Remote employee monitoring software tracks how your team spends their work time when working from home or other remote locations. It includes tools for activity tracking, time tracking, and project management, giving managers visibility into productivity without requiring physical presence.
With remote work now standard for millions of professionals, demand for these tools has surged. Managers need reliable ways to keep track of employee activity and productivity across distributed teams.
This guide covers 21 remote employee monitoring software tools across three categories: activity trackers, time trackers, and project management platforms.
Table of Contents
- Key Terms
- The 3 Types of Remote Employee Monitoring Tools
- Employee Monitoring Software: Activity Trackers
- Employee Monitoring Software: Time Tracking
- Employee Monitoring Software: Task and Project Management
- 7 Reasons to Monitor Remote Employees
- Comparison Table
- Start Here: Your Remote Monitoring Checklist
- Frequently Asked Questions
- What is remote employee monitoring software?
- Is it legal to monitor remote employees?
- What is the best free employee monitoring tool?
- How much does employee monitoring software cost?
- Does employee monitoring actually improve productivity?
- What is the difference between activity tracking and time tracking?
- How do I monitor remote employee email activity?
Key Insight
Employee monitoring isn’t just about surveillance. The Hawthorne Effect shows that people perform better simply by knowing they’re being observed. The best monitoring tools combine accountability with actionable data, helping you identify bottlenecks and reward top performers.
Key Terms
Activity Tracking: Monitoring what employees do during work hours, including screenshots, website visits, app usage, and keyboard/mouse activity. Activity trackers show how time is spent within each task or application.
Time Tracking: Recording how long employees spend on tasks and projects using manual timers, automated logging, or timesheet entries. Time tracking apps provide a high-level view of time allocation but don’t show what happens within each time block.
Email Tracking: Monitoring email activity patterns like volume, response time, and thread depth. Email tracking is a form of activity monitoring focused specifically on the communication channel most remote workers rely on.
Productivity Analytics: Dashboards and reports that aggregate monitoring data into actionable insights about team productivity, workload balance, and efficiency trends.
Screenshot Monitoring: Automated periodic screenshots of employee screens taken at intervals (typically every 5-10 minutes) to verify on-task behavior. Some tools blur or redact personal content for privacy.
Idle Time Detection: Tracking periods when no keyboard or mouse activity is detected, which may indicate breaks, distractions, or non-work activity.
Project Management: Platforms for organizing tasks, assigning work, tracking progress, and facilitating team collaboration on shared projects.
The 3 Types of Remote Employee Monitoring Tools
Time trackers record how long employees spend on specific tasks or projects. Employees start and stop timers, or the tool logs time automatically. These tools show how much time goes where, but they don’t reveal how that time is spent within each category.
Activity trackers go deeper, showing what employees actually do during their work hours. They may capture screenshots, track website visits, monitor app usage, or analyze email patterns. This category includes email tracking tools.
Project management and task trackers organize work into projects and tasks, track assignments, and facilitate collaboration. They focus on output and progress rather than minute-by-minute activity.
Most modern tools hybridize these features. A project management tool may include time tracking, and a time tracker may capture screenshots. We’ve listed each tool in its dominant category below.
Employee Monitoring Software: Activity Trackers
These tools focus on tracking what employees do during work hours, providing detailed visibility into activity patterns and communication.
1. EmailAnalytics
Quick Summary
EmailAnalytics visualizes your team’s email activity in Gmail and Outlook, tracking volume, response times, top contacts, and busiest hours. It’s the only tool on this list that offers email-specific activity tracking for measuring productivity.
With email being the primary communication channel for remote workers, EmailAnalytics fills a gap no other monitoring tool covers. It shows how many emails each person sends and receives, their average response time, and their busiest days and hours.
Real-time alerts notify you when emails sit unanswered beyond a threshold you set. You can quickly see how busy employees truly are, and how quickly they communicate with clients, leads, and each other.
Pricing: Free trial available. Contact for team pricing.
Key Features:
- Email volume analytics (sent, received, by day and hour)
- Average response time tracking by agent and recipient
- Top senders and recipients for workload evaluation
- Thread length and conversation depth metrics
- Real-time alerts when emails approach SLA thresholds
Who Should Choose EmailAnalytics
- Managers who need visibility into remote team email productivity
- Organizations where email is the primary communication channel
- Sales leaders who want to correlate email activity with revenue
2. Insightful
Quick Summary
Insightful (formerly WorkPuls) provides employee monitoring, time tracking, productivity analytics, and automatic time mapping. It generates daily productivity reports showing how your team works best.
Insightful tracks app and website usage, captures optional screenshots, and categorizes activity as productive or unproductive based on rules you define. The platform handles teams of all sizes, from small startups to enterprises with thousands of employees.
AI-driven alerts flag changes in behavior patterns, helping you catch productivity dips and burnout signals before they become serious problems.
Pricing: Employee Monitoring from $6.40/user/month (annual). Time Tracking, Automatic Time Mapping, and Enterprise tiers available. 7-day free trial.
Key Features:
- Real-time activity monitoring with optional screenshots
- Automatic time mapping that links activity to projects via AI
- Productivity categorization (productive vs. unproductive apps/sites)
- AI-driven alerts for behavior pattern changes
- 50+ integrations with HRIS, CX, and CRM platforms
Who Should Choose Insightful
- Enterprise teams managing hundreds or thousands of remote employees
- Managers who want AI-powered productivity insights, not just raw data
- Organizations that need detailed activity tracking with privacy controls
3. Time Champ
Quick Summary
Time Champ is time-tracking software with real-time activity tracking, employee monitoring, customizable timesheets, and task management features designed for teams of all sizes.
Time Champ automatically records clock-in and clock-out times, tracks tasks, and manages attendance. The platform combines time tracking with activity monitoring, including screenshot capture and app usage analytics.
Customizable timesheets and task management features make it useful for teams that need both time accounting and activity visibility.
Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans from $2.99/user/month. Enterprise with custom pricing.
Key Features:
- Automatic clock-in/clock-out and attendance tracking
- Real-time activity monitoring with screenshot capture
- Customizable timesheets with approval workflows
- Task management and project tracking
- Productivity analytics with app and website usage reports
Who Should Choose Time Champ
- Small to mid-sized teams that need affordable monitoring under $3/user
- Organizations that want attendance tracking combined with activity monitoring
- Teams that need customizable timesheets with management approval
4. ActivTrak
Quick Summary
ActivTrak tracks website visits, app usage, and applies content filters. The free version supports up to 3 users, and paid plans add USB device detection, security audits, and advanced analytics.
ActivTrak provides a clean dashboard that categorizes employee activity as productive, unproductive, or undefined. You can set custom productivity classifications based on role, so social media use counts as productive for your marketing team but not for developers.
The platform’s Team Pulse feature shows real-time activity across your entire team in a single view.
Pricing: Free (up to 3 users). Essentials at $10/user/month. Professional at $17/user/month. Enterprise with custom pricing.
Key Features:
- Website and app usage tracking with productivity categorization
- Free plan for up to 3 users with core monitoring features
- Team Pulse for real-time team-wide activity overview
- USB device detection and security auditing (paid plans)
- Custom productivity classifications by role or department
Who Should Choose ActivTrak
- Small teams that want a free monitoring tool to get started
- Organizations that need role-based productivity classifications
- Managers who want real-time visibility into what their team is working on
5. Teramind
Quick Summary
Teramind is an advanced employee monitoring tool with time tracking, activity tracking, policy enforcement, website restrictions, and alerts for problematic user behaviors. It’s the most security-focused option on this list.
Teramind goes beyond productivity monitoring into insider threat detection and data loss prevention. Administrators can create and enforce policies that limit access to specific websites, flag risky behavior, and block unauthorized file transfers.
The platform is available as cloud, on-premise, or private cloud deployment, making it suitable for organizations with strict security and compliance requirements.
Pricing: Starter at $14/user/month (5-user minimum). UAM at $28/user/month. DLP at $32/user/month. Enterprise with custom pricing. Free trial available.
Key Features:
- Real-time screen recording and playback
- Policy enforcement with automated blocking and alerts
- Insider threat detection and data loss prevention (DLP)
- User behavior analytics (UEBA) with anomaly detection
- Cloud, on-premise, and private cloud deployment options
Who Should Choose Teramind
- Organizations in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, government)
- Companies that need insider threat detection alongside productivity monitoring
- Teams requiring on-premise deployment for compliance reasons
6. Hubstaff
Quick Summary
Hubstaff combines screenshots, time tracking, and automated reporting for remote employee monitoring. It also measures keyboard and mouse activity to indicate whether employees are actively working.
Hubstaff’s activity metrics track keyboard strokes and mouse movements to calculate an “activity percentage” for each work session. Combined with optional screenshots and app tracking, it gives managers a clear picture of how employees spend their time.
The platform also includes GPS tracking for field teams, invoicing, and payroll integration.
Pricing: Free (1 user). Starter at $7/user/month. Grow at $9/user/month. Team at $12/user/month. Enterprise at $25/user/month.
Key Features:
- Screenshot capture at configurable intervals
- Keyboard and mouse activity percentage tracking
- GPS location tracking for field and mobile workers
- Automated payroll and invoicing integration
- 20+ customizable reports on time, activity, and attendance
Who Should Choose Hubstaff
- Remote teams that need combined time tracking and activity monitoring
- Companies with field workers who need GPS tracking
- Agencies that want to integrate monitoring directly with invoicing
7. iDoneThis
Quick Summary
iDoneThis takes a self-reporting approach to monitoring, giving team members a daily check-in where they report completed tasks, current projects, and challenges blocking their productivity.
Instead of tracking screenshots or keystrokes, iDoneThis relies on daily progress updates from each team member. This approach builds accountability through transparency rather than surveillance.
The platform aggregates check-ins into team dashboards so managers can spot blockers, track progress, and identify workload imbalances across the team.
Pricing: From approximately $5/user/month. Contact for current pricing.
Key Features:
- Daily check-in system for self-reported progress updates
- Team dashboards aggregating individual progress reports
- Blocker identification for removing productivity obstacles
- Historical progress tracking for performance reviews
- Integration with Slack, HipChat, and email
Who Should Choose iDoneThis
- Teams that prefer transparency-based accountability over surveillance
- Managers who want daily progress visibility without invasive monitoring
- Organizations where trust-based management is a core value
Employee Monitoring Software: Time Tracking
These tools focus on recording how employees allocate their time across tasks, projects, and clients.
8. ProofHub
Quick Summary
ProofHub is a project management and team collaboration tool with built-in time tracking, task management, custom fields, and a scheduling calendar. It uses flat-rate pricing with no per-user fees.
ProofHub stands out by charging a flat monthly fee regardless of team size. For growing teams, this makes costs predictable as you add employees.
The time tracking module lets employees log hours against tasks and projects, and managers can generate reports showing time allocation across the team.
Pricing: Essential at $45/month (flat rate). Ultimate Control at $89/month (flat rate). 14-day free trial.
Key Features:
- Flat-rate pricing with no per-user fees
- Built-in time tracking with project-level reporting
- Task management with custom fields and workflows
- Gantt charts and scheduling calendar
- File proofing and approval workflows
Who Should Choose ProofHub
- Growing teams that want predictable flat-rate pricing
- Organizations that need project management and time tracking combined
- Teams of 10+ where per-user pricing becomes expensive
9. Time Doctor
Quick Summary
Time Doctor combines automatic and manual time tracking with website/app usage monitoring and screenshots. It’s one of the most established names in the remote work monitoring space. See our Time Doctor vs. RescueTime comparison.
Time Doctor tracks time automatically or manually, monitors which websites and apps employees use, and captures periodic screenshots. Automatic reports show managers exactly how time was spent each day.
The platform also includes distraction alerts that notify employees when they spend too long on non-work websites.
Pricing: Basic at $6.70/user/month (annual). Standard at $11.70/user/month. Premium at $18.70/user/month. 14-day free trial.
Key Features:
- Automatic and manual time tracking with idle detection
- Website and app usage monitoring with categorization
- Periodic screenshot capture for activity verification
- Distraction alerts for non-work browsing
- Payroll integration and client billing reports
Who Should Choose Time Doctor
- Remote teams that need combined time and activity tracking
- Agencies that bill clients based on tracked employee hours
- Managers who want distraction alerts to keep employees focused
10. Harvest
Quick Summary
Harvest is a time tracking tool designed for simplicity. It integrates with dozens of project management and business apps, and provides intuitive reporting for analyzing work patterns.
Harvest focuses on making time tracking as frictionless as possible. Employees start timers with one click, and the platform generates visual reports showing time allocation across projects, clients, and team members.
The invoicing feature converts tracked time directly into client invoices, making it popular with agencies and freelancers.
Pricing: Free (1 seat, 2 projects). Pro at $10.80/seat/month. Contact for enterprise pricing.
Key Features:
- One-click time tracking with browser and desktop apps
- Visual reports for time allocation analysis
- Direct conversion of tracked time to invoices
- Budget tracking with alerts when projects approach limits
- Integrations with Asana, Trello, Slack, and 70+ other tools
Who Should Choose Harvest
- Agencies and freelancers who need time-to-invoice workflow
- Teams that prioritize simplicity over advanced monitoring features
- Organizations that use multiple project management tools and need a universal timer
11. RescueTime
Quick Summary
RescueTime is a productivity platform that tracks website and app usage throughout the day, categorizes activity as productive or distracting, and lets you block sites you find unproductive.
RescueTime runs passively in the background, automatically logging which websites and applications employees use. It categorizes all activity on a productivity scale and generates daily reports showing focused time vs. distracted time.
The FocusTime feature blocks distracting websites during designated work periods.
Pricing: RescueTime Lite (free, limited features). Premium at $12/month ($6.50/month annual).
Key Features:
- Automatic website and app usage tracking
- Productivity scoring with customizable categories
- FocusTime website blocker for distraction-free work periods
- Daily and weekly productivity reports
- Alerts when productivity drops below defined thresholds
Who Should Choose RescueTime
- Individual professionals who want to understand their own productivity patterns
- Remote workers who struggle with distraction management
- Managers who want a lightweight, non-invasive productivity tool
12. Timely
Quick Summary
Timely automates time tracking by recording a digital timeline of how employees spend their day, eliminating the manual start/stop process that makes traditional time trackers unreliable.
Timely’s Memory feature runs in the background and creates a detailed timeline of everything employees work on, including apps, documents, meetings, and websites. Employees then confirm or adjust entries before submitting.
This approach solves the biggest problem with manual time tracking: people forgetting to start and stop timers.
Pricing: Starter at $11/user/month. Premium at $20/user/month. Unlimited at $28/user/month. Enterprise with custom pricing.
Key Features:
- Automatic background time capture (Memory feature)
- AI-powered timesheet suggestions based on recorded activity
- Project and task-level time allocation
- Team dashboards for capacity planning
- Integrations with 40+ tools including Slack, Asana, and Jira
Who Should Choose Timely
- Teams frustrated with the inaccuracy of manual time tracking
- Professional services firms that need accurate billable hours
- Managers who want reliable time data without nagging employees to log hours
13. TopTracker
Quick Summary
TopTracker integrates time tracking with billing and invoicing. You can track time, capture screenshots, then create and send invoices from the same platform.
TopTracker is built by Toptal, the freelance talent network, so it’s designed specifically for freelancers and agencies who need to track time and bill clients. The platform is completely free with no user limits.
Screenshots provide proof of work for clients, and the reporting features convert tracked hours directly into professional invoices.
Pricing: Free (all features, unlimited users).
Key Features:
- Completely free time tracking with no user limits
- Screenshot capture for proof of work
- Built-in invoicing and billing tools
- Project-based time organization
- Desktop apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux
Who Should Choose TopTracker
- Freelancers who need free time tracking with screenshot proof
- Agencies that want to integrate tracking directly with invoicing
- Small teams that need a capable tool with zero ongoing cost
14. Hours
Quick Summary
Hours lets you run multiple timers simultaneously, making it easy to switch between tasks throughout the day. It includes built-in reporting and invoice generation.
Hours focuses on one thing: making it effortless to track time across multiple concurrent tasks. The visual timeline shows your entire day at a glance, and you can drag to adjust entries retroactively.
Reports convert tracked time into invoices for client billing.
Pricing: Personal (free). Pro from $8/month. Team plans available.
Key Features:
- Multiple concurrent timers for easy task switching
- Visual timeline showing the full workday at a glance
- Drag-to-adjust time entries for retroactive corrections
- Built-in reporting and invoice generation
- iOS and web apps with sync across devices
Who Should Choose Hours
- Professionals who switch between multiple projects throughout the day
- Freelancers who need simple time-to-invoice conversion
- Anyone who wants a lightweight, visual time tracking experience
15. ClickTime
Quick Summary
ClickTime provides online timesheets and time tracking with project budget monitoring. It shows whether projects are on time and within budget based on actual employee hours logged.
ClickTime combines timesheets with resource planning and budget tracking. Managers can see real-time project health based on hours logged vs. hours budgeted, and the platform flags projects at risk of going over budget.
The expense tracking feature lets employees log expenses alongside time for complete project cost visibility.
Pricing: Starter at $13/user/month. Team at $17/user/month. Premier at $28/user/month. Enterprise with custom pricing.
Key Features:
- Online timesheets with approval workflows
- Project budget tracking with at-risk alerts
- Resource planning and capacity management
- Expense tracking alongside time entries
- Custom reports for project profitability analysis
Who Should Choose ClickTime
- Professional services firms tracking billable hours against project budgets
- Organizations that need combined time and expense tracking
- Managers who want real-time project health dashboards
16. Timeneye
Quick Summary
Timeneye offers stress-free time tracking for freelancers and remote teams, with project monitoring and productivity analytics to help you increase productivity.
Timeneye keeps time tracking simple with a clean interface that doesn’t overwhelm users. It tracks time against projects and tasks, generates budget reports, and provides insights into how teams allocate their hours.
The platform integrates with Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and other project management tools.
Pricing: From $7/user/month. Free trial available.
Key Features:
- Simple, clean time tracking interface
- Project budget monitoring with progress indicators
- Team time allocation reports and analytics
- Integrations with Asana, Trello, and Basecamp
- Browser extension and mobile apps
Who Should Choose Timeneye
- Freelancers who want simple, affordable time tracking
- Small remote teams that use Asana or Trello for project management
- Teams that value a clean UI over feature density
17. QuickBooks Time
Quick Summary
QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) tracks attendance and time for remote and on-site workers, with direct integration into QuickBooks payroll and accounting for seamless billing.
QuickBooks Time is the obvious choice for teams already using QuickBooks for accounting. Tracked time flows directly into payroll processing without manual data entry.
The platform includes GPS tracking, scheduling, and PTO management alongside core time tracking features.
Pricing: Premium at $20/month + $8/user/month. Elite at $40/month + $10/user/month. 30-day free trial.
Key Features:
- Direct QuickBooks payroll and accounting integration
- GPS tracking and geofencing for mobile workers
- Employee scheduling and shift management
- PTO tracking and approval workflows
- Mobile app with kiosk mode for team clock-in
Who Should Choose QuickBooks Time
- Businesses already using QuickBooks for accounting and payroll
- Companies with field workers who need GPS and geofencing
- Teams that need scheduling, PTO tracking, and timesheets in one tool
Employee Monitoring Software: Task and Project Management
These tools focus on organizing work, tracking task completion, and facilitating team collaboration on projects.
18. Asana
Quick Summary
Asana is a project management platform for creating tasks, assigning work, managing priorities, and tracking activity across teams. Check out our guide to Asana for a deep dive.
Asana organizes work into projects, tasks, and subtasks that you can assign to team members with due dates and priorities. Multiple views (list, board, timeline, calendar) let managers see project status from different angles.
The reporting features track task completion rates, workload distribution, and project progress over time.
Pricing: Personal (free, up to 10 users). Starter at $10.99/user/month. Advanced at $24.99/user/month. Enterprise with custom pricing.
Key Features:
- Task creation, assignment, and priority management
- Multiple views: list, board, timeline, and calendar
- Workload management for balancing team capacity
- Custom fields and workflow automation
- 200+ integrations including Slack, Google Workspace, and Microsoft Teams
Who Should Choose Asana
- Teams that need a full-featured project management platform
- Organizations managing complex, multi-step workflows
- Managers who want workload visibility across their entire team
19. Trello
Quick Summary
Trello is a visual project management platform using boards, lists, and cards to organize tasks. Its simplicity makes it one of the most accessible tools for teams new to project management.
Trello’s Kanban-style boards make it easy to visualize work flowing through stages (To Do, In Progress, Done). Each card can hold checklists, attachments, due dates, and comments.
Power-Ups extend Trello’s functionality with time tracking, calendar views, and integrations with other tools. Advanced reporting shows task completion trends and team activity.
Pricing: Free (unlimited cards, up to 10 boards). Standard at $5/user/month. Premium at $10/user/month. Enterprise at $17.50/user/month.
Key Features:
- Kanban boards with drag-and-drop cards and lists
- Generous free plan with unlimited cards
- Power-Ups for time tracking, calendar, and automation
- Butler automation for repetitive task workflows
- Integrations with Slack, Google Drive, and 200+ tools
Who Should Choose Trello
- Teams that want visual, intuitive project tracking with minimal setup
- Small teams on a budget that need a free project management tool
- Organizations that prefer Kanban-style workflows over complex project plans
20. nTask
Quick Summary
nTask is an all-in-one task and project management platform with web and mobile apps that help teams stay connected from anywhere and collaborate to get work done.
nTask handles task management, project planning, time tracking, and team collaboration in a single platform. Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and custom workflows let you organize work in whatever style your team prefers.
The platform also includes meeting management and issue tracking, making it useful for teams that want to consolidate multiple tools.
Pricing: Premium at $4/user/month. Business at $12/user/month. Enterprise with custom pricing. 7-day free trial.
Key Features:
- Task and project management with Kanban and Gantt views
- Built-in time tracking and timesheet management
- Meeting management with agendas and action items
- Issue and risk tracking for project health monitoring
- Web and mobile apps for remote team connectivity
Who Should Choose nTask
- Teams that want task management, time tracking, and meetings in one tool
- Budget-conscious organizations needing project management under $5/user
- Remote teams that rely heavily on mobile access
21. Everhour
Quick Summary
Everhour functions as both a time tracking tool and a project management dashboard, pulling tasks and data from your existing platforms into a unified view.
Everhour integrates natively with Asana, Trello, Jira, Basecamp, and other project management tools. Instead of replacing your existing workflow, it adds a time tracking layer on top of whatever platform your team already uses.
The unified dashboard displays tasks, time entries, and budget data from all connected platforms in one place.
Pricing: Free (up to 5 users). Team at $8.50/user/month. Contact for enterprise pricing.
Key Features:
- Native integration with Asana, Trello, Jira, and Basecamp
- Unified dashboard pulling data from multiple platforms
- Time tracking embedded directly inside your existing project tools
- Budget tracking and project profitability reports
- Team scheduling and resource allocation
Who Should Choose Everhour
- Teams already using Asana, Trello, or Jira who need time tracking added
- Managers who want a unified view across multiple project management tools
- Agencies tracking profitability across client projects
7 Reasons to Monitor Remote Employees
If you trust your employees, you might be reluctant to monitor their activity. But monitoring has positive effects beyond managing distrust.
1. Keeping employees on task. The Hawthorne Effect shows that people perform better when they know they’re being observed. Simply having monitoring in place improves performance.
2. Keeping employees accountable. When employees claim they didn’t have time to finish a project, monitoring data shows whether they were genuinely busy with other tasks or distracted by non-work activity.
3. Rewarding exceptional performers. Monitoring isn’t just about catching problems. It’s also about identifying employees who deliver outstanding results and recognizing their contributions.
4. Balancing workloads. Most teams end up with unbalanced workloads. Some employees are overworked and overwhelmed while others don’t have enough to do. Monitoring helps you redistribute work appropriately.
5. Billing and accounting. Time tracking integrates with payroll and invoicing. If you bill by the hour, you can convert tracked time directly into client invoices.
6. Hiring flexibility. With reliable monitoring, you can confidently hire remote workers in different cities or countries, knowing you’ll have visibility into their productivity.
7. ROI and strategic planning. Monitoring data lets you calculate the true cost of projects based on actual employee time, informing better pricing and resource allocation decisions.
Comparison Table
| # | Tool | Category | Starting Price | Free Option | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EmailAnalytics | Activity | Free trial | Trial | Email activity monitoring for remote teams |
| 2 | Insightful | Activity | $6.40/user/mo | 7-day trial | Enterprise-scale employee monitoring |
| 3 | Time Champ | Activity | $2.99/user/mo | Yes | Affordable monitoring + attendance |
| 4 | ActivTrak | Activity | $10/user/mo | Yes (3 users) | Free activity monitoring for small teams |
| 5 | Teramind | Activity | $14/user/mo | Trial | Security-focused monitoring + DLP |
| 6 | Hubstaff | Activity | $7/user/mo | Yes (1 user) | Screenshots + GPS for remote/field teams |
| 7 | iDoneThis | Activity | ~$5/user/mo | No | Self-reporting daily check-ins |
| 8 | ProofHub | Time | $45/mo flat | 14-day trial | Flat-rate project management + time tracking |
| 9 | Time Doctor | Time | $6.70/user/mo | 14-day trial | Time + activity tracking with distraction alerts |
| 10 | Harvest | Time | $10.80/seat/mo | Yes (1 seat) | Simple time tracking with invoicing |
| 11 | RescueTime | Time | $6.50/mo | Yes | Automatic productivity tracking + site blocking |
| 12 | Timely | Time | $11/user/mo | No | AI-powered automatic time capture |
| 13 | TopTracker | Time | Free | Yes | Free time tracking with invoicing |
| 14 | Hours | Time | Free | Yes | Multi-timer task switching |
| 15 | ClickTime | Time | $13/user/mo | No | Timesheets with project budget tracking |
| 16 | Timeneye | Time | $7/user/mo | Trial | Simple time tracking for freelancers |
| 17 | QuickBooks Time | Time | $20/mo + $8/user | 30-day trial | QuickBooks payroll integration |
| 18 | Asana | Project | $10.99/user/mo | Yes (10 users) | Full-featured project management |
| 19 | Trello | Project | $5/user/mo | Yes | Visual Kanban project tracking |
| 20 | nTask | Project | $4/user/mo | 7-day trial | Budget-friendly all-in-one project tool |
| 21 | Everhour | Project | $8.50/user/mo | Yes (5 users) | Time tracking overlay for existing PM tools |
Start Here: Your Remote Monitoring Checklist
- Start with email. Install EmailAnalytics to measure response times and email volume. Email is the primary communication channel for remote workers, and it’s the fastest way to spot productivity issues.
- Add time tracking. Choose a time tracker (Harvest, Time Doctor, or Timely) based on whether you need manual, automatic, or AI-powered tracking. Get a baseline of how time is allocated across projects.
- Set clear expectations. Define what “productive” means for each role before enabling activity monitoring. A marketing manager’s productive app list differs from a developer’s.
- Balance visibility with trust. Start with less invasive tools (daily check-ins, time tracking) and add deeper monitoring (screenshots, app tracking) only if specific concerns arise.
- Review weekly. Use monitoring dashboards to compare week-over-week trends. Look for workload imbalances, slow response times, and productivity dips you can address proactively.
Don’t miss our post covering the best small business apps for more tools to run your remote team.
Are you interested in getting more out of your remote workforce? Start with EmailAnalytics to see exactly how your team communicates via email. Sign up for a free trial today, and see it in action.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is remote employee monitoring software?
Remote employee monitoring software tracks how employees spend their work time when working from home or other remote locations. It includes tools for activity tracking, time tracking, and project management.
These tools give managers visibility into productivity without requiring physical presence in the same office.
Is it legal to monitor remote employees?
In most jurisdictions, employers can monitor activity on company-owned devices and accounts with proper notice. In the U.S., the Electronic Communications Privacy Act allows employer monitoring with disclosure.
Always disclose monitoring policies in your employee handbook and consult legal counsel for your specific jurisdiction.
What is the best free employee monitoring tool?
ActivTrak offers a free plan supporting up to 3 users with activity tracking and website monitoring. Hubstaff offers a free tier for one user. TopTracker provides completely free time tracking with no user limits.
For project management, Asana and Trello both provide generous free tiers.
How much does employee monitoring software cost?
Pricing ranges from free to $35+ per user per month. Insightful starts at $6.40/user/month, Hubstaff at $7/user/month, and Time Doctor at $6.70/user/month.
Teramind starts at $14/user/month for advanced security monitoring. ProofHub uses flat-rate pricing at $45-$89/month regardless of team size.
Does employee monitoring actually improve productivity?
Yes. The Hawthorne Effect demonstrates that people perform better when they know they’re being observed. Beyond the psychological effect, monitoring data reveals bottlenecks, workload imbalances, and time-wasting patterns.
In our experience, teams that track email response times see measurable improvements within 30 days.
What is the difference between activity tracking and time tracking?
Time tracking records how long employees spend on tasks and projects. Activity tracking monitors what employees do during that time, including screenshots, website visits, and app usage.
Many tools combine both approaches. Time tracking answers “how long?” while activity tracking answers “doing what?”
How do I monitor remote employee email activity?
EmailAnalytics integrates with Gmail and Outlook to track email volume, response times, top contacts, and busiest hours for every team member. It provides dashboards and real-time alerts for slow response patterns.
The tool monitors activity patterns, not email content, making it a privacy-respecting approach to email accountability.
Jayson is a long-time columnist for Forbes, Entrepreneur, BusinessInsider, Inc.com, and various other major media publications, where he has authored over 1,000 articles since 2012, covering technology, marketing, and entrepreneurship. He keynoted the 2013 MarketingProfs University, and won the “Entrepreneur Blogger of the Year” award in 2015 from the Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs. In 2010, he founded a marketing agency that appeared on the Inc. 5000 before selling it in January of 2019, and he is now the CEO of EmailAnalytics and OutreachBloom.
The considerations for remote employee monitoring are spot on. Understanding the importance of trust, communication, and clear policies is essential. This blog provides practical advice for organizations looking to implement effective monitoring strategies.