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How to track multiple client projects as a freelancer: a simple spreadsheet setup (with formulas to copy)
With several clients at once, the hard part isn't the work, it's knowing what's due, what's stuck, how many hours each job has used and what you haven't billed yet. Here's a plain spreadsheet setup that answers those questions: four tabs, the columns to put on each, statuses that mean one thing, formulas for due status, hours left and unbilled hours, a one-glance overview, and a weekly review you can copy. It works in any country and any currency, because it has no money columns at all.
General information, not tax or legal advice. What records you must keep, and for how long, depends on where you're taxed and on what the records support.
Ask an accountant or your tax authority if you're unsure. We have no affiliate links or deals with anyone mentioned here.
The short answer
- One file, four tabs: Clients, Projects, Tasks and Hours, linked by a short project code (and an Overview on top).
- Every project gets a status, a due date and budget hours; formulas work out hours logged, hours left, open tasks and whether it's overdue or due soon.
- Log hours against the project code, mark them billable or not, and write the invoice number once you've billed them, so unbilled hours show up on their own.
- Review it once a week: hours, statuses, next tasks, follow-ups, anything over budget.
- Keep it with your records. Tax agencies don't mention project trackers, but they do say records must back up your income. For example, the IRS says: "You may choose any recordkeeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses." (IRS).
1. What to keep track of
Our suggestion, as general practice. Keep each kind of thing in its own list, so nothing is typed twice:
| List | One row per | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Clients | client | Who's active, who's a lead, and when you next need to get in touch. |
| Projects | job or engagement | What's due when, its status, hours used against the budget, open tasks, unbilled hours. |
| Tasks | task or milestone | What's next on each project, what's blocked, and what's overdue. |
| Hours | block of time | Which project the time went to, whether it's billable, and whether it's been invoiced. |
| Overview | (a few totals) | Everything overdue or due soon, over budget hours, and unbilled hours, in one place. |
We left money out on purpose. Rates, amounts and payments belong in your invoicing (our free invoice generator, or a billing spreadsheet), so the tracker works the same in any currency and never disagrees with your invoices.
2. The tabs and columns
Make four tabs with these exact names (the formulas below refer to them) and put these headings on the first row of each. Columns in italics are formulas; leave them for section four.
| Tab | Columns, in order |
|---|---|
| Clients | Client, Contact, Email, Status, Next follow-up, Follow-up status, Notes |
| Projects | Code, Client, Project, Status, Start, Due, Budget hours, Hours logged, Hours left, Open tasks, Due status, Unbilled hours |
| Tasks | Project, Task, Status, Priority, Due, Due status |
| Hours | Date, Project, Hours, Billable, Note, Invoice |
- Project code: short and unique (a client initial and a running number works). It's what links Tasks and Hours to Projects, so type it the same way everywhere.
- Dates: real dates, not text, or the due-status formulas can't compare them with today. Most spreadsheet apps right-align a value they've understood as a date.
- Billable: Yes or No. Invoice: leave it blank until you've billed those hours, then type the invoice number.
Headings to copy (under each tab name, the line of headings is tab-separated; paste it into the first cell of that tab. If it all lands in one cell, use your app's split-text-to-columns option):
Clients
Client Contact Email Status Next follow-up Follow-up status Notes
Projects
Code Client Project Status Start Due Budget hours Hours logged Hours left Open tasks Due status Unbilled hours
Tasks
Project Task Status Priority Due Due status
Hours
Date Project Hours Billable Note Invoice3. Statuses that mean one thing
Pick a short list for each and stick to it (a drop-down or data-validation list helps). Ours:
- Clients: Lead, Active, Paused and Past.
- Projects: Not started, Active, On hold and Done.
- Tasks: Todo, Doing, Blocked and Done.
The formulas only treat the exact word Done as finished, so keep that spelling. "Blocked" is worth having on tasks: it's usually where a client is holding something up, and the reason to follow up.
4. Formulas for due status, hours left and unbilled hours
Put each formula in the first data row of its column (row two, under the headings), then fill it down as far as you need. "Due soon" means within 7 days, which is our choice; change that number in the formulas to suit.
Clients tab
Follow-up status (column F):
=IF(E2="","",IF(E2<TODAY(),"Overdue",IF(E2-TODAY()<=7,"Due soon","Scheduled")))
Projects tab
Hours logged (column H):
=SUMIF(Hours!B:B,A2,Hours!C:C)
Hours left (column I):
=IF(G2="","",G2-H2)
Open tasks (column J):
=COUNTIFS(Tasks!A:A,A2,Tasks!C:C,"<>Done")
Due status (column K):
=IF(F2="","",IF(D2="Done","Done",IF(F2<TODAY(),"Overdue",IF(F2-TODAY()<=7,"Due soon","On track"))))
Unbilled hours (column L):
=SUMIFS(Hours!C:C,Hours!B:B,A2,Hours!D:D,"Yes",Hours!F:F,"")
Tasks tab
Due status (column F):
=IF(E2="","",IF(C2="Done","Done",IF(E2<TODAY(),"Overdue",IF(E2-TODAY()<=7,"Due soon","On track"))))- Hours logged adds every Hours row with the project's code. Hours left is budget hours minus that (negative means over budget).
- Open tasks counts the project's tasks that aren't Done. Due status says Done, Overdue, Due soon or On track, and stays blank with no due date.
- Unbilled hours adds the project's billable hours with no invoice number yet.
- Separators: these use commas. If your spreadsheet app uses semicolons between arguments (common with some language settings), swap them.
- Where we checked them: in LibreOffice Calc 25.2, with made-up rows dated around the check date: every result matched what we worked out by hand. IF, SUMIF, SUMIFS, COUNTIF, COUNTIFS and TODAY are standard functions in Excel and Google Sheets too, but we haven't run these exact formulas there.
5. An overview you can read at a glance
Add a fifth tab called Overview with a label in one column and a formula next to it:
Projects overdue:
=COUNTIF(Projects!K:K,"Overdue")
Projects due soon:
=COUNTIF(Projects!K:K,"Due soon")
Tasks overdue:
=COUNTIF(Tasks!F:F,"Overdue")
Follow-ups overdue:
=COUNTIF(Clients!F:F,"Overdue")
Projects over budget hours:
=COUNTIF(Projects!I:I,"<0")
Unbilled hours, all projects:
=SUM(Projects!L:L)Statuses that use today's date update when the file recalculates (usually when you open or edit it). A spreadsheet won't remind you of anything on its own, which is why the weekly review matters.
6. A weekly review
General practice: the tracker is only as good as the last time you updated it. A short, fixed review each week keeps it true. Copy and adjust:
Weekly review — [day and time]
- Log any hours you haven't logged yet (Hours tab), with a note.
- Update every project's status and due date (Projects tab).
- Close finished tasks; add the next task for each active project (Tasks tab).
- Look at the Overview: anything overdue, due soon or over budget hours?
- Anything over budget hours: is it a change request? Talk to the client before doing more.
- Unbilled hours: invoice what's due under your agreed terms, then write the invoice number on those Hours rows.
- Set each client's next follow-up date (Clients tab).
- Plan next week: the [number] tasks that matter most, and the time they need.7. Hours against the budget, and extra work
- Set budget hours from the quote, even on a fixed-price job: it's how you see early that a job is running long.
- Hours left going negative is a signal, not a verdict: either your estimate was off or the job grew. If the client asked for more, treat it as a change request, agree it, then raise the budget hours by what was agreed and add the change as a task.
- Prepaid hours or retainers: the same Budget hours and Hours left columns show what's left of the block (see deposits and retainers for unused-hours wording).
- Log time as you go, or at least daily; our free timesheet works in the browser if you'd rather log hours there and copy the totals in.
- Bill from the Hours tab under your agreed payment terms, then write the invoice number on the rows you billed, so they drop out of Unbilled hours.
8. Keeping the records: what tax agencies say
None of the pages below mentions project trackers or hours logs by name. They're about business records for tax. Whether your tracker counts depends on what it supports: an hours log or a project's emails that back up what you invoiced are worth keeping with the invoices, for as long as you keep those.
| Where | What the official page says (read 2026-10-14) |
|---|---|
| United States (IRS) | "You may choose any recordkeeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses." "You should keep supporting documents that show the amounts and sources of your gross receipts." (IRS: What kind of records should I keep). How long: "Generally, you must keep your records that support an item of income, deduction or credit shown on your tax return until the period of limitations for that tax return runs out." In the usual case that's 3 years; the page lists situations that need longer. And: "When your records are no longer needed for tax purposes, do not discard them until you check to see if you have to keep them longer for other purposes." (IRS: How long should I keep records?). |
| United Kingdom (GOV.UK) | You must make sure that your records are accurate and that you can identify business transactions. If you use traditional accounting, the page also lists records of what you’re owed but have not received yet and the value of stock and work in progress at the end of your accounting period (GOV.UK: What records to keep). How long: "You must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year." (GOV.UK: How long to keep your records). |
| Canada (CRA) | "Records are organized accounting and financial documents that summarize your transactions and include the documents to support these transactions." The CRA's list includes contracts, work orders, working papers, logbooks, emails and all correspondence that support your transactions (CRA: What are records). How long: "Generally, you must keep all required records and supporting documents for a period of six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to." Where: "You must keep records at your place of business or your residence in Canada, unless the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) gives you written permission to keep them elsewhere." and "Records kept outside of Canada and accessed electronically from Canada are not considered to be records kept in Canada." (CRA: Where to keep your records, for how long). |
| Elsewhere | We haven't checked other countries' record-keeping rules for this page. Ask your tax authority or an accountant. |
- Keep a copy you control: a dated export at year end (and before you delete old rows) is simple general practice.
- In Canada, cloud files raise a "where" question. The CRA quote above is about records kept outside Canada; we haven't checked how it applies to any particular cloud service. If your tracker supports your tax records, ask the CRA or an accountant.
- Client data: a client list holds names and emails. Keep only what you need, and don't share the file more widely than the work requires.
Page dates on the check date: IRS records page 2026-08-03, IRS how-long page 2026-06-30; GOV.UK pages 2015-01-23; CRA records page 2025-06-17, CRA where/how-long page 2026-08-03.
9. A spreadsheet or a project app?
An honest comparison, as general practice. Neither is better for everyone:
| Spreadsheet (this setup) | Project management app | |
|---|---|---|
| Good at | Your own columns, sums and statuses; works offline; one file you own; no new account. | Reminders and notifications, sharing tasks with clients or collaborators, comments and file attachments on tasks. |
| Weak at | No reminders; easy to break a formula; awkward to share with clients. | Hours and budgets often need a paid plan or another tool; your data lives in someone else's service. |
| Fits | A solo freelancer with a handful of active projects who reviews weekly. | Work shared with a team or a client who wants to see progress day to day. |
Many freelancers end up with both: an app for day-to-day tasks with the client, and a spreadsheet for hours, budgets and what's unbilled.
10. The checklist
- Four tabs (Clients, Projects, Tasks, Hours) plus an Overview, named exactly as the formulas expect.
- A unique project code on every project, task and hours row.
- Real dates in date columns; one short status list per tab, with Done spelled the same way.
- Budget hours from the quote on every project, even fixed-price ones.
- Formulas filled down for hours logged, hours left, open tasks, due status and unbilled hours.
- Hours logged with billable yes/no, and the invoice number once billed.
- Weekly review on a fixed day; next follow-up date on every active client.
- Year-end copy kept with your invoices and other business records.
Free tools and kits
- Free timesheet: log hours by client with a billable flag, print it, or download a CSV.
- Free invoice generator: bill the unbilled hours, any currency (runs in your browser; nothing is saved).
- Free quote and estimate generator: the quote your budget hours come from.
- Freelance client onboarding checklist: the first tasks to add when a new project starts.
- Our paid Client & Project Tracker by Small Rows (US$12, one-time) is a ready-made workbook along the same lines: clients with next follow-up dates, projects with budget hours and due dates, tasks and milestones, an hours log with a billable yes/no flag, follow-ups and a dashboard of what's overdue, with drop-downs and checks on the input cells. Unlike the setup here, it has no invoice-number or unbilled-hours column; like it, it has no money tracking, and it doesn't send reminders. Tested in LibreOffice and Google Sheets; not yet opened in Microsoft Excel.
- Our paid Freelance Billing Kit by Small Rows (US$12, one-time) is the money side this setup leaves out: client payment terms, a due date on every invoice, and what's paid, part paid, open or overdue.
- Our paid Quote & Proposal Kit by Small Rows (US$12, one-time) keeps the quotes and proposals that turn into rows on your Projects tab.
- All three kits together: the All-Kits Bundle by Small Rows (US$24, one-time).
Where the sources differ
We read the pages under Sources on 2026-10-14. A few details to watch:
- Different clocks. The IRS ties how long to keep records to the period of limitations for each return; GOV.UK counts from the 31 January submission deadline; the CRA counts from the end of the last tax year the records relate to.
- Lists, not trackers. The CRA's list of records names contracts, work orders, working papers, logbooks and emails; GOV.UK mentions work in progress for traditional accounting; the IRS lets you choose your system. None says a project tracker is or isn't a record.
- Old but current pages. The GOV.UK pages show a date of 2015-01-23; they were live and current on the check date.
- Formulas are ours. No official page here covers spreadsheets or formulas; we checked them in LibreOffice Calc 25.2 only.
When to get advice
- you're unsure which records you have to keep, or for how long, where you're taxed;
- you keep business records in a cloud service and you're taxed in Canada (see the CRA quote above), or anywhere with rules on where records are kept;
- you use traditional accounting and need to value work in progress at year end;
- a client disputes the hours you billed, and your hours log is your evidence;
- you're deleting old records and aren't sure the retention period has passed.
Related free resources
- Free timesheet template and hours calculator: the hours side, in your browser.
- Scope creep and change requests: when a project goes over its budget hours because the job grew.
- Freelance client onboarding checklist: from yes to kickoff, as tasks with due dates.
- Freelance deposits and retainers explained: prepaid hours and what happens to unused ones.
- Invoice payment terms explained: when to bill the hours you've logged.
- How to write a freelance proposal: where budget hours and milestones start.
- Free expense and receipt log: the purchases side of your records.
- All free tools.
Sources
Official pages read on 2026-10-14. Check the live page before you rely on it.
- United States: IRS: What kind of records should I keep · IRS: How long should I keep records?
- United Kingdom: GOV.UK: Business records if you’re self-employed: what records to keep · GOV.UK: How long to keep your records
- Canada: CRA: What are records, who has to keep them · CRA: Where to keep your records, for how long
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