfolio structure.