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

Insightful is a time tracking and employee monitoring software suitable for both remote offices as well as remote individuals. On this page you can read all about how to set the app properly for teleworkers, telecommuters and other types of freelancers and remote teams, so bookmark it as a manual!

We recommend that you set this up as soon as you start the onboarding process, but you can do it later as well, or change the settings anytime. The sooner you implement the computer activity tracker, the more time you and your remote team will have to adjust to it and get a hang of using all its features.

Sign-Up and Installation


The first step to getting your Insightful computer activity tracker is to sign up in order to get access to the dashboard - a web interface that allows you to see the data on your employees’ performance. To do this, navigate to the sign-up page, enter your name, email and create your password.

buy workpuls employee monitoring software



The next step is to create your company. Enter all the necessary information about your team, and choose Personal Computers at the bottom. What this option does is give your remote workers some choice over what will be tracked and when, since they likely use their own computers to work at home, so this is a way to protect their personal privacy.

create company workpuls



From now on, all you have to do to complete the setup is follow the instructions and choose the settings that reflect how you want to track your team. Each option is explained as you go, so make sure to get familiar with every feature. In this stage of the setup, you’ll be asked to choose whether you’ll be tracking employees only when they’re working on projects (Project Based) or all the time starting with when they manually clock in and stopping when they clock out (Manual Attendance).


Based on which one you choose, you’ll have some additional settings to tweak, such as whether you want to track their time on tasks (which is definitely recommended), how many screenshots you want to automatically take per hour (if any), and how long their break time is (if you don’t have a specified break duration in your policy, you should choose the option No Break Time).

wokrpuls personal computers settings



Finally, you’ll need to send the installation invite to your remote team. This is done via the Add Employees window, where you can make a list of the employees you want to add and track. All you need to do is add each employee’s name, email and select the team they belong to (you can make your custom teams by clicking on Create new team).


workpuls employee settings


When you click Finish, all the employees that you’ve added will receive an email where they can find instructions on where and how to sign up for computer activity tracker and install the Insightful agent. It’s a standard installation process for either Windows or macOS, depending on what operating system their computers run on.

Time and Attendance in Different Time Zones

Insightful captures time from employees’ computers, meaning that if your people are working in different time zones, our software shows their clock in/clock out time as it is where they work from (in their time zone). You can easily and accurately access the information regarding the off-days, or see what was happening on a particular date.

 

employee timesheets

Proof of Work

You can use Insightful to make sure you are paying for the correct number of hours, or that remote workers are on the task. You can also enable your employees the access to their own profiles to see how much money they earned, or how much time they have been working on your project. It’s the simplest remote employee time tracking software.


In addition, the Productivity panel has lots of useful stats on each employee, which will give you an insight into how your remote workforce uses their working hours. This includes the ratio of productive to unproductive time, productivity trends, most frequently used apps and websites, as well as a graph of employee’s biorhythm that shows you when they’re most productive during the day.

 

measure employee productivity

Start/Stop Insightful

Remote workers can turn Insightful on when they start, or turn it off when they finish or pause working. This way you can be certain that you are paying for the correct number of hours, and employees can have a solid proof of their work.


If you’ve chosen Manual Attendance when setting up your employee activity tracker, your employees will be able to see the following window where they can click Clock In when they’re ready to start working:

employee clock in



Once they’re clocked in, they can track the total time they spend at work. They can also click on Take a Break when they’re on a break and track how much break time they have left on the right of the button. When they’re done for the day, they should click on Clock Out and their time and activities will no longer be recorded.



employee clock out

If you want to change the way attendance is tracked, you can do so in the settings. Navigate to the Settings on the left side of your dashboard, and then select Shared Settings. When you select your company team from the list, the following settings panel should open:


shared settings workpuls


In the Tracking Time section, you can choose your tracking scenario - whether you want employees to continue manually clocking in or whether you want to switch to project-based tracking or even set fixed working hours.


Projects and Tasks


One of the most useful features of a computer activity tracker for remote teams is the overview of projects and tasks that each employee is working on. This makes it easier to see what your telecommuters are working on at any given time, but it’s also handy for workers themselves because they have a list of tasks grouped into projects that they need to do.


Tracking time on these tasks is important not only as a proof of work, but also as a way to better evaluate your team’s efficiency and make better project estimates in the future. Your employees can indicate which task they’re working on by going to the Time Tracking section of their Insightful agent, where they can choose a project and task and start tracking their time on it.

project time tracking



Timeline

Timeline shows the list of events and activities that occurred during one day.


timeline employees activities


Purple color represents Computer Activities (a person was actively working on computer in either Productive, Unproductive or Neutral Apps and Websites; this is filled automatically from the data Insightful collected and cannot be deleted). White gaps represent Idle time (there was no computer usage recorded during this period). Grey parts are Other activities, which were added manually (phone calls, meetings, brainstorming sessions etc.). Please note that the manual adding option will be available within the coming weeks.

Screenshots

This feature is optional and in order to get it, you have to first enable it when you initially set up your company on sign-up or later on in Shared Settings. That’s where you can also set the number of random screenshots that will be taken in one hour.

 

screenshot tracking software

You can access screenshots on every person’s individual page, along with all the other data (Time and Attendance, Productivity etc.). It looks like this:


time tracking with screenshots


Conclusion


Congratulations! You’ve successfully implemented Insightful monitoring software for your remote teams. Now you can use it to get insights into their performance, attendance, productivity, projects and tasks, and other stuff that you can use to optimize their workflow and track their progress. Just make sure that you set up all the features in a way that they can reflect your business goals and you’ll be on your way to taking your remote workers’ performance to the next level!

This article was originally written on May 15th, 2015 by Marija Grgur. It was updated by Kristina Valjarevic on February 13th, 2020.

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Remote Work Management

Tracking Remote Teams

Written by
Kristina Valjarevic
Published on
February 13, 2020

Insightful is a time tracking and employee monitoring software suitable for both remote offices as well as remote individuals. On this page you can read all about how to set the app properly for teleworkers, telecommuters and other types of freelancers and remote teams, so bookmark it as a manual!

We recommend that you set this up as soon as you start the onboarding process, but you can do it later as well, or change the settings anytime. The sooner you implement the computer activity tracker, the more time you and your remote team will have to adjust to it and get a hang of using all its features.

Sign-Up and Installation


The first step to getting your Insightful computer activity tracker is to sign up in order to get access to the dashboard - a web interface that allows you to see the data on your employees’ performance. To do this, navigate to the sign-up page, enter your name, email and create your password.

buy workpuls employee monitoring software



The next step is to create your company. Enter all the necessary information about your team, and choose Personal Computers at the bottom. What this option does is give your remote workers some choice over what will be tracked and when, since they likely use their own computers to work at home, so this is a way to protect their personal privacy.

create company workpuls



From now on, all you have to do to complete the setup is follow the instructions and choose the settings that reflect how you want to track your team. Each option is explained as you go, so make sure to get familiar with every feature. In this stage of the setup, you’ll be asked to choose whether you’ll be tracking employees only when they’re working on projects (Project Based) or all the time starting with when they manually clock in and stopping when they clock out (Manual Attendance).


Based on which one you choose, you’ll have some additional settings to tweak, such as whether you want to track their time on tasks (which is definitely recommended), how many screenshots you want to automatically take per hour (if any), and how long their break time is (if you don’t have a specified break duration in your policy, you should choose the option No Break Time).

wokrpuls personal computers settings



Finally, you’ll need to send the installation invite to your remote team. This is done via the Add Employees window, where you can make a list of the employees you want to add and track. All you need to do is add each employee’s name, email and select the team they belong to (you can make your custom teams by clicking on Create new team).


workpuls employee settings


When you click Finish, all the employees that you’ve added will receive an email where they can find instructions on where and how to sign up for computer activity tracker and install the Insightful agent. It’s a standard installation process for either Windows or macOS, depending on what operating system their computers run on.

Time and Attendance in Different Time Zones

Insightful captures time from employees’ computers, meaning that if your people are working in different time zones, our software shows their clock in/clock out time as it is where they work from (in their time zone). You can easily and accurately access the information regarding the off-days, or see what was happening on a particular date.

 

employee timesheets

Proof of Work

You can use Insightful to make sure you are paying for the correct number of hours, or that remote workers are on the task. You can also enable your employees the access to their own profiles to see how much money they earned, or how much time they have been working on your project. It’s the simplest remote employee time tracking software.


In addition, the Productivity panel has lots of useful stats on each employee, which will give you an insight into how your remote workforce uses their working hours. This includes the ratio of productive to unproductive time, productivity trends, most frequently used apps and websites, as well as a graph of employee’s biorhythm that shows you when they’re most productive during the day.

 

measure employee productivity

Start/Stop Insightful

Remote workers can turn Insightful on when they start, or turn it off when they finish or pause working. This way you can be certain that you are paying for the correct number of hours, and employees can have a solid proof of their work.


If you’ve chosen Manual Attendance when setting up your employee activity tracker, your employees will be able to see the following window where they can click Clock In when they’re ready to start working:

employee clock in



Once they’re clocked in, they can track the total time they spend at work. They can also click on Take a Break when they’re on a break and track how much break time they have left on the right of the button. When they’re done for the day, they should click on Clock Out and their time and activities will no longer be recorded.



employee clock out

If you want to change the way attendance is tracked, you can do so in the settings. Navigate to the Settings on the left side of your dashboard, and then select Shared Settings. When you select your company team from the list, the following settings panel should open:


shared settings workpuls


In the Tracking Time section, you can choose your tracking scenario - whether you want employees to continue manually clocking in or whether you want to switch to project-based tracking or even set fixed working hours.


Projects and Tasks


One of the most useful features of a computer activity tracker for remote teams is the overview of projects and tasks that each employee is working on. This makes it easier to see what your telecommuters are working on at any given time, but it’s also handy for workers themselves because they have a list of tasks grouped into projects that they need to do.


Tracking time on these tasks is important not only as a proof of work, but also as a way to better evaluate your team’s efficiency and make better project estimates in the future. Your employees can indicate which task they’re working on by going to the Time Tracking section of their Insightful agent, where they can choose a project and task and start tracking their time on it.

project time tracking



Timeline

Timeline shows the list of events and activities that occurred during one day.


timeline employees activities


Purple color represents Computer Activities (a person was actively working on computer in either Productive, Unproductive or Neutral Apps and Websites; this is filled automatically from the data Insightful collected and cannot be deleted). White gaps represent Idle time (there was no computer usage recorded during this period). Grey parts are Other activities, which were added manually (phone calls, meetings, brainstorming sessions etc.). Please note that the manual adding option will be available within the coming weeks.

Screenshots

This feature is optional and in order to get it, you have to first enable it when you initially set up your company on sign-up or later on in Shared Settings. That’s where you can also set the number of random screenshots that will be taken in one hour.

 

screenshot tracking software

You can access screenshots on every person’s individual page, along with all the other data (Time and Attendance, Productivity etc.). It looks like this:


time tracking with screenshots


Conclusion


Congratulations! You’ve successfully implemented Insightful monitoring software for your remote teams. Now you can use it to get insights into their performance, attendance, productivity, projects and tasks, and other stuff that you can use to optimize their workflow and track their progress. Just make sure that you set up all the features in a way that they can reflect your business goals and you’ll be on your way to taking your remote workers’ performance to the next level!

This article was originally written on May 15th, 2015 by Marija Grgur. It was updated by Kristina Valjarevic on February 13th, 2020.