ActiTime is a useful time tracking tool for managing the productivity of a remote workforce. However, it’s far from perfect. Despite doing the basic functions of a monitoring app, its features don’t make it so efficient in helping employees focus.
Unfortunately, according to Buffer’s 2020 State of Remote Work report, 12% of people working from home consider distractions as among the biggest challenges they face. So, it’s crucial to choose a time tracker that will help remote workers focus better.
Since ActiTime does not have solid distraction-prevention capabilities, it cannot do enough to improve your employees’ efficiency and productivity. Besides, this app doesn’t integrate seamlessly with many popular project management tools, which companies need to boost output. In addition, if you’re using time trackers for the first time, it can be confusing to set up and use the tool.
The good news is there are other options that you can integrate into your employee management process. In this article, we’ll list the five best alternatives to ActiTime for your organization or business.
Features You Should Look Out for in an ActiTime Alternative
When checking for an alternative to ActiTime, these are the features you should be on the lookout for:
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Accurate in Time Tracking
Before choosing a time management app, you need to ensure that it’s accurate enough to be trusted. Every tracking tool can track time, but not all of them are great at providing precise records.
Using an efficient and reliable time tracking app means that you can:
- Calculate the time taken to complete a task
- Make an accurate estimation of how much it’ll cost and it’ll take to complete a project
- Ensure your workers do not steal time or falsify their work hours
- Bill your clients accurately and show them how much time it’ll take to complete a project
You want a time management tool that’ll make it easier to improve your workforce’s productivity, organize your business, and plan for payrolls and projects. Therefore, it’s essential to have tracking software that’ll give you an accurate record of time, even up to the tiniest second.
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Easy to Set Up and Use
The primary purpose of getting time tracking software is not just about keeping accurate time data. It’s also about saving time and getting things done efficiently. However, when you use a tool that’s difficult to manage, you’re setting yourself up for low productivity and resource wasting.
When your employees spend their working hours trying to figure out how to use a complicated time tracking app, they cannot be productive. The time that they should spend on work will now go into trying to familiarize themselves with using the tool. This is especially true if your workforce is new to using time management software.
In essence, avoid introducing complicated software that your workers will have to spend a lot of time trying to learn its intricacies. You need a powerful time tracking application that’s easy to set up and use, even for a novice in the time management arena.
Instead, use a time tracker with an in-built start/stop timer feature, which your workers can simply click to turn the app on and off. This allows them to effortlessly turn the tool on/off when they clock in or out for the day.
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Presence of Distraction Management Features
We’ve all faced moments of distraction during work hours. This is a common problem faced by employees in the workplace. It’s not easy maintaining focus when there are concentration-killing factors, such as social media notifications, videos, etc. These things hinder a worker’s efficiency and thereby diminishes productivity.
You should go for a time tracking tool that has features necessary to manage and kill distractions among your workers. Without this vital function, your employees will not be as productive as they can be.
A powerful time management app should be able to:
- Blacklist all websites that aren’t work-related. For example, Amazon, Netflix, Instagram, etc.
- Send notifications when an employee is visiting a website that isn’t contributing to the task they’re working on
A time tracker with all the necessary features for managing distraction allows you to keep your workforce focused and thereby improve productivity.
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Integration with Most Popular Workplace Tools
Running a successful business isn’t all about time tracking. You also need project management apps and other workplace tools. This means that any tracking software you choose should have the ability to integrate seamlessly with other popular workplace tools.
You’re probably already using productivity software, such as:- Payroll and invoicing app
- Project management apps
- CRM software (Customer Relation Management), etc.
Even if your company isn’t utilizing any of these tools yet, you’ll most likely install them in the future. Therefore, you need to think ahead and get a time tracking app that can seamlessly connect with popular workplace tools.
The 5 Best ActiTime Alternatives
Here’s a list of the best 5 ActiTime alternatives that’ll help you track time accurately and enhance your workforce’s productivity.
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Sapience
When it comes to ActiTime alternatives that provide you with insight into employee behavior, Sapience is a great one. Its interesting features and advantages are why we included it on this list.
Key Features
- Highly customizable app
- Has great features for web and app monitoring
- Supports time tracking on both mobile and desktop devices
- Generates detailed reports automatically
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Provides deep insight into employee work behavior and productivity
- Reliable encryption for added security
Cons
- Has no screenshot monitoring capability
- Cannot track overtime hours
- Cannot integrate with a lot of popular project management apps, such as Basecamp and Trello
Pricing
Subscription plans start at $120/year.
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Traqq
Traqq is a powerful yet simple and efficient time tracking app. When it comes to simplicity and power, this tool takes the lead. Its intuitive user interface makes it easy to understand, set up, and use, even for a novice.
Traqq software allows you to:- Execute employee time monitoring with just a click
- Keep track of on-screen activity for all staff members in your company, even when you’re not in the same location as them
- Know which employees are wasting time
- Prevent your employees from getting distracted during work hours
- Gain access to advanced reports
- Facilitate the client billing and staff payment process
- Monitor worker activity and track their time even when they’re offline
Let’s take a detailed look into some of Traqq’s key features:
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Simple Time Tracking
Traqq stands out as the most powerful alternative to ActiTime. It’s not just efficient—it’s also the simplest time tracker to set up and use. You can use the tool to monitor employee time in two easy steps:
- Open and log into the application.
- Turn the tracker on by simply clicking the start button.
Once the employee is done with work, they can turn off the tracker by clicking the stop icon. It’s that stress-free!
The simplicity of this time management app means your employees don’t need to waste time trying to learn how to use it. Once they install the app and begin tracking immediately.-
Distraction Management
As an employer, it’s normal to worry that your employees are wasting time on social media sites instead of focusing on their tasks. However, with Traqq, you can be confident that your staff members are productive. The tool takes several screenshots and video recordings of their desktop at random intervals. It also monitors activity levels by checking for keyboard movement and mouse clicks. On the dashboard, you will see the percentage of time a worker was actively working.
It sends you detailed reports of staff activity at the end of the week or month, showing you the stats on each employee.
Knowing that there’s a tool regularly monitoring their activity and tracking their time usage, workers will stay focused and not give in to distractions. This ensures they stay productive during work hours.-
Advanced Reporting
The app comes with an advanced reporting feature that provides you with timesheets. This gives you information on the total billable hours of each employee. In addition, it shows you which apps they open, how long they spend on them, and what they’re doing on the applications. The tool sends you attendance reports, which gives you information regarding when a worker clocked in and clocked out for work.
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Payroll and Client Billing
Whether you pay your workers using an hourly or fixed model, Traqq makes it easy to calculate employee salary. This allows you to pay your staff accurately and on time without worries of time theft or underpayment. Traqq also makes client billing ridiculously easy. It keeps a detailed record of past projects, how much time it took your team to complete each of them, and the cost. You can use this information to make accurate estimations for future assignments.
Pros
- Intuitive and friendly user-interface
- Gives you access to all its features for free
- Has an in-built tool that allows you to monitor each worker’s activity levels
- Tracks time and monitors activity even when there’s no network connection
- Has screenshots and screen recording features which keep records of employee on-screen activities, such as app and web activity
- Enables you to identify poor use of time among your staff
- A simplistic design that’s easy to understand
- Can export files in different formats, such as XLS, XLSX, and CSV
Cons
- Limited to macOS and Windows devices
Pricing
Traqq is a free-to-use time clock app. You get access to all its features without putting in your payment details or credit card information.
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Time Doctor
Time Doctor is another tool that works great as an alternative to ActiTime. Its impressive features make it a popular tool among reputable organizations such as Verizon and Apple.
Key Features
- Lets you track the amount of time workers spend on assigned tasks
- Allows you to monitor staff activity during work hours, such as the sites they visit and the apps they open
- Gives you detailed information that helps you hold workers accountable for poor usage of time
- Prevents your team from getting distracted during work
- Gives you advanced reporting, which you can use to bill your clients accurately
Pros
- Comes with a friendly user-interface
- Has an in-built tool for monitoring and reporting inactivity
- Tracks and monitors activity even when you’re working offline
- Keeps detailed information on the on-screen activities of your staff
- It has a screenshot feature that allows you to monitor employee activity
- Compatible with multiple platforms, such as Linux, Mac, and Windows
- Has GPS tool that allows you to track the location of your staff during work hours
Cons
- Its Chrome extension is not as versatile as the mobile and desktop app
- Businesses will find it more useful than freelancers
Pricing
The plans start at a fee of $7/month per user. There’s a 14-day free trial period where you can use the tool without inputting your credit card details.
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ProofHub
ProofHub is a team collaboration and project management app with time tracking capabilities.
Key Features
- Provides in-depth timesheet management
- Allows you to arrange projects into different workflow stages. You can then assign each of them to various employees
- Has a discussion thread which team members can use for better communication
- Has a direct messaging tool.
Pros
- Has an easy-to-understand user interface
- Has an in-built feature that allows for time management
- Has a markup tool that allows for easy proofing
Cons
- Doesn’t have a desktop tool
- Cannot set recurring options for particular tasks
- Unlike most other time trackers, it can only integrate with few productivity tools
Pricing
- Essential plan: Subscribe at $45 per month and enjoy access to an unlimited number of users for up to 40 projects. Also gives 15 GB of storage.
- Ultimate Control Plan: Subscribe at $89 per month and unlock all features, including 100 GB of storage.
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Clockify
Clockify is another tool with multi-functionality – project management and time tracking – feature.
Key Features
- Has automatic and manual modes for easy time tracking
- Comes with a customizable timesheets feature
- Availability of work activity status and visual charts
- Allows team collaboration on specific projects
- Integrates with many popular project management apps, such as Evernote and Trello
Pros
- Compatible with Linux, Windows, and Mac operating systems
- Allows on-the-go time tracking on Android and iOS devices
- Can export files in PDF, CSV, and XLS formats
Cons
- Access is limited access on the free version
- Generated reports cannot easily be used for invoicing
- Lacks distraction management features
Pricing
- Free plan: Allows unlimited time tracking and reports.
- Plus plan: Costs $9.99/month with private time entry and time rounding tools.
- Premium plan: Costs $29.99/month with access to all Plus features, project templates, alerts, and bulk reports.
- Server plan: Costs $450/month with access to all Premium features, project security, and dedicated customer support.
Conclusion
These ActiTime alternatives have everything you need to track time efficiently and increase productivity. However, when it comes to simplicity and power, Traqq has you covered with its cutting-edge features.