Short answer
Stay with Moneybird's time tracking if you mainly log your own hours with a timer or start and end times and want to invoice them straight in Moneybird, without a second app.
Pick Half5 if you want your workday to suggest your hours, want rides registered automatically, or want hours approved per week. The invoices can still end up in Moneybird.
Half5 and Moneybird side by side
Moneybird, a Dutch online accounting package. This comparison covers the time tracking built into Moneybird, not the accounting itself. Each point is what we found on the official pages. 'Not found' means we didn't see it there, not that it is definitely missing.
| Topic | Half5 | Moneybird |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic capture of apps and websites on desktop | Yes Desktop apps for macOS and Windows capture apps, window titles, websites, file changes, git commits and Claude Code, Codex and Cursor sessions. | Not found Not found. You log hours per day with a timer or with a start and end time. |
| Who can see the raw activity | Yes Only you. The timeline lives on your own devices and syncs end-to-end encrypted: neither your employer nor Half5's server can read it. Your employer only sees the hours, rides and leave you register and submit. Trust center | Not found Not applicable: we found no capture of activity on your computer. |
| Phone: ride and mileage detection | Yes The iOS and Android apps detect rides and visits automatically; you confirm them afterwards. Tax rules for NL, BE, DE and FR, trip log as CSV. Rides | No According to the help centre, Moneybird offers no option to register kilometres or rides. You book kilometres as a receipt or purchase invoice. |
| Calendar import | Yes Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. | Not found Not found. According to the help centre, you can't log hours from a calendar or week view. |
| Suggestions per client or project | Yes Built from work blocks, calendar events, agent sessions and visits, matched to a client or project. You take a suggestion, adjust it and save; nothing is booked on its own. Timeline | Not found Not found on the pages we checked. |
| Hour approval (which plan) | Yes Optional per organisation: approve or decline with a reason, by admins or department managers. You can't approve your own hours unless you're the only approver. Rides have their own approval. Plan: see pricing | Not found Not found. There are user rights: own hours only, hours plus invoices, or accountant. |
| Invoicing from hours (which plan) | Yes Half5 creates invoices from (approved) hours itself: drafts, credit invoices, PDF and sending by email, optionally with a copy to your accountant. Plan: see pricing | Yes Yes, through 'Uren factureren', grouped by project, employee or description. Not in the mobile app. |
| Dutch accounting: Moneybird, e-Boekhouden, Exact Online, WeFact | Yes Moneybird, WeFact, e-Boekhouden and Exact Online. No Twinfield, SnelStart, AFAS, Yuki, Visma, Xero or QuickBooks. Integrations | Yes Moneybird is the accounting package itself; hours become a Moneybird invoice directly. Integrations with other packages don't apply here. |
| AI agents and MCP | Yes Remote MCP server with OAuth for Claude, ChatGPT, Codex and Cursor: log, search, list, update and delete entries. What an agent logs stays pending until you approve it. Agent sessions also become suggestions. Agents | Yes Official MCP server with OAuth. An assistant can read data including time entries, and create and update data in read-write mode. Deleting is not supported. |
| Data location | Yes DigitalOcean Amsterdam; files and email via AWS Frankfurt. For AI features Half5 uses Google Gemini, OpenAI or Anthropic. | Not found No storage region found on the pages we checked. |
| Platforms | Yes Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android. No Linux. | Yes Web, iPhone and Android. In the apps you log hours; the overview and invoicing are on the web. |
| Free plan or trial | Partly No free plan. 30 days free on your first subscription; Half5 asks for payment details when you choose a plan. | Yes 60-day trial on the Compleet plan. Compact allows 20 hour lines per month. |
| List price per user per month | Yes Basic for freelancers, Premium for teams. See pricing | Yes Time tracking at no extra cost on every plan. Users: Compact and Start 1, Groei 5, Compleet unlimited. Amounts on moneybird.nl. |
Where Moneybird is stronger
- Hours and bookkeeping in one package: no second app and no integration needed.
- Time tracking at no extra cost on every Moneybird plan.
- A timer, for those who prefer to track live. Half5 works without a stopwatch.
- A 60-day trial. Half5's trial is 30 days.
- An official MCP server for your whole administration, not just hours.
Where Half5 is different
- Half5 suggests hours from your workday: apps, websites, commits, calendar events, rides and calls. That timeline is end-to-end encrypted and only for you.
- The phone app detects rides on its own and asks per vehicle what tax rules need, with a CSV export for your trip log.
- Weekly hour approval with a four-eyes rule, leave requests and departments with their own manager.
- Desktop apps for Mac and Windows, alongside web, iPhone and Android.
- You don't have to choose: Half5 connects to Moneybird. Contacts, projects, ledger accounts and VAT rates come from Moneybird, and approved hours go back as a draft invoice.
Switching from Moneybird
- Export your clients, projects and the hours you want to keep from Moneybird, for example as a CSV report. Half5 has no importer; that export is your archive and your checklist.
- Start your trial at app.half5.com and add your clients and projects. If you use Moneybird, WeFact, e-Boekhouden or Exact Online, connect it straight away.
- Install the desktop app (macOS or Windows) and the phone app, and connect your calendar. From then on Half5 builds your timeline.
- Run it next to Moneybird for a week or two. Compare Half5's suggestions with what you registered there, and cancel Moneybird only once the hours match.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Half5 and Moneybird together?
Yes. Half5 pulls your contacts, projects, ledger accounts and VAT rates from Moneybird and creates draft invoices there from approved hours. You log time in Half5 and invoice in Moneybird.
Does Moneybird have mileage tracking?
Not according to Moneybird's help centre: there is no option to register kilometres or rides. Half5 detects rides on your phone and exports a trip log as CSV.
Is Moneybird's time tracking free?
It is included at no extra cost on every Moneybird plan. On the Compact plan that's 20 hour lines per month, unlimited on the others. You do pay for the plan itself.
Can I approve hours in Moneybird?
We didn't find it in the help articles about tracking hours as a team. Moneybird does have user rights, such as own hours only or hours plus invoices. Half5 has weekly approval with a four-eyes rule.
Sources
- Moneybird: uren registreren in Moneybird (helpcenter.moneybird.nl)
- Moneybird: in een team uren registreren (helpcenter.moneybird.nl)
- Moneybird: kilometers registreren (helpcenter.moneybird.nl)
- Moneybird: timesheets (moneybird.com)
- Moneybird: prijzen (moneybird.nl)
- Moneybird developer: MCP (developer.moneybird.com)
Checked on 16 October 2026. Prices and features change; check the vendor for the current state.
Compare for yourself
30 days free on your first subscription. Run Half5 next to your current tool for a week.