Best Automatic Time Tracking App for Mac in 2026: 7 Options Compared
· 10 min read
If you want the most complete automatic tracker made only for the Mac and a subscription doesn’t bother you, Timing is the one to try first. If you want it free and don’t mind some setup, ActivityWatch is open source and keeps everything on your own machine. If your question is just “where did my day go,” Screen Time is already on your Mac, and Punchcard prints the answer as a receipt for $9 once. If you bill clients by the hour, you want a timer app such as Toggl Track instead.
Every fact about the other apps below comes from their own websites, checked in October 2026. Prices change, so look again before you buy. Punchcard is ours; it’s in the list where it fits, with its limits spelled out.
What to look for in an automatic tracker
“Automatic” means the app notices what’s in front of you without a timer to start. Beyond that, trackers differ on a handful of things that matter more than the length of the feature list.
What it records. Some apps keep only the app name. Others keep window titles, document paths and full web addresses. More detail makes richer reports and a more revealing record, so decide how much of your day you want written down.
Permissions. On a Mac, reading window titles usually means granting Accessibility, and reading browser tabs can mean Automation too. Knowing which app is in front needs neither. Watch the prompts on first launch; they tell you a lot.
Where the data lives. A file on your Mac, a company’s servers, or both. Servers are what make web dashboards, team views and phone apps possible. They’re also one more place your day is kept.
Projects and billing. If the hours go on an invoice, you need projects, clients and rates. If you only want to understand your day, those features turn into chores.
Price shape. Most of this category is a subscription. A few apps are free, and a few are paid once.
The 7 options
1. Screen Time (built in, free)
Screen Time is already in System Settings. Click Screen Time in the sidebar and you’ll see time per app and website, by day or by week, plus app categories, notifications and pickups. A Device menu lets you look at one device or combine your Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Good at: a first honest number at no cost, with nothing to install and no new company holding your data.
Falls short: it was built to limit screen use, not to account for work. A day runs midnight to midnight with no idea of a workday, the categories are Apple’s, and there’s no export in its settings. It also never comes to you; you have to remember to look. Screen Time vs a dedicated tracker walks through the setup and the gaps.
Price: free with macOS.
2. Timing (subscription, Mac only)
Timing is the most complete automatic tracker built only for the Mac. Its site says it tracks every app, document and website you use, including the full file path or URL, and that the data stays on your Mac unless you opt into sync. From that record you assign time to projects, add manual entries or run timers, and build reports. The higher plans add AI activity summaries, import of iPhone and iPad usage from Screen Time, and integrations for project tools and invoicing.
Good at: turning an automatic record into project time you can bill, without leaving the Mac.
Falls short: it’s a subscription, and if you cancel, you can still view your data but nothing new is tracked. Documents and full addresses are more detail than some people want kept. It isn’t in the Mac App Store, which Timing says would limit its tracking.
Price: the Professional, Expert and Connect plans are $9, $11 and $16 a month billed annually, for one, two or three Macs. There’s a 30-day free trial with no card.
3. ActivityWatch (free, open source)
ActivityWatch is free and open source under the MPL-2.0 license, with no premium tier and no ads. It runs on macOS, Windows, Linux and Android. It records the active app and its window title, and with its extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge it records the browser tab you’re on. Its documentation says the data sits in a SQLite database on your device and is never sent to a server.
Good at: a detailed, local record for nothing, and it’s extensible if you want to write your own watchers.
Falls short: on a Mac it needs Accessibility to read window titles, web tracking means installing an extension in each browser, and you open its dashboard to see your day rather than having the day handed to you. Its README lists syncing between machines as a work in progress.
Price: free.
4. Punchcard (free to track, $9 once to keep printing)
Punchcard does one job: it shows you where the workday went. It sits in the menu bar and notes which app is in front (app names only, out of the box) and notices when you step away, so lunch doesn’t count as two hours of design work. At the closing time you set, it prints a paper receipt of the day: the top five lines with a time each, the rest as MISC, a day total and a stamp. Sunday brings a week roll and the end of the month a month roll. Export a receipt as a 1080x1350 PNG or copy it as plain text.
It needs no macOS permissions to track: not Accessibility, not Screen Recording, not Full Disk Access. Switch on “Itemize websites” and browser time prints as the sites you used in Chrome, Brave, Edge and Vivaldi, after macOS asks once per browser for Automation. It keeps only the site name (github.com, never the full address) and never reads incognito or private windows. Everything lives in one SQLite file on your Mac, with a CSV export, and “Burn the roll” deletes the lot. There’s no account, and nothing about your day leaves the Mac.
Good at: a finished daily record that comes to you, with nothing to set up and nothing to start or stop.
Falls short: it isn’t a billing tool. There are no projects, clients, rates or manual timers, no team features, no iPhone app and no integrations. Website itemizing doesn’t cover Safari, Firefox or Arc, so time there stays on the browser’s own line. The receipt shows five lines; the full detail is in the CSV. It needs macOS 13 Ventura or later.
Pick something else if you invoice by the hour (Timing or Toggl Track), want your phone counted (Screen Time or RescueTime), or want Safari sites broken out (Screen Time records Safari websites).
Price: tracking is free and never expires, the first two receipts are free, and the CSV export works without paying. Printing after that is $9 once, on two Macs, with every update and a 30-day refund.
5. RescueTime (subscription, Mac, Windows and phones)
RescueTime runs in the background, tracks time in apps and websites, and shows reports on its website. Focus Sessions can block distracting sites and apps while you work, and the Timesheets plans add client, project and task tracking with billable rates. It needs macOS 11 Big Sur or later, and there are versions for Windows 10 and 11, iOS and Android.
Good at: one picture of your habits across a Mac, a Windows PC and a phone, with blocking for when you need to focus.
Falls short: your activity goes to RescueTime’s servers to build the reports. On a Mac, website tracking needs Accessibility and Automation, and Firefox also needs its extension.
Price: Solo is $7 a month billed yearly ($84) or $9 monthly. Solo+, which adds timesheets, is $12 a month billed yearly ($144) or $15 monthly. Paid plans have a 14-day free trial, and a cancelled subscription drops back to the free Lite plan.
6. Rize (subscription, Mac and Windows)
Rize captures work sessions in the background on macOS and Windows. By default it reads the app name, window title and URL, and it says it takes no screenshots and logs no keystrokes. It now pitches itself mainly at agencies, accounting firms and other client-service teams: time is tagged to clients and projects, with profitability, retainer and workload reports. The Basic plan is for personal tracking.
Good at: firms that bill clients and want time captured without anyone starting a timer.
Falls short: there’s no free tier and the trial is a week. Much of the product is built around client work, so a person who just wants to see their own day pays for features they won’t touch.
Price: Basic is $9.99 a month billed annually or $12.99 monthly. Pro is $23.99 a month billed annually, and Team is $29.99 per seat billed annually with a two-seat minimum. The trial is 7 days with no card. It needs macOS 10.14.6 or later.
7. Toggl Track (free plan, timers first)
Toggl Track is a timer app at heart: you start and stop timers, or log time afterwards, against projects. Its Mac and Windows apps can also record the apps and websites you use for more than 10 seconds in a timeline, and you choose which of those become time entries. It runs on the web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android, plus browser extensions, all synced through your account.
Good at: billing by the hour. The free plan covers up to three users, and the activity timeline helps you fill in the gaps when you forgot a timer.
Falls short: as an automatic tracker it’s a helper rather than the main event; turning the timeline into entries is still your job. Billable rates start on the paid Starter plan.
Price: free for up to three users. Starter is $9 per user a month billed annually ($12 monthly), and Premium is $16 ($24 monthly). Paid plans have a 30-day trial.
Comparison at a glance
| What it records | Free option | Paid price | Runs on | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen Time | Time per app and website, notifications, pickups | Built in | None | Mac, iPhone, iPad |
| Timing | Apps, documents and websites, with full paths and URLs | 30-day trial | $9, $11 or $16 a month, billed annually | Mac |
| ActivityWatch | Active app and window title; browser tabs with an extension | Free, open source | None | Mac, Windows, Linux, Android |
| Punchcard | App names; site names in four browsers if you switch it on | Tracking forever, two receipts, CSV | $9 once | Mac |
| RescueTime | Apps and websites | Lite plan; 14-day trial | From $7 a month, billed yearly | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android |
| Rize | App name, window title and URL | 7-day trial | From $9.99 a month, billed annually | Mac, Windows |
| Toggl Track | Timers; app and website timeline in its desktop apps | Free for up to 3 users | From $9 per user a month, billed annually | Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android |
Which one to pick
- You want a first number today, for free: Screen Time.
- You want the most detailed Mac-only record and you bill projects: Timing.
- You want free, local and open source, and you’re fine with some setup: ActivityWatch.
- You want to know where the workday went, with no permissions, account or subscription: Punchcard.
- You work across a Mac, a PC and a phone and want distraction blocking: RescueTime.
- You run a client-service team and want time tagged to clients without timers: Rize.
- You invoice by the hour and want a free start: Toggl Track.
If you’re still unsure which job you’re hiring a tracker for, the plain checklist for choosing a time tracker helps you decide before you install anything.
Questions
Is there a free automatic time tracker for Mac?
Yes. Screen Time is built in, and ActivityWatch is free and open source. Toggl Track’s free plan includes its desktop activity timeline, though it’s a timer app first. Punchcard tracks for free with no time limit and prints two receipts before it asks for $9, and its CSV export works without paying.
Which trackers work without Accessibility permission?
Punchcard needs no macOS permissions to track app names; the only optional one is Automation, for website itemizing. ActivityWatch’s documentation says it needs Accessibility to read window titles, and RescueTime’s says it needs Accessibility and Automation for website tracking on a Mac. For any other app, watch what it asks for on first launch. More on why this matters: time trackers that ask for Accessibility permission.
Is there an automatic time tracker without a subscription?
ActivityWatch is free, and Punchcard is $9 once. Timing, RescueTime and Rize are subscriptions. Toggl Track has a free plan and subscription tiers above it.
Can an automatic tracker tell which client I worked for?
Only from what it records, such as window titles, documents and web addresses, or from rules you set up. Timing and Rize are built to turn that record into project or client time. Punchcard records app names, which is too little to tell clients apart, and it doesn’t try.