Margin — A planner for people who run a business and a life from the same desk

"When can you start?"

You open your calendar and grimace. Next week? Sure, why not.

Several days into the project, you remember… the kids are home next week. The retainer client wants edits. And you probably shouldn't reschedule that lunch again.

Then there are the financial questions. Was that one project really that profitable? You think it took two months. You're not sure.

Margin helps you to map out your commitments each week, so you can live a (relatively) balanced life.

Protect your time off Bill what you're worth Get your plan out of spreadsheets

We know. You don't need another overengineered app. (We've tried those.)

There are SO many apps these days, and it gets overwhelming to juggle them all. Or jimmy-rig that one project management tool you already pay for.

Our founder got tired of trying to make bad-fit software work, but needed something better than a spreadsheet. That's how Margin clawed its way out of a Google Sheet and into the world.

How it works

Three things, done well.

No tasks or swimlanes. No Gantt-shaped guilt trips. Plan your time, log your time, look at your time. (Smile.)

01 · Plan

Can you take it on?

See every project laid out across the weeks ahead. Spot the week you've already stuffed too full and decide how you want to space things out.

02 · Track

Type a line. Done.

Nobody likes tracking time. And the timers and dropdowns don't make it easy. In Margin, you type your entry in plain language, and the smart system labels everything for you.

03 · Analyze

Did your plan match reality?

See which projects pay what you thought, and which ones don't. Get smarter (and less stressed) every month.

A closer look

Plan

What's on your plate over time

The Plan view shows the categories you care about, stretched across upcoming weeks. Drop in how many hours you think each one will take, and Margin totals it up by week, so you can see how busy you'll be.

It allows you to mix business and life. It also lets you cap your hours at whatever weekly limit you want, so you'll get a gentle reminder if you're off track.

MMargin

PlanTrackAnalyze

‹ 10 earlier

This week32h

May 18-2235h

Personal

Personal · ongoing

AI experiments

Business · ongoing

Kids off school

Personal · ongoing

8hMemorial Day

Fox & Fig

Client · $27,000

20hHeavy research: GA deep-dive…

20h

Saltwater Co.

Client · $9,450

1hMiscellaneous admin

Track

Log a session in five seconds.

Look, we know that nobody likes to track time. (It's like scheduling a dentist appointment — nice in theory, but happens less often than it should.)

We can't promise you'll love time tracking, but we did make it a heckuva lot easier.

In Margin, you type @client 1h discovery call and you're done. The @ pulls up your categories. It knows you're talking about today. Or type "yesterday" and it logs the right date for you.

MMargin

PlanTrackAnalyze

Log time

Use @ for category and add hours like 1h or 30m.

@fox 1h discovery call

Frequent: Personal · Fox & Fig · Kids Off · Podcast

Today · May 13

Fox & Fig · discovery call2h

Saltwater Co. · scheduling0.25h

Yesterday · May 12

Personal · workout1.5h

Analyze

Check your gut. Get paid more.

After a few weeks of tracking, the Analyze view starts answering the questions you want answers to.

Project rates. For your fixed-price work, what will you earn per hour at the end? Sorted worst-first, so the project bleeding you shows up at the top.

Budget burn. How much of the time you planned for this project have you already used? Are you ahead, on track, or about to blow through it?

Recurring tasks. See phrases that keep showing up in your time entries, ranked by total hours. If "revisions" or "rewrites" or "follow-up" keeps eating your week, you'll see it.

MMargin

PlanTrackAnalyze

Project rates · last 12 weeks

Sorted worst-first.

Saltwater Co.

$62/h

scope creep flag · 7h over plan

Birch & Bramble

$168/h

on pace · 53h planned

Fox & Fig

$209/h

ahead of pace · 115h planned

Coming soon

Make Margin chat with Claude.

We're building a Margin connection for Claude. Ask Claude what's on your plate next month. Or have Claude send over the hours you're estimating for a new project.

You stay in the visual side of Margin when you want. You ask Claude when you'd rather just type a question. (You don't need both. It's just there if you want it.)

Which retainer is underwater this quarter?

Your Saltwater Co. retainer is running at $62/hr — about 7 hours over plan. The other two retainers (Fox & Fig and Birch & Bramble) are both profitable.

What's on my plate next month?

June has 124 planned hours across 6 projects. Two weeks are over your 32h cap (Jun 8 and Jun 15).

Ask about your plate, your rates, your week…↑

What it's not

A short list of things Margin can't do:

A project management tool

There are no tasks, no boards, no assignees, no dependencies. Margin plans hours, not deliverables.

A big-team tool

Margin fits one to five people. More than that, you want something else.

A Gantt chart

The grid is a planning surface, not a dependency map. You won't find critical paths or milestones here.

An invoicing tool

Margin tells you what to charge next time. Your invoicing tool can keep doing its thing.

An AI assistant

Margin won't write your emails or rewrite your strategy. It plays nicely with Claude (the MCP is coming) — but Margin itself is a visual tool, not a chatbot.

Who it's for

🔄

Pattern repeaters

Said yes again. Drowning again.

🤔

Vibes-based planners

Answering "can I fit this in?" with feeling, not data.

📅

Calendar-Tetris solopreneurs

Running a business and a life from the same desk.

💸

Fixed-fee quoters

Tired of finding out at year-end whether the price was right.

📊

Spreadsheet quitters

Built it. Maintained it for…a month.

🎯

Estimate optimists

Always thought it'd take less time than it did.

FAQ

Questions?

Do I have to track time to make this worthwhile?

No. You'll get more out of it if you do. But the ability to sort out what is coming up and how to pencil it all out is the real power of this app.

Why not just ask Claude to do this?

You could. But you'd be building and maintaining it yourself every week. Margin is the visual + the tracking, pre-built. When the Claude MCP ships, you can use both.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. One click. Your access continues to the end of your billed period.

Is my data private?

Yes. Your data stays yours. We don't train AI on it. We don't sell it.

How long does it take to set up?

Under ten minutes. Drop in your categories, drop in some hours, and start logging.

How is this different from Toggl or Harvest?

Toggl and Harvest are time trackers. Margin is too, but it also helps you plan ahead, and shows you what each project actually paid.

How is this different than Asana?

Asana is a task tool. Margin plans hours, not deliverables.

What about Float or Sunsama?

Float is for staffing teams of 11 or more. Sunsama is for daily planning. Margin is forward capacity + tracking + the learning loop, in one place, for one person.

Will you eventually support teams?

Working on it. If you've got 2 to 5 people, hit the Inquire button and we'll keep you in the loop.

Stop planning your weeks on vibes.

"When can you start?"

We know. You don't need another overengineered app. (We've tried those.)

Three things, done well.

Can you take it on?

Type a line. Done.

Did your plan match reality?

A closer look

What's on your plate over time

Log a session in five seconds.

Check your gut. Get paid more.

Make Margin chat with Claude.

What it's not

A project management tool

A big-team tool

A Gantt chart

An invoicing tool

An AI assistant

Who it's for

Pattern repeaters

Vibes-based planners

Calendar-Tetris solopreneurs

Fixed-fee quoters

Spreadsheet quitters

Estimate optimists

What it costs

For one person

For small teams

Questions?

Stop guessing what fits.