We make one of these, so we’ll be upfront. But “best” depends on how much setup you’ll actually tolerate before a tool tells you anything useful. Here’s an honest comparison of the five ways UK shift workers really track their hours and pay — and who each one suits.
Overtime Live is the quickest to get value from — enter your rate, press start, and watch the money add up. A spreadsheet is free and flexible but only tells you anything after you’ve filled it in.
Generic timesheet apps are built for billing clients, not for shift patterns and overtime multipliers. Your employer’s rota system knows when you work but not what you earn. And a paper diary is the most reliable thing on this list right up until you need a total.
The honest axis isn’t features — it’s how much work you do before the tool does any. And whether it can tell you what you’ve earned while you’re still on shift.
| Option | What it needs to start | Setup | Shows live earnings mid-shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overtime Live | Your hourly rate | 1 input, no account | Yes — ticking up, including on the Lock Screen |
| Paper diary or notes app | A pen, or the app you already have | None | No — and no arithmetic either |
| Spreadsheet template | A template, plus your rates and multipliers as formulas | Formula setup, then manual entry after every shift | No — it totals the past |
| Generic timesheet app | Account, workspace, and a project or client to log against | Account + project structure | Tracks time; pay rules usually need a paid tier |
| Employer rota system | Nothing — your employer already runs it | None — but you don’t control it either | No — it shows shifts, not your pay |
Timesheet-app tiers and rota-system features vary by vendor and employer. Check yours before relying on this — and see the named app-by-app comparison if you’re choosing between specific products.
There is no single winner here. Three of these are genuinely the right answer for somebody.
Best for: shift workers who want to see what a shift is actually worth while they’re working it, with overtime multipliers handled automatically.
Not for you if: you need your history backed up to the cloud or synced across devices, or your manager needs to see it. Everything stays on your phone — change handset without exporting and the record doesn’t follow you. There’s no team view and no payroll integration.
Best for: anyone who just needs a dated note of what they worked, and trusts paper more than software. It is the most durable evidence on this list in a payslip dispute.
Not for you if: you want a total without doing the maths yourself, or you work varied rates and multipliers where the arithmetic is the hard part.
Best for: people who like owning their data outright, want custom columns, and are disciplined about filling it in. Free, exportable, and yours forever.
Not for you if: you’ve ever let it slide for three weeks and then tried to reconstruct a month from memory — which is the normal outcome, not a personal failing.
Best for: freelancers and consultants billing hours to clients or projects, where the output is an invoice.
Not for you if: your work is rota-shaped — recurring patterns, unsocial hours, time and a third, night rates. You’ll spend the setup modelling shifts as “projects”.
Best for: checking what you were rostered for, swapping shifts, and cross-referencing against a payslip.
Not for you if: you want an independent record. You can’t edit it, you may lose access when you leave, and it rarely shows your rate — which is exactly the number in dispute when a payslip is wrong.
Enter your hourly rate and press start — your pay ticks up live, overtime multipliers included, on your Lock Screen. No account, nothing to configure.
Free · No account · Works offline
This is a great tool to track overtime across a variety of shifts. It’s got a really handy clock feature on your lock screen as well as some features like splitting a shift if you earn different rates throughout a shift.
Easy to use, intelligent and clean. Has taken the pain out of my least favourite task beforehand!
Probably the easiest time I’ve had putting my shift rotation in.
