{"id":126,"date":"2018-01-25T12:27:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T12:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/?p=126"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:58:13","slug":"tracking-project-profitability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/projects\/tracking-project-profitability","title":{"rendered":"Set up project rates &amp; estimates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you\u2019re working on a fixed-fee project, tracking time is crucial to determining your actual cost and maintaining profitability. Knowing the actual time spent, you can assess the accuracy of your original estimates and set better prices for future work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For example:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\"><em>A project has a fixed price and will take <\/em><strong><em>50 hours<\/em><\/strong><em>to finish (e.g., 20h for design, 30h for coding). If the work takes <\/em><strong><em>70 hours<\/em><\/strong><em> to complete, which is <strong>20 hours<\/strong> more than the initial estimate, then you know you went over the estimate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time tracking allows you to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Negotiate with the client for a higher price or less work, if necessary<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use accurate data to set better estimates for future projects, ensuring you maintain profitability<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Before starting the project, configure your Clockify workspace to accurately categorize and track time entries. You can do this by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"translation-block\">Creating <a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/track-time-and-expenses\/categorizing-time-entries#create-tags\">tags<\/a> to represent different types of activities (e.g., project management).&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"translation-block\">Specifying the client&#8217;s name on the <a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/projects\/creating-projects#managing-clients\">Clients<\/a> page.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Set manual project estimate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-highlight-box custom-box color-green\"><div class=\"box-header\"><svg width=\"20\" height=\"20\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><mask id=\"mask-green\" style=\"mask-type:alpha\" maskUnits=\"userSpaceOnUse\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\"><rect width=\"24\" height=\"24\" fill=\"#D9D9D9\"><\/rect><\/mask><g mask=\"url(#mask-green)\"><path d=\"M5 21.0001C4.45 21.0001 3.97917 20.8043 3.5875 20.4126C3.19583 20.0209 3 19.5501 3 19.0001V5.0001C3 4.4501 3.19583 3.97926 3.5875 3.5876C3.97917 3.19593 4.45 3.0001 5 3.0001H13.925L11.925 5.0001H5V19.0001H19V12.0501L21 10.0501V19.0001C21 19.5501 20.8042 20.0209 20.4125 20.4126C20.0208 20.8043 19.55 21.0001 19 21.0001H5ZM9 15.0001V10.7501L18.175 1.5751C18.375 1.3751 18.6 1.2251 18.85 1.1251C19.1 1.0251 19.35 0.975098 19.6 0.975098C19.8667 0.975098 20.1208 1.0251 20.3625 1.1251C20.6042 1.2251 20.825 1.3751 21.025 1.5751L22.425 3.0001C22.6083 3.2001 22.75 3.42093 22.85 3.6626C22.95 3.90426 23 4.1501 23 4.4001C23 4.6501 22.9542 4.89593 22.8625 5.1376C22.7708 5.37926 22.625 5.6001 22.425 5.8001L13.25 15.0001H9ZM11 13.0001H12.4L18.2 7.2001L17.5 6.5001L16.775 5.8001L11 11.5751V13.0001Z\" fill=\"#4CAF50\"><\/path><\/g><\/svg><span class=\"box-label\">Note<\/span><\/div><div class=\"box-content\">\n<p>Project estimate is a paid feature, which you can enable by subscribing to Basic plan or higher.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">1. Go to the <strong>Projects <\/strong>page<br>2. Click on a project<br>3. Click <strong>Settings<\/strong><br>4. Select <strong>Manual<\/strong> under <strong>Project Estimate<\/strong><br>5. Enter the number of hours&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Manual-project-estimate.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28240\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Set task-based estimate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">1. Go to <strong>Project settings<\/strong><br>2. Select <strong>Task-based<\/strong> under <strong>Project estimate<\/strong><br>3. Set it to recur and include non-billable time (optional)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Task-based-estimate.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28241\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">4. Go to the <strong>Tasks<\/strong> tab<br>5. Set an estimate for each task on the list<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Set-estimate-per-task.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28242\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Set project billable rate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-highlight-box custom-box color-green\"><div class=\"box-header\"><svg width=\"20\" height=\"20\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><mask id=\"mask-green\" style=\"mask-type:alpha\" maskUnits=\"userSpaceOnUse\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\"><rect width=\"24\" height=\"24\" fill=\"#D9D9D9\"><\/rect><\/mask><g mask=\"url(#mask-green)\"><path d=\"M5 21.0001C4.45 21.0001 3.97917 20.8043 3.5875 20.4126C3.19583 20.0209 3 19.5501 3 19.0001V5.0001C3 4.4501 3.19583 3.97926 3.5875 3.5876C3.97917 3.19593 4.45 3.0001 5 3.0001H13.925L11.925 5.0001H5V19.0001H19V12.0501L21 10.0501V19.0001C21 19.5501 20.8042 20.0209 20.4125 20.4126C20.0208 20.8043 19.55 21.0001 19 21.0001H5ZM9 15.0001V10.7501L18.175 1.5751C18.375 1.3751 18.6 1.2251 18.85 1.1251C19.1 1.0251 19.35 0.975098 19.6 0.975098C19.8667 0.975098 20.1208 1.0251 20.3625 1.1251C20.6042 1.2251 20.825 1.3751 21.025 1.5751L22.425 3.0001C22.6083 3.2001 22.75 3.42093 22.85 3.6626C22.95 3.90426 23 4.1501 23 4.4001C23 4.6501 22.9542 4.89593 22.8625 5.1376C22.7708 5.37926 22.625 5.6001 22.425 5.8001L13.25 15.0001H9ZM11 13.0001H12.4L18.2 7.2001L17.5 6.5001L16.775 5.8001L11 11.5751V13.0001Z\" fill=\"#4CAF50\"><\/path><\/g><\/svg><span class=\"box-label\">Note<\/span><\/div><div class=\"box-content\">\n<p class=\"translation-block\">Billable hours is a paid feature, which you can enable by subscribing to Basic plan or higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">To view the billable rate fields (e.g. project billable rate), the&nbsp;<strong>Activate billable hours<\/strong>&nbsp;must be toggled ON in the Workspace settings. Check your workspace setup by going to&nbsp;<strong>Workspace settings &gt; Permissions tab<\/strong>&nbsp;to ensure this is active. Otherwise, the billable rate fields and the billable icon will be hidden in the workspace.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">1. Go to <strong>Project settings<\/strong><br>2. Click <strong>Change<\/strong> under <strong>Project billable rate<\/strong><br>3. Enter the amount<br>4. Click <strong>Save<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Set-project-billable-rate.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28243\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Set cost rate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-highlight-box custom-box color-indigo\"><div class=\"box-header\"><svg width=\"20\" height=\"20\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><mask id=\"mask-indigo\" style=\"mask-type:alpha\" maskUnits=\"userSpaceOnUse\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\"><rect width=\"24\" height=\"24\" fill=\"#D9D9D9\"><\/rect><\/mask><g mask=\"url(#mask-indigo)\"><path d=\"M12 17C12.2833 17 12.5208 16.9042 12.7125 16.7125C12.9042 16.5208 13 16.2833 13 16C13 15.7167 12.9042 15.4792 12.7125 15.2875C12.5208 15.0958 12.2833 15 12 15C11.7167 15 11.4792 15.0958 11.2875 15.2875C11.0958 15.4792 11 15.7167 11 16C11 16.2833 11.0958 16.5208 11.2875 16.7125C11.4792 16.9042 11.7167 17 12 17ZM11 13H13V7H11V13ZM12 22C10.6167 22 9.31667 21.7375 8.1 21.2125C6.88333 20.6875 5.825 19.975 4.925 19.075C4.025 18.175 3.3125 17.1167 2.7875 15.9C2.2625 14.6833 2 13.3833 2 12C2 10.6167 2.2625 9.31667 2.7875 8.1C3.3125 6.88333 4.025 5.825 4.925 4.925C5.825 4.025 6.88333 3.3125 8.1 2.7875C9.31667 2.2625 10.6167 2 12 2C13.3833 2 14.6833 2.2625 15.9 2.7875C17.1167 3.3125 18.175 4.025 19.075 4.925C19.975 5.825 20.6875 6.88333 21.2125 8.1C21.7375 9.31667 22 10.6167 22 12C22 13.3833 21.7375 14.6833 21.2125 15.9C20.6875 17.1167 19.975 18.175 19.075 19.075C18.175 19.975 17.1167 20.6875 15.9 21.2125C14.6833 21.7375 13.3833 22 12 22ZM12 20C14.2333 20 16.125 19.225 17.675 17.675C19.225 16.125 20 14.2333 20 12C20 9.76667 19.225 7.875 17.675 6.325C16.125 4.775 14.2333 4 12 4C9.76667 4 7.875 4.775 6.325 6.325C4.775 7.875 4 9.76667 4 12C4 14.2333 4.775 16.125 6.325 17.675C7.875 19.225 9.76667 20 12 20Z\" fill=\"#3F51B5\"><\/path><\/g><\/svg><span class=\"box-label\">Info<\/span><\/div><div class=\"box-content\">\n<p class=\"translation-block\">Cost rate is a paid feature, which you can enable by upgrading your workspace to <a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/pricing\">Pro or Enterprise plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Go to <strong>Workspace settings<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enable <strong>Activate cost rate<\/strong> under <strong>Cost and profit analysis<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click <strong>Change<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enter the cost rate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click <strong>Save<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Set-cost-rate.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28244\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tips for accurate estimates:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Make sure every time entry is associated with the correct project and a specific task when tracking time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check the project status to compare estimated time versus tracked time when reaching milestones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Generate project report<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When a project is done, use reports to analyze profitability and refine your future workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">1. Go to <strong>Reports<\/strong><br>2. Select <strong>Summary Report<\/strong><br>3. Apply the necessary filters, such as filtering by a specific project.<br>4. Open the <strong>Show All <\/strong>settings dropdown and verify that the <strong>Show Amount<\/strong>, <strong>Show Cost<\/strong>, and <strong>Show Profit<\/strong> options are all selected.<br>5. Click the <strong>Export<\/strong> dropdown menu and select <strong>Save as CSV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"732\" height=\"366\" src=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Generate-report.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28245\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-highlight-box custom-box color-green\"><div class=\"box-header\"><svg width=\"20\" height=\"20\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><mask id=\"mask-green\" style=\"mask-type:alpha\" maskUnits=\"userSpaceOnUse\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\"><rect width=\"24\" height=\"24\" fill=\"#D9D9D9\"><\/rect><\/mask><g mask=\"url(#mask-green)\"><path d=\"M5 21.0001C4.45 21.0001 3.97917 20.8043 3.5875 20.4126C3.19583 20.0209 3 19.5501 3 19.0001V5.0001C3 4.4501 3.19583 3.97926 3.5875 3.5876C3.97917 3.19593 4.45 3.0001 5 3.0001H13.925L11.925 5.0001H5V19.0001H19V12.0501L21 10.0501V19.0001C21 19.5501 20.8042 20.0209 20.4125 20.4126C20.0208 20.8043 19.55 21.0001 19 21.0001H5ZM9 15.0001V10.7501L18.175 1.5751C18.375 1.3751 18.6 1.2251 18.85 1.1251C19.1 1.0251 19.35 0.975098 19.6 0.975098C19.8667 0.975098 20.1208 1.0251 20.3625 1.1251C20.6042 1.2251 20.825 1.3751 21.025 1.5751L22.425 3.0001C22.6083 3.2001 22.75 3.42093 22.85 3.6626C22.95 3.90426 23 4.1501 23 4.4001C23 4.6501 22.9542 4.89593 22.8625 5.1376C22.7708 5.37926 22.625 5.6001 22.425 5.8001L13.25 15.0001H9ZM11 13.0001H12.4L18.2 7.2001L17.5 6.5001L16.775 5.8001L11 11.5751V13.0001Z\" fill=\"#4CAF50\"><\/path><\/g><\/svg><span class=\"box-label\">Note<\/span><\/div><div class=\"box-content\">\n<p>You can only export a report to CSV\/Excel if you are subscribed to a Basic plan or higher. If you are on a Free plan, you can only export a report to PDF.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">From the generated report, you can analyze data to help identify activities that exceeded the planned duration, find the cause, and improve future estimates and pricing. Within the reports, you can examine figures for billing, cost, or <a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/reports\/labor-cost\">profit<\/a>.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"502\" src=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Analyze-report-1024x502.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Analyze-report-1024x502.png 1024w, https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Analyze-report-300x147.png 300w, https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Analyze-report-768x376.png 768w, https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Analyze-report-1536x753.png 1536w, https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Analyze-report-18x9.png 18w, https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Analyze-report.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group related-articles\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related articles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list related-articles-list\">\n<li class=\"translation-block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/reports\/hourly-rates\">Overview of hourly rates<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"translation-block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/reports\/labor-cost\">Cost rate<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"translation-block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/projects\/creating-projects\">Create projects &amp; clients<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"translation-block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/projects\/working-with-tasks\">Use tasks<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"translation-block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/track-time-and-expenses\/categorizing-time-entries\">Time categorization &amp; tags<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re working on a fixed-fee project, tracking time is crucial to determin&#8230;","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_helpful_status":1,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-manage-projects"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"helpadmin","author_link":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/author\/helpadmin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31108,"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions\/31108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}