RescueTime
rescuetime.comBuild Difficulty: 4/5
A few focused days to build a solid replacement
Take Control of Your Time: Automatic time tracking with RescueTime!
How to Replace RescueTimeOverview
Features
66 features across 20 categories
Analytics(3)
Identify your biggest distractions and find areas for improvement to maintain focus
Automatically detect when you're in focus zones and track deep work periods
Discover your most productive hours and patterns to optimize your schedule and do more in less time
Automation(4)
Machine learning-powered suggestions that learn from your history to help complete project and task entries
Automatically create calendar events from tracked time and projects
Machine learning system that learns your work patterns to improve tracking suggestions
Review and confirm suggested project and task assignments before they're logged
Core Tracking(6)
RescueTime runs in the background, automatically tracking time spent on apps, websites, and documents without requiring manual timers or spreadsheets
Track specific documents and file names, not just apps and websites, to see exactly what you're focused on
Automatically detect and track periods when your computer is idle to provide accurate activity logging
Configure your own logging schedule to track time according to your work hours
Log in-person meetings, calls, brainstorming sessions, and other offline activities to capture a complete picture of your day
Ability to pause time tracking when needed without losing session data
Dashboard(3)
Weekly calendar view for individual team members to track their own schedules
Daily command center bringing together your meeting schedule, Focus Sessions, and key insights in one easy-access hub
Visual timeline view of tracked activities and projects throughout your day or week
Export(1)
Export finalized timesheet data in CSV, Excel, and raw format for external processing
Focus & Blocking(2)
Block selected websites and apps, silence notifications, and include focus music from Spotify or YouTube to eliminate distractions during work
Block distracting websites and apps during focus sessions to keep attention on important work
Goal Management(4)
Set a specific daily target goal and track real-time progress with visual indicators
Set unlimited focus goals and receive real-time alerts when distractions pull you off track, with customizable notifications
Set goals and targets for specific projects to monitor progress and ensure projects stay on track
Set and track goals for individual projects and team-wide targets
Import(1)
Import time entries and data from CSV files for bulk timesheet entry
Integration(2)
API access and export functionality for integrating RescueTime data with other tools and systems
Integration with calendar to see meetings and events alongside productivity tracking
Mobile(1)
Mobile app for starting Focus Sessions, launching timers, logging offline activity, and viewing mobile activity trends
Personal Productivity(1)
Comprehensive features for personal productivity including distraction blocking, focus sessions, goals, and alerts
Platform Support(1)
RescueTime is available across web browser, mobile device, and desktop platforms for comprehensive tracking
Privacy(1)
Customizable options for controlling activity visibility within timesheets and reports
Project Management(2)
Automatically logs time by project, client, and task, organizing work without manual entry
Set project estimates and track actual time against estimates for accurate project planning
Reporting(11)
Generate detailed reports for clients showing time tracking and billable hours by project or task
Report showing daily patterns in your work habits and productivity trends
Access comprehensive reports showing exactly what you're focused on within the tools you use most, with down-to-the-minute details
Comprehensive reporting at both individual and team level for full visibility
Report showing the key tools and applications your team uses most frequently
Turn activity into insights with reports by category, app, website, and productivity level to understand work patterns
Real-time visibility into team productivity, tool usage, and work patterns allowing schedule optimization
Summary view of all project and team targets with progress indicators
Access every moment you've tracked, allowing you to explore work patterns, measure the impact of habits, and uncover insights from account creation
Receive weekly summaries of your productivity including average productivity score, behavioral trends, and progress toward goals
Reports segmented by work categories to understand how time is distributed across different types of work
Search & Filters(4)
Flexible time filters allowing you to analyze productivity on your terms, zoom in, compare time ranges, and reveal long-term trends
Search reports by client, file name, or topic to quickly view down-to-the-minute details of your work
Search reports using keywords to quickly locate specific activities and projects
Save frequently used searches and apply custom filters to analyze productivity data
Security & Admin(5)
Two-factor authentication for enhanced account security
Ability to archive and preserve historical data for compliance and record-keeping
Privacy controls and settings to manage what data is collected and how it's used
Manage team member permissions and access levels based on assigned roles
Enterprise SSO integration for team account management
Team Management(6)
Create and manage multiple teams within your RescueTime account
Configure domain-specific settings and rules for team members
Share clients, projects, and tasks across team members for collaborative tracking
Shared calendar view for team members to coordinate schedules, balance workloads, and optimize productive hours
Track team key tools, productivity trends, work categories, and monitor team-wide time tracking
Weekly calendar view for the entire team to see collective schedules and workloads
Timesheets & Billing(6)
Track and categorize billable and non-billable hours for accurate client invoicing
Set billable rates and generate invoices filtered by project, client, or custom criteria for client billing
Set default billing rates for team members or categories for automated invoice generation
Support for multiple global currencies for international billing and reporting
Automatic timesheet generation by project, client, and task without manual entry or timers
Automatically round tracked time to nearest interval for billing purposes
Tracking Tools(2)
Add important notes about your day (wins, challenges, or context) to connect events to focus patterns or maintain detailed records
Built-in timer for tracking projects, tasks, or using the Pomodoro technique, fully integrated with RescueTime reporting
Pricing
Solo Focus
- ✓Automatic time tracking
- ✓Idle time detection
- ✓Logging schedule
- ✓Pause tracking
- ✓Web, mobile, desktop app
- ✓Time & saved search filters
- ✓API & export access
- ✓Distraction blocking
- ✓Focus Sessions
- ✓Timer
- ✓Goals & Alerts
- ✓Daily highlights
- ✓Personal Reports
- ✓Searchable reports & keywords
- ✓Detailed activity report
- ✓Productivity report
- ✓Category report
- ✓Highlight report
- ✓Unlimited report history
- ✓2-factor authentication
- ✓Single sign-on (SSO)
- ✓Data archive
- ✓Privacy controls
Solo+ (Timesheets + Focus)
Popular- ✓All Solo Focus features
- ✓Automatic time tracking
- ✓Autocompletion hints
- ✓Suggestion review
- ✓Learns from history
- ✓Activity visibility options
- ✓Automatic calendar events
- ✓Project Management
- ✓Timeline
- ✓Client, project and task tracking
- ✓Project goals
- ✓Offline activity
- ✓Target summary
- ✓Billing, Profitability, Revenue Reports
- ✓Billable rates
- ✓Time Rounding
- ✓Global currency
- ✓Finalized time CSV, excel, raw exports
- ✓CSV Imports
- ✓Role-based access control
- ✓Create teams
- ✓Shared clients, projects, and tasks
Team Focus
- ✓Focus features for teams
- ✓Automatic time tracking
- ✓Goals and Alerts
- ✓Productivity Report
- ✓Key tools report
- ✓Offline work entry
- ✓Role-based access control
- ✓Create teams
- ✓Member domain settings
- ✓2-factor authentication
- ✓Single sign-on (SSO)
- ✓Data archive
- ✓Website privacy controls
- ✓Team Management features
Team+ (Timesheets + Focus)
Popular- ✓All Team Focus features
- ✓Real-time project tracking
- ✓Integrations
- ✓Team calendar
- ✓Project goals & team targets
- ✓Automatic time tracking
- ✓Autocompletion hints
- ✓Suggestion review
- ✓Learns from history
- ✓Activity visibility options
- ✓Automatic calendar events
- ✓Timeline
- ✓Client, project and task tracking
- ✓Project goals
- ✓Offline activity
- ✓Target summary
- ✓Billing, Profitability, Revenue Reports
- ✓Billable rates
- ✓Time Rounding
- ✓Global currency
- ✓Finalized time CSV, excel, raw exports
- ✓CSV Imports
- ✓Role-based access control
- ✓Create teams
- ✓Shared clients, projects, and tasks
- ✓Team weekly calendar view
- ✓Individual weekly calendar view
Cost Calculator
Keep Paying RescueTime
Build It Yourself
Total Cost Comparison
DIY hosting estimate based on Vercel + Supabase free/pro tiers (~$20/mo). Build time estimated from 66 features at easy complexity.
Build vs Buy
Should you build a RescueTime alternative or buy the subscription? Estimate based on 66 features.
Buy RescueTime
Better ValueBuild Your Own
Buying RescueTime saves ~$89,160 over 3 years vs building.
Estimates based on 66 features and a BuildScore of 4/5. Actual costs vary.
Integrations
7 known integrations