Rates Overview: Billing vs Cost

Rates in ClickTime help you answer two big questions: How much do we bill? and How much do we spend? Billing Rates control the price you charge your clients. Cost Rates represent the internal cost of your team’s work. Together, they power profitability reporting in ClickTime.

Related setup pages: Billing Rates overview | Cost Rates overview | Rate settings in Company Preferences

You can jump to:

• Key concepts
• How ClickTime picks a rate for a time entry
• Billing Rates overview
• Cost Rates overview
• Rate settings in Company Preferences
• Reporting on rates and profitability
• FAQs and common points of confusion

Key concepts

At a high level, ClickTime works with two main rate types and a few related ideas.

• Billing Rate — The amount you bill clients for an hour of work. Billing Rates can be set at different levels (Person, Project, Task, or in Advanced models with exceptions).
• Cost Rate — The internal cost of an hour of work. Cost Rates are defined per Person and can be hourly or, for salaried staff, based on a cost per timesheet.
• Billable status — Whether hours are billable or non-billable. This is controlled by Project or Task, depending on your Company Preferences.
• Default Billing Rate — A global hourly rate you can reuse anywhere that an item is set to "Default" instead of a custom value.
• Rate structure — The model that determines where Billing Rates are set. You can use Basic models (by Person, Project, or Task) or Advanced models that combine a default layer with exceptions.
• Client vs Project vs Task rates — In Advanced models you can keep a default rate (for a Person or Task) and then override that rate for specific Clients, Projects, or People.

If you only remember one thing from this section, remember this:

How ClickTime picks a rate for a time entry

Every time entry in ClickTime stores a Billing Rate and a Cost Rate at the time it is last saved. Later changes to rate settings can optionally be pushed to existing entries, depending on your choices and permissions.

At a high level, ClickTime follows this pattern when a time entry is saved:

1. Look at your Rate Structure in Company > Preferences.
2. Based on that structure, find the correct Billing Rate on the relevant Person, Project, Task, or Client.
3. If Advanced Billing is enabled, check whether an exception applies (for example, a special rate for a specific Client or Project).
4. If the rate is set to Default, use the global Default Billing Rate.
5. For Cost Rates, read the Person’s current Cost settings — either an hourly Cost Rate or a temporary projected hourly cost for salaried staff.

When you later change a Billing Rate or Cost Rate, ClickTime does not automatically rewrite history. Instead, the edit screen gives you options to apply the new rate to existing time entries (subject to lock settings, Audit Log rules, and DCAA restrictions, if applicable).

For full details, see the dedicated article: Changing Historical Rates and Audit Log.

Billing Rates overview

Billing Rates determine what you charge for an hour of work. You will choose one of several rate structures in Company > Preferences.

• Basic Billing Rates
  • By Person — The rate is defined on each Person.
  • By Project — The rate is defined on each Project.
  • By Task — The rate is defined on each Task.
• Advanced Billing Rates (Team plan or higher) — You choose a default level and then manage exceptions:
  • Task, with exceptions for certain Projects.
  • Task, with exceptions for certain People.
  • Person, with exceptions for certain Clients.
  • Person, with exceptions for certain Projects.

Each model uses the same basic building blocks:

• Default — Use the standard rate (for example, the Task rate, or the Person rate, or the global Default Billing Rate).
• Custom — Enter a specific rate for a Person, Client, Project, or Task.
• Flat — Use one rate for all time against a specific Client or Project, regardless of which Person or Task is used.

For step by step configuration instructions, see:

• Billing Rates (Basic): by Person, Project, or Task
• Billing Rates (Advanced): default and exceptions
• Set Up Rates in Company Preferences

Cost Rates overview

Cost Rates track the internal cost of your team’s work. Cost settings are managed on the Person Details page.

• Hourly Cost Rate — A single hourly cost for the Person. This is the most common model and works well for hourly staff and straightforward cost tracking.
• Salaried Cost (cost per timesheet) — Available on Premier and higher plans. You enter a cost per timesheet and a projected hourly cost. After a timesheet is approved, an Administrator can run Adjust Salaried Costs to distribute the cost per timesheet across all hours on that timesheet.

You can set a Default Cost Rate in Company > Preferences for new People. You can also use the Cost Rate calculator on the Person Details page to estimate an hourly cost based on salary, expected hours, bonuses, and overhead.

When you update a Person’s Cost Rate, you can optionally apply the new rate to existing unlocked time entries back to a specified date. Locked and approved timesheets must be reopened before their Cost Rates can be changed.

For detailed steps, see:

• Cost Rates (Hourly): set and update
• Cost Rates (Salaried): Adjust Salaried Costs

Rate settings in Company Preferences

Rate behavior is controlled from the Company > Preferences page, in the Billing Rates, Person Defaults, and Security sections.

• Enable time billing features so Billing Rate options appear throughout the site.
• Choose your Rate Structure (Basic or Advanced family).
• Decide whether Billable status is controlled by Project or Task. If your organization uses Resource Management, billable status must be set by Project.
• Set the global Default Billing Rate, and decide whether to apply changes to existing time entries that currently use the Default rate.
• In the Security section, choose whether Administrators can apply historical Billing Rate changes to existing time entries when Audit Log is enabled.
• Configure your Company Lock Date, which prevents historical changes before a specific date.

A separate article, Set Up Rates in Company Preferences, walks through each setting with screenshots and examples.

Reporting on rates and profitability

Once Billing and Cost Rates are in place, you can use ClickTime reports to understand how projects and clients are performing.

• Billable Amount — The Billing Rate multiplied by billable hours in the report range.
• Total Cost — The Cost Rate multiplied by hours worked.
• Profit — Billable Amount minus Total Cost.

Classic reports like Profitability Summary and related Project reports rely on accurate Billing and Cost Rates. The Customizable Data Export (CDE) and Rate Card let you inspect the exact rate stored with each entry or entity. Report Studio offers additional analytics on Billable Amount, Cost, and Margin if your account includes that feature.

For more details, see Reporting on Rates and Profitability.

FAQs and common points of confusion

What is the difference between a Billing Rate and a Cost Rate?

Billing Rates control what you charge your clients. Cost Rates track your internal cost of labor. Profitability compares those two values.

What is the difference between a Client rate and a Project rate?

In Advanced Billing models that start with a Person-based rate, you can create special Client-specific rates on the Client Details page. Project rates are defined on each Project. Both can override a default rate, but they are managed in different places.

Does changing a rate automatically update historical time entries?

No. When you change a Billing Rate or Cost Rate, ClickTime gives you options on the edit screen to apply that change to existing time entries. What you can update depends on your permissions, Audit Log settings, and whether entries are locked or unlocked.

Can I see who changed rates and when?

ClickTime's audit log does not record historical rate changes to existing time entries.

Why do some managers see Cost Rates and others do not?

Access to Cost Rates is controlled by permissions on the Person Details page. Managers can be allowed to view and optionally edit Cost Rates, or be blocked from seeing those values entirely. See the Permissions for Billing and Cost Rates article for more information.

If you do not see the options described in this overview, or if a report is not showing the values you expect, please contact your local ClickTime Administrator or reach out to ClickTime Support (support@clicktime.com) for assistance.