HourTab
Your client will stop asking “how many hours do I have left?”
Send them one URL. They bookmark it. It shows hours used, hours left, and what you worked on this cycle. No login, no portal, no “please create an account.” Calendly-shaped — for retainers.
Free forever for your first retainer · no credit card · launching in weeks, not months.
- Sep 3API sync debug3h
- Sep 7Onboarding call1h
- Sep 12Landing copy revisions2h
That screen is the entire client experience. No sidebar. No login button. No “sign up to see more.”
Why HourTab
-
One link. Zero logins.
Every other retainer tool wants your client to sign up. Yours doesn’t. You send
acme.hourtab.com/abconce. They bookmark it. When they open it, they see12 of 20 hours used · 8 remain · resets Aug 1and the list of what you worked on. That’s the whole product, from their side. -
Works with the tracker you already use.
Paste a CSV from Toggl, Harvest, Clockify, or type entries in manually in ten seconds. No OAuth screens, no scope popups, no “we’ll just need access to your calendar.” We never touch your tracker’s account.
-
Priced for one person, not thirty.
Retainerkit starts at $49/mo and assumes you have a 10-seat agency. You don’t. Free covers your first retainer forever. $9/mo covers ten. $19/mo adds your own subdomain (
acme.yourbrand.com) and a second teammate. That’s the whole pricing page.
How it works
- Create a retainer. Client name, hours per cycle, rate, reset date. Ten seconds.
- Log time. Paste a CSV, or type entries. The dashboard updates live.
- Share the URL. The client bookmarks it. You never get the “how many hours…” email again.
Pricing
- 1 retainer
- Public share URL
- CSV import
- Progress bar + work log
- Up to 10 retainers
- Custom slug
- No HourTab branding
- CSV export
- Email-a-summary
- Unlimited retainers
- Branded subdomain (
acme.yourbrand.com) - 2 team seats
- Per-client logo
- Rollover rules
Annual plans get two months free · all plans include SSL and custom slugs.
“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
We built the URL that makes that email stop.
Questions
- Does my client need to sign up?
- No. That’s the whole point. They get a URL.
- Which time trackers do you support?
- Toggl, Harvest, Clockify via CSV. Manual entry works for everything else. Native OAuth is on the post-launch roadmap; we’re not blocking launch on it.
- Can I use my own domain?
- Yes — on the Studio plan ($19/mo). You point
retainer.yourbrand.comat us and share links likeacme.retainer.yourbrand.com. Free and Solo plans share URLs onhourtab.com. - What happens when my client overruns their hours?
- The dashboard keeps counting — they see
22 of 20 hours used · 2 over. Most clients self-correct the second they see that number. We don’t block, bill, or nag — that’s between you and them. - Is there an API?
- Not yet. If you need one, email hi@hourtab.com — if enough people ask, it moves up the roadmap.
- Where’s my data hosted?
- On a small single-region VPS we run. No third-party analytics, no tracking pixels, no email-to-your-clients. The share URL is the only thing public — and it only shows what you put in it.