Profitability Reports
Profitability Reports help you understand which work is creating profit — not just revenue. By combining billable time with cost data, the report helps you evaluate project performance, spot issues earlier, and plan ahead with more confidence.
In this article
- What Profitability Reports are
- Where to find them
- How to use them
- What forecast data shows
- Frequently asked questions
What are Profitability Reports?
Profitability Reports show how your tracked work performs from a profitability perspective. Instead of looking only at revenue, the report helps you understand revenue, cost, profit, and margin across your work.
This makes it easier to:
- understand true project performance
- identify projects that need attention
- analyze profitability by client and project
- review expected performance for ongoing or future periods
Where to find Profitability Reports
- Open Reporting
- Select the Profitability tab
How to use Profitability Reports
1. Choose the time period you want to analyze
Use the time span selector to choose the reporting period, similar to other reports in Toggl.
2. How the report is calculated
Revenue
Revenue depends on the project's billing type.
- For hourly (T&M) projects:
Revenue = billable hours × billable rate - For fixed-fee projects (recurring and non-recurring):
Revenue = fixed fee × (days in range ÷ project duration)
The fee is spread evenly across the project's active days, including weekends and holidays. Viewing a partial period shows a partial fee.
Example: A $10,000/month retainer viewed for the first 15 days of a 30-day month shows $5,000 revenue.
Fallback — no end date: the full fixed fee applies.
Fixed fee + billable rate on the same project
If a project has a fixed fee, the Profitability report always uses the fixed fee as revenue — a billable rate does not override it, even if one is enabled on the project.
Billable hours × billable rate is used for revenue only on projects with no fixed fee (time & materials projects).
Enabling a billable rate on a fixed-fee project doesn't change the Profitability calculation. It surfaces the billable amount in the Summary Report so you can compare it against the fixed fee side by side — see Summary Report.
Cost
Cost = tracked hours × cost rate- Summed across all members and entries in the report range.
Profit
Profit = Revenue − Cost
Margin
Margin % = Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
Configurable Margin Target: The margin target is configurable, so teams can set the target that fits their needs, and the report updates automatically. Admins can set a margin target under Settings.
Forecast
Forecast covers the portion of the report range beyond today, using the first available of:
- Task estimates — estimated hours × the assignee's rate.
- Project estimates — used for tasks without their own estimate.
- Past usage — recent daily averages projected forward (least accurate).
Fallback is evaluated per task. A project with some estimated tasks and some unestimated ones uses the more accurate signal where it exists.
For fixed-fee projects, future days within the project's active range are prorated daily.
- Task estimates — estimated hours × the assignee's rate.
- Project estimates — used for tasks without their own estimate.
- Past usage — recent daily averages projected forward (least accurate).
If you get these questions while browsing the report, you can always open the How it works tray to see the calculations and formulas behind the report. So you don’t have to move back and forth between the Knowledge Base and report.
3. Analyze profitability across your work
The report analyzes profitability using:
- fixed fee
- billable time tracked
- cost related to tracked time
The default breakdown is by:
- client
- project
You can also apply filters to refine the view.
4. Use the chart to understand performance
The chart displays:
- revenue
- cost
- profit as a separate strip
This gives you a clearer view of how profitability changes across the selected period.
If the selected time period is ongoing or in the future, the report also shows forecasted values. These include:
- contracted revenue
- forecast revenue
- cost
- profit
- margin
Forecasted revenue and cost are shown as grayed-out areas in the chart.
5. Check projects that need attention
The Projects that need attention table highlights projects that may require follow-up. Clicking a project opens the project dashboard, where you can review more details.
FAQs
What data does the report use?
Profitability Reports are based on billable time tracked and cost related to tracked time.
What is the default breakdown of the table in reports?
The default breakdown is client and project.
Can I use filters?
Yes. The report includes filters so you can tailor the view to the data you want to analyze.
What happens if I choose a future or ongoing time period?
The report shows forecasted values for contracted revenue, forecast revenue, cost, profit, and margin.
What does “Projects that need attention” do?
It highlights projects that may need follow-up. Clicking a project takes you to the project dashboard for deeper analysis.
If a project has both a fixed fee and a billable rate, which one counts toward revenue?
The fixed fee always wins. Profitability revenue comes from billable hours × billable rate only when a project has no fixed fee. Enabling a billable rate on a fixed-fee project doesn't change the Profitability number — it just adds the billable amount to the Summary Report for comparison.
Is everything fully available already?
The ability to set targets for alerts are still in progress.