Key Insights:

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↪ ActivTrak provides straightforward monitoring solutions that are easy to implement, making it a good choice for companies prioritizing simplicity and basic tracking.

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↪ ActivTrak’s free plan is tailored for small teams, providing fundamental monitoring tools which are ideal for startups or small-scale operations.

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↪ ActivTrak offers around 20 integrations, covering essential business tools, making it suitable for companies needing basic connectivity without the complexity of numerous integrations.

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↪ Insightful’s staff monitoring software is a popular alternative to ActivTrak that excels in workforce analytics with advanced features like manual clock-ins and extensive integrations, enhanced by an upcoming AI tool for deeper insights.

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Read time: 8 minutes

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Welcome to our complete review of ActivTrak, a tool that tackles how to track employees' work and user behavior analytics within your organization. 

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In this guide, we scrutinize its features, user experience, customer service, and pricing, alongside user reviews, providing a holistic picture of what ActivTrak offers. 

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Whether you're a startup, a growing business, or a large organization, this guide aims to aid you in making an informed decision about ActivTrak. 

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In addition, we’ll discuss how Insightful, a popular employees’ monitoring software alternative to ActivTrak, compares and whether it may be a better fit for your business.

Features Overview 

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ActivTrak is an employee monitoring software designed to help companies analyze workforce productivity and performance. The tool collects digital data on employee activities, including productive vs. unproductive time, focused vs. multitasking time, and time spent on emails, meetings, etc.

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The software sports your standard time tracking features, breaking down hours worked into total, productive, focused, and collaboration hours. It also records app and website usage, providing insights into how employees spend their work hours.  

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ActivTrak offers activity alerts, such as notifications for social media visits, multiple browser windows, and idle times. The platform also includes tools for project and task time tracking, activity classifications, and website blocking. 

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While it can track productive, focused, and idle time pretty accurately, ActivTrak lacks more advanced monitoring capabilities like video screen recording, keystroke tracking, manual clock-in/clock-out, and integration with payroll systems.

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Speaking of, ActivTrak offers around 20 integrations that just manage to cover major business tools, like Jira, Outlook, Teams, and Slack. While this is a decent number, the platform falls short compared to some of the competitors, at least for the time being. 

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A lot of ActivTrak features are only available as extensions. For example, you won’t have access to screenshot capabilities unless you get the Screen Details add-on. If you need a more comprehensive monitoring solution, this will make the overall cost of the tool higher. 

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On the other hand, if you’re happy with run-of-the-mill monitoring capabilities, ActivTrak is a solid starter tool.

User Experience (UX)

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Overall, ActivTrak has largely positive feedback in this area. Many have highlighted the platform’s elaborate dashboard that offers solid time tracking and analytics features. Users have also praised the easy-to-navigate interface and in-depth reporting features. 

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The software’s UX strengths have certainly contributed to its popularity, but there is always room for improvement. While the menu is easy to navigate, using ActivTrak for its initial purpose—workforce analytics—seems to require a slight learning curve.

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For example, many users stated they would appreciate a more comprehensive overview of their workforce data. Most find the various graphs, charts, and pop-ups confusing and overwhelming. 

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The number of different settings and features is also brought up as a drawback since it seemingly cancels out the user-friendly aspect of the tool. It’s also worth mentioning that some users noted that there are limitations based on subscription plans. 

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But even in light of these setbacks, ActivTrak’s UX is definitely its strong point.

Customer Support

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ActivTrak’s customer support has received mixed reviews at best. The common pain points range from complaints about limited availability to grievances about dealing with uncooperative staff.

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Many users have complained about slow response times when trying to get assistance. While the Digital Support plan promises email support with a response time of four hours or less, some users have experienced delays that go well beyond this timeframe, especially during peak times or outside standard business hours. 

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Furthermore, ActivTrak's live chat and email support are only available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, meaning users outside these hours have no access to live customer support. This may pose a problem if your business is operating in different time zones.

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If you need 24/7 support, ActivTrak offers Premier and Signature Support plans that include customer success managers and advanced analytics, however, these options are—you guessed it—add-ons. Without these plans, you will receive the help you need (eventually) but miss out on personalized guidance.

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Some users reported that ActivTrak’s support team isn’t always clear with their instructions or even that helpful. The complaints mention generic responses that did not address the specific issues and multiple follow-ups due to sloppy documentation.

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However, most negative user reviews centered around unauthorized charges, difficulties in canceling subscriptions, and seemingly deceptive pricing practices, rather than attitude issues.

Pricing Plans

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Most users agree that ActivTrak offers good value for its functionality and price point, with a special nod to its rich, if somewhat overwhelming, feature set. Some, however, have expressed dissatisfaction with certain aspects, especially when it comes to the discrepancies between free and paid subscriptions.

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ActivTrak’s free plan does offer the basic time-tracking features most users are interested in, however, it comes with several limitations that may deter customers looking for all-encompassing employee monitoring solutions.

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For starters, the free plan is restricted to only three users. This works splendidly if you’re leading a brand-new startup, but it is not a viable option for growing businesses that need to monitor more employees without incurring additional costs. For that, you’d need to opt for the Essentials or Professional plan and an add-on or two.

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The free plan includes basic activity monitoring features such as active and idle time tracking, app and website usage tracking, and activity classifications, which is more than enough for some. 

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However, it lacks the advanced capabilities needed for a more detailed analysis of employee productivity. For example, activity alerts and automated responses, which help in real-time monitoring and corrective actions, are not available in the free plan.

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The free plan is also limited to a 30-day data history. This would restrict your ability to do a long-term trend analysis or comparisons. On the bright side, you can always spring for their Data History add-on and extend the data history.

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Another important thing to note is that ActivTrak does not offer month-to-month billing for its plans; instead, it requires annual billing. This won’t be an issue if you don’t mind being locked in a long-term commitment. However, if you prefer more flexibility in your budgeting, this could be a deal breaker.

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All in all, while their basic free plan leaves a lot to be desired, ActivTrak did account for businesses of all sizes when drawing out their pricing plans. 

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The Essentials plan, at $10 per user per month, adds real-time activity reports, activity alerts, and remote install capabilities for unlimited users. The Professional plan, costing $19 per user per month (billed annually), includes all Essentials features plus advanced productivity benchmarking, workload balance reports, and AI-powered productivity coaching for enhanced team management.

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Finally, the Enterprise plan offers custom pricing tailored to large businesses, including all features from the Professional plan, plus advanced app integrations, two years of data history, and dedicated customer support with a dedicated account manager. 

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If you know exactly what features you need to analyze your workforce and preempt signs of remote work burnout, you’ll have no problem choosing the right pricing plan.

Security & Compliance

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ActivTrak is very much aware of employee monitoring privacy in the workplace and greatly prioritizes security. The company holds both SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 certifications which validate its system-level controls for processing customer data. 

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The software also complies with all relevant data privacy regulations, including GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA, and implements rigorous security measures like end-to-end data encryption, audit logs, security alarms, and domain blocking to prevent compliance violations. 

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If you’re confused with all these abbreviations, don’t worry. ActivTrak provides their customers with guidance on how to configure their software to comply with these regulations.

Final Thoughts

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ActivTrak offers a solid suite of features for detailed tracking and workforce analytics. The birds-eye view into employee activities, coupled with a user-friendly interface and comprehensive reporting tools, makes it a valuable asset. 

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The platform's feature set, including time tracking, activity alerts, and website blocking, is more than enough if you’re looking for standard monitoring capabilities.

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However, there are notable drawbacks. 

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User experience, while generally positive, does present a learning curve, as the multitude of settings and overly complex data visualization can be overwhelming for new users. Customer support receives mixed reviews, with slow response times and limited availability being common complaints. Moreover, unauthorized charges and difficulties with cancellations have put a strain on the overall customer experience.

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Pricing plans, though varied, highlight a clear divide between the free and paid versions. The free plan is quite limited, suitable mainly for very small teams or startups, while more comprehensive monitoring capabilities require paid plans and additional costs for extensions. So, if you want to know how to track employees working from home free, ActivTrak might not be the best option.

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In terms of security and compliance, ActivTrak passes with flying colors, adhering to all data privacy regulations and using rigorous security measures to protect customer data. 

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All in all, ActivTrak is a solid choice for companies needing basic to mid-level monitoring capabilities. Its rich feature set and strong security credentials make it a worthwhile consideration, provided you can decipher its complex graphs and don’t mind waiting around for customer support. 

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If you’re looking for advanced monitoring or seamless customer support, however, it may fall short.

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Insightful: The Number One Choice for Workforce Analytics

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When it comes to workforce analytics and productivity tracking, Insightful’s staff tracking software stands out as a top performer. The platform offers a range of advanced, out-of-the-box features for time and attendance tracking, productivity measuring, and process improvement, including but not limited to:

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  🕝 Manual & Automated Clock In/Out

  💻 Screenshots

  📊 Activities Timeline

  ⏸️ Break-time Capture

  ✍️ Shift-scheduling

  📍 Location insights

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Along with built-in features, users can customize their subscriptions with a series of add-ons, if needed. Insightful also offers more than 50 integrations with various project management tools, HRIS systems, and communication platforms. Plus, you can get custom integrations via a public API. 

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All of this is available through an intuitive and easy-to-use dashboard with comprehensive data visualization. Insightful reports are designed with user experience in mind, allowing for quick access and effortless data interpretation. 

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There’s more! An upcoming AI enhancement will allow users to ask any question related to workforce data and receive instant, precise answers. The add-on feature will allow you to understand important productivity trends and workforce insights.

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If all of this spiked your interest, you can book a demo and get free a trial of Insightful’s staff monitoring software where you can explore all features, including add-ons, for two weeks. This allows you to fully experience the platform’s capabilities before committing to a subscription.

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Speaking of, Insightful offers several subscription plans: Productivity Tracking, Time Tracking, and Process Improvement. Each plan is customizable through add-ons and available with a free trial. Also, you are not limited to a certain number of users, so all subscriptions are suitable for organizations of different sizes. 

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In case none of the subscription plans fit your specific needs, there is a fourth option! Insightful’s Enterprise Plan is fully customizable. All you have to do is reach out to one of our lovely sales representatives and explain what you’d like to achieve with our software. 

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In case you change your mind about your chosen plan, you can always upgrade. Insightful uses a prorated billing system that charges you based on your current plan and the number of active users.

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For questions or concerns regarding the pricing or overall product, you can reach out to our amazing customer support staff. Don’t worry about getting a generic automated response—you’ll actually talk to real human person ready to provide personalized assistance!

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