Roundup
The 8 best time tracking apps for Mac in 2026
Yes, we make one of these (Dayflow), so we ranked by use case instead of pretending there is one winner. Prices checked on every vendor's pricing page in July 2026.
The short version
- Best free & private: Dayflow - $0, open source, AI-written daily timeline, everything stays on your Mac
- Best for billing hours: Timing - document-level detail and invoiceable reports
- Best focus coaching: Rize - scores, break nudges, polished analytics
- Best distraction blocking: RescueTime - the original, still the best blocker
- Best open-source raw logger: ActivityWatch - free activity data on every OS
- Best for agencies: Memtime - local capture synced into project software
- Best for teams: Toggl Track - shared projects and reporting
- Best one-time purchase: Qbserve - no subscription at all
Full comparison table
| App | Price (July 2026) | Automatic | AI summaries | Data stays local | Open source | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dayflow | $0 · Pro $16/mo annual | Yes | Yes | Yes | MIT | Mac |
| Timing | From ~$10/mo | Yes | No | Cloud sync | No | Mac |
| Rize | From $9.99/mo annual | Yes | Categorization | No | No | Mac, Windows |
| RescueTime | From $7/mo annual | Yes | No | No | No | Mac, Windows, web |
| ActivityWatch | $0 | Yes | No | Yes | MPL-2.0 | Mac, Windows, Linux |
| Memtime | From ~€10/mo (2-yr rate) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Mac, Windows, Linux |
| Toggl Track | Free tier · $9/user/mo | Mostly manual | No | No | No | Everywhere |
| Qbserve | One-time purchase | Yes | No | Yes | No | Mac |
1. Dayflow - best free & private
Dayflow
$0, MIT license · optional Pro $16/mo annualDayflow is the only app in this roundup that is fully automatic, AI-powered, 100% local, and free. It records your screen and has AI write a readable timeline and daily summary of where your time actually went - your recordings never leave your computer.
Dayflow records your screen at one frame every 10 seconds and has AI summarize each 15-minute block, so instead of "Chrome: 3.2 hours" you get "compared flight prices, then drafted the launch email." It is a native Mac app that runs on ~100MB RAM and under 1% CPU, works fully offline with a local model (Ollama or LM Studio), and the code is public with 6,000+ GitHub stars. Honest limits: Mac-only (Windows waitlist), no distraction blocking, no invoicing, and recordings use local disk space. It is a work journal first, a stopwatch never.
2. Timing - best for billing hours
Timing
From ~$10/mo · 30-day trialTiming automatically tracks apps, documents, and websites at a precision nothing else matches, then rolls them into hierarchical projects with billing rates. If a client pays for your hours, this is the professional's tool. Mac-only, subscription with cloud sync, no AI narrative. Alternatives here.
3. Rize - best focus coaching
Rize
From $9.99/mo annual ($12.99 monthly) · 7-day trial, no free tierRize tracks automatically and coaches actively: AI categorization, focus scores, break reminders, session goals. The most polished analytics in the category, on Mac and Windows. Cloud-based and subscription-only. Alternatives here.
4. RescueTime - best distraction blocking
RescueTime
From $7/mo annual ($9 monthly) · 14-day trialRescueTime has tracked productivity since 2008 and still owns one feature outright: Focus Sessions that actually block distracting sites and apps. Cross-platform with years-long trend reports. Cloud-based, and the interface shows its age. Alternatives here.
5. ActivityWatch - best open-source raw logger
ActivityWatch
$0, open sourceActivityWatch logs active apps, window titles, and browser tabs into local, queryable buckets on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Endlessly hackable, completely private, zero dollars. You interpret the data yourself - there is no AI layer. How it compares to Dayflow.
6. Memtime - best for agencies
Memtime
From ~€10/mo on the 2-year rate · 14-day trialMemtime captures your activity in minute increments, keeps the data offline on your device, and syncs finished time entries into Jira, ClickUp, and 100+ project tools. Built for reconstructing billable time across a team, not for personal reflection.
7. Toggl Track - best for teams
Toggl Track
Free tier · Starter $9/user/moToggl Track is the default team timesheet: start a timer, tag a project, report across the company. Desktop autotracking exists but the product is timer-first, which puts it in a different category from everything above - great for shared reporting, wrong tool for "where did my day actually go."
8. Qbserve - best one-time purchase
Qbserve
One-time purchase, no subscriptionQbserve is a Mac automatic tracker with productivity scoring where "all tracked data is stored locally on your Mac and never sent anywhere," for a single payment. Updates are infrequent these days, but the price model is unique in this list.
Methodology
We only included trackers with a real Mac app (no web-only tools), verified every price on the vendor's public pricing page in July 2026, and assigned each app the single use case where it is genuinely the strongest. We build Dayflow, so we gave it the category it actually wins - free, private, automatic journaling - and pointed you to competitors everywhere they are better: blocking (RescueTime), billing (Timing, Memtime), coaching (Rize), teams (Toggl), raw data (ActivityWatch).
Whatever you typed into the search box
This category goes by a dozen names, and the vocabulary maps to real differences. If you searched for a Mac time tracker or macOS time tracking app, everything above qualifies. Timekeeping software for Mac and Mac timesheet software usually signal billing intent - start with Timing or Memtime, or see how to keep a Mac timesheet without manual entry. A time logging app for Mac that logs itself, with no timers to remember, is the automatic category: Dayflow, Timing, Qbserve, or ActivityWatch. If you wanted to track time on your Mac for your own awareness rather than a client, that is the journaling use case - where did my day go is the honest version of that question. And if you found this page from an old "OS X time tracker" bookmark: welcome forward; the good news is the modern options need macOS 14 and zero manual entry.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free time tracker for Mac?
Dayflow and ActivityWatch. Both are free, open source, and store everything locally. Dayflow records your screen at one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write a readable timeline of your day; ActivityWatch logs raw app and window activity and works on Windows and Linux too. Toggl Track also has a free tier, but it is built around manual timers.
What is the best automatic time tracker for Mac?
It depends on the output you want. For an AI-written journal of your day: Dayflow (free, open source, local). For billable-hours reports: Timing. For focus coaching and scores: Rize. For raw activity logs: ActivityWatch. All four track automatically with no timers to start or stop.
Which Mac time trackers keep data off the cloud?
Dayflow (open source, recordings never leave your Mac), ActivityWatch (open source, fully local), Memtime (closed source, stores activity offline on your device), and Qbserve (closed source, local). RescueTime, Rize, and Toggl process your data in their clouds; Timing subscriptions include cloud sync.
Do any of these record my screen?
Only Dayflow, and that is the point: one frame every 10 seconds, stored and processed on your own Mac, so the AI can understand context instead of just app names. You can pause recording from the menu bar at any time, and delete recordings from your local folder whenever you want. Every other app here logs app and window metadata rather than pixels.
Start with the free one
Dayflow is $0, open source, and everything stays on your Mac.
Download for MacOS macOS 14+ · MIT licensed · no account required