ActivTrak vs DeskTime
Last Updated:Our analysts compared ActivTrak vs DeskTime based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Employee Monitoring Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.
Product Basics
Product Assistance
Product Insights
- Boost Employee Efficiency: Set goals and monitor employee productivity data for specific projects and clients. Set limits to reduce frequent usage of unproductive apps to boost work efficiency. Improve employee performance by identifying bottlenecks in workflows.
- Productivity Reports: Get a targeted view of employee activity, filtered by individuals or duration, with the option to drill-down for in-depth analysis. Identify top performing employees and flag productive and unproductive apps for different teams for quick reference. View active employees’ screens in real time with the option to automate screenshot capture at regular intervals.
- Security: Encrypts all data, including screenshots, videos and activity logs through its multiple layers of protection. Supports single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA). All data is stored securely in a data warehouse managed by the Google Cloud Platform.
- Proactive Alarms: Set alarms to track activities of interest and track unauthorized USB device activity to secure sensitive data, with the option to shut down the culprit application. Prevents unauthorized file sharing and access to blocked websites with screenshot capture and triggerable Slack and email notifications. Configure audit trails to track account deletion or removal of tracking software from computers.
- Track Employee Activity: Capture all employee activity, or specific activities for individuals and teams to track compliance risks. Audit employee screenshots to track what they did before the issue happened, with details on all tabs or windows open at that time, which background applications were running and if any error messages were displayed. Redacts sensitive data from screenshots to ensure data integrity through artificial intelligence.
- Enhanced Productivity: DeskTime provides insights into how time is spent, allowing users to identify and eliminate distractions, leading to more focused work sessions.
- Accurate Time Tracking: Automatically tracks time spent on tasks and projects, ensuring precise billing and payroll calculations without manual entry errors.
- Improved Work-Life Balance: By analyzing work patterns, DeskTime helps users recognize when they are overworking, encouraging healthier work habits and breaks.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Offers detailed reports and analytics that empower managers to make informed decisions about resource allocation and project timelines.
- Increased Accountability: Provides transparency in work processes, fostering a culture of accountability and trust among team members.
- Streamlined Project Management: Integrates with project management tools to provide a comprehensive view of project progress and team performance.
- Cost Efficiency: By optimizing time management, DeskTime helps businesses reduce unnecessary overtime and improve overall operational efficiency.
- Customizable Workflows: Allows users to tailor the software to fit their specific workflow needs, enhancing usability and effectiveness.
- Remote Work Optimization: Facilitates effective remote work by tracking productivity and ensuring team members remain engaged and on task, regardless of location.
- Employee Well-being Insights: Identifies patterns that may indicate burnout or stress, enabling proactive measures to support employee well-being.
- Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with existing tools and platforms, minimizing disruption and maximizing the utility of current systems.
- Enhanced Focus with Pomodoro Timer: Incorporates the Pomodoro technique to help users maintain concentration and manage time effectively through structured breaks.
- Comprehensive Activity Monitoring: Tracks application and website usage to provide a clear picture of productive versus unproductive time.
- Scalable for Growth: Suitable for businesses of all sizes, DeskTime scales with your organization, supporting growth without sacrificing functionality.
- Real-Time Collaboration: Facilitates real-time updates and communication, ensuring teams stay aligned and informed throughout project lifecycles.
- Dashboards: Gain an at-a-glance view of teams’ engagement metrics in real time through dashboards, bar charts and pie charts. Identify the top websites and applications used through usage data analysis. Improve employee coaching practices with insights on productive and unproductive activity patterns.
- Team Productivity Pulse: View daily cards for employees summarizing their real-time availability, number of hours worked and productivity status by percentage. Filter the cards to view by employees or teams; drill down for deeper insights into application usage and productivity metrics.
- Reporting: Track all websites and applications accessed, employee login and logout times and idle times through the Activity report. Compare work time and idle time by employees and teams to identify gaps in productivity. Identify spikes and dips in employee workload for optimal workforce management.
- Activity Logs: Track audit trails of employee activity to investigate what happened and why. Compare engagement patterns of top performers with low-performing employees to gauge areas of improvement. Pinpoint inefficiencies and redundancies in work processes to fine-tune employee onboarding going ahead.
- Productivity Tracking: Automatically add the most used applications and websites to the Productivity Library through crowd-sourced data. Gain insights on the top websites visited and top employees active on these sites. Save on licensing costs for applications by identifying which applications are paying off in terms of productivity, and which ones aren’t.
- ActivConnect: Integrates with data sources such as Jira, ZenDesk, Salesforce and Microsoft Teams to provide usage metrics for analytics. Easily create and navigate targeted reports through simple querying and slicing-and-dicing. Identify productivity patterns and activity trends via pre-built dashboard templates that can be exported to Power BI and Tableau for high-end data visualization.
- Real-Time Monitoring: Create custom tracking and reporting schedules for separate users — shifts, full time employees, contractors — in disparate time zones, based on their work availability. Track by specific time periods daily, or monitor throughout the day. Analyze productivity patterns to identify employee burnout.
- Website Blocking: Create a list of blocked domains for specific teams, groups or the whole organization to block employee access to unproductive and inappropriate websites. Easily add to or remove websites from the blocked list to ensure productivity.
- Time Tracking: Employee activities are monitored, using URL, App and document tracking to see where and how they spend their time.
- Project Tracking: Individual projects can be created and monitored. Employees can be assigned, and cost can be calculated based on productivity tracking.
- Offline Tracking: If employees are out of service or working on business-related tasks away from a device, they can log these activities post hoc.
- Screenshots: Automatically generate screenshots of an employee’s monitor to ensure they are staying on task and avoiding suspicious activities. Rate of screenshot taking can vary from employee to employee, letting managers keep a closer eye on less productive workers.
- Pomodoro Tracker: It can remind workers to track breaks every 52, 60 or 90 minutes, following the Pomodoro Technique for employee productivity.
- Private Time: It allows workers to turn off activity monitoring for brief periods to work on personal tasks in privacy.
- Schedule Building and Absence Tracking: Managers can design worker shift schedules, using input from the workers on their preferred shifts. Employees can request time off in-app, and managers can review alternative labor availability in a centralized interface. They can review all employees’ absences from the absence calendar.
- Reporting: It creates custom reports using a variety of filters to demonstrate how workers are using their time. These reports can be shared or exported as a CSV file.
Product Ranking
#3
among all
Employee Monitoring Software
#6
among all
Employee Monitoring Software
Analyst Rating Summary
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User Sentiment Summary
1084 reviews
230 reviews
ActivTrak has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 1084 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.
DeskTime has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 230 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.
Awards
SelectHub research analysts have evaluated ActivTrak and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Reporting and Analytics and System Requirements. ActivTrak stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.
Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews
Reviews for ActivTrak, a workforce analytics software solution, paint a picture of a user-friendly tool with valuable insights, but some privacy concerns and limitations. A common praise centers on ActivTrak's ability to identify unproductive application use. For instance, a marketing manager might discover excessive social media browsing, prompting discussions about optimizing software and refocusing efforts. This actionable data is seen as a strength compared to similar products. However, some reviewers highlight a potential weakness – the inability to capture the full picture for complex projects. An engineering team's deep thinking during a brainstorming session might be misconstrued as inactivity by ActivTrak. This lack of nuance can be a drawback compared to competitors that offer more sophisticated project tracking features. Another point of differentiation lies in ActivTrak's transparency. Employees appreciate the ability to see their work patterns, similar to how a fitness tracker sheds light on activity levels. This fosters a sense of accountability and self-awareness. However, some users express discomfort with the level of monitoring, fearing a Big Brother effect that could erode trust. Finding the right balance between transparency and privacy is an ongoing challenge for ActivTrak and its competitors. In conclusion, ActivTrak seems best suited for businesses seeking a user-friendly tool to gain basic insights into workflow efficiency and employee productivity. The ability to identify unproductive application usage and foster transparency are its strong points. However, businesses with complex project needs or concerns about employee privacy might want to explore alternative workforce analytics solutions that offer more nuanced tracking and a more customizable approach.
Is DeskTime worth your time? User reviews from the past year paint a generally positive picture of DeskTime, particularly for its ease of use and accurate time tracking. Users appreciate the straightforward interface, finding it easy to navigate and understand, even for those who are new to time tracking software. This simplicity is often cited as a key differentiator compared to more complex tools, making it a favorite among smaller teams and individuals who prioritize a low learning curve. However, this simplicity comes at a cost, as some users find the customization options limiting, especially when compared to competitors with more advanced features. While DeskTime excels at basic time tracking and reporting, it may fall short for larger organizations or those requiring in-depth analytics or team management functionalities. For example, the idle time detection, while generally accurate, has been flagged by some as potentially missing nuances in work patterns, which could be a drawback for businesses heavily reliant on precise activity monitoring. Overall, DeskTime emerges as a solid choice for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses seeking a user-friendly and reliable time tracking solution without the bells and whistles of more complex software. Its strength lies in its simplicity and accuracy in core time tracking features, making it a valuable tool for boosting productivity and streamlining workflow, but its lack of advanced features might not suit users with more specialized needs.
Screenshots
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