Top 10 software to see if distant employees are working

4.3K

If you oversee globally distributed teams, you wish a real-time view into when your distant employees are working and which projects they’re tackling.

Basic tools like communication apps and project management software don’t offer the visibility it’s essential understand worker performance or to refine resource allocation.

As an alternative, you wish dedicated distant worker software with complete insight into team activity, performance metrics, and worker experience.

On this guide, we’ll share our expert advice on distant worker monitoring software and walk you thru 10 of the very best platforms in the marketplace—so you’ll find the best tool to optimize efficiency and cultivate an engaged team.

Listed below are the tools we’ll be covering:

We’ll be going over their features, integrations, pros and cons, pricing, and customer reviews. Click on the links below to leap to a particular tool:

Let’s start.

The advantages of monitoring distant work

Before showing you the very best tools to trace your employees, let’s quickly go over the main advantages of getting an worker monitoring tool in your distant workforce.

Listed below are the advantages of an excellent worker monitoring system:

• Your employees shall be held accountable for his or her output every day. This ensures that they’re motivated enough to supply results frequently.
• With an excellent time tracking tool, freelancers and contractors have concrete proof of time spent when billing clients.
• As there are records of time spent on each task, clients know exactly which distant work they’re being billed for.
• Reduces the necessity for an office space as your employees can remain productive remotely.
• You’ll have fewer worries when hiring distant employees because the tool will be sure that they’re committed to your organization.
• distant worker monitoring software reduces the time spent on time-tracking and task management because the tool does it for you.

Now that we’ve covered why you wish a distant worker monitoring software, let’s go over the very best options:

• When distant employees clock out and in
• Tasks and projects for teams and individuals
• Time spent on each task or project
• Web sites and apps team members use while on the clock.
• Client billable hours

Time tracking for accountability and accuracy

Activity tracking for reliable proof of labor

Productivity insights for efficiency and value control

Wellness insights for increased staff retention

Hardworking staff could be an asset to any distant company. Yet it’s necessary to assist employees avoid overworking and maintain a healthy work-life balance as an alternative. In any case, happier employees are inclined to be more engaged and more more likely to thrive at work.

Worker-friendly features for greater transparency

Pros

• Powerful automated time tracking capabilities, including a silent option.
• Great website monitoring features with an integrated inactivity tracker.
• Detailed reports with actionable insights for improving productivity.
• Strict privacy controls and transparency options to construct worker trust.
• 60+ integrations with popular apps and software.

Cons

• The platform is best suited to desktop app and Chrome extension users, because the mobile app is somewhat limited.
• The tool is a greater option for distant firms than freelancers or solopreneurs.

Pricing

• Basic ($7/user per thirty days) – supports unlimited users, groups, projects, and tasks and offers activity tracking and basic reporting.
• Standard ($10/user per thirty days) – has integrations, advanced reports, and payroll options.
• Premium ($20/user per thirty days) – includes client login access, executive dashboard, and a dedicated account manager.
• Enterprise (contact sales) – serves as a very customizable plan with VIP support and a dedicated success manager.

Customer rankings

G2 – 4.4/5 (355+ reviews)

Capterra – 4.5/ 5 (505+ reviews)

————————————————–

2. Toggl Track

Toggl is an ideal virtual software to see if distant employees are working. With features and plans suited to smaller businesses and entrepreneurs, it’s effective for walk in the park management and time tracking.

Features

• Powerful browser extension that may track time on tons of of various tools.
• Advanced reporting features to show you how to analyze the time spent. Each report could be exported as a PDF, XLS or CSV file for simple storage.
• Automated virtual timesheet management for easy accessibility to detailed records.
• Keyboard tracking to watch your employees’ activity.

Integrations

Toggl can integrate with over 100 different tools across a spread of industries. It could seamlessly integrate with a to-do list app like Todoist in addition to a project management software like Asana.

There’s a Toggl Zapier integration to show you how to automate workflows and integrate it with tons of other apps.

Pros

• Easy, intuitive user-interface for a straightforward onboarding process.
• Good customer support.
• Supports auto time-tracking for tons of tools.

Cons

• Although it could possibly integrate with Zapier, syncing between tools could be glitchy.
• Doesn’t show you the sites your staff has been spending time on. This limits its distraction management capabilities.
• The starter plan could be very limited; you’ll must go for his or her dearer variants for all of the features.

Pricing

Toggl has three pricing plans, with each variant offering you a unique set of features.

• Free ($0/user per thirty days) – allows unlimited personal time tracking, a Pomodoro timer, and report exports.
• Starter ($10/user per thirty days) – supports tasks, project templates, connected calendars, and saved reports.
• Premium ($20/user per thirty days) – gives you all of the features within the Starter plan + team management capabilities and real-time views.
• Enterprise (contact sales) – gives you access to all of the features in Toggl akin to advanced reporting and timesheet management.

Customer rankings

G2 – 4.6/5 (1540+ reviews)

Capterra – 4.7/5 (2200+ reviews)

You can too take a look at our review of Toggl in case you need a more comprehensive have a look at the software.

————————————————–

3. RescueTime

Unlike the opposite tools within the article, RescueTime isn’t a time-tracking app per se. It’s a web-based worker productivity platform that runs within the background.

Features

• Tracks the time you spend on a selected tool or website during your work hours.
• Can block sites which can be considered distracting. This list of non-productive sites could be customized by you.
• Enables you to specify your productivity goals and notifies you in case you’re spending an excessive amount of time on a selected task.
• Gives you detailed reports about time usage to assist improve worker productivity levels.

Integrations

RescueTime can integrate with tons of various tools available in the market today.

It could integrate with popular project management tools and team communication apps like GitHub and Slack. With the Zapier integration, you’ll be able to connect it with 50 more tools.

Pros

• Software is easy and simple to make use of.
• The goals and alarms feature can show you how to reach your productivity goals.
• Weekly email updates about your team’s activity can show you how to take stock of their productivity.
• Can block distracting sites easily.

Cons

• Cannot log billable and non-billable hours individually – this makes it difficult to offer clients with accurate records.
• Cannot track time spent on projects and tasks – it could possibly only measure time spent on a selected tool or website.
• No invoicing capabilities.
• You can not operate RescueTime whenever you’re offline.

Pricing

RescueTime has two pricing plans:

• Lite (free): this plan is geared toward solopreneurs who need a limited set of features.
• Premium ($12/user per thirty days): includes all of the premium features that a team would profit from.

Customer rankings

G2 – 4.1/5 (85+ reviews)

Capterra – 4.6/5 (130+ reviews)

You’ll be able to learn more concerning the software in our RescueTime Review.

————————————————-

4. Timely

Timely is one other software to see if distant employees are working. A singular Timely feature is that it could possibly categorize your time based on tasks, web sites accessed and tools used.

Features

• Strong automated time-tracking capabilities that eliminate the necessity for manual intervention.
• Can easily capture billable activity through detailed timesheets and reports. It could track non-billable activities as well.
• Has a sophisticated dashboard that will help your team collaborate through activity feeds.

Integrations

Timely can integrate with a great deal of popular project management, communication and video chat apps. Nevertheless, most of those integrations are only supported on their premium variants.

Pros

• Powerful automated time-tracking capabilities.
• Can capture data across web and mobile devices with powerful data syncs for flexible work patterns.
• Good advanced reporting capabilities.

Cons

• It is dear.
• Many of the features are limited to their premium variants.
• The dashboard could be confusing to work with initially.

Pricing

There are 4 Timely pricing plans:

• Starter ($11/user per thirty days) – supports up to a few teams and 50 projects.
• Premium ($20/user per thirty days) – allows unlimited teams and projects and includes advanced features.
• Unlimited ($28/user per thirty days) – includes unlimited features and allows for team leads.
• Unlimited+ (contact sales) – includes customized support and a dedicated success partner

Customer rankings

G2 – 4.8/5 (320+ reviews)

Capterra – 4.7/5 (210+ reviews)

————————————————–

5. Harvest

Harvest is an ideal time tracking solution for a company that works with tons of clients every day. With advanced invoicing capabilities, Harvest can seamlessly integrate along with your billing processes.

Features

• Can create invoices out of your tracked hours and process payments across time zones through Paypal or Stripe.
• Mechanically syncs across devices to maintain up with flexible work patterns.
• Multiple setting options to regulate billing rates and monitor tracking and processing in response to the client you’re working with.

Integrations

Harvest can integrate with tons of various tools akin to communication software, project management software and video conferencing tools. With the Zapier integration, you’ll be able to integrate it with over 1000 tools!

Pros

• Virtually countless list of integrations.
• Enterprise-level billing and invoicing capabilities.
• Streamlined interface for a straightforward onboarding process.

Cons

• Cannot capture screenshots to trace project progress.
• Reports could be confusing to cope with.
• It’s on the dearer side.

Pricing

Harvest has a free plan for individual users that features two projects. The Pro version of Harvest costs $12/seat per thirty days and includes unlimited seats and projects.

Customer rankings

G2 – 4.3/5 (785+ reviews)

Capterra – 4.6/5 (555+ reviews)

When you are also interested, here is our comprehensive review of Harvest.

————————————————–

6. Everhour

Everhour is an ideal web-based software to see if distant employees are working. It has great in-built time tracking capabilities to maintain a tab in your distant workforce.

Features

• Powerful live dashboard that means that you can take stock of what your team has on their plate in the mean time.
• Supports advanced billing functions akin to invoice generation in multiple currencies.
• Fully-functional browser extensions for simple accessibility.
• Can edit time records in case you’ve made a mistake. Nevertheless, managers can lock the time editing feature for a time period.

Integrations

Like Harvest, Everhour can integrate with a great deal of different apps to all the time keep your team meetings productive. It could also integrate with Zapier to integrate with over 1000 apps starting from communication software to CRMs.

Pros

• Efficient invoicing capabilities with a client portal to permit clients to view time reports.
• Powerful browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
• Facilitates good team management in what you are promoting with the live dashboard.

Cons

• Can’t be used as a distraction management software.

Pricing

Everhour has three plans:

• Free ($0/user per thirty days) – allows unlimited time tracking and projects for as much as five users.
• Lite ($6/user per thirty days) – supports as much as 10 users and includes app integrations, budgeting, and invoicing.
• Team ($10/user per thirty days) – includes advanced integrations and features like timelines, templates, screenshots, and custom permissions.

Customer rankings

G2 – 4.7/5 (155+ reviews)

Capterra – 4.7/5 (385+ reviews)

————————————————–

7. Timeneye

Timeneye is an easy app for a solopreneur or business that’s on the lookout for seamless automated tracking capabilities.

Features

• Automatic time tracking to show you how to keep track of your productivity.
• Calendar view to trace your project’s progress easily.
• Can track billable and non-billable hours individually for simple categorization.
• Detailed reports on each team member’s time usage to maintain track of your team’s efficiency.

Integrations

Timeneye can integrate with numerous different tools and apps akin to Asana, Google Calendar and Basecamp in your organisation.

Pros

• Easy-to-use interface for a straightforward onboarding process.
• You’ll be able to stay on top of projects easily with the calendar view.
• Efficient time tracking features.

Cons

• Cannot handle offline time tracking.
• No invoicing capabilities.
• May be expensive for teams.

Pricing

Timeneye has one plan that costs $7/user per thirty days.

Customer rankings

G2 – 4.5/5 (20+ reviews)

Capterra – 4.8/5 (120+ reviews)

————————————————–

8. ClickTime

ClickTime is one other great time-tracking solution to show you how to manage your projects and available resources.

Features

• ClickTime can create tons of reports to offer you a greater picture of your workforce. You’ll be able to easily measure worker performance, productivity and work allocation with these insights.
• The centralized dashboard gives you a helpful overlook in any respect your projects and their schedules and deadlines.
• Powerful browser apps that let you track your time without leaving a webpage.

Integrations

While ClickTime can integrate with tons of various tools, in addition they provide you with a custom API so as to add your personal integrations to the software.

Pros

• Over 80+ different reports for detailed insights.
• Custom API for advanced customization.
• Supports notifications to simply sustain thus far with project progress.

Cons

• Limited automated capabilities.
• May be expensive for larger teams.
• The interface could be barely complicated.

Pricing

ClickTime has 4 plans:

• Starter – $13/user per thirty days for basic features.
• Team – $17 /user per thirty days for team-centric features.
• Premier – $28/user per thirty days for all advanced features.
• Enterprise – custom pricing for added integrations and an account manager

Customer rankings

G2 – 4.6/5 (680+ reviews)

Capterra – 4.6/5 (205+ reviews)

————————————————–

9. TopTracker

TopTracker is an ideal time tracking app for freelancers, solopreneurs and small organizations. It means that you can easily track the time spent on projects to maintain you productive.

Features

• A multifunctional dashboard that allows you to keep track of your staff and manage worker productivity.
• Detailed reports about your team’s performance and your project’s progress.
• Desktop apps for Windows, Linux, MacOS and Fedora.

Integrations

There are currently no integrations for TopTracker.

Pros

• The desktop app supports offline time tracking.
• Supports unlimited projects and clients by default.
• Good reporting capabilities to administer your workforce.

Cons

• No mobile apps.
• No invoicing functionality.
• No integrations.
• Limited automation in terms of time tracking.

Pricing

TopTracker is totally free.

Customer reviews

G2 – N/A

Capterra – 4.6/5 (5+ reviews)

————————————————–

10. EmailAnalytics

EmailAnalytics is one other useful gizmo to watch distant worker activity and productivity. It visualizes email activity in Gmail and G Suite so you’ll be able to see emails sent and received by day or hour of the day, and calculates critical KPIs for sales and customer support teams akin to average email response time.

Features

• Robust filters so you’ll be able to include or exclude only the emails you should analyze
• Day by day or weekly email activity reports in your team delivered to your inbox
• Real-time email activity dashboard for you and your team
• Create teams and group your team members into them

Integrations

A custom API is within the works and shall be available soon to enable many integrations.

Pros

• Intuitive and simple to make use of.
• Displays data in real-time so you’ll be able to manage your team effectively throughout the day.
• Day by day email reports delivered to your inbox so you’ll be able to keep tabs in your team’s productivity by just checking your email.
• Excellent customer support.
• Energetic development with recent features added frequently.

Cons

• No mobile app available (yet)
• No integrations available (yet)
• The tool could also be higher suited to firms than freelancers or solopreneurs

Pricing

Plans start at $15 per inbox/month.

Customer rankings

G2 – 4/5 (4+ reviews)

Capterra – N/A

Request a demo and experience first-hand how our distant worker software can simplify time tracking while providing next-level transparency and accountability.