Choosing the right hour tracking software is one of the most important decisions you'll make during your licensure journey. Whether you're a graduate student working toward your LMFT, LPCC, LCSW, or psychology credentials, the platform you choose will be your companion through thousands of hours of clinical work, supervision sessions, and state board reporting.
Time2Track has been a familiar name in the mental health training space for years, particularly in academic settings. But as the landscape of licensure tracking evolves, many professionals are discovering that specialized alternatives like License Trail offer features and flexibility better suited to the modern licensure journey.
This comprehensive guide compares Time2Track and License Trail across the features that matter most to mental health professionals pursuing licensure.
Overview: Time2Track vs License Trail at a Glance
Before diving into specific features, let's establish what each platform offers.
Time2Track is primarily designed for tracking practicum and internship hours during graduate training. Owned by Liaison International, the platform focuses heavily on academic program integration and APPIC application requirements for psychology students. According to the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, mental health professionals need to track between 2,000 to 3,000 hours depending on their license type, and Time2Track offers basic tracking functionality for these requirements.
License Trail takes a different approach as a purpose-built licensure tracking platform that supports your entire journey from graduate school through full licensure. Unlike generic time trackers or academic-focused systems, License Trail was specifically designed to address the compliance requirements of all 50 state licensing boards for counselors, therapists, social workers, and psychologists.
The fundamental difference: Time2Track focuses on academic program requirements, while License Trail focuses on state board licensure compliance across your entire professional development journey.
Multi-Stage Licensure Journey Support
One of the most significant differences between these platforms is how they support your complete licensure journey.
Time2Track's Approach:
Time2Track excels at tracking practicum and internship hours during your graduate program. The platform integrates well with academic institutions and provides reporting aligned with degree requirements. However, Time2Track's blog acknowledges that "transitioning from tracking practicum and internship hours in Time2Track to tracking postgraduate and professional hours for licensure" requires setting up custom activity types and treatment settings.
For post-graduate professionals, this means manually reconfiguring your tracking system just when you're starting a demanding new job and beginning your associate registration period. Many users report starting fresh with a new platform after graduation rather than adapting their Time2Track setup for licensure requirements.
License Trail's Approach:
License Trail was designed from the ground up to support three distinct stages: graduate school requirements, associate/provisional licensure, and full licensure. According to the National Board for Certified Counselors, these stages have fundamentally different documentation requirements, and License Trail accommodates all of them in a single, integrated system.
The platform automatically adjusts tracking categories, supervision requirements, and reporting formats as you progress from student to associate to fully licensed professional. When you transition from tracking your master's program hours to your APCC or AMFT hours, nothing gets lost. Your historical data remains accessible while your current tracking adapts to state board requirements.
This eliminates the common problem of having clinical hours scattered across spreadsheets, multiple software platforms, and paper logs that professionals often face when using academic-focused tracking systems.
State-Specific Compliance and Multi-State Support
State licensing boards have remarkably different requirements for clinical hours, supervision ratios, and documentation standards. This is where the choice of tracking software becomes critical.
Time2Track's State Compliance:
Time2Track offers general tracking categories that can be customized for different state requirements. However, users must research their state's specific rules and manually configure their account to match. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy notes that supervision requirements vary significantly by state, ranging from weekly individual supervision to varying ratios of group-to-individual supervision hours.
For professionals pursuing licensure in multiple states or planning to relocate, this means potentially reconfiguring your tracking system to match different state board requirements. Time2Track's pricing page indicates they charge $5.99 per month for individual users, which only covers tracking for one licensure path.
License Trail's State Compliance:
License Trail supports all 50 states with built-in compliance rules for each state's licensing board requirements. The platform automatically enforces hour limits (such as California's 40-hour weekly maximum), supervision ratios, and specific category requirements mandated by your state board.
According to the Board of Behavioral Sciences, California LPCCs need exactly 1,750 direct client hours including 150 hours in hospital or community mental health settings. License Trail's California LPCC profile automatically tracks these subcategories and warns you if entries don't meet board requirements. This level of state-specific enforcement prevents costly mistakes that could delay your licensure.
For professionals tracking multiple licenses simultaneously, such as someone pursuing both LMFT and LPCC credentials, License Trail allows tracking both paths in a single account without additional fees. The Professional plan at $9.99/month supports unlimited license types across all states.
Supervision Tracking and Compliance
Proper supervision documentation is one of the most scrutinized aspects of licensure applications. State boards regularly audit supervision records, and missing signatures or incorrect ratios can delay licensure by months.
Time2Track's Supervision Features:
Time2Track offers online supervisor approval for all users, allowing supervisors to review and approve logged hours digitally. This is a significant improvement over the previous paper-based system. Users can generate reports for supervisor signatures during supervision sessions.
However, supervision tracking in Time2Track requires manual calculation of ratios and ensuring compliance with your state's requirements. If you're working under multiple supervisors or across multiple sites, you need to manually track which hours count toward which supervision requirements.
License Trail's Supervision Features:
License Trail's supervision system is built around state board compliance requirements. The platform automatically calculates your supervision ratios, tracks individual versus group supervision hours, and alerts you when you're not meeting your state's minimum supervision requirements.
The New York State Education Department requires mental health counselors to receive at least one hour per week or four hours per month of supervision. License Trail tracks this automatically and flags weeks where supervision requirements weren't met, preventing you from submitting non-compliant hours to your board.
The Supervision HQ tier ($24.99/month) goes further by providing supervisors with a complete dashboard to manage multiple supervisees, approve hours with digital signatures, track supervision session notes, and even generate invoices for supervision services. This integrated approach eliminates the common problem of supervisees and supervisors using different tracking methods that need to be reconciled later.
Reporting and Board Documentation
When it's time to apply for licensure, you need reports that exactly match your state board's requirements. This is where many tracking systems fall short.
Time2Track's Reporting:
Time2Track provides charts, graphs, and summary reports showing your progress. Users can print reports for supervisor signatures and generate summaries of training experiences. The system is particularly well-aligned with APPIC application requirements for psychology doctoral students.
For state board applications, however, users often need to export data and reformat it to match their specific board's forms. Many state boards have their own official forms that don't align with Time2Track's standard reports, requiring manual data transfer.
License Trail's Reporting:
License Trail generates state-board-ready reports that match the exact format required by your licensing board. When it's time to submit your hours to the California Board of Behavioral Sciences or any other state board, you can export reports that align with official forms and documentation requirements.
The platform maintains an audit trail of all entries, edits, and supervisor approvals, which is critical if your board questions any aspect of your application. According to Good Therapy, proper documentation is "only as good as your ability to document the fact that you completed the supervision." License Trail ensures every hour, every supervision session, and every approval is permanently documented with timestamps and digital records.
Reports can be filtered by date range, supervisor, site, or activity type, making it easy to provide exactly the documentation your board requests without sorting through years of entries.
User Experience and Mobile Access
Mental health professionals are busy. You're seeing clients, attending supervision, completing documentation, and managing the demands of clinical work. Your hour tracking software should fit seamlessly into your workflow, not add to your administrative burden.
Time2Track's User Experience:
Time2Track describes itself as "mobile-friendly" and allows users to log clinical activities from anywhere. The interface is functional and serves its primary purpose of tracking hours. According to testimonials on their website, the program is "problem free" and "user-friendly."
However, the system's academic focus means the interface and terminology are built around practicum sites, training directors, and program requirements rather than the language of licensure and state boards. Post-graduate professionals need to mentally translate their clinical work into the system's academic framework.
License Trail's User Experience:
License Trail's interface is designed specifically for the licensure journey, using the exact terminology you'll encounter on state board websites and application forms. The dashboard immediately shows your progress toward licensure requirements, highlights any compliance issues, and provides clear next steps.
Mobile access allows you to log hours immediately after client sessions or supervision meetings, ensuring accuracy while details are fresh. The platform auto-calculates totals, applies state-specific rules, and provides real-time feedback on whether entries meet board requirements.
The learning curve is minimal because the platform mirrors the way state boards think about clinical hours, not how academic programs structure training experiences.
Pricing and Value Comparison
Let's break down the cost comparison in concrete terms.
Time2Track Pricing:
Time2Track offers a free plan with limited features and a 30-day free trial for paid plans. The individual plan costs $5.99 per month. For academic institutions and organizations, enterprise pricing is available but not publicly listed. Based on publicly available information, Time2Track's pricing is competitive for graduate students working on a single license type.
However, if you're tracking multiple licenses, working across multiple states, or planning your entire journey from student to fully licensed professional, the value equation changes. Time2Track's blog notes that users need to manually add custom activity types and settings when transitioning to post-graduate tracking, which essentially means setting up a new tracking system within the platform.
License Trail Pricing:
License Trail offers four pricing tiers designed for different stages of your career:
- Student Plan: Free until graduation, supporting all basic tracking and multi-license tracking
- Professional Plan: $9.99/month with advanced compliance tools, unlimited license types, all 50 states, export documentation, and priority support
- Supervision HQ: $24.99/month adding complete supervisee management, digital sign-offs, audit dashboards, and invoicing
- Faculty Access: Free for faculty to oversee student cohorts
The critical difference: License Trail's pricing includes unlimited license types and all 50 states in every paid tier. If you're tracking LMFT and LPCC simultaneously in California while maintaining your credentials from another state, you pay one price. According to the American Counseling Association, many professionals pursue multiple credentials to expand their practice opportunities, and License Trail's pricing model accommodates this without additional costs.
Over a typical three-year associate period, the Professional plan costs about $360 total. For a complete solution that handles graduate school, associate licensure, and full licensure compliance across all relevant states and license types, this represents significant value compared to piecing together multiple tools or manually managing spreadsheets.
Customer Support and Professional Resources
Technical support becomes critical when you're troubleshooting an entry error at midnight before a supervision session or trying to generate reports for an urgent board submission.
Time2Track Support:
Time2Track provides customer support and notes that they are "constantly improving Time2Track based on feedback from customers." Their blog offers resources on tracking hours, professional development, and career guidance for behavioral health students and early career professionals.
The support structure is oriented toward program administrators and training directors, as Time2Track's primary customer base is academic institutions purchasing group accounts for their students.
License Trail Support:
License Trail's Professional tier includes priority support specifically for licensure compliance questions. The support team understands state board requirements and can help troubleshoot compliance issues, not just technical problems.
Because License Trail's entire focus is licensure tracking, the knowledge base and support resources address exactly the questions mental health professionals have about state board requirements, supervision documentation, and application preparation. You're not competing with students using the platform for APPIC applications or other unrelated academic requirements.
Data Security and Professional Standards
Your clinical hour logs contain sensitive information about your work settings, supervisors, and professional development. While they don't contain protected health information (PHI) about clients, they still require secure handling.
Time2Track Security:
Time2Track states that users can "store them in Time2Track and rest easy knowing your hard earned hours are safe and secure." As part of Liaison International, a large educational technology company, Time2Track operates within enterprise-level security infrastructure.
License Trail Security:
License Trail employs industry-standard encryption, secure cloud storage, and regular backups to protect your licensure data. The platform maintains audit trails of all entries and modifications, which serves both as a security feature and as documentation if your state board questions any aspect of your hour logs.
Both platforms maintain appropriate security standards for professional documentation.
Making the Transition: What Current Time2Track Users Should Know
If you're currently using Time2Track and considering a switch to License Trail, here's what the transition looks like.
Exporting Your Data:
Time2Track allows users to export their tracked hours and experience data. You can download reports showing all your logged activities, supervision hours, and site information.
Importing to License Trail:
License Trail's Professional plan includes assistance with importing historical data from other tracking systems. Your existing hours don't need to be manually re-entered. The import process maps your Time2Track categories to state board-compliant categories in License Trail.
Timing Your Transition:
The ideal time to transition is at a natural break point, such as:
- Moving from graduate school to associate registration
- Starting work at a new site or with a new supervisor
- Beginning to track hours in a new state
- Switching from one license type to another (like AMFT to APCC)
Many professionals use Time2Track during graduate school (when their program requires it) and switch to License Trail when they register as an associate and begin tracking post-degree clinical hours for licensure.
Real-World Scenarios: Which Platform Fits Your Situation?
Let's examine common situations to illustrate when each platform makes the most sense.
Scenario 1: Graduate Student Completing Practicum
Sarah is completing her master's in clinical psychology at a university that uses Time2Track for all students. She's tracking hours toward her degree requirements and APPIC internship applications.
Best Choice: Time2Track. Sarah's program already uses it, her supervisors are familiar with it, and it serves the academic requirements perfectly. She should plan to transition to License Trail when she begins her post-doctoral supervised experience for state licensure.
Scenario 2: APCC Pursuing LPCC in California
James graduated two years ago, is registered as an APCC, and has accumulated 1,200 hours toward his 3,000-hour LPCC requirement. He's working in a community mental health setting and has two supervisors.
Best Choice: License Trail. James needs California-specific tracking that enforces BBS supervision requirements, calculates his direct client hours versus non-clinical hours, and tracks his required 150 hours in a community mental health setting. License Trail's state-specific compliance ensures his hours will meet board scrutiny when he applies for full licensure.
Scenario 3: LMFT Pursuing Additional LPCC Licensure
Maria is a fully licensed LMFT considering adding LPCC credentials to expand her practice. She needs to track additional clinical hours and supervision for the LPCC application while maintaining her LMFT continuing education.
Best Choice: License Trail. Maria needs to track multiple license types simultaneously, and License Trail's Professional plan supports unlimited licenses without additional cost. The platform can track her LPCC supervision hours while also maintaining records of her LMFT continuing education for license renewals.
Scenario 4: LCSW Planning Interstate Move
David is an LCSW in New York planning to relocate to Oregon within two years. He needs to understand both states' licensure requirements and potentially apply for licensure by endorsement in Oregon.
Best Choice: License Trail. David needs multi-state compliance support to understand how his New York hours translate to Oregon's requirements. License Trail supports all 50 states and can help David track continuing education and additional supervision hours if Oregon requires them for endorsement licensure.
Scenario 5: Clinical Supervisor Managing Multiple Supervisees
Dr. Chen is a licensed psychologist supervising six doctoral students and two post-doctoral candidates. She needs to review their hours, provide digital approval, track supervision session notes, and bill for supervision services.
Best Choice: License Trail's Supervision HQ tier. Dr. Chen needs supervisee management tools, not academic program integration. Supervision HQ provides a complete dashboard to manage all supervisees, approve hours with timestamps, maintain supervision notes, and generate invoices. Time2Track's supervisor features are built for academic supervisors working within institutional structures, not private practice supervisors running supervision as a business.
Common Concerns and Questions
"My graduate program requires Time2Track. Can I use License Trail instead?"
If your program has an institutional subscription to Time2Track and requires its use for degree completion, you'll need to use it during your program. However, many students use Time2Track for program requirements while simultaneously entering the same hours into License Trail to build their licensure tracking system. Once you graduate, you can stop using Time2Track and continue with License Trail for your associate registration hours.
"I have two years of hours already in Time2Track. Will I lose them if I switch?"
No. Your hours can be exported from Time2Track and imported into License Trail. The Professional plan includes support for data migration to ensure no hours are lost during the transition.
"Is License Trail approved by my state licensing board?"
State licensing boards don't typically "approve" hour tracking software. They require specific documentation and reporting formats, which License Trail is designed to provide. The platform generates reports that match state board requirements, which is what matters for your licensure application. Always verify your board's specific documentation requirements, which License Trail's state-specific profiles are designed to meet.
"Can I try License Trail before committing?"
Yes. License Trail offers a Student plan that's free until graduation, allowing you to test the platform extensively. If you're a post-graduate professional, you can explore the interface and features before subscribing to the Professional plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I track multiple license types in Time2Track?
Time2Track can be customized to track different activity types, but each license typically requires separate tracking configurations. Users report needing to manually set up custom activity categories for each licensure path. In contrast, License Trail explicitly supports unlimited license types in all paid plans, automatically applying the correct requirements for each license you're pursuing.
Does Time2Track work for post-doctoral psychology licensure?
Yes, Time2Track supports post-doctoral psychology training hours. However, as noted in their blog about post-graduation tracking, users need to add custom activity types and treatment settings to match post-doctoral requirements. License Trail includes pre-configured psychology licensure profiles for all states with built-in compliance rules.
How does License Trail handle supervision documentation differently than Time2Track?
License Trail automatically calculates supervision ratios, tracks individual versus group supervision separately, and alerts you to compliance issues based on your state's requirements. The North Carolina Board requires specific supervision ratios, and License Trail enforces these automatically. Time2Track provides supervision tracking but requires users to manually ensure they're meeting state-specific ratios and requirements.
What happens to my data if I stop paying for License Trail?
Your data remains accessible in read-only mode even if you cancel your subscription. You can export all your hours, reports, and documentation at any time. This ensures you always have access to your licensure records, even after achieving full licensure when you may no longer need active tracking.
Can my supervisor access my hours in both platforms?
Yes, both platforms offer supervisor access. Time2Track provides online supervisor approval for reviewing and signing off on hours. License Trail's Supervision HQ tier goes further by giving supervisors a complete dashboard to manage multiple supervisees, track supervision session notes, and maintain compliance documentation for their supervision practice.
Is Time2Track better for APPIC applications?
Yes, if you're applying for APPIC-approved internships, Time2Track has specific features and reporting formats aligned with APPIC application requirements. However, once you complete your doctoral internship and begin tracking hours for state psychology licensure, License Trail's state board compliance features become more relevant than APPIC-specific reporting.
Does License Trail support continuing education tracking for licensed professionals?
Yes, License Trail tracks continuing education credits for license renewal in addition to pre-licensure supervision hours. According to the California BBS, licensed professionals need to track continuing education for biennial renewals, and License Trail maintains these records alongside your historical licensure journey.
Can I use License Trail if I'm licensed in multiple states?
Absolutely. License Trail explicitly supports professionals maintaining licenses in multiple states simultaneously. The platform tracks different renewal dates, continuing education requirements, and state-specific compliance rules for each license. This is particularly valuable for professionals with telepractice clients across state lines or those planning interstate moves.
Sources & Additional Reading
This comparison is based on authoritative sources including:
- California Board of Behavioral Sciences - LPCC Licensure - Official Government Source
- Time2Track Platform - Platform Website
- License Trail Platform - Platform Website
- Time2Track Blog - Post-Graduation Hour Tracking - Professional Resource
- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy - Professional Organization
- National Board for Certified Counselors - Professional Organization
- New York State Education Department - Mental Health Counselor Supervision Requirements - Official Government Source
- American Counseling Association - Clinical Experience Requirements - Professional Organization
- Good Therapy - Clinical Supervision Documentation - Professional Resource
- Board of Behavioral Sciences - LPCC Resources - Official Government Source
Conclusion
Both Time2Track and License Trail serve important roles in mental health professional development, but they excel in different contexts.
Choose Time2Track if: You're a graduate student whose program requires it, you're focused on APPIC psychology internship applications, or you need a basic, low-cost tracking solution for academic requirements.
Choose License Trail if: You're tracking hours for state licensure (whether as an associate or for initial licensure), you need multi-state or multi-license support, you value state-specific compliance enforcement, or you want a single platform for your entire journey from graduate school through full licensure.
The path to licensure is challenging enough without worrying whether your hour tracking software will meet state board scrutiny. While Time2Track serves the academic training phase well, License Trail was purpose-built for the specific compliance requirements of state licensing boards across all 50 states.
For most mental health professionals pursuing licensure as an LMFT, LPCC, LCSW, or psychologist, License Trail's state-specific compliance, multi-stage journey support, and comprehensive supervision tracking provide the specialized tools needed to navigate licensure requirements with confidence.
Ready to Experience Purpose-Built Licensure Tracking?
License Trail makes state board compliance straightforward with automated hour tracking, supervision management, and board-ready reporting for all 50 states. Whether you're just starting graduate school or completing your final supervision hours before full licensure, our platform adapts to your exact requirements.
Track your hours with confidence from student to fully licensed professional. Start your free account today and experience licensure tracking designed specifically for mental health professionals, not adapted from academic program management.