Memtime vs Rize: Which Is Better for Private Automatic Tracking in 2026?

For private automatic tracking, Memtime beats Rize. Memtime says recorded activity stays on your device, while Rize hosts your data on Amazon Web Services. Pick Rize if you want AI categorization, chat and insights and accept the cloud. Pick Memtime if you bill clients from Mac, Windows or Linux. Dayflow, our free Mac app, writes an AI timeline with an on-device Local AI option.

Memtime and Rize both record your computer activity without timers, but they disagree about where that record lives. Memtime says the activity it captures stays only on your device, while Rize hosts your data on Amazon Web Services so its AI can categorize, tag and chat about it.

Disclosure: Dayflow, the third option in the tables below, is our product. It is a free, MIT-licensed Mac app that records the screen at one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write the day into a readable timeline. The method here is a comparison of vendor documentation as published on October 4, 2026, with Dayflow’s facts reviewed against version 2.2.0.

If you already suspect neither tool fits, our Memtime alternative and Rize alternative pages go deeper on each.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	How it tracks	Price	Platforms
Memtime	Freelancers and teams that bill time and want activity kept on the device	Records programs, documents, emails, calls, meetings and browser tabs into a timeline; you turn it into time entries	From $14 per user/month billed annually ($12 billed 2-yearly, $18 billed quarterly)	Mac, Windows, Linux
Rize	People who want AI to sort their time and are fine with cloud storage	Automatic app and website tracking with AI categorization and tagging; Google Calendar for meetings	From $9.99/month billed annually, or $12.99 billed monthly	Mac, Windows
Dayflow (ours)	Mac users who want an AI-written record of their day with an on-device option	Screen recorded at one frame every 10 seconds; AI writes a timeline	$0 (MIT); optional Pro at $20/month	macOS 14 or later

Key takeaways

• Memtime is the private one of the two. The vendor states automatically recorded activity is stored only on your device and not uploaded to a server.
• Rize is the AI one. Auto-categorization, tagging, AI chat and focus insights, metered in monthly AI credits, with data hosted on AWS.
• Rize is cheaper to start. $9.99 a month billed annually against Memtime’s $14, and Rize offers monthly billing where Memtime does not.
• Memtime fits billing work better. Sync to 100+ project and billing tools starts at its Connect plan, and call system integrations come with Premium.
• Neither is free or open source. Dayflow is both, but it is Mac only and has no invoicing, team reports or website blocking.

What Memtime does better

The headline is data location. Memtime’s own wording is that automatically recorded activity data is stored exclusively on the user’s device and is not uploaded to a server. For a tool that sees every program, document, email, call, meeting and browser tab you touch, that is the property most people asking about “private” tracking care about.

Its capture is also broad. It is not only apps and websites. Memtime lists documents, emails, calls and meetings as things it records, which matters if your day is split between a mail client, a calling app and a dozen files.

It runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Of the three tools here, it is the only one that covers Linux.

The workflow is built around billing. You get a timeline of what happened, and you turn chunks of it into time entries. From there, Memtime lists:

• Sync of time entries to 100+ project and billing tools, on Connect and above
• Call system integrations for tracking phone calls, on Premium
• Built-in project management and custom reports
• SSO, SAML and SCIM, on Premium

The trial is also low risk: 14 days, no payment information, and it does not convert into a subscription on its own.

The costs of that design: no AI features are listed, so the categorizing is your job. There is no free tier, no mobile or Chromebook app, and integrations with project software do not start until the Connect plan.

What Rize does better

Rize does the sorting for you. It tracks apps and websites automatically and uses AI to categorize and tag that activity, then adds AI chat and AI productivity and focus insights on top. Plans are metered in AI credits: 500 a month on Basic, 1,000 on Pro and 3,000 on Max. Pro and above also include MCP server access.

Meetings are handled through Google Calendar. Connect it and Rize captures meeting time from your calendar rather than only from what is on screen.

It is cheaper to start and more flexible to pay for. Basic is $9.99 a month billed annually or $12.99 billed monthly, and Memtime offers no monthly option at all.

Reporting and automation are stronger on paper for a single person: client reports and scheduled reports in PDF and CSV, plus an API, webhooks and Zapier, all on Pro and above. There is also a Team plan at $29.99 per seat per month with annual billing.

It supports older Macs. Rize lists macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or later, along with Windows 10 or later.

The trade-off is the reason this comparison exists. Rize states its data is hosted on Amazon Web Services, encrypted at rest and in transit. Encryption is a real protection, but it is not the same thing as the data never leaving your computer. Rize also has no permanently free tier, and Linux is not yet available.

Head-to-head table

Capability	Memtime	Rize	Dayflow (ours)
Automatic capture	Programs, documents, emails, calls, meetings, browser tabs	Apps and websites; meetings via Google Calendar	Screen at one frame every 10 seconds
What you get from capture	A timeline you turn into time entries	AI-categorized and tagged time	An AI-written timeline of the day
Invoicing and billing	No invoicing listed; syncs entries to 100+ project and billing tools (Connect and up)	No invoicing listed; client reports in PDF and CSV (Pro and up)	No invoices or payroll approvals
Team features	Per-user plans; SSO, SAML, SCIM on Premium; Enterprise for 50+ seats	Team plan, $29.99/seat/month annual	No team reports
Website blocking	Not listed	Not listed	No
AI summaries	None listed	AI categorization, tagging, chat, focus insights (credit-metered)	AI writes the timeline via Local AI, your own provider or Pro
Data location	Activity data on your device only, per vendor	Cloud, AWS, encrypted at rest and in transit	Recordings and timeline on your Mac; analysis on-device or in the cloud depending on mode
Free tier	None (14-day trial)	None (7-day trial)	Free app, $0
Platforms	Mac, Windows, Linux	Mac (Mojave 10.14.6+), Windows 10+	macOS 14 or later
Open source	No	No	Yes, MIT

Which one keeps your activity data on your device?

Of the two competitors, only Memtime. Its stated position is that the automatically recorded activity stays on your machine. Rize’s stated position is that your data lives on AWS. There is no plan on Rize’s pricing page that changes where data is hosted.

Two caveats are worth thinking through before treating Memtime as fully offline in practice. First, the local claim is about the automatically recorded activity. If you use Connect to push time entries into project or billing software, those entries now live in that software too. That is usually what you want, but it is a step out of the local box. Second, “private” depends on what you share later. A clean local timeline does not stay local once you copy it into an email or a report.

Dayflow’s privacy depends on which processing mode you pick, and the boundaries are worth stating exactly:

• Local AI. A supported model runs on your Mac through Ollama or LM Studio. Screenshot analysis stays on-device. You supply the hardware for setup and inference.
• Your own provider. Selected screenshots go to the cloud provider you configure, under that provider’s charges and privacy terms.
• Dayflow Pro. Dayflow manages cloud analysis. Under the privacy policy, Pro deletes screenshots after processing and may retain Activity Data for sync.

In every mode, the full screen recordings and the local timeline are stored on your Mac. One more boundary: if you ask a cloud AI assistant about your day, it can receive the Dayflow data it retrieves in that conversation. Local storage does not make a cloud assistant conversation local. The full breakdown is on our local and cloud processing page, and time tracking without surveillance covers the wider question of tracking yourself without building a record you would not want others to see.

Pricing compared

Tool	Plan	Price
Memtime	Basic	$14 per user/month billed annually, $18 billed quarterly, $12 billed 2-yearly
Memtime	Connect	$21 per user/month billed annually, $26 billed quarterly, $18 billed 2-yearly
Memtime	Premium	$29 per user/month billed annually, $35 billed quarterly, $23 billed 2-yearly
Memtime	Enterprise	Custom, 50+ seats, contact sales
Rize	Basic	$9.99/month billed annually, or $12.99 billed monthly (500 AI credits/month)
Rize	Pro	$23.99/month billed annually (1,000 AI credits/month); for monthly billing see Rize’s pricing page
Rize	Max	$39.99/month billed annually (3,000 AI credits/month); for monthly billing see Rize’s pricing page
Rize	Team	$29.99/seat/month billed annually, or $39.99/seat/month billed monthly
Rize	Enterprise	Custom, contact vendor
Dayflow (ours)	Free	$0, MIT licensed
Dayflow (ours)	Pro	$20/month

What one person pays per year for the job of private automatic tracking:

Memtime Basic is the cheapest plan that fits, since the local storage applies regardless of plan and you only need Connect if you sync to other tools. That is $168 a year billed annually ($14 x 12), $216 a year billed quarterly ($18 x 12), or $288 for two years on the 2-yearly plan ($12 x 24), which works out to $144 a year. If you need billing sync, Connect is $252 a year billed annually.

Rize Basic is $119.88 a year billed annually ($9.99 x 12) or $155.88 a year billed monthly ($12.99 x 12). It is the cheapest paid option here, but no Rize plan meets a strict on-device requirement, so the low price buys AI categorization rather than privacy. Pro, where client reports and the API live, is $287.88 a year billed annually.

Dayflow is $0 with Local AI, which is also its most private mode. Pro at $20 a month comes to $240 a year, but Pro means cloud analysis, so it is the convenience choice, not the privacy one. Plan details are on our pricing page.

When to choose Memtime

• You need activity data to stay on your own machine, and you want that as the vendor’s stated default rather than a setting you have to remember.
• You bill clients by the hour and want to review a timeline, then create entries that sync to your project or billing tool.
• You work across Mac, Windows and Linux.
• You track phone calls and want call system integrations (Premium).
• Your company needs SSO, SAML or SCIM.
• You do not mind categorizing your own time, since no AI features are listed.

When to choose Rize

• You want AI to categorize and tag your activity and answer questions about it in chat.
• You are comfortable with your activity data hosted on AWS with encryption.
• You want monthly billing or the lowest entry price.
• You live in Google Calendar and want meeting time captured from it.
• You want client reports, scheduled reports, an API, webhooks or Zapier (Pro and up).
• You are on an older Mac, back to Mojave 10.14.6, or on Windows.

If AI-led focus insights are the main draw, Timing vs Rize and RescueTime vs Rize compare Rize with other tools built around that idea.

Where both fall short

The gap is the combination: private storage plus AI that explains your day. Memtime gives you the first and lists no AI. Rize gives you the second and keeps your data in the cloud. If you want software to tell you what you worked on without your activity record going to someone else’s server, neither covers it as documented.

Two smaller gaps: neither has a free tier, so long-term use is always a subscription, and neither is open source, so you rely on the vendor’s description of what the app does with your data.

This is the gap Dayflow was built for, which is why we are biased here. With Local AI, Dayflow records the screen at one frame every 10 seconds, analyzes those frames on your Mac and writes a timeline of what you did, stored on your Mac. The code is MIT licensed, so anyone can read what it does instead of trusting a policy page. You can export any date range as Markdown from Settings → Export, which is useful for remembering what you worked on or writing a weekly update. More on the mechanics is on the automatic time tracking for Mac page, and the security questions are answered in Is Dayflow safe?.

The limits are real. Local AI needs your own hardware to run the model. AI summaries can miss or misread work, so check them before sharing. And a timeline is a record of your day, not a timesheet ready for a client.

Where Dayflow is the wrong pick

• You bill clients. Dayflow has no invoices, no payroll approvals and no billing integrations. Memtime wins: its local timeline turns into time entries, and Connect syncs them to 100+ project and billing tools.
• You use Windows or Linux. Dayflow is Mac only. Memtime covers Mac, Windows and Linux; Rize covers Mac and Windows.
• Your Mac runs an older macOS. Dayflow needs macOS 14 or later. Rize supports Mojave 10.14.6 and later.
• You manage a team. Dayflow has no team reports. Rize has a Team plan, and Memtime offers SSO, SAML and SCIM on Premium plus Enterprise for 50+ seats.
• You want distractions blocked. Dayflow does not block websites, and neither Memtime nor Rize lists blocking either. That job needs a different kind of app.
• You want AI insights without setting up a model and are fine with the cloud. Rize skips the setup that Local AI needs, though Dayflow Pro also handles cloud analysis for you.

For freelancers weighing billing-first tools, the best time tracking apps for freelancers on Mac covers more options, and our roundup of Mac time trackers covers the full field.

The bottom line

For private automatic tracking, Memtime beats Rize. Its stated design keeps recorded activity on your device, it captures more kinds of work, and it runs on Linux. You pay for that with more manual work, no AI features and no free tier, starting at $168 a year on Basic billed annually.

Rize is the better product if AI categorization and insights matter more to you than where the data sits. It is cheaper to start at $119.88 a year billed annually, but every plan stores your data on AWS.

If you are on a Mac running macOS 14 or later and want both private storage and an AI-written account of your day, Dayflow with Local AI covers that combination for $0. It is our product, so weigh that, and it is the wrong choice if you need invoices, team reports or anything other than a Mac. If you are not sure tracking will change anything yet, the where does my week go calculator is a quick way to see how your week splits before you install any of them.

Frequently asked questions

Does Memtime store tracked data on my computer?

Yes, according to Memtime. The vendor states that automatically recorded activity data is stored only on the user's device and is not uploaded to a server. That covers the raw timeline of programs, documents, emails, calls, meetings and browser tabs. If you sync time entries to project or billing tools on the Connect plan or above, those entries will also live in the tools you send them to.

Where does Rize store my activity data?

In the cloud. Rize states that data is hosted on Amazon Web Services and encrypted at rest and in transit. Encryption protects the data from outsiders, but your app and website history still sits on a server you do not control. If your requirement is that activity records never leave your own machine, Rize does not meet it as documented, on any plan.

Does Memtime use AI?

Memtime's pages list no AI features. It records activity automatically and shows it as a timeline, then you turn blocks of that timeline into time entries yourself. For people who bill clients, that manual review step can be a feature, since every entry gets checked by a person. If you want software to label or summarize your day for you, Rize or Dayflow is a closer match.

Is there a free version of Memtime or Rize?

No. Neither has a free tier. Memtime offers a 14-day trial with no payment information that does not convert into a subscription. Rize offers a 7-day trial with full feature access and no credit card required. After the trial, Memtime starts at $14 per user per month billed annually and Rize at $9.99 a month billed annually. Dayflow is free and MIT licensed.

Which is cheaper, Memtime or Rize?

On entry plans billed annually, Rize Basic at $9.99 a month ($119.88 a year) costs less than Memtime Basic at $14 a month ($168 a year). Memtime's 2-yearly Basic rate of $12 a month narrows the gap but commits you for two years. Memtime has no monthly billing option, while Rize Basic is $12.99 billed monthly. Dayflow is $0, with optional Pro at $20 a month.

Can I use Rize on Linux?

Not yet. Rize lists Linux as not yet available. It runs on Mac (macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or later) and Windows 10 or later. If you split work between a Mac and a Linux machine, Memtime is the one of these two that covers Mac, Windows and Linux. Dayflow runs only on macOS 14 or later, so it does not help on Linux either.

Is Dayflow better than Memtime for billing clients?

No. For billable hours, Memtime is the better tool. It turns its local timeline into time entries, and its Connect plan syncs those entries to more than 100 project and billing tools. Dayflow does not create invoices, handle payroll approvals or produce team reports. It writes a readable timeline of your day, which helps you remember work but is not a billing system.

Can Dayflow keep AI analysis entirely on my Mac?

Yes, if you choose Local AI. A supported model runs on your Mac through Ollama or LM Studio, so screenshot analysis stays on-device, though setup and inference use your own hardware. Recordings and the timeline are stored on your Mac in every mode. If you pick your own cloud provider or Dayflow Pro instead, selected screenshots are processed off-device.

Does a cloud AI assistant break Dayflow's local privacy?

It can. An assistant can receive the Dayflow data it retrieves during your conversation, and local storage does not make a cloud assistant conversation local. If you ask a cloud-hosted assistant about your day, the retrieved parts of your timeline go to that assistant's provider under its terms. Use Local AI and skip cloud assistants if nothing should leave the Mac.