Retainer tracker for web developers who bill by the hour.
You track your dev hours in Toggl or Harvest. Your client still emails you to ask what’s left. HourTab closes that gap: import your CSV, generate a public link per retainer, and your client can check their own hours — without calling you away from the editor.
Free forever for your first retainer · no credit card.
Why web developer retainer tracking breaks down
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Clients interrupt flow to ask about hours.
A Slack message asking “quick question — how many hours do we have left this month?” costs more than the 60-second reply. It costs the context switch out of whatever you were working on. Web developers on retainer get this question repeatedly because there is no place for the client to look it up themselves. HourTab gives them that place.
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Spreadsheets work until they don’t.
A shared Google Sheet or Notion table sounds fine in theory. In practice, you update your time tracker and forget to sync the sheet. Three weeks later the numbers don’t match and now you’re in an awkward conversation. HourTab reads directly from your CSV export — one import step, not two maintenance steps.
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Client portals are overkill for one number.
Plutio, Bonsai, and every all-in-one freelance platform offer client portals. But your client doesn’t want a portal — they want to know: “how many dev hours do I have left?” HourTab answers that question with a URL, not a dashboard login and a tour of features they’ll never use.
How it works for web developers
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1
Set up the retainer. Enter the agreed hours per cycle (e.g. 20 hrs/mo), the client name, and the billing reset date. Takes under two minutes.
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2
Import from your tracker. Export a CSV from Toggl, Harvest, Clockify, or Hubstaff. Paste it in. HourTab shows each entry in a work log: date, task description, hours — exactly what your client wants to see alongside the balance.
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3
Send the link once. Each retainer gets a unique public URL. Drop it into your onboarding email or first invoice. Your client bookmarks it. You import a new CSV each week and the live page updates automatically.
Your development workflow stays the same. You just add one import step instead of writing a status email.
“It is frustrating to be contacted by clients looking to find out how many hours they have left, or why something took more hours than usual.”
— Bonsai’s guide to freelance retainers
A public retainer URL means clients never have to ask — and you never have to answer.
Frequently asked questions
How do web developers usually track retainer hours?
Most web developers use a spreadsheet, Toggl, or Harvest to log hours internally. The problem is that clients can’t see this — they email or Slack the developer to ask how many hours remain. HourTab adds a public share URL on top of your existing tracker so clients can check for themselves.
Can HourTab import from Toggl or Harvest?
Yes. Export a CSV from Toggl, Harvest, Clockify, FreshBooks, or Hubstaff and paste it into HourTab. Your existing time-tracking workflow stays unchanged — HourTab only adds the client-facing layer.
Does my client need to create an account to see their hours?
No. Each retainer gets a unique public URL. Your client bookmarks it and opens it whenever they want — no signup, no login, no app to install. That’s the core idea: one URL, zero friction for the client.
How do I handle rollover hours between billing cycles?
HourTab’s Studio plan ($19/mo) includes monthly rollover rules — you set whether unused hours carry forward, expire, or convert to credit. The client’s dashboard updates automatically at cycle reset.