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Hourbun vs Noko

Looking for a Noko alternative where clients pay your invoices by card? Hourbun tracks your time, sends your invoices and takes payment into your own Stripe account, for a flat price.

By Fred Wu, maker of Hourbun · Checked · Report a mistake

The short answer

Hourbun lets clients pay your invoices by card or bank debit into your own Stripe account, with hourly rates by client, project and task, for a flat price per workspace. Noko takes online payment through PayPal, with Stripe in a private beta, and adds a monthly fee for each user above the users of its plan. Noko fits people who log time from the keyboard and want an iPhone or Mac app.

Why switch

Why teams pick Hourbun over Noko

  • A lower price for two people: $15 a month on Hourbun, $33 on Noko Solo, which adds $14 a month for each user after the first.
  • One flat price as the team grows: a team of 25 pays $99 a month on Hourbun, and $199 on Noko Organization.
  • Online payment by card or bank debit into your own Stripe account: Noko takes PayPal, with Stripe in a private beta.
  • Hourly rates by client, project, task and person: Noko sets a rate on each invoice, with a custom rate for each team member.
  • Budgets in hours or money, and a tax on each line: Noko budgets are in hours, and Noko adds its taxes to the whole invoice.
  • A Xero sync of issued invoices and their payments: the Xero invoice sync of Noko is a private beta.

Head to head

At a glance

Hourbun and Noko at a glance
Hourbun Noko
Duo, a month $15 (lower price) Duo $33 Solo
Free plan None None on the plans page; a free account for 1 user and 1 project, on request by email
Free trial 14 days, with no card 30 days; the sign-up asks for a payment method
Client invoices Yes Higher plan On every plan but Essential
Online payment Yes By card or bank debit, into your own Stripe account Partly PayPal; payment with Stripe is a private beta
Timesheet approvals Higher plan On the Team plan Higher plan On the Team and Organization plans
Desktop or mobile apps No A web app with a layout for phones Yes An iPhone app and a Mac menu bar app, each last updated in May 2021

Same work, two prices

What you'd pay each month

Hourbun costs less in 3 of 5 examples below.

Hourbun

  • One flat price per workspace
  • Duo up to 2 seats · Team up to 30
  • 14-day free trial, no card

Noko

  • A monthly price by plan with a set number of users
  • Plus a monthly fee for each extra user
  • No invoicing on the Essential plan
What each example pays a month, billed monthly
Hourbun Noko
Solo freelancer 1 person · 5 clients $15 (lower price) Duo Save $4 a month $19 Solo
Duo 2 people · 8 clients $15 (lower price) Duo Save $18 a month $33 Solo
Small studio 5 people · 15 clients $99 Team $49 (lower price) Team
Agency 10 people · 30 clients $99 Team $99 Team
Larger team 25 people · 60 clients $99 (lower price) Team Save $100 a month $199 Organization
  • USD list prices, billed monthly
  • Before tax and payment fees
  • Highlight = lower price
  • Checked 10 November 2026
Pricing details (7)
  • Starts from $499 a month, with a quote from sales.
  • Each plan includes a number of users (1 on Essential and Solo, 5 on Team, 25 on Organization); each extra user costs $7, $14, $10 or $8 a month by plan.
  • Every plan has unlimited projects. Entry approval is on the Team and Organization plans.
  • The plans page shows no yearly price. A help article says that yearly billing gives one month free; the yearly price is not computed here.
  • The plans page lists no free plan. A help article describes a free account with one user and one project, which a customer can ask for by email.
  • All prices are in US dollars.
  • The usage of each example: Solo freelancer: 1 person · 5 clients · 6 projects · 5 tasks · 6 invoices and $7.5k invoiced a month. Duo: 2 people · 8 clients · 10 projects · 8 tasks · 10 invoices and $16k invoiced a month. Small studio: 5 people · 15 clients · 20 projects · 10 tasks · 20 invoices and $40k invoiced a month. Agency: 10 people · 30 clients · 40 projects · 15 tasks · 40 invoices and $90k invoiced a month. Larger team: 25 people · 60 clients · 80 projects · 20 tasks · 80 invoices and $220k invoiced a month.

Feature by feature

Features

  • Yes
  • Partly
  • No
  • Only the rows that we could check on a page of Noko
The features of Hourbun and Noko
Hourbun Noko
Time tracking
Timer Yes Yes
Weekly timesheet grid Yes Yes Weekly timesheets
Keyboard shortcuts Yes Yes
Billable and non-billable time Yes Yes Unbillable tags and unbillable projects
Hourly rates by client, project, task and person Yes Partly An hourly rate on each invoice, with a custom rate for each team member
Desktop or mobile apps No A web app with a layout for phones Yes An iPhone app and a Mac menu bar app, each last updated in May 2021
Invoicing and payments
Invoices from tracked time Yes Higher plan On every plan but Essential
Invoice lines of your own (a fixed fee, a product) Yes Yes Line items on a project, billed on an invoice
Expenses with receipts, billed with a markup Yes Partly Expenses on a project, billed on an invoice
A currency for each client or project Yes Yes A currency on each invoice, kept for the next invoice of the project
A tax on each line, and a second tax Yes Partly Taxes on the invoice; each expense or line item is taxable or not
Invoices in your client's language Yes Yes
Online payment of an invoice Yes By card or bank debit, into your own Stripe account Partly PayPal; payment with Stripe is a private beta
Projects and reports
Project budgets in hours or money Yes Partly Budgets in hours, also recurring
Fixed-fee projects Yes Partly A flat rate or fixed price on each invoice
Reports with a CSV export Yes Yes CSV and Excel
Team
Team roles Yes Member, manager, admin and owner Yes Supervisor, leader, coworker and contractor, and the account owner
Timesheet approvals Higher plan On the Team plan Higher plan On the Team and Organization plans
Integrations and data
Accounting sync Partly Xero, one way: issued invoices and credit notes, and their payments if you choose Partly Time entries export to QuickBooks Online; a Xero invoice sync is a private beta
QuickBooks No Yes Time entries export to QuickBooks Online
A public API No Yes
Project-tool integrations (Asana, Jira and others) No Yes Basecamp project sync, GitHub and Beanstalk, and Zapier
Import of a Harvest account, with its invoices, expenses and estimates Yes Also its budgets, receipts and team, after a preview Partly A CSV of Harvest time entries
Import from any app by CSV, with past invoices and expenses Yes Time, clients and projects too; a format guide with a prompt for an AI agent Partly Time entries from Harvest, Toggl, FreshBooks and other apps
Data export and account deletion Yes A whole workspace as CSV files with receipts, for the owner and admins; your account as JSON Yes CSV and Excel exports; closing the account deletes its data

Which one fits

Hourbun or Noko?

Choose Hourbun if

  • You want clients to pay by card or bank debit into your own Stripe account.
  • You want a price that adds no fee for each extra user.
  • You want hourly rates by client, project and task, and budgets in money.
  • You keep your accounts in Xero and want issued invoices and their payments synced there.

Where Noko is better

  • Time entry from the keyboard: the Quick Entry box reads short forms such as "9-5" or "y 2", and the timer has keyboard shortcuts.
  • An iPhone app and a Mac menu bar app, a public API and Zapier, and an export of time entries to QuickBooks Online.
  • Billing increments that round each entry, 15 minutes by default, and recurring budgets in hours.

Switching

Switch from Noko to Hourbun

Switching from Noko takes one import. Export your Noko time as a CSV file, upload it, check the columns and the people that Hourbun proposes, and see a preview of the clients, projects, tasks and time before anything is added. Your clients, projects, expenses and past invoices can come too: give the Hourbun format guide and your Noko exports to an AI agent, and upload the files that it makes. The 14-day trial of Hourbun needs no card.

Questions

Questions and answers

Is Hourbun cheaper than Noko?

For two people and for larger teams, yes: Hourbun costs $15 a month for 2 people and $99 for 25, where Noko costs $33 on Solo and $199 on Organization. For a team of 5, Noko Team costs $49 and Hourbun $99; for 10 people, both cost $99.

Does Noko charge per user?

Partly. Each Noko plan holds a set number of users (1 on Essential and Solo, 5 on Team, 25 on Organization), and each extra user costs $7 to $14 a month by plan. Hourbun charges a flat price per workspace, with no fee for each teammate within the seats of the plan.

How do clients pay a Noko invoice compared with an Hourbun invoice?

An Hourbun invoice lets a client pay by card or bank debit into your own Stripe account, with no fee of Hourbun on top of the fees of Stripe. A Noko invoice can let a client pay with PayPal, and Noko lists payment with Stripe as a private beta.

Does Noko have a free plan or a free trial?

Hourbun has a 14-day free trial with no card. Noko has a 30-day free trial, and its sign-up asks for a payment method; its plans page lists no free plan, and a help article describes a free account with one user and one project, on request by email.

Can I move from Noko to Hourbun?

Yes. Hourbun imports a CSV of time entries from any app: export your Noko time as a CSV file, upload it, check the preview, and try Hourbun for 14 days with no card.

Sources

  • From the pages of Noko, unless a source says otherwise
  • A feature that we could not check has no row
  • Prices change: check the pricing page of Noko
All sources (29)

Noko is a trademark of Slash7 LLC, and Hourbun is not affiliated with it.

Try Hourbun for free.

14 days, no card. Add a client, track your first hour, and send the invoice.