---
title: Quickstart for individuals and the Free plan
description: "Set up Toggl on your own or on the Free plan: track time, organise it with projects and tasks, check your Summary report, and learn when to invite a team or upgrade."
---
[Skip to content](https://docs.toggl.com/quickstart-for-individuals-and-the-free-plan#main-content)
English
Show submenu for translations
[](https://docs.toggl.com/?hsLang=en)
Open main navigation
Close main navigation
- English
Show submenu for translations
- [Go to Toggl](https://focus.toggl.com/)
[Go to Toggl](https://focus.toggl.com/)
How can we help you?
- There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.
1. [Toggl 2.0 Knowledge Base](https://docs.toggl.com/?hsLang=en)
2. [Getting started](https://docs.toggl.com/getting-started?hsLang=en)
3. [Quickstart Guides](https://docs.toggl.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#quickstart-guides)
# Quickstart for individuals and the Free plan
## This quickstart is for people using Toggl by themselves, whether as a freelancer, a solo user or a small team on the Free plan. It takes you from your first tracked hour to a first report in five short steps, and explains what the Free plan limits. By the end you will know how to track and organise your own time, and what to do when you outgrow the Free plan.
This quickstart is for anyone using Toggl on their own or on the Free plan: freelancers, solo users and very small teams. It gets you from an empty workspace to tracked time and a first report. If you are setting up a workspace for a team, use [Quickstart for admins on the Starter plan](https://docs.toggl.com/starter-plan-onboarding-guide-for-toggl-2.0-admin?hsLang=en) or [Quickstart for admins on the Premium plan](https://docs.toggl.com/premium-plan-onboarding-guide-toggl-2.0-admin?hsLang=en) instead.
You do not need to configure anything before you start. Everything below happens from the sidebar of the web app.
### What the Free plan includes, and what it limits
The Free plan covers day-to-day tracking and organising: the Timer, projects, tasks, tags and the Summary report. The limits that matter to an individual are these:
- **Members.** The Free plan has a cap on how many people can be in the organization. When you invite someone beyond the cap, Toggl shows “Inviting extra members would put you over the Free limit” and asks you to upgrade.
- **View meters.** Some Free organizations see a “Views” counter on Reports and the Timeline. Each report refresh or Timeline load counts as one view, and the counter resets on the date it shows.
- **Paid-only features.** Timeline capacity planning, Workload, Utilization and Profitability reports, timesheet approvals and billable rates are not part of Free. See Toggl plans: what’s included.
If you started on a 30-day trial, your organization moves to the Free plan when the trial ends. The app shows a “Your trial has ended” message with the choice to **Upgrade** or **Stay on Free**.
### 1. Track your first time
Open **Timer** in the sidebar, under **Track**.
1. Type a description in the timer bar.
2. Click **Project or task** to pick a project or task. You can skip this and add it later.
3. Click the play button. Click stop when you finish.
Forgot to start the timer? Flip the switch beside the play button (or press **M**) to switch to **Log time** mode, then type a duration or a start and stop time. You can also click an empty slot on the calendar to add time there.
Full detail: [Tracking time in Toggl](https://docs.toggl.com/time-tracking-in-toggl-2-0?hsLang=en) and [Overview of the Timer page](https://docs.toggl.com/overview-of-the-timer-page?hsLang=en).
### 2. Create a project and a few tasks
Projects group related work. Tasks are the pieces of work inside them.
1. Open **Projects** in the sidebar, under **Plan**, and create a project.
2. Open **Tasks**, under **Plan**, and add tasks. A task can have dates, a time estimate, a priority and a status. A task does not need a project; it can be a personal to-do.
3. In the timer bar, pick the project or task before you start the timer, so your time is filed under it.
Projects are private by default: only their members and workspace admins see them. As a solo user this changes nothing for you.
Full detail: [How Toggl organises your work](https://docs.toggl.com/data-structure-and-categorization-guide-in-toggl-2.0?hsLang=en), [Overview of the Projects page](https://docs.toggl.com/overview-of-the-projects-page?hsLang=en) and [Overview of the Tasks page](https://docs.toggl.com/overview-of-the-tasks-page?hsLang=en).
### 3. Add tags and, if you bill clients, clients
Tags label time logs, tasks and projects for filtering and reports. Clients group your projects, and a project can have only one client. Clients connect to time logs through the project, not directly.
Full detail: [Tags in Toggl](https://docs.toggl.com/tags-in-toggl-2.0?hsLang=en).
### 4. Check your Summary report
After a few days of tracking, open **Reports** in the sidebar, under **Analyze**. The Summary report shows where your time went by project or client, and you can export it as a PDF. Filter by date, project or tag to answer questions such as “How much did I spend on this project this week?”
Full detail: [Overview of the Reports page](https://docs.toggl.com/overview-of-the-reports-page?hsLang=en) and [Summary Report in Toggl](https://docs.toggl.com/summary-report-in-toggl?hsLang=en).
### 5. Set a goal (optional)
Goals are recurring time targets for yourself, such as “at least 5 hours of billable work a day” or “less than 5 hours of meetings a week”. They live in the Goals widget on the Timer page, and you can have up to 4 active goals at a time.
### When to invite a team or upgrade
- **Invite people** when you want to assign work or see capacity. The Members page and the sidebar both have an invite option: see [Invite your team](https://docs.toggl.com/invite-your-team?hsLang=en).
- **Upgrade** when you hit a Free limit or need Timeline capacity planning, billable rates or team reports. Compare plans in Toggl plans: what’s included.
### Checklist
- \[ \] Track one time log with the timer.
- \[ \] Create a project and two or three tasks.
- \[ \] Track time against a task.
- \[ \] Open the Summary report for this week.
**Next step:** [Overview of the Timer page](https://docs.toggl.com/overview-of-the-timer-page?hsLang=en)
- [Getting started](https://docs.toggl.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Start here](https://docs.toggl.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#start-here)
- [Quickstart Guides](https://docs.toggl.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#quickstart-guides)
- [Set up your Workspace](https://docs.toggl.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#set-up-your-workspace)
- [Toggl Guides for Toggl Track and Toggl Plan users](https://docs.toggl.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#toggl-guides-for-toggl-track-and-toggl-plan-users)
- [Using Toggl, page by page](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Timer](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#timer)
- [Reports](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#reports)
- [Projects](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#projects)
- [Tasks](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#tasks)
- [Timeline](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#timeline)
- [Members](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#members)
- [Approvals](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#approvals)
- [Time Off](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#time-off)
- [Profile Settings](https://docs.toggl.com/using-toggl-page-by-page?hsLang=en#profile-settings)
- [Admin Settings & Security](https://docs.toggl.com/admin-settings-security?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Workspace Setup](https://docs.toggl.com/admin-settings-security?hsLang=en#workspace-setup)
- [Tracking & Rates](https://docs.toggl.com/admin-settings-security?hsLang=en#tracking-rates)
- [Single Sign-on](https://docs.toggl.com/admin-settings-security?hsLang=en#single-sign-on)
- [Subscription & Billing](https://docs.toggl.com/subscription-billing?hsLang=en)
- [Toggl Apps](https://docs.toggl.com/toggl-apps?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Mobile](https://docs.toggl.com/toggl-apps?hsLang=en#mobile)
- [Desktop](https://docs.toggl.com/toggl-apps?hsLang=en#desktop)
- [Browser Extension](https://docs.toggl.com/toggl-apps?hsLang=en#browser-extension)
- [API & Integrations](https://docs.toggl.com/api-integrations?hsLang=en)
- [Troubleshooting & FAQs](https://docs.toggl.com/troubleshooting-faqs?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [My Toggl Acount](https://docs.toggl.com/troubleshooting-faqs?hsLang=en#my-toggl-acount)
- [Common Questions](https://docs.toggl.com/troubleshooting-faqs?hsLang=en#common-questions)
Copyright © 2026. Toggl. [Privacy Policy](https://toggl.com/legal/focus/privacy/)