In the market for an employee productivity tool? ActivTrak and Insightful (formerly Workpuls) might be at the top of your list. Both platforms monitor employee activity and offer automated insights into remote and in-office teams.
However, both have drawbacks. With dozens of dashboards, ActivTrak can be overwhelming for managers who need a straightforward system. Insightful has a simpler setup, but its stealth mode can cause friction with employees who value privacy.
Which tool best meets your needs, or is there a better option to consider? In this article, we’ll compare ActivTrak and Insightful so you can see how they measure up. We’ll also explore when to consider Time Doctor instead.
ActivTrak vs. Insightful: Platform overviews
Although Insightful and ActivTrak are comparable, each tool has different tracking, reporting, and integration strengths and weaknesses. Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of their key features and pricing tiers.
| Feature | ActivTrak | Insightful |
| Time and activity tracking | Individual and team tracking, plus real-time insights | Scheduling, attendance, and time tracking, plus real-time insights |
| Website and app monitoring | Automated app and website labeling, plus optional website blocking | Manual app and website labeling |
| Productivity reports | Team- and activity-based reports, plus location-based comparative insights | App-, website-, activity-, and location-based reports |
| Workforce management | Robust capacity planning and team efficiency tools | Operational efficiency tools |
| Impact analysis | Supports split-testing major changes | Not supported |
| App integrations | 20+ integrations and public API | 50+ integrations and public API |
| Pricing | Limited free plan for up to 3 users; paid plans start at $10/user per month | No free plan; paid plans start at $6.40/user per month |
ActivTrak overview
ActivTrak is a workforce productivity and analytics tool designed to help you understand and improve your teams’ work performance. It analyzes employees’ activity while protecting their privacy, which can encourage workforce buy-in.
In addition to tracking employee time and activity, the platform offers productivity coaching and assistance in balancing workloads. It also has an impact analysis tool to measure the actual cost of changes to workflows, tech stacks, or locations.
Insightful overview
Insightful is a workforce analytics tool focused on supporting teams so they work more efficiently and develop better workflows. In addition to tracking time, attendance, and tasks, the platform provides operational efficiency analytics.
Because it integrates with a long list of apps, adding Insightful to your agency or contact center’s tech stack is easy. Though less employee-friendly than ActivTrak, Insightful is ideal for organizations that need to monitor activity for security purposes.
Time and activity tracking
With time and task tracking, you can monitor attendance and see how remote, in-office, and hybrid employees spend their workdays. Both platforms offer similar time and activity tracking capabilities with real-time insights.
ActivTrak time and activity tracking
ActivTrak automatically tracks when your employees work and provides optional screenshots to show the tasks they tackle throughout the day. The platform’s dashboards offer real-time data so you can see whether your team is active or idle at any time.
Insightful time and activity tracking
Insightful’s time tracking system automatically creates daily timelines and takes optional screenshots so you can observe how employees block their workdays. The platform also monitors attendance and provides real-time insights into employee activity.
Website and app monitoring
By monitoring employee use of websites and apps, you can access in-depth insights into how your teams allocate time and how to increase their productivity. ActivTrak’s website blocking feature gives it the upper hand in this category.
ActivTrak website and app monitoring
ActivTrak monitors the websites and apps your employees use, charting them over time so you can spot patterns and distractions. Based on this data, you can program the platform to block your team from visiting specific websites.
Insightful website and app monitoring
Insightful keeps track of the websites and apps your team accesses for tasks to help everyone work more efficiently. The platform has a stealth mode option that prevents employees from seeing the used apps and websites.
Productivity reports
By comparing employee productive versus unproductive time, you can detect trends and make data-driven decisions about tasks and workflows. ActivTrak also has detailed reports and coaching, which gives it an edge over Insightful.
ActivTrak productivity reports
ActivTrak offers daily and weekly comparisons of productive versus unproductive time. The platform also shares productivity trends over time so you can keep projects moving in the right direction.
With ActivTrak’s goal-setting feature, you can ensure each team member is on track. The platform also offers personalized coaching to optimize employee workloads and efficiency.
Insightful productivity reports
Insightful generates productivity reports based on how you label each activity (e.g., productive versus unproductive). With the platform’s real-time insights, you can check on an employee’s current activity at any time during the workday.
Workload management
With workload management tools, you can assign workloads more effectively and plan capacity more accurately. Both platforms’ workload balancing features benefit teams, allowing them to work efficiently and better manage their work-life balance.
ActivTrak workload management
With ActivTrak’s workload balance feature, you can identify both underutilized employees and those who might be overextended. You can set up notifications about potential burnout issues so your team avoids more serious problems.
ActivTrak also assists with workforce capacity planning, making resource allocation easier. This feature helps balance work across your teams and assess any need for new full-time or contract team members.
Insightful workload management
With Insightful’s time tracking tools, you can monitor employee work hours and ensure everyone takes the breaks they deserve. The platform can also oversee workloads to help prevent burnout.
You can also plan projects and allocate resources more accurately with Insightful’s automated time mapping. That allows you to budget more effectively while confirming everyone on the project works as efficiently as possible.
Impact analysis
Insightful doesn’t offer an impact analysis feature, but ActivTrak does. By analyzing the impact of changes to tech or workflows, you can ensure they’re providing enough value to your team.
With this feature, you can set up A/B tests to measure the effect of any workflow changes, like introducing new tech or requiring your team to return to the office. You can also test out shifts like workforce reduction or workload rebalances.
This feature also helps compare different employee segments, which is especially beneficial if they work in various locations or use distinct tech stacks. If you’re planning big changes, ActivTrak is better positioned to measure the outcomes.
App integrations
From project management to human resources (HR) apps, you need an employee productivity tool that works with the software you’re already using. The two platforms have similar app integration and API capabilities. ActivTrak has an advantage in this category thanks to its help desk integrations if you manage contact centers.
ActivTrak integrations
ActivTrak connects to about two dozen HR, project management, and help desk tools. With the ActivConnect API, admins can link the platform directly to external data sources and create custom dashboards.
Insightful integrations
Insightful has over 50 integrations with HR, data warehouse, and project management tools. The platform also has a public API that lets admins create custom connections and fully integrate Insightful into their tech stack.
Subscription pricing
ActivTrak and Insightful both offer free trials and multiple pricing tiers. However, only ActivTrak has a free forever plan.
ActivTrak’s free plan offers lots of value for small teams with strict budgets and limited needs. However, teams with more advanced needs can typically get more value from Insightful’s paid plans, which cost less overall.
ActivTrak pricing
Small teams can use ActivTrak at no cost, but the free plan is limited since it doesn’t include coaching or in-depth insights. For paid plans, the platform offers annual billing only:
- Free: $0/user per month for up to 3 users
- Essentials: $10/user per month
- Professional: $17/user per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
Insightful pricing
Although Insightful doesn’t have a free plan, the platform does offer a 7-day free trial. All paid plans are available with either monthly or annual billing. The pricing below reflects annual billing:
- Employee Monitoring: $6.40/user per month
- Time Tracking: $8/user per month
- Automatic Time Mapping: $12/user per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
Time Doctor: A smarter alternative to ActivTrak and Insightful
Not sold on either ActivTrak or Insightful? Time Doctor is an employee-friendly platform offering workforce monitoring and productivity analytics at a lower cost than either of those software alternatives. Here’s a look at how Time Doctor compares.
Time Doctor time and activity tracking
Time Doctor has both manual and automated time tracking. The manual format requires employees to track each task individually, while the automated option monitors employees throughout the workday.
Since Time Doctor supports recurring and one-off schedules, you can use the platform to ensure employees start their shifts on time. As employees work, the platform creates a timeline of their day so you can observe which tasks and projects used the most time.
Time Doctor website and app monitoring
The platform automatically monitors the apps and websites your team uses while working. Once you label the sites and apps your employees access, you can start measuring how productive or unproductive your team is throughout the day.
With Time Doctor’s productivity trends, you can detect patterns over time. Then, you can take action as necessary. For example, you might talk with underperforming employees to learn what they need to work more efficiently.
Time Doctor workforce management
Using Time Doctor’s executive and team dashboards, you can spot any significant issues with your workforce. For instance, you can identify the teams with the most attendance problems or those with the most productive time on average.
This dashboard also reveals employees who are at risk of burnout. Once you input your organization’s definition (e.g., number of hours worked or weekend and evening time worked) you can get alerts and help those employees maintain a healthier work-life balance.
Time Doctor app integrations
With 60+ app integrations, Time Doctor works with the software your team already uses, including project management tools like Asana and Trello and payroll tools like Gusto and ADP.
For contact centers and customer service teams, Time Doctor works with help desk tools like Intercom and Zoho. For sales teams, the platform works with customer relationship management (CRM) tools like HubSpot and Pipedrive.
Time Doctor pricing
Time Doctor doesn’t have a free plan but does offer a 14-day free trial. There are 4 pricing tiers (based on annual billing):
- Basic: $5.90/user per month
- Standard: $8.40/user per month
- Premium: $16.70/user per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
Final thoughts on Insightful vs. ActivTrak vs. Time Doctor
When tracking employee attendance, tasks, and productivity, you need a tool that fits your budget, provides valuable insights, and offers transparency. Time Doctor has a clear edge over other software options. Request a Time Doctor demo today to see how it can benefit your organization.
