Focusmate
Hours
| Feature | Focusmate | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $6.99/mo | Free / from $7.99/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | remote-workers, freelancers, students, adhd-professionals | freelancers, solopreneurs, ios-users, simple-tracking |
| Founded | 2016 | 2013 |
| Video Coworking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Session Booking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Accountability Partner | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar Integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Session History | ✓ | ✗ |
| Community | ✓ | ✗ |
| Visual Timeline | ✗ | ✓ |
| Running Timers | ✗ | ✓ |
| Reports | ✗ | ✓ |
| Export | ✗ | ✓ |
| Apple Watch | ✗ | ✓ |
| Widgets | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Focusmate Pros
- Powerful accountability through social presence
- Free plan includes 3 sessions/week
- Global community available 24/7
- Proven to reduce procrastination
✗ Focusmate Cons
- Requires camera on (can feel awkward)
- Limited to 25/50/75 min sessions
- Depends on partner availability
✓ Hours Pros
- Beautiful design
- Visual timeline
- Simple to use
- Quick entry
✗ Hours Cons
- iOS only
- Limited features
- No team features
The Verdict
Focusmate is built for remote workers and freelancers, with a focus on video-coworking and session-booking. Hours targets freelancers and solopreneurs and leads with visual-timeline and running-timers.
Pricing is close: Focusmate starts at $6.99/mo versus $7.99/mo for Hours — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Both tools are a solid fit for freelancers — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
Bottom line: Focusmate has a slight overall edge — but if beautiful design matters most to you, Hours may still be the right call.