Workpuls Teramind ActivTrak Hubstaff DeskTime Time Doctor RescueTime Kickidler Veriato Work Examiner
OVERVIEW
Price $6/user/month $6/user/month $7.20/user/month $7/user/month $7/user/month $9.99/user/month $6/user/month $9.99/user/month $150/licence/year $60/licence (lifetime)
Free trial 7 days 7 days No 14 days 14 days 14 days 30 days 7 days Yes 30 days
Ease of use Very easy Difficult Very easy Easy Easy Very easy Very easy Very easy Very difficult Easy
TRACKING METHODS
Unlimited (tracker working 24/7)
Fixed (defined working hours)
Automatic (when computer is connected to a specified network)
Manual (start/stop)
Project based (track time only on projects)
GENERAL MONITORING FEATURES
Stealth mode
App and website usage
Real-time monitoring
Offline time tracking
Attendance
Activity levels
Keylogger
Geolocation
Remote desktop control
Website/activity blocking
SCREENSHOTS AND RECORDING
Screenshots
Screenshots on demand
Screen recording
PRODUCTIVITY FEATURES
Productivity trends
Websites and apps labeling
Category labeling
Productivity alerts
ADVANCED SECURITY FEATURES
User behavior analytics
Data loss prevention
Advanced file and web monitoring
REPORTING
Productivity reports
Team reports
Timelines
Email reports
Access management
PLATFORMS
Web
Mac desktop app
Windows desktop app
Linux desktop app
Mobile app iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android Android
Browser extension Chrome Chrome Chrome
Other Citrix, VMware Chrome OS
OTHER
Support Phone, email, online Phone, email, online Phone, email, online Email, online Phone, email, online, in-person Online Phone, email, online Email, online, Viber, Whatsapp Phone, email, online, support ticket Phone, email, online
Knowledge base
Video tutorials
Integrations comming soon
API
Deployment cloud, on-premise cloud, on-premise, AWS, Azure cloud cloud cloud cloud cloud on-premise cloud, on-premise on-premise
Kronos Humanity Timeclockplus Tsheets Wheniwork Deputy Replicon Jibble EbilityTimeTracker OnTheClock BeeBole
OVERVIEW
Price(per month)Available upon requestFrom $2 per userAvailable upon requestFrom $6.40 per user+$16Free for up to 75 usersFrom $2.50 per userBasic plan:$30 for 5 users+$5 per additional userFrom $1.50 per employeeFrom $4 per user+$8From $2.20 per user$5.99 per user per month
Free trial30 days14 daysYes14 days14 days14 days30 days30 days,no credit card required
Ease of useDifficultEasyDifficultVery easyEasyEasyDifficultVery easyEasyEasyEasy
FEATURES
Timecard management
Scheduling
Shift Trading
Timesheets
Break time management
Real-time tracking
PTO Management
Payroll
Invoicing
Client billing
GPS tracking
Clock out reminders
Alerts
Manual time
PUNCH-IN METHODS
Web app
Mobile app
Time clock device
Time clock kiosk
Facial recognition
Fingerprint scanning
Geofencing
Group punch-in
REPORTING
Visual reports
Email reports
Time rounding
MANAGEMENT
Permissions
Manager approvals
Add time for others
Integrations
PLATFORMS
Web
Android app
iOS app
Mac desktop app
Windows desktop app
Linux desktop app
OTHER
SupportPhone and onlinePhone and onlinePhone,chat and onlinePhone and chatEmail and onlineChat and phonePhone,email,chat and onlinePhone and onlinePhone,email,chat and onlinePhone and onlineOnline chat and video support in English,French,and Spanish
Knowledge base
Video tutorials
Community forum
API

Since you’re here, you’ve likely made a very important decision - to invest in software for tracking employee computer activity and ensure your employees are more productive working from home. But before you actually go ahead and do it, there are some things you should take into consideration.

There are some obvious factors that you’ve probably already considered, such as the price, features, data storage and so on. This article, however, will try to cover some of the smaller and more subtle things that are worthy of your attention when it comes to choosing the best PC monitoring software for your company.

These seven factors are not as obvious as some of the big ones but they might be just as important for making the right choice of what software to use for tracking employees.


1. Number of Employees in Your Company


Picking the best PC monitoring software should start with answering the question of how many workers you’ll be tracking. The answer could have an influence on several different factors, including the implementation, possibilities for data aggregation and, not least of all, price.

If you’re a small business, tracking employees’ time could even be done with a free computer monitoring program if you don’t need a lot of features and functionalities. What’s more, even the more complicated installation isn’t a big problem since you only need to do it on a couple of computers and you can sacrifice report aggregation for the price as well.

However, if you have more than 50 employees, that’s when things can get messy if you simply go with the cheapest solution. Large and even medium businesses need systems that are much more scalable and that offer more features and greater degree of customization. Even if the price is a bit higher, it’s definitely a worthy investment. Plus, the good news for big enterprises is that many employee monitoring solutions offer discounts if you have a lot of employees.

And finally, if you have a remote workforce, that’s another thing you should think about. Look for features that make tracking remote employees painless and non-intruding, such as setting the office hours during which you’ll be able to monitor employee activity.

2. User Interface and Dashboards


One of the reasons why you may have decided to implement employee monitoring in the first place might be to save time on things like attendance tracking, payroll calculations, project overview and process supervision. So, ending up with monitoring software that you don’t know how to use can be extremely frustrating.

Optimally, you should spend less than an hour trying to figure out where each functionality is within the dashboard and what each report represents. Anything more than that is a waste of time. So always look for an intuitive interface that’s easy to understand and that you’re able to use right away without calling your IT guy or tech support.

And, of course, if it also looks good, that’s just a cherry on top.

3. Ease of Installation


How easy or difficult it is to implement a monitoring system can be a good indication of what your experience with using it is going to look like. This process too should be smooth and easy and you shouldn’t need any extensive technological knowledge in order to implement it successfully. This especially goes for cloud-based solutions.

Some types of employee monitoring software like Insightful even allow you to install the program on all computers simultaneously by using an active directory. This is super easy and will save you a lot of time.

4. Login Options


Another easily overlooked factor in choosing the best monitoring software is the array of different login and access options. Ideally, you should have a lot of different ones to choose from.

The magic number is three. First, having a manager login is kind of a given - every monitoring software gives you the possibility to access the totality of data collected by the software so that you can oversee the progress and make adjustments to business processes.

Secondly, client login is an awesome possibility to give you clients gated access to the monitoring data pertaining to their own project. And the third option that the best PC monitoring software should have is employee login which will help you promote transparency and prompt employees to try and improve their performance.

5. Customer Support


Finally, customer support is something that’s often forgotten when considering which employee tracking software to choose. But this can in fact be a crucial factor in user experience.

If you have a problem, it’s essential for you to be able to get expert help right away. So always look for computer monitor companies that at least have a help center section on their website. This in itself can often save you a lot of trouble because you can quickly find a solution to many problems by doing a simple search.

On top of this, your employee monitoring software provider should have an email that they respond to quickly as well as either a phone number you can call or a live chat with actual people behind it.

6. Performance Comparisons

While not every PC monitoring software offers performance comparisons, it’s a highly valuable feature for encouraging employees to be more productive working from home or at the office.

Insightful’s new ‘remote v office’ feature offers just that: a simple way to compare and contrast performance levels in the office versus remote-based working. With accurate location-based tracking, you can build or support the ideal work structure for you and your team.

That way, you can not only identify the peak productivity hours and conditions for your team members, but also determine where they do their best work.

If you’re already operating in a hybrid work model with a split workforce, this feature is a must-have as you can make productivity-boosting changes based on time data to increase team-wide performance levels.

7. Data Privacy and Compliance

When pitching the implementation of PC monitoring software to those who’ll be under the microscope, it can be a tough sell.

Many employees will have concerns about the use and safety of their data, and understandably so. Even on your end there are compliance laws you have to keep in mind before introducing the software, so you need to be comfortable that everyone’s concerns will be alleviated when choosing a tool.

With Insightful, you can rest assured that everyone’s data will be protected with robust security measures, and usage will be fully compliant with GDPR laws (General Data Protection Regulation). 

Forbes recognized Insightful at the end of 2022 as the ‘best remote work tracking software for privacy and promoting transparency.’ As such, it shouldn’t be hard to convince your workforce that the implementation of Insightful is the right move for everyone involved.

Making an Informed Decision


Choosing the right monitoring solution is not an easy task. 

But in order to be successful in finding the best PC monitoring software, you have to consider more than just a couple of features and a price. This article probably didn’t give you all the answers, but being left with more questions is sometimes even better.

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Employee Monitoring

7 Important Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best PC Monitoring Software

Written by
Kristina Valjarevic
Published on
July 26, 2023

Since you’re here, you’ve likely made a very important decision - to invest in software for tracking employee computer activity and ensure your employees are more productive working from home. But before you actually go ahead and do it, there are some things you should take into consideration.

There are some obvious factors that you’ve probably already considered, such as the price, features, data storage and so on. This article, however, will try to cover some of the smaller and more subtle things that are worthy of your attention when it comes to choosing the best PC monitoring software for your company.

These seven factors are not as obvious as some of the big ones but they might be just as important for making the right choice of what software to use for tracking employees.


1. Number of Employees in Your Company


Picking the best PC monitoring software should start with answering the question of how many workers you’ll be tracking. The answer could have an influence on several different factors, including the implementation, possibilities for data aggregation and, not least of all, price.

If you’re a small business, tracking employees’ time could even be done with a free computer monitoring program if you don’t need a lot of features and functionalities. What’s more, even the more complicated installation isn’t a big problem since you only need to do it on a couple of computers and you can sacrifice report aggregation for the price as well.

However, if you have more than 50 employees, that’s when things can get messy if you simply go with the cheapest solution. Large and even medium businesses need systems that are much more scalable and that offer more features and greater degree of customization. Even if the price is a bit higher, it’s definitely a worthy investment. Plus, the good news for big enterprises is that many employee monitoring solutions offer discounts if you have a lot of employees.

And finally, if you have a remote workforce, that’s another thing you should think about. Look for features that make tracking remote employees painless and non-intruding, such as setting the office hours during which you’ll be able to monitor employee activity.

2. User Interface and Dashboards


One of the reasons why you may have decided to implement employee monitoring in the first place might be to save time on things like attendance tracking, payroll calculations, project overview and process supervision. So, ending up with monitoring software that you don’t know how to use can be extremely frustrating.

Optimally, you should spend less than an hour trying to figure out where each functionality is within the dashboard and what each report represents. Anything more than that is a waste of time. So always look for an intuitive interface that’s easy to understand and that you’re able to use right away without calling your IT guy or tech support.

And, of course, if it also looks good, that’s just a cherry on top.

3. Ease of Installation


How easy or difficult it is to implement a monitoring system can be a good indication of what your experience with using it is going to look like. This process too should be smooth and easy and you shouldn’t need any extensive technological knowledge in order to implement it successfully. This especially goes for cloud-based solutions.

Some types of employee monitoring software like Insightful even allow you to install the program on all computers simultaneously by using an active directory. This is super easy and will save you a lot of time.

4. Login Options


Another easily overlooked factor in choosing the best monitoring software is the array of different login and access options. Ideally, you should have a lot of different ones to choose from.

The magic number is three. First, having a manager login is kind of a given - every monitoring software gives you the possibility to access the totality of data collected by the software so that you can oversee the progress and make adjustments to business processes.

Secondly, client login is an awesome possibility to give you clients gated access to the monitoring data pertaining to their own project. And the third option that the best PC monitoring software should have is employee login which will help you promote transparency and prompt employees to try and improve their performance.

5. Customer Support


Finally, customer support is something that’s often forgotten when considering which employee tracking software to choose. But this can in fact be a crucial factor in user experience.

If you have a problem, it’s essential for you to be able to get expert help right away. So always look for computer monitor companies that at least have a help center section on their website. This in itself can often save you a lot of trouble because you can quickly find a solution to many problems by doing a simple search.

On top of this, your employee monitoring software provider should have an email that they respond to quickly as well as either a phone number you can call or a live chat with actual people behind it.

6. Performance Comparisons

While not every PC monitoring software offers performance comparisons, it’s a highly valuable feature for encouraging employees to be more productive working from home or at the office.

Insightful’s new ‘remote v office’ feature offers just that: a simple way to compare and contrast performance levels in the office versus remote-based working. With accurate location-based tracking, you can build or support the ideal work structure for you and your team.

That way, you can not only identify the peak productivity hours and conditions for your team members, but also determine where they do their best work.

If you’re already operating in a hybrid work model with a split workforce, this feature is a must-have as you can make productivity-boosting changes based on time data to increase team-wide performance levels.

7. Data Privacy and Compliance

When pitching the implementation of PC monitoring software to those who’ll be under the microscope, it can be a tough sell.

Many employees will have concerns about the use and safety of their data, and understandably so. Even on your end there are compliance laws you have to keep in mind before introducing the software, so you need to be comfortable that everyone’s concerns will be alleviated when choosing a tool.

With Insightful, you can rest assured that everyone’s data will be protected with robust security measures, and usage will be fully compliant with GDPR laws (General Data Protection Regulation). 

Forbes recognized Insightful at the end of 2022 as the ‘best remote work tracking software for privacy and promoting transparency.’ As such, it shouldn’t be hard to convince your workforce that the implementation of Insightful is the right move for everyone involved.

Making an Informed Decision


Choosing the right monitoring solution is not an easy task. 

But in order to be successful in finding the best PC monitoring software, you have to consider more than just a couple of features and a price. This article probably didn’t give you all the answers, but being left with more questions is sometimes even better.


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