Time tracking

Automatic Time TrackingRecords apps, websites and documents — no timers to start. Time Tracking with ScreenshotsScreenshots on your timeline as visual proof of work. Idle and Away Time TrackingDetects time away and lets you classify what happened. Specialized Automatic TrackingCaptures Git branches, file paths, window titles and URLs. Workplace TrackingDetects office or remote work automatically by IP rules.

Project & Task Management

Assign Time to Project or TaskAssign recorded activity to the right client, project or task. Auto-Tagging RulesRules sort tracked activity into projects and tags. Powerful SearchFind any activity, period or tag across your timeline. Standardized Allowed TagsA team-wide tag structure for clean, comparable reports.

Reports & Billing

Time Tracking ReportsOvertime, attendance, productivity and usage reports. Automated Email Time ReportsDaily, weekly or monthly reports delivered to inboxes. Invoice from TimesheetTurn approved timesheets into invoices, no re-entry. Productivity CategorizationRate apps and websites by productivity, per team. Timesheet ReportingBillable-ready timesheets with rounding and templates.

Attendance & Leave

Attendance and Vacation TrackingAttendance from real activity, leave quotas and approvals. Work Time and Overtime TrackingTrack presence, overtime and late arrivals with rules.

Deployment, Privacy & Integrations

Integrations and Time Tracking APIJira, GitHub, Asana, REST API and direct database access. Cloud or On-PremiseFast cloud setup or full data control on your servers. Privacy ControlDecide what is recorded, when, and what is shared. MCP Server for AI Time TrackingAsk Claude and other AI tools about your tracked time. Self-Hosted Time Tracking DeploymentRun ManicTime Server on Docker or Azure, under your control.

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Stopwatch Time Tracking vs Automatic Time Tracking: A Better Way to Log Real Work

Time tracking software for remote teams

Remote and hybrid teams lose visibility when they leave the office. ManicTime restores it — automatically capturing work activity, tracking office vs. remote time, and giving managers clear workload data without turning tracking into a surveillance tool.

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Common challenges for remote and hybrid teams

Give distributed teams and managers real work visibility without invasive monitoring or heavy manual reporting.

Managers lose workload visibility when teams go remote

Without passive signals from the office environment, it becomes harder to see who is overloaded, who is struggling, and whether work is distributed evenly.

Manual timesheets are unreliable and easy to forget

Remote workers juggle home distractions, async communication, and shifting priorities. Asking them to fill in detailed timesheets daily adds friction without improving accuracy.

It is unclear whether people are more productive in the office or at home

Teams and managers often have strong opinions but no data. Without location-aware tracking, hybrid work decisions are based on intuition rather than evidence.

After-hours work and burnout signals go unnoticed

Remote workers often extend their days without realising it. Managers have no way to spot this until performance or morale is already affected.

Employees worry about being monitored unfairly

Heavy monitoring tools damage trust. Teams want to know what is tracked, why, and that personal boundaries are respected.

How ManicTime helps remote and hybrid teams

ManicTime captures work activity automatically so teams do not need to maintain manual logs. Managers get reliable workload data while employees retain control over privacy and tracking boundaries.

Capture work automatically without manual input

ManicTime records app usage, document activity, and work timelines in the background. No timers to start, no sheets to fill in at the end of the day.

See exactly how much time is spent in the office vs. remotely

The Workplaces feature uses network IP rules to automatically detect whether a team member is working from the office or remotely. The Workplaces Report then shows total and day-by-day breakdowns of time across locations — giving teams and managers real data to inform hybrid work decisions.

Give managers reliable workload visibility

Managers can review attendance, working hours, overtime, and project time for distributed team members without depending on self-reported updates.

Spot overwork and burnout signals before they escalate

ManicTime surfaces sustained long days, after-hours work patterns, and attendance deviations — so managers can act before burnout or disengagement sets in.

Respect employee privacy with transparent controls

Employees can see exactly what is tracked, pause recording with off-the-record mode, and limit what is shared with the server. Tracking is transparent, not covert.

What remote teams track with ManicTime

Remote and hybrid teams use ManicTime to track the full range of distributed work:

  • Project and task work
  • Client communication and meetings
  • Async collaboration and document review
  • Deep focus and uninterrupted work blocks
  • Internal admin and reporting
  • After-hours and weekend activity
  • Office days vs. remote days
  • Attendance and start/end times
  • Overtime and work deficit tracking
  • Leave and absence management

This gives both managers and employees a clear, shared view of how distributed work is actually happening.

Benefits

Why remote teams choose ManicTime

Office vs. remote productivity data

The Workplaces feature automatically detects work location using network rules and generates reports showing how active and productive time is distributed between office and remote environments.

No manual tracking burden on employees

Automatic activity capture means remote workers do not need to start timers or fill in sheets. Time data is accurate without adding reporting overhead to already busy schedules.

Manager visibility without surveillance

ManicTime gives managers meaningful workload and attendance data without installing screen-capture tools or invasive monitoring. Employees understand what is tracked and remain in control.

Early signals for overload and burnout

Consistent patterns of long hours, fragmented days, or after-hours work are surfaced automatically — giving managers a chance to intervene before performance suffers.

Privacy controls employees actually trust

Off-the-record mode, configurable tracking schedules, and transparent data sharing settings give employees confidence that personal time stays personal.

Features

Features that matter for remote and hybrid teams

Office vs. remote workplace tracking

Automatically detect whether people are working from the office or remotely using IP-based rules, then compare time and productivity by location in the Workplaces report.

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Automatic time tracking

Capture work activity without timers or manual entries — especially important when remote workers are managing their own schedules.

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Privacy controls

Give employees transparency over what is tracked and control over what is shared — building trust in distributed work environments.

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Built for teams that need visibility without compromising trust

ManicTime has been tracking team work since 2008. Over 1 million downloads, 13,000+ customers, and 200,000+ licenses — including remote-first companies, hybrid teams, and distributed organizations that need reliable work visibility without invasive monitoring.

Remote work made it harder for managers to understand workload and attendance — but heavier monitoring tools made it worse by damaging employee trust. ManicTime takes a different approach: automatic tracking that captures real work data while giving employees full transparency and privacy controls.

The Workplaces feature goes further by answering a question every hybrid team has: are people more productive in the office or at home? Using network-based location detection, ManicTime automatically tags work by location and generates reports that show exactly how time is distributed — no guesswork, no manual location logs.

That combination of visibility for managers and control for employees makes ManicTime a practical fit for distributed teams that want real data without surveillance culture.

Questions & answers

FAQ

Can ManicTime track whether someone is working from the office or remotely?
Yes. The Workplaces feature uses network IP rules configured by an administrator to automatically detect whether a team member is in the office or working remotely. The Workplaces Report then shows active and productive time split by location, both as a summary and day by day.
How does the Workplaces feature detect work location?
Administrators define office and remote network rules using IP addresses or CIDR ranges in the ManicTime administration panel. Each client checks its current IP against those rules and tags activity accordingly. No GPS or manual input is required from employees.
Does ManicTime work for fully remote teams, not just hybrid?
Yes. Fully remote teams benefit from automatic activity capture, workload visibility, overtime tracking, and attendance signals — all without requiring manual timesheets or invasive monitoring.
Can employees see what is being tracked?
Yes. ManicTime is designed for transparency. Employees can view their own tracked data at any time and see exactly what is being recorded.
Can employees pause tracking when they need privacy?
Yes. Off-the-record mode lets employees pause all tracking instantly from the ManicTime interface, for a set duration or until they choose to resume. Tracking boundaries and schedules can also be configured so recording stops automatically outside work hours.
Can managers see attendance and working hours for remote team members?
Yes. ManicTime uses the first and last computer activity of the day as attendance signals. Managers can review start and end times, total hours, overtime, and deviations from expected schedules across distributed teams.
Customers

Our customer opinions

This software automatically tracks the time you spend on your computer. When you step away from your computer for a certain length of time (set by user), it will prompt you to tag that time. For example, if I'm getting coffee and have a 20 minute chat about the weekend, I tag it as personal. But if I have a chat about an upcoming or existing project, I tag it about that project. For the tasks you do on the computer, it can save screenshots every X seconds (again, set by user), so that you can have a reminder when you go to do your billing what each task was for.
Katie
I like this application because with manic time we can verify who does their right job. And we also have better control because we can choose the best workers to increase production works very well and without errors.
Mary
Just wanted to let you know that I think your software has helped me capture $1000's of dollars in revenue that I just wasn't billing before, as I wasn't doing a very good job of tracking my time. With ManicTime I get it all, and if I were ever to be audited by a client, I could give them every detail. Thanks so much!
Oliver
I like that it tracks inactive time on the computer so that you can remember when you started working and when you stopped, and when you took breaks. Very easy to use, I don't have to remember to log in and the app does everything for me without me even doing anything except installing the program. It shows exactly what page and project you were working on and for how long and when.
Adam
There is a lot to love about Manic Time. It was easy to use and did way more than I was expecting from it. The reporting was informative. The editing was awesome. Tagging and managing the time tracked is robust, yet simple. It is great at taking the tracking out of time tracking. It just does 90% for you. The last 10% is tagging and validating. It really does an amazing job at showing how much time is wasted on mundane tasks or mindless browsing. I handed in my time to a project manager. He asked how I knew I worked 3.28 hours on a specific task. "Manic Time" was my answer.
Richard
Just renewed my licence for another year Just thought I'd let you know that this is one of the best pieces of software I've ever installed on my computer, free or paid for. I run my own business which principally relies on writing technical reports. ManicTime has made it so much easier to track my time over the various projects and therefore manage my fees and costs. (And your support has been excellent when I have had the odd problem).
Gary
ManicTime’s ease of use is unmatched, thanks to its intuitive interface and flexible granularity in time-tracking. The power to dive as deep as you need into data with comprehensive tagging and reporting systems is a significant upside. Its vast number of features like document, application, and activity trackers streamline the process of managing and analyzing time efficiently. Moreover, ManicTime’s advanced search capabilities, coupled with the functionality to annotate tagged time, make it a vital tool for enhancing productivity and recalling information during discussions.
Joshua

Dr Steve Day (podcast)

Time tracking and its importance in business operations are discussed in this episode. Dr. Steve Day shares update on their time tracking policies, including the use of new apps and tools such as ManicTime, particularly focusing on the implementation of screenshot tracking.

Listen now
I do contract work and manage multiple projects where I bounce between projects on an almost by the minute basis. Once tagging is setup I can easily tag all my activities as I do them and my time accumulates in each project bucket. At the end of the day my timesheet is a breeze. This is the best tool I have found so far for a work style that involves heavy duty multi-tasking. I don't know what I would do without ManicTime. Well designed and thought out product.
Brenda
The interface is very intuitive and easy to use. The ability to tag and color-code my work allows me to see at a glance how my day has been going. I can organize and structure things as much or as little as I like. What a great product!
Judy
It provides with useful reports which track and monitor the computer usage of employees, as well as the time spent on each computer program or application. Also the presence of an automatic screenshot feature resulted in an increase in my employees’ productivity. It runs automatically on my computer, great.
Amanda

Give your remote team the visibility it needs — without the surveillance

ManicTime tracks work automatically, shows office vs. remote productivity, and puts privacy controls in employees' hands.

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