ProductPublished June 27, 2026

Where LayerClock's Free Plan Draws the Line

When you see a tool that says "free to use," the thing you actually want to know isn't "is it free." It's how far free goes, and where paid begins — and whether the line is drawn honestly.

A free plan is the place where a tool is most honest about what it thinks matters most. So I won't hide it. Here's where LayerClock's free plan draws the line, and why we cut it there.

A Free Plan's Real Message Is "Where It Ends"

There are two ways to draw a free plan. One is "let them try every feature, just a little." A trial expires, a count caps out, locks sit at the key moments. The other is "let them use part of it forever." The range is limited, but within that range it runs free indefinitely.

These two differ more than they look. The first is a sample — "pay if you like it." The second is a boundary — "this much is yours, for good." The real question is which features you put on the "free forever" side. That's where a tool's true intent shows.

LayerClock is the second kind. And we decided what goes on the free side with a single principle.

The record itself is free. Turning the record into insight is where paid begins.

On the Free Side: Everything You Need for a Record You Can Trust

Use LayerClock for free, and you can do the following — with no time limit:

Tracking itself. Press a task's timer, and that task and its parent phase and project move to in progress, while the time keeps running across every screen until you stop it.
A 4-level WBS (project, phase, deliverable, task) that records your work in its structure.
Up to 3 projects, with 6 months of history retained.
Progress in a list view.
Spinning up a project in one click from a role-based preset template.

Line them up and you'll notice: everything you need to build a record you can trust is on the free side. Because the accuracy of the record is the one foundation you can't recover after the fact. Why we make you track with a timer rather than "type it in later" is in Why We Made the Timer 'Force Start'.

On the Paid Side: Drawing Insight Out of an Accumulated Record

What we put from the Business plan (980 yen / month) onward is the set of features that turn an accumulated record into decisions:

Charts and detailed reports like burndown and EAC (estimate at completion)
Hourly-rate conversion and profitability analysis
Advanced filters — arbitrary date ranges, year-over-year comparison
CSV export
Saving your own WBS templates
API access and integrations like GitHub
Unlimited projects and 36 months of data retention

What they share is that every one of them is a step beyond "recording" — they're on the side of accumulating the record over time and drawing something out of it. Reading trends on a chart, pushing data out as CSV, computing profitability — none of it means anything until a record you can trust is already in hand.

Why We Cut It There

There's one reason: we didn't want to hold the record itself hostage.

A tool that charges for the tracking itself keeps your data asleep until you pay. But a time record is the kind of thing that's lost forever the moment you stop taking it. Backfill it from memory later and it's no longer real. So we put tracking and recording on the side anyone can keep taking, accurately, forever.

What we ask you to pay for is the step after that: when six months, a year of records have piled up and you want to decide, from the data, "is this project actually profitable?" and "where should I fix my next estimate?" That's when charts, profitability analysis, and long retention start to earn their keep. Build an accurate foundation for free, harvest the fruit from it on paid — if we were going to draw a line, this was the only place for it.

The Other Line: 3 Projects, 6 Months

Apart from the feature line, there's a line of quantity. Free means 3 projects, 6 months of retained history, and personal use (sharing with a team is paid).

This is the line between "trying it solo / using it lightly" and "running it continuously for real work." Honestly, 3 may feel like few. But once you start using it for real, unlimited projects and years of history will sooner or later become necessary. We'd rather you decide whether 980 yen a month is worth it while taking real records inside the free range — than be rushed by a ticking trial. We thought that was the more honest design.

Honestly

If your wish is "use every feature for free," this line won't grant it. Charts, CSV, profitability analysis all sit on the paid side. We won't hide that.

But even within the free range, the record you take there is real. Not time-limited trial data — your actual work, kept as-is. If you don't like it, no reason to pay arises. When you do like it, and want to make more of the record you've accumulated, that's when to consider Business. The free plan is meant to be an honest doorway to exactly that.

Summary

What to really look at in a free plan isn't "is it free" but "where it ends, and whether that line is honest"
LayerClock's line is drawn on one principle — the record itself is free; turning the record into insight is where paid begins
Free side = tracking, 4-level WBS, 3 projects, 6-month retention, preset templates = everything you need for a record you can trust
Paid side = charts/EAC, profitability analysis, CSV, template saving, API/integrations, unlimited, 36 months = drawing something out of an accumulated record
The quantity line (3 projects, 6 months, personal use) exists so you can judge for yourself while taking real records, without a trial clock rushing you

The free range described here is available for real use in LayerClock. Tracking accurately with a timer and recording it in its structure across a 4-level WBS (project, phase, deliverable, task) stays free, for good. When you like it and want to make use of your accumulated record with charts and profitability analysis, consider Business at 980 yen a month.

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