Employee monitoring
Tockly vs DeskTime
DeskTime is an automatic time tracker with productivity monitoring: silent app and URL capture scored productive or unproductive, screenshots on Premium, plus shift scheduling and an AI daily summary.
Tockly is work tracking that reads AI activity: every minute scored as hands-on, agent running, steering, or idle. Here is how the two compare, line by line.
At a glance
| Capability | Tockly | DeskTime |
|---|---|---|
| Classifies human vs AI-agent minutes | Every minute: hands-on, agent running, steering, or idle | No |
| Credits time supervising an AI agent | Reads agent activity directly and credits it as work | Agent time is just app time, scored by app label |
| Screenshots | Every 10 minutes, tied to the minute they capture | Premium tier and up |
| Activity tracking | Input event counts only, never keys or content | App usage scored productive/unproductive/neutral |
| App and site usage | Active app and window titles | App, URL, and document titles on every tier |
| Invoicing from tracked time | Free for up to 3 clients, unlimited on Pro | Not published as a feature |
| Free tier | Full capture, unlimited activity history | None, 14-day trial |
| Entry price (annual) | Free. Pro $12, Team $16 per seat/mo | $6.42/seat/mo |
DeskTime details verified against its public pricing and documentation as of July 2026. Products change; check DeskTime's site for current numbers.
The minute DeskTime can't see
DeskTime labels every app productive, unproductive, or neutral and computes a productivity percentage from it. Time driving Claude Code is just Terminal time, indistinguishable from hand-typing, and its AI Summary writes prose about the same blind data. DeskTime's own 2026 research says office AI usage is surging; its measurement layer cannot see any of it.
Agent minutes score as nothing happening.
Hands-on, steering, and agent time, each credited for what it is.
Pricing
Tockly
- Personal: free. Full capture, invoicing for 3 clients, screenshots from this month and last.
- Pro: $12/seat/mo annual ($15 monthly). Unlimited clients, 12 months of screenshot receipts.
- Team: $16/seat/mo annual ($20 monthly). Org rollups, roles, per-person AI adoption.
DeskTime
- Pro: $6.42/seat/mo annual ($7 monthly). Auto tracking, app and URL detail, productivity scoring, no screenshots.
- Premium: $9.17/seat/mo annual ($10 monthly). Screenshots, shift scheduling, absence calendar, AI Summary.
- No free tier; 14-day trial.
Which should you pick?
Pick DeskTime if you want cheap, polished productivity monitoring: multi-OS capture with app, URL, and document-title detail from $6.42 per seat, with shift scheduling and absence calendars a tier up at $9.17.
Pick Tockly if productive-versus-unproductive is the wrong axis for your team. DeskTime can say VS Code was open and scored productive. It cannot say whether the human or an agent was writing the code, which is the number AI-era managers and clients actually ask for.
Frequently asked
What does DeskTime's AI Summary actually do?
It writes a plain-language recap of data DeskTime already collected: top apps, focus versus communication balance, and tips, generated once you have 30 tracked minutes. It is a narration layer, not a new measurement. It cannot tell you that an agent wrote code for 40 minutes while the human reviewed it, because DeskTime never captured that distinction. Tockly captures it at the source, every minute.
Does DeskTime have a free plan?
No. DeskTime publishes three plans, all paid, so it starts at $6.42 per seat per month annual after a 14-day trial. Tockly's Personal tier is free permanently, with full capture, screenshots from this month and last, and invoicing for up to 3 clients.
Is Tockly or DeskTime better for tracking AI-assisted development?
Tockly, and it is not close on this axis. DeskTime sees app names: an agent session is Terminal or VS Code time, scored by whatever label the admin gave that app. Tockly reads the agent's activity feed and classifies each minute as hands-on, agent running, or steering, with per-session agent analytics like tools used and tokens consumed.
More comparisons
See your own human/agent split today.
Install the app, work a normal day, and the record builds itself, minute by minute.