Top 3 Jira Time Tracking Add-Ons for tracking CAPEX and OPEX: A Comparative Review

[#1]

Accurate tracking and categorization of time is crucial for any organisation in order to have correct accounting. Capital expenditure (CapEx) and operating expenditure (OpEx) both have a role in effective financial planning

Usually CapEx involves long-term investments in physical assets, which are capitalized and depreciated over time. But there are many companies that have projects (example R&D projects) running in JIRA for which the main requirement is to  identify and separate the OPEX costs from the CAPEX. Sometimes companies even define separate  CAPEX and OPEX budgets that time and cost should be tracked against.

Unfortunately, JIRA does not provide all the additional functionality that an organization needs to accurately track Capex and Opex. That is why the solution is found in the Atlassian marketplace where a number of time-tracking apps are readily available at different functionality levels and price points. The question then becomes which one to choose and how to effectively differentiate between the available options.

We will compare 3 apps side-by-side for important functionality needed to effectively report on Capex and Opex as well pricing options for smaller and bigger teams. 

There are several questions that your organisation needs to ask before choosing a complete time-tracking add-on to track Capex and Opex. They are the following:

1. Will time-tracking be quick and easy for team members to do? 

It is important that time-tracking is intuitive, quick and easy for team members to do as this will increase compliance and ensure you get timely and accurate time tracking done on a regular basis. 

2. Can we organize all the time that is spent by employees in Capex and Opex Categories 

Organizing the time entered by employees for example into cross Project Capex or Opex account will create a great base for future reporting

3. Will it be easy for team members to log hours against pre categorized Capex/Opex Accounts?

This is particularly important when your team members are working on multiple projects, as is usually the case. Logging hours against the correct account is crucial for accurate Capex and Opex Reports

4. Will team members be able to log non-work time such as vacations, PTO, overtime, sick leave, admin, meetings etc.?

Having a detailed overview of time spent at a glance is a powerful tool for managing teams productivity better.

5. Can we check for missing hours that people forgot to log?

Even the easiest, most intuitive time-tracking process will leave gaps for error when team members are busy or simply forget to log worked hours. This is why you want your chosen Atlassian app to enable them to log forgotten hours easily.

6. Is it possible for users to submit timesheets for approval to their managers and team leaders?

Some Jira time-tracking add-ons offer the possibility for team members to submit timesheets for approvals to their managers so information can be double-checked and errors caught more efficiently. Like categorizing activities as Opex instead of Capex. If this is something important to your work process, look for a solution that offers it.

7. Can we get reliable and ideal Capex and Opex reports?

Having clear reports on how much time and for what period is spent on different cross project Accounts is critical. This data should be exportable and in a appropriate format

Now that we’ve discussed what important functionalities a truly reliable Jira time-tracking app should cover, we’ve plotted our top 3 picks against them in the below table, along with their pricing information. This will help you make a more informed decision on which add-ons are worth trying and most likely to fit your unique needs. Here are a few words for each solution:

Tempo Timesheets

Pros: Tempo is probably the best known and most popular Jira time tracking app. It has extensive functionality and a sleek UI. 

Cons: It comes at a higher price point so if budget is a consideration, there may be good alternatives available if you don’t need to use all of the extra features of Tempo. Approval mechanism allows only one Approver not multiples, you are not able also to set a super approver that will oversee all timesheets

Timescale 

Pros: Timescale is a relatively new addition to the market. It  has proven itself as a reliable and cost-effective alternative to Tempo. It is packed with functionality, constantly updated, yet affordable for large and small teams alike. It has a true focus on service based organization, and reporting on billable hours and clients

Cons: As a new player there are still some missing extra fine tune configurations

Cost Tracker for JIRA

Pros: Cost tracker allows you to track one-time & recurring expenses that are non jira activities and the ability to categorize them as Capex or Opex, you can associate them with users or projects

Cons: Categorizing the time spent as Capex or Opex on Jira issues is not strength forward. You would need to create special custom fields in JIRA that will represent this categorization.

Functionality	Tempo Timesheets	Timescale	Cost Tracker
Quick and easy time tracking
Categorization of Time Spent on Jira issues as Capex/Opex cross multiple projects	Using Capex/Opex Accounts	Using Capex/Opex Accounts	Work around possible via jira custom fields
Log non-work time such as vacations, PTO, overtime, trips, ets	Possible on Internal Jira issues	Possible via customly created non jira activities in app	Only on Jira issues
Tracking expenses	Additional app to buy needed	Only on Jira issues
Timesheet Approval Mechanism
Check for users missing hours	Using the timesheet team utilization	Using Team Utilization report
External Calendar Integration
Reliable and ideal Capex and Opex reports	Capex/Opex Accounts Time Reports Available + Export	Capex/Opex Accounts Time Reports Available + Export	After Exporting to excel and consolidating data based on custom fields
Price for up to 10 users (monthly)	paid	free	free
Price for 50 users (monthly)	226$	75$	75$
Price for 200 users (monthly)	771$	240$	250$

*Prices are taken for Jan of 2025

In conclusion

We hope this comparison review has helped you think more in-depth about the features and functionality you need in a time-tracking Jira app to meet your organisation’s needs. A reliable time-tracking tool can help you track Capex and Opex, expedite the accounting process, enable your teams to track time quickly and efficiently and allow you better productivity management and visibility over team and project health. A superior reporting ability will provide you with a much-needed overview of how, where and how efficiently time is spent across your teams and organisation.