From the initial download to the first use, it was so easy and intuitive.
Pluspunten
The easy interface and how easy it is to code applications and website as productive or non-productive. It gives a GREAT picture of the productivity of the workstations. I like that it can block websites as well with one caveat (see cons). I will say this blocker is 100% effective, where websites blocked by the router can be accessed using an alternate method. The Screenshots are helpful, not as a spy tool, but in determining errors when one of our programs is having trouble, we can see the error screen the operator saw through the screenshots. Great troubleshooting. Screenshots also let me assist the operator when I am in a remote location, I can see what they are asking and assist quicker than actually remoting into the workstation for minor questions. EVERY INTERACTION WITH THIS PROVIDER HAS BEEN MORE THAN EXCELLENT, and they are eager to help and take suggestions and criticism to assist or improve their already great product. You are not alone after you download or purchase. Another good feature is on the workstation the program runs in the background and is completely invisible to workstation, it doesn't slow the system down, nor cause the workstation any troubles.
Minpunten
When you block a website, it is always blocked. I would like to release the block during non-business hours. For instance, if my employees want to check their emails, Facebook, I have no problem with them doing this before work, after work or during lunch. I did load my work hours into the system, but tech support said right now it an "always" block. I don't want to have to come in and turn the blocks on and off manually. Other than that, this is the best program I have found.
It allows me to monitor what my kids are doing on the Internet which is invaluable these days
I allows me to closely monitor my children's PC usage to keep them out of trouble and on track with their school work.
Pluspunten
Given the heft price I like the fact that there's a free version of the software. From a feature perspective I like the ability to see a history of screenshots and the ability to monitor usage real-time. I also like the new feature that was recently added that allows me to easily exclude people I do not want to monitor. Another really great thing about this product is not the product itself, but the technical support team that supports it. The quality of help I received and the timeliness of responses was absolutely awesome!
Minpunten
The thing I like least is the price. As a non-business user I'd be willing to pay a reasonable price for the software, but the current price is simply way too high for the ability to monitor my children's PC usage. Sure, it's important to me as a parent, but not at the current price. I have mentioned this software (as well as other phone monitoring software) to other parents and I'm confident if the price was in the sub $100 range, you'd sell a LOT of licenses to parents! Add support for monitoring Apple and Android phone usage for the same price and you'd be amazed how many you'd sell to parents. All parents I talk to are looking for these capabilities. Of course, the other limitation I'd like to see changed is the fact that the screenshots are only captured when a screen is shown for 20 secs. I know this is a limitation of the free version. Again, I'd be willing to pay for the ability to specify the cadence of screenshots, but not at the current price.
Free team activity tracking with highly detailed reporting.
I am using for all of my 3 team members and now I can see how many time they have wasted on social media. It is a great tool to check on your team member on their efficiency. Free team activity tracking with highly detailed reporting.Free team activity tracking with highly detailed reporting.
Pluspunten
The dashboard is very well organised and shows exactly what needed. All the charts and statistics are very well organised and you can see where time is wasting.
Activtrak helps me to check the efficiency of my team. I was having difficulty to finish my projects and need to check my team's performance. It is easy to set up and give accurate result most of the time.
The screenshot is somehow controversial as it takes some of my teams working code and upload to the server. I am not a big fan of screenshot taking as it is very vulnerable to my coding and content, But sometimes it is useful to have as proof.
It is a good way to see team members are working or playing games or using social media.
The reporting option is vast and has most of the important things.
I love how simple the setup is, no server set up. Just install and I can now see the stats and control from a web browser. No technician needed.
Minpunten
For and PC it suddenly takes lots of memory and starts sending lots of packet to my default ethernet unused ports. I have to uninstall it or use wifi for internet connection. I am still waiting for my IT support staff to show up and solve this problem.
Best Monitoring Software, Period.
Quick and easy reporting about employee activity on work computers. Specifically, productivity, activity log and real time screen viewing.
Pluspunten
ActivTrak does everything you need and nothing you don't. It's user friendly, visually appealing and robust. Additionally, they release the most updates of any related software. I have tried more than six applications for this purpose and theirs is the best.
Minpunten
The software has a tendency to create multiple "users" (people you are tracking) for the same person. One record for the computer, another for their associated Windows/Chrome identity and sometimes others if they have multiple user accounts on the same computer. This can cause you to have 3 or more user records to track for a single person. You can group them together and use an alias, which is great, but the overall number of users reporting will affect your billing plan.
The paid service is worth every penny, and the free trial saved me thousands of dollars
Increased employee productivity and decreased employee turnover. Our employees know we monitor their workstations, so they behave and don't misuse our IT resources. That's one less reason to fire them.
Pluspunten
Easy of installation and use, cloud hosting, and browser access from anywhere in the planet. The price is also reasonable. The free trial saved us thousands of dollars in wasted wages. We suspected that one young law clerk was squandering our time and resources because of his low productivity. Three hours after we started monitoring his workstation (with the free trial) we fired him on the spot. We then implemented ActivTrak firm-wide (with prior announcement) and everyone is being honest on their workstations. Trust but verify.
Minpunten
I wish we could adjust the speed of the screenshot "slide show". It's painfully slow right now. Also, allow us to name the rules. Some of the rules can get convoluted, and two months later we forget what they're supposed to do. Other than those nitpicks, I think this software is brilliant.
Get employee productivity back on track.
With all the distractions from social media, streaming video, etc. employees can be tempted to waste a lot of time on the clock on unproductive activities when they believe no one is watching. This software is proving invaluable in restoring operator productivity and preventing restricted activities on company computer equipment that could result in viruses as well as wasting network bandwidth.
Pluspunten
Two main features that have been the most helpful are first, the ability to easily create custom alarm triggers along with personalized popup messages to the offending PC/operator. As soon as the employees realize the activities are being watched and flagged they immediately cleaned up their act. Second, the ability to produce a screen shot at timed intervals and upon trigger of an alarm allows us to paint a clear picture of what activities employees are wasting the most time doing as well as spot activities that may not easily trigger an alarm but are restricted based on company policy.
Minpunten
Difficulty to find fault with this system. The only issue we have encountered was a bug in the Mac version of the agent software. Customer service was very helpful and responsive.
Features are impeccably accurate and in line with the advertised elements
Pluspunten
The ability to monitor employees’ and their workstations through a single interface is an upgrade in my work area. Time tracking and productivity analysis have helped me greatly in my work and are currently my favorite features out of all the great features of Activtrak. I have tried other software with similar promoted features but it slows the system down, with ActivTrak, the system works well and there seems to be no lag period. It is great.
Minpunten
A live feed of the employees’ screen is not available. It would be a great addition if features include live feed because as of now, screenshots are just available.
My opinion
I'm very happy, never run in any error and the agent program is constantly updated
Pluspunten
ActivTrak is a powerful tool for businesses. You can watch live the efficiency of every employee, if and were their are wasting their time on internet and very discreet. You have all the data in a simple web page with a lot of option and statistics for every user.
Minpunten
The first time you login in the dashboard, its a little weird and you need some time to find everything, how to activate account and change the settings.
The installation while is very fast and easy, sometimes is blocked from antivirus programs
ActivTrak for Family Monitoring
Overall, it's been simple and easy to install and it doesn't seem to have any performance hit on the computers. Still working out some kinks in how to actually get exactly the info that I need, however.
Pluspunten
ActivTrak is easy to install, free (for my use), and lightweight. I have it installed on the family computer so that I can track my kids' time and then categorize it. We have a system where they get rewards in the form of poker chips and then can spend them on things... like screen time. But I need to be able to differentiate between when they are on their computers doing something worthwhile (like Khan Academy) for which they are not charged any chips and then they are watching YouTube videos or playing Fortnite. That's what ActivTrak let's me do.
Minpunten
It took me a while to figure out how to get the kind of reports that I wanted out of the system. (I tried making my own based on the logs, first, and that didn't go well at all.) There are still segments of the reports that I don't understand, like an hour belonging to "system processes" or something like that. I think if I spend the effort I'll be able to categorize things like I want them to a little more automatically, but it takes a bit of effort.
With some product development, it could become a valuable product for basis of billing
I tried it for a few days, then gave up as it is not meant for what I wanted to use it for.
Pluspunten
I liked that it really did track all of my computer usage seamlessly.
Minpunten
I found the way to categorize different applications a too cumbersome on one hand and lacking in sufficient detail on other.
I wanted to use this software to accurately track how much time I spend on each customer so I would have a proven basis for billing. It is not what it is originally meant for, but the billing activity tracking apps available require too much constant involvement and I hoped to get past that by tracking all my activity automatically and categorizing it to actual projects for billing. However, trying to categorize just few days of my computer usage, it was not just feasible idea. For example, I have gmail address for my personal as well as two different customer accounts, but there was no way to categorize them differently (hint - Title in web browser is different, but this cannot be used as basis for automatic categories).
Out of all the systems, we tested. ActivTrak was the most user-friendly and best overall.
Increase productivity in the office and hold my employees accountable.
Pluspunten
The software allows you to see real-time screenshots of the users your tracking. It can also block certain websites and show a pop-up. It has very advanced features but the overlay of the system is completely easy to use anyone can understand it. You can set up alarms to notify you of "unproductive" websites being viewed and with this feature we have 100% reduced the amount of unproductive website viewing.
Minpunten
The only con we have with this program is that you are not able to have a constant live stream of your employee's computer. It gives you live screenshots but not a live feed.
ActivTrak - Computer usage tracking solved
Productivity monitoring is the main purpose the software has been used in my organization. It does this quite well. Based on computer usage statistics provided by ActivTrak, corporate firewall rules can be adjusted to address productivity concerns.
Pluspunten
This software is very easy to use and very easy to configure. A very small agent can be installed without a trace, even to the technically savvy. The web-based console does a great job with reporting up-to-date computer usage statics as well as screen shots in real-time. It does exactly what it is designed to do - see and record computer usage. Usage statistics are broken down by application/category which is helpful in determining productivity.
Minpunten
There isn't much to dislike about the software as it does what it intends to do quite well. The only difficulty I have experienced is the removal of the agent when a system falls out of the scope of monitoring.
It does the job, monitor activities and block websites.
I did not use it for business. I use it for kids computer activities monitor. It works ok overall, since I can monitor what kids doing on internet.
Pluspunten
1. it can save the screenshot to see what exactly the actives are.
2. it can maintain a block website list.
Minpunten
The website block is only working on the main domain, the root website, like www.google.com. It is better to add a sub-website block. For example, we don't want to block google website; but some game under google.com need to be blocked. Now we cannot do that.
It helped track my employees in stealth mode. I can judge behavior of my employees and keep eye on.
peace of mind about progress of my employees.
Pluspunten
Recent screen shots help get overview at a glance about what your employees doing.
One can monitor from anywhere or on the go.
website blocking is very easy and its very difficult for employees to track whats going on their system.
For home users its free to monitor 3 computers with enough data
Minpunten
Price is bit high as compared to other solutions.
Also paying annually is also a paid and they don't offer monthly payment options
Very Good Monitoring
Pluspunten
This is the kind of software that sensitive companies need to protect themselves, their data and their employees. The very nature of this software is stealth. Users will never know that they're being watched (that is if that's the way you want it set up). The reporting is excellent and very in-depth and detailed.
Minpunten
Hard to uninstall. Because it doesn't work like conventional software, the removal (at least the first time) is kind of a chore.
Free version works well as accountability software
Pluspunten
Although it's not designed to be an accountability program, I've found the free version to be perfect for my needs. I can download it on up to 3 devices and send weekly emails to any number of people with a detailed report of what websites and programs have been accessed. Clicking on a website/program takes you to a screen with more details, and you can easily navigate to see the screenshots of what exactly the user was doing on the site.
Minpunten
The data limit is only 3 GB for the free version, and you have to delete it all or nothing, you can't keep certain screenshots etc.
Love This!!
ActivTrak is great. It allows us to monitor employees remotely, block harmful or distracting websites, and overall helps us find ways to boost productivity and helps to insure safety on our endpoint devices.
Pluspunten
This software is very easy to use, invisible to your end users, and the best part is that it's free for up to 3 users, so you can try it out before you commit to subscribing.
Minpunten
No cons
Antwoord van Birch Grove Software
Hi Micha!
Thank you so much for this review! We love hearing success stories!
If you'd like to be featured in an ActivTrak case study, please contact your Account Manager and we can highlight your improvements in productivity and safety!
Thank again!
Ramiz
ActivTrak
Marketing
ActivTrak helps me monitor productivity and computer usage. It's the best tool on the market.
Traacking
Pluspunten
1 - It's easy to use. All you do is download the program to install, and it will automatically do everything for you.
2 - Screenshots every minute. This is such an incredible feature that allows me to keep track of exactly what's going on.
3 - Graphs and data visualization for productivity. All you have to do is tag which applications/use cases are productive/unproductive, and you can get a quick overview of what the computers are being used for.
4 - Weekly summary emails. This way I don't even have to log in to check, but get a top level summary of the most important news.
5 - Website Blocking. It's really great to be able to block websites simply and easily.
Best Employ Monitoring Software! No Doubt.
Overall fantastic! I must say it's a good stuff.
Pluspunten
The features ActivTrak offers are more than required by any person. It is full of stuff that you can utilize for the best productivity. The Agent file is very reliable and completely hidden. ActivTrak also gives you the free 3GB data plan for up to 3 different users.
Minpunten
It is really hard to tell about the cons. A few things could be improved like the real time screenshots are bugged out sometimes, you need to refresh the page and the incorrect page title with the different screenshot happens often.
This is great software for the monitoring
ease of use and the reporting functionality is great, especially the full audit log of what has been happening on a computer. it even catches title bar data of when users are in incognito or private mode. this is extremely helpful, especially when you have setup screen grabbing and alerting when you have areas of concern that a member of staff is doing something inappropriatre.
Pluspunten
Its not a cheaper solution but it is a better solution if you want more detail into what your employees are doing. It really made the owner cringe at the level of detail we can see what the employees do, he almost thought it was too invasive
Minpunten
We had some employees who were consistently missing deadlines that they shouldn't have been missing. ActivTrak enabled us to efficiently identify and address some of the employees' problematic behaviors.
It worked so well that I actually installed it on my own computer to help me identify areas for improvement.
A good monitoring product to keep an eye on productivity
Pluspunten
I use this product to keep an eye on my employees, block sites that they shouldn't be going to while on the clock, and to track productivity of my agents.
Minpunten
I have the free version of the product and my biggest issue is that when you get to a certain amount of space used it stops recording screenshots and will not let you access any information. If you don't happen to log in for a few days and you hit that threshold then all of the information at that point is considered gone as you have to delete it all in order to start recording again or access your info which is annoying. Or you can upgrade to the paid version and this wouldn't happen but the free version is perfect for that I need it for.
Wonderful
Pluspunten
VALUE
Small business that has only have two administrative personnel, ActivTrak offers a free version of its software, which allows us smaller companies who may not have the resources or need for an integrate monitoring software. It allows us to monitor our employees productivity for a value that cannot be beat - FREE!
Minpunten
No complaints; unable to complain about software that is offered free of charge. Only suggestion is for the free version to possible allow storage to be deleted for a certain period instead of having to delete the entire history.
Wish a light version was available for smaller companies to purchase/subscribe to that allowed for unlimited storage.
ActivTrak Review
ActivTrak is an excellent tool for our organization that works perfectly, easily, effectively, all at a very low price point. It helps us enforce our Acceptable Use policy and take action when necessary.
Pluspunten
The best part for us is that it takes the legwork out of an investigation. Simply install the tool and the data is gathered in many different formats. Before we started using it, an investigation would consume hours of IT's time while we dug through firewalls and internet history files (if available) to piece together a picture of PC activity. Being able to provide legal a set of screenshots is perfect and removes all of the guess work.
Minpunten
We haven't run into anything we disliked about this software
Great Product and Service
This product can do exactly what they are advertising. You can set this program up on a computer and once that computer is logged into, the program is tracking at all times. The activity report is very detailed and it shows when a screenshot was taken.
Pluspunten
You can see screenshots of different time intervals and you can export the time to excel for records. It has very easy to use interface and track the productive time effectively. it also provides two factor authentication along with Active directory integration which completed the feature list.
Minpunten
All the stored information can eat up your hard drive space very quickly. No OCR for screenshots it captured and no keylogging mechanism is provided.
A well designed employee monitoring software
I have been able to improve the work production totals by nearly 50% this quarter, very impressed with the overall use
Pluspunten
ease of use. The menu was well designed and each category was easy enough to compare via the graphs. over all very clean
Minpunten
.slow to access different screenshots It was very slow when changing from screenshots to simple data
Productivity is always hard to measure, but this software makes it easy to see what programs or websites are consuming or distracting from our work goals. I don't like to use it as a spy tool. I prefer to use it to troubleshoot areas for improvement. Or use the screenshots to see when an error or crash occurs to see the events that lead up to the software fail. This is a GREAT troubleshooter option, see what the station saw. Love that it can be accessed from remote seamlessly.