ActivTrak vs Insightful (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, ActivTrak and Insightful share a 2.2 GPA, and only ActivTrak has a free plan.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
ActivTrak
Workforce analytics that tracks activity and work time automatically
Insightful
Workforce analytics with automatic time tracking and attendance
Which one is for you
Pick ActivTrak if
- Fits if you manage a remote team and want to see where their time goes
- Works for a manager who wants reports sent into Power BI or Tableau
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to bill clients by project hours, as it tracks activity, not projects
- Tight if you stay free: 3 workers and 30 days of data
- Watch out: screenshots, live view and website blocking need the Screen Details add-on
- Watch out: the $7 rate needs a 3-year term, and more than 50 licences need a paid support plan
Pick Insightful if
- Fits if you want time and attendance reports for a Windows, Mac or Linux team
- Works for companies that need data pulled into their own warehouse
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you want screenshots or recording, which are paid add-ons of $0.50 to $4 a seat
- Skip it if you want to try the dearer plans, as Insights and Intelligence need a sales conversation
- Pricey if you are a small team, as Insights is $24 a seat with a 50-seat minimum, yearly only
- Watch out: Intelligence has no published price, and on-premises hosting is quoted by sales
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAActivTrakFair | 2.2GPAInsightfulFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CWork Activity Tracking is $10 a worker billed yearly, and $7 only on a 3-year term. Time-tracking's dearer quarter starts at $9. | C$8 per seat a month billed yearly ($10 monthly), between the middle of $6.67 and the dearest quarter at $9. Add-ons run from $0.50 to $4 a seat. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan for 3 workers with 30 days of data and limited functions, plus a 14-day trial. | C7-day trial of Analytics with no card needed, and no free plan. |
| Features | CAutomatic tracking, adherence and productivity reports. It does not log project hours for billing, and screenshots need an add-on. | CTime, attendance, app and workload reports, but screenshots, screen recording and the data warehouse are paid add-ons. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You deploy an agent to each worker's computer and tune the reports. | CNo store rating on record. Agents have to be rolled out to each computer and reports tuned. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web dashboard with Power BI, Tableau and Looker Studio. | BWeb, Windows, Mac and Linux agents, an API and a data warehouse, with 8 integrations on record; no phone apps. |
| Best for | seeing how a team spends its working time | workforce analytics with time and attendance |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: ActivTrak and Insightful. How we grade
Price against what you get
ActivTrak starts at $10 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Insightful starts at $8 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Insightful starts $2 a month lower. Of the other time tracking apps on the chart, 30 score higher than ActivTrak for less, and 20 score higher than Insightful for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- ActivTrak also covers site & app blocker.
At a glance
| ActivTrak | Insightful | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $10 per worker / month, billed annually | $8 per seat / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Free plan for up to 3 workers: basic activity visibility with 30 days of data history and limited functionality. | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of Workforce Management plus Productivity Optimization | 7-day free trial of Analytics, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | ActivTrak | Insightful.io, Inc |
| Price read from | activtrak.com | insightful.io |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
ActivTrak
- It monitors worker activity rather than logging project hours, so it suits oversight more than client billing.
- Screenshots, live view and website blocking need the paid Screen Details add-on.
- The $7 rate for Work Activity Tracking applies only on a 3-year subscription; the standard annual rate is $10.
- The free plan is limited to 3 workers and 30 days of data, and more than 50 licenses require a paid support plan.
Insightful
- Screenshots, screen recording, security features and the data warehouse export are paid add-ons ($0.50 to $4 per seat a month).
- Insights needs at least 50 seats, is billed yearly only, and begins with a Work Audit request rather than a self-serve trial.
- Intelligence has no published price, and Insights and Intelligence are not available to try without a sales conversation.
- On-premise or private cloud hosting exists for Workforce Analytics only, at an extra cost quoted by sales.
Key features
ActivTrak
- Automatic time tracking
- Records activity in the background and summarizes it by user and team, with daily work metrics and real-time visibility.
- Schedule and location adherence
- Compare actual work against schedules, spot exceptions and trends, identify breaks and validate work location policy on higher plans.
- Productivity and capacity reports
- Utilization, workload balance, benchmarks, headcount planning and coaching opportunities, plus an on-demand Work Advisor.
- AI usage measurement
- An AI Insights add-on at $4 per worker per month covers AI usage, governance and compliance, adoption and productivity impact.
- Screen Details add-on
- Screenshots, live screen view, title bars, full URLs, alarms and website blocking are an optional add-on, not part of the base plans.
Insightful
- Time and attendance
- Automatic and manual clock-in and clock-out, break capture, offline time entry, shift scheduling, automatic timesheets and absence alerts.
- App, website and AI tool activity
- Shows how the workday is spent across apps and sites, with productive-time categories, idle time alerts and time spent in online meetings.
- Capacity and workload reports
- Eleven workforce reports on productivity, capacity and workload trends, delivered by CSV or email and kept for 24 months.
- Project and task time
- Tracks time against projects and tasks, with integrations to project management, help desk and HR tools such as Jira, Asana, Zendesk and ADP.
- Add-ons for monitoring depth
- Screenshots, on-demand screenshots, screen recording, and security and audit-log features are separate per-seat add-ons billed on the plan's cycle.
- Data warehouse and API
- A paid add-on sends Insightful data to BigQuery or Snowflake and opens the public API for custom integrations.
Plans
ActivTrak
Free$0
for up to 3 workers
Basic activity visibility, 30 days of data history, limited functionality. A trial downgrades to this plan.
Work Activity Tracking$10
per worker / month, billed annually ($7 on a 3-year term)
Adherence to working hours and tech policy: automatic time tracking, real-time visibility, attendance, app and website usage. 6 months of data.
Workforce Management$15
per worker / month, billed annually
Adds utilization and financial loss, productivity against goals, schedule exception reports and offline meeting tracking. 6 months of data.
Productivity Optimization$17
per worker / month, billed annually
Adds organization productivity trends, workload balance, benchmarks and goals, capacity planning and coaching. 1 year of data.
Workflow$21
per worker / month, billed annually
Finds repetitive work and AI or automation opportunities; sold through sales for AI and operations teams.
Insightful
Analytics$8
per seat / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)
Time and attendance, app, website and AI tool use, capacity and workload, project and task time. Monthly billing drops to $8 after six months.
Insights$24
per seat / month, billed annually; 50-seat minimum
Everything in Analytics plus people intelligence: custom reports, workload balance and work patterns, and AI chat. Starts with a Work Audit.
IntelligenceCustom
Adds process intelligence: process maps built from recorded work and automation recommendations. Annual contracts quoted on request.
Ways to pay less
ActivTrak
- Other savings
Save 30% on a two-plan bundle
ActivTrak's pricing page offers a 30% saving when Workforce Management and Productivity Optimization are bought together.
Insightful
- Annual discount
Save 20% on Analytics with yearly billing
Insightful's pricing page lists Analytics at $8 per seat a month billed yearly, against $10 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, ActivTrak or Insightful?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Insightful is cheaper to start with: $8 a month for each person, against $10 a month for each person for ActivTrak. ActivTrak starts at $10 per worker / month, billed annually, and Insightful starts at $8 per seat / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, ActivTrak or Insightful?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only ActivTrak has a free plan. Insightful does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do ActivTrak and Insightful run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Insightful lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.