Why agencies look for a Tempo alternative
Tempo Timesheets is a full time-tracking and billing platform: budgeting, approval chains, resource planning, and detailed reporting layered on top of Jira. For an organisation running dozens of concurrent projects with finance teams that need granular oversight, that depth earns its keep.
For a small agency, the same feature set often becomes friction. Someone has to configure approval workflows nobody's using, maintain budgets for a handful of clients, and pay per Atlassian seat — even though only one person in the building ever opens the invoicing screen.
What Tempo actually does well
Worth being fair here before getting into alternatives. Tempo remains the strongest option if you need:
- Multi-level approval workflows for logged time before it's billable
- Budget tracking and burn-down against project estimates
- Resource planning and capacity forecasting across teams
- Deep, exportable reporting for finance or PMO functions
If your agency is 50+ people with a dedicated operations function, this is likely still the right tool, and the per-user cost is justified by what it replaces. The alternatives below are aimed squarely at agencies below that scale.
The alternatives, compared
| Tool | What it actually does | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tempo Timesheets | Full time tracking, budgeting, approvals, invoicing | ~$10/user/month | Larger teams, complex billing |
| Clerk Invoices | Invoicing inside Jira with accounting sync | Per Atlassian user | Teams wanting Xero/QuickBooks sync |
| Manual (CSV/Excel) | Fully manual export and invoice build | Free (in dollars) | One-off or very low invoice volume |
| WorklogPDF | Standalone worklog-to-PDF invoicing only | $19/month flat | Small agencies, one person handles billing |
The key difference between Tempo and the lighter options isn't quality — it's scope. Tempo is a platform; WorklogPDF and similar standalone tools are a single-purpose utility. If invoicing is the only piece of that platform you use, the utility gets you there faster and cheaper.
Which one fits your agency
Stick with Tempo if:
- You need approval workflows before time becomes billable
- Budget tracking and forecasting matter to your operations
- Your team is large enough that per-seat cost is a rounding error
- You're already deep in Tempo and switching cost outweighs the saving
Switch to a lighter tool if:
- One person handles all client invoicing
- You've never used Tempo's approval or budgeting features
- Your Jira instance has grown past 10 people but your billing complexity hasn't
- You want a flat monthly cost instead of one that scales with headcount
The pricing gap at small scale
Tempo's per-user pricing is reasonable when the whole team needs the platform. It stops being reasonable when 15 people are logging time but one person is generating invoices. Here's how that plays out as a team grows:
| Team size | Tempo (per-user estimate) | WorklogPDF (flat rate) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 people | Scales with headcount | $19/month |
| 10 people | Scales with headcount | $19/month |
| 20 people | Scales with headcount | $19/month |
Check Tempo's current published rate for an exact per-seat figure — but the structural point holds regardless of the number: a platform priced per user charges you for people who never touch invoicing, while a flat-rate tool doesn't care how many people are in your Jira.
Try WorklogPDF free
Connect your Jira account and generate your first client invoice in under a minute — no per-seat pricing, no approval workflow to configure.
Try WorklogPDF free →Frequently asked questions
Why would a small agency look for a Tempo Timesheets alternative?
Tempo is priced and built for larger teams with approval workflows, budgeting, and resource planning. A small agency that only needs to turn worklogs into a client invoice often ends up paying for — and configuring — far more than it uses.
Is WorklogPDF a full replacement for Tempo Timesheets?
No. WorklogPDF replaces the invoicing step specifically — turning worklogs into a client-ready PDF. It doesn't do time tracking, budgeting, approval workflows, or resource planning. If you need those, Tempo remains the more complete tool.
What's the cheapest way to invoice clients from Jira worklogs?
For a small team, a flat-rate standalone tool is usually cheapest since cost doesn't scale with headcount. The manual CSV export method is technically free but costs significant time each billing cycle, which has its own cost when valued at billable rates.