An in depth comparison in 2024

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Desire a comprehensive ActivTrak vs RescueTime comparison?

Within the age of distant work, overseeing worker activity has develop into mandatory. Tracking time spent on tasks and projects is probably the greatest ways to gauge and monitor productivity. 

ActivTrak and RescueTime are great tools for worker monitoring, but they’ve some significant functional differences. 

ActivTrak is superb for monitoring worker activity, while RescueTime helps improve your employees’ time management skills. 

So which one is good for your enterprise?

In this text, we’ll highlight the differences between ActivTrak vs RescueTime and compare their best features. We’ll also suggest a robust alternative for the 2.

Table of Contents

Let’s begin!

ActivTrak vs RescueTime: Summary table

Before we start, here’s a fast summary of the features Activtrak and RescueTime must offer.

Feature	ActivTrak	RescueTime
Time tracking	Automatic time tracking	Automatic time tracking
Productivity management	Offers productivity reports and screen capture features for productivity management.	The goal setting and work hours features enable  productivity management.
Distraction management	The web site blocking and custom alarm features can manage distractions.	The main target session and alert features are perfect for minimizing distractions.
GPS tracking	No	No
Task and project management	Assists in comprehensive project management	Doesn’t have project management features
Integrations	Lower than 25 integrations	Over 25+ integrations
Mobile app functionality	Doesn’t support mobile devices	Supports mobile devices
Platform compatibility	Mac OS, Windows, and Linux	Mac OS, Windows, and Linux, iOS and Android
Pricing	Free trial is on the market. Paid plans start at $10/user per thirty days.	Free trial is on the market. Paid plans begin at $6.50/per user per thirty days.

Now, let’s get an actual sense of what each productivity tracking software does. 

ActivTrak vs RescueTime: Detailed comparison

The pandemic accelerated a change within the workplace, with almost every on-premise team transformed right into a distant team overnight. Today, that trend continues with the rising popularity of worker monitoring tools like ActivTrak and RescueTime.

While each worker monitoring tool does share similarities, their functions are quite different. 

ActivTrak is more of a pc monitoring software, while RescueTime is a productivity management tool. 

Let’s take a look at how ActivTrak and RescueTime compare against one another:

1. Tool overview

Here’s a temporary overview of ActivTrak and RescueTime before we cover the features intimately.

A. What’s ActivTrak?

ActivTrak is an worker monitoring and productivity tracking app utilized by large and small businesses to record worker work hours and gain priceless insights into worker performance.

ActivTrak focuses on:

• Distant worker monitoring: Discover what an worker does and the way. 
• Productivity monitoring: Learn worker performance patterns and optimize workflow.
• Reporting and analytics monitoring software: Ensure operational efficiency, compliance, and productivity. 

ActivTrak is compatible with Mac OS, Windows, and Linux systems. Nonetheless, ActivTrak doesn’t have a mobile app to trace time on the go.

B. What’s RescueTime?

RescueTime is a SaaS (Software as a Service) tool specializing in tracking time. Its distraction-blocking features also make it a superb option for freelancers and solopreneurs. 

You may as well use it to enhance your productivity. 

RescueTime allows you to:

• Robotically track time. 
• Set productivity goals.
• Stay focused on a task or project by blocking distracting web sites.

RescueTime is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. 

Like other popular time tracking tools like  Toggl Track, you possibly can track time from iOS and Android apps. It also offers web-based extensions, comparable to Firefox and Chrome.

Now that we’ve covered the fundamentals, let’s take a more in-depth take a look at the important thing features of every tool.

2. Time tracking

Whether you’re tracking worker activity or a freelancer’s billable hours – time tracking is an important business process. 

That’s why you need to select the right monitoring tool to assist you to track time.

Here’s how the 2 worker monitoring software assist you to do exactly that:

A. ActivTrak

ActivTrak is an automatic time tracking tool that runs quietly within the background as you’re employed. It senses keyboard and mouse activity and records data accordingly.

Employers can keep track of:

• Idle time.
• Attendance. 
• Paid day without work.
• Late shifts, etc.

You’ll be able to access all the data regarding time tracking from the Dashboard or Activity Log. 

1) Dashboard

This dashboard is the very first thing you’ll see once you check in.

The Dashboard shows a fast overview of all of your team’s activities. 

Here you possibly can:

• View and compare how an worker spends their time filtering by productive and unproductive categories.
• Discover how much time an worker spends using tools relevant to work (in other words – how much time they spend working).
• See how much time in-house and distant staff spend on their most visited web sites and applications.

2) Activity log

You’ll be able to view all time tracking information here.

It provides a breakdown of your team’s working hours, so employers can use it for productivity monitoring and viewing what an worker was doing at a specific time. 

B. RescueTime

Because RescueTime uses an automatic time tracker, you don’t have to start out or stop the timer to begin recording. 

RescueTime will track all of your activities even if you happen to forget to start out tracking time. You’ll be able to turn off this feature if you wish to protect your privacy.

RescueTime premium plan users may even record offline activities of their activity log.

Quick recap

Each apps are automatic time trackers; nevertheless, ActivTrak provides more detailed time tracking information than RescueTime.

3. Productivity management

One in every of the foremost reasons for adopting worker monitoring software is to enhance productivity.

Let’s see how these two activity monitoring tools assist you to manage team productivity:

A. ActivTrak

With ActivTrak, it’s easy to watch and check worker performance. 

You’ll be able to gauge which tasks are fruitful so which you can do more of them. You may as well discover unproductive processes which you can phase out.

1) Productivity reports

There are two features accessible under this category:

• Bar chart: Visualizes your team’s idle time, productive and unproductive activities, etc.
• Single day report: View an aggregate of the day’s activities.

2) The Each day Team Pulse

Here’s what you possibly can do with this feature:

• View team productivity. 
• See each user’s availability status. 
• View which task or activity your employees do in real time.

3) Screen capture

ActivTrak’s Screen Capture feature gives you a transparent idea of what an in-house or distant worker does during working hours. 

You’ll be able to enable the screenshots feature by creating alarms. When the alarm conditions are met, the workforce productivity software routinely captures the screen of the in-house or distant team member. 

You may as well adjust the duration of the screen capture in line with your needs and objectives. 

B. RescueTime

Here’s how RescueTime approaches productivity management:

1) Categorize common activities

RescueTime helps you to categorize your common activities based on how productive they’re for your enterprise. 

You’ll be able to categorize activities as:

• Very productive.
• Productive.
• Neutral.
• Distracting.
• Very distracting.

This feature is just accessible on the RescueTime Premium plan.

2) Goal setting

With RescueTime, you possibly can set goals to your time on a task.

For instance: ‘Spend 5 hours on writing.’

You may as well receive notifications or updates informing you the way close you’re to a goal.

Note: This feature is just available within the RescueTime Premium version.

3) Work Hours

The Work Hours feature allows an in-house or distant worker to customize their work hours to suit their specific schedule. This feature is designed to higher worker work-life balance, stopping burnout.

With this function, an worker can:

• Generate an in depth report about any work-related activity.
• Set specific goals during work hours.
• View which hours of the workday they’re best.

Quick recap

ActivTrak’s features enable managers to measure team productivity. RescueTime allows individual employees to administer their productivity by customizing their work hours and setting work-related goals.

4. Distraction management

Whether working from home or the office, you’ll must cope with distractions while maintaining effective time management.

As more corporations adopt remote work strategies, distant worker monitoring software can assist manage distractions.

Here’s how ActivTrak and RescueTime fare regarding distraction management:

A) ActivTrak

1) Website blocking

The website blocking feature permits you to prevent each in-house and distant staff from visiting certain web sites deemed unproductive by management. 

For instance, you possibly can block social media sites during work hours.

2) Custom alarms

The ActivTrak monitoring software has a Custom Alarms feature that stops distractions. The software triggers an alarm when an worker performs actions that may be deemed unproductive, like visiting social media web sites, working on personal projects during work hours, etc.

When the alarm is triggered, the productivity tracking software can take various steps to keep up workforce productivity. 

It could possibly take a screenshot of the worker’s screen, send an email notification to a manager, or prompt a pop-up productivity reminder message.

B) RescueTime

That is how RescueTime handles distractions:

1) Focus Session

RescueTime has a distraction management feature called Focus Session. 

With this feature, you possibly can:

• Block distracting web sites like social media sites or news so which you can focus higher. 
• Set each day limits on apps and sites.
• Use the Calendar to schedule when you wish to block all web sites.

2) Alerts

The Alerts feature gives you on-screen notifications for various productivity standards you identify. 

For instance, you possibly can set a pop-up message to look after spending greater than half-hour on unproductive web sites.

Note: Alerts are only available within the RescueTime Premium package.

Quick recap

Each ActivTrak and RescueTime can assist you to block distracting web sites. Nonetheless, RescueTime offers a ‘Focus Session’ mode where you possibly can block specific software and apps for a specified period.

5. Reports

An in depth report can assist you to measure worker productivity and improve performance. 

Let’s take a look at ActivTrak and RescueTime’s reports: 

A. ActivTrak

The ActivTrak tracking software offers quite a few reports, comparable to:

1) Time reports

ActivTrak offers two primary time reports: 

• Single-day productivity: Shows what your team does in a single day. 
• Idle time/passive time: Indicates time when the app recorded no keyboard or mouse activity. 

2) Web and app usage reports

ActivTrak offers three reports to indicate time tracked on different web sites and apps:

• Activity log: Displays all accessed web sites and apps opened. It also shows login and logout times.
• Application usage: This shows you which ones apps your team uses in real time.
• Top web sites: Lists essentially the most commonly visited web sites and the time spent on them.

3) Security reports

Listed below are the safety reports offered by ActivTrak:

• Alarm log: Alerts admins if team members trigger alarms. Alarms are predefined conditions or rules set by the employer. If it’s broken, the managers receive a notification.
• Security audit log: Tracks logins and changes made on any account. It also shows deletions, alarm creations, etc. 

B. RescueTime reports

These are the three foremost categories of reports you possibly can generate with RescueTime:

1) Productivity report

This detailed report reflects a team member’s productivity rating from 0-100, generally known as the Productivity Pulse. It also shows a breakdown of time usage for every productivity rating.

2) Each day highlights report

This report shows the logged hours and events of the day. 

3) Team reports

This report allows the complete team to view their performance collectively. 

Inside this detailed report, you possibly can view:

• Summary reports: Shows how each team member spends their time.
• Category reports: Reflects how much time each worker spends across categories. 
• Key tools reports: Shows a breakdown of time spent on crucial work tools (e.g., Slack)

Quick recap

Managers and administrators can use ActivTrak’s reports to optimize team performance. And an worker can use RescueTime’s reports to spice up their productivity.

6. Integrations

Software integrations can improve worker productivity and streamline workflow. 

How?

Integration with a project management tool can assist you to track the time required to finish tasks and projects. While accounting software integration can assist track time spent on accounting tasks comparable to expense tracking, etc.

You’ll be able to integrate these software tools with ActivTrak and RescueTime:

A. ActivTrak

ActivTrak integrates with about 20 tools, including: 

B. RescueTime

The RescueTime Premium plan also offers a couple of integrations:

• Communication management software: Slack
• Scheduling software: Google Calendar and Outlook/Office 365 Calendar
• Project Management Tools Zapier and IFTTT.
• Data Evaluation Software: Zenobase.
• Software development: Github.
• Health and Wellness software: Gyroscope and Exist.io.

Quick recap

Each ActivTrak and RescueTime have a limited variety of integrations.

7. Pricing

Let’s take a take a look at how much every time tracking software costs:

A. ActivTrak

ActivTrak has a freemium plan for up to 3 users, with no bank card required. Paid plans start at $10/user per thirty days (billed annually).

B. RescueTime

RescueTime offers a free 14-day time tracking software trial, but your bank card is required. Paid plans begin at $6.50/per user per thirty days. 

Quick recap

RescueTime’s paid plans are cheaper. ActivTrak offers a free plan for small teams, whereas RescueTime doesn’t.

While the worker monitoring capabilities of ActivTrak and RescueTime are noteworthy, they may not include all of the features you would like. 

Let’s take a take a look at a few of ActivTrak and Rescuetime’s limitations. 

Limitations of ActivTrak and RescueTime

Listed below are some drawbacks of ActivTrak and RescueTime

Limitations of Activtrak

• No mobile device app: ActivTrak doesn’t offer mobile device time tracking software, unlike most competitors. In case of computer failure, employees can’t use alternative devices to maintain up with their work.  
• App invisibility: ActivTrak is invisible on computers that it monitors. You’ll be able to’t even see it once you pull up the duty manager. Employees can’t track their work progress or adjust their time management for improved productivity.
• Limited integrations: The software has lower than 25 integration apps, much fewer than its counterparts.

Limitations of RescueTime

• Limited customization: With RescueTime, you possibly can’t create a selected project and assign activities to an worker. This drawback makes project management much harder, as managers need detailed records to maintain track of project completion.
• Limited mobile functionality: The mobile app tracks total screen time, not the person apps an worker uses. The shortage of oversight makes it easier for workers to make use of unproductive apps comparable to YouTube, which hinders productivity.
• No screen capture: The time tracking software doesn’t provide screenshots of labor performed while tracking time. It only records web activity data to confirm time use. Without visual records, it’s hard to pinpoint issues comparable to worker burnout and lost productivity.

Selecting the precise worker monitoring tool is difficult, and you could want to take a look at alternatives that may fit your organization’s objectives.

A strong alternative to each ActivTrak and RescueTime

We’ve compared each ActivTrak and RescueTime on time tracking, productivity management, distraction management, reports, platform compatibility, integrations, and pricing. 

What’s Time Doctor?

• Precisely track worker time, manually or routinely.
• Create several detailed reports to realize insights into your team’s computer usage.
• Use the Payroll integrations to make paying employees a breeze. 
• View screenshots of users’ screens with the Screenshot feature (optional).

Let’s take a look at some more unique features of the time tracking software intimately:

• Attendance reports: The attendance feature helps generate reports that give insights into an worker’s punctuality.
• Work schedules: The scheduling feature assists you in creating accurate work schedules to enhance company time management.
• Projects and tasks: This excellent project management feature helps you to create a foremost project and break it down into easy tasks. The productivity tracking software allows you to assign these tasks to your team members.

And like RescueTime, it empowers your team to administer their productivity with features like Manual Time Tracking and Productivity Rankings. 

The ultimate verdict

ActivTrak and RescueTime are focused on time tracking to maximise productivity, but they differ of their approaches. 

ActivTrak is an ideal worker monitoring tool for organizations. But if you happen to’re a freelancer or if worker monitoring isn’t a priority, RescueTime stands out as the better option.