Qbserve vs ActivityWatch: Which Is Better for Local Tracking With No Subscription in 2026?

Pick ActivityWatch if you want local tracking that costs nothing. It is free, open source (MPL-2.0) and runs on Mac, Windows, Linux and Android. Pick Qbserve if you are a Mac freelancer who wants a productivity score and invoices for a $29 one-time license. Dayflow, our app, is also free and local by default. It is the one to choose if you want an AI-written timeline of your day.

Qbserve and ActivityWatch both track your computer use automatically and keep the data on your own machine, so neither needs an account or a monthly bill. The real difference is what you get out of the box: Qbserve is a one-time-purchase Mac app that scores your productivity and turns project time into invoices, while ActivityWatch is a free, open-source logger for Mac, Windows, Linux and Android that you shape yourself with plugins and a local API (we also have a direct ActivityWatch vs Dayflow comparison).

Disclosure: Dayflow, the third tool in the tables below, is our product. It is also free and local by default, so we have a stake in this question. We kept it to one section and the tables, and there is a section on where it is the wrong pick. The method is a comparison of vendor documentation: we read the Qbserve and ActivityWatch pages on October 4, 2026, and Dayflow’s facts reflect version 2.2.0 as reviewed on September 6, 2026.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	How it tracks	Price	Platforms
Qbserve	Mac freelancers who want a productivity score and project time for invoices	Automatically logs apps, websites and window titles; rules assign time to projects	$29.00 one-time (US checkout; may differ by country)	Mac
ActivityWatch	Privacy-minded individuals who want a free, extensible activity log across devices	Automatically logs active app, window title and away-from-keyboard time; browser and editor plugins add URLs and coding activity	Free	Windows, Mac, Linux, Android
Dayflow (ours)	Mac users who want a readable record of what they actually worked on	Captures the screen at one frame every 10 seconds; AI writes a timeline	$0 (MIT); optional Pro at $20/month	Mac (macOS 14+)

Key takeaways

• Neither tool charges a subscription. ActivityWatch is free. Qbserve is a one-time license, listed at $29.00 at the US checkout.
• Qbserve is the more finished product for one job: telling a Mac user how productive they were and billing clients for the time. It rates over 8,100 sites, apps and games and generates invoices in 18 languages.
• ActivityWatch is the more open product. It is MPL-2.0 licensed, runs on four platforms, and is extensible with custom watchers and a local API.
• Both store data locally, according to their vendors. Neither lists AI features, team features or finished cross-device sync.
• Both record what was on screen by name (apps, window titles, sites), not what you did. That gap is where Dayflow, our app, fits, with trade-offs covered below.

What Qbserve does better

It gives you a verdict, not just a log. Qbserve rates over 8,100 sites, apps and games as productive or not, and shows a real-time productivity score in the menu bar. You install it and get feedback the same day, without building categories yourself. If you want a running number that nudges you back to work, this is the core reason to pick it.

It closes the loop on billing. The vendor positions Qbserve for freelancers and remote workers. Rules assign tracked time to projects, and the app generates invoices in 18 languages from that time. Neither ActivityWatch nor Dayflow lists invoicing. If you bill hourly from a Mac, Qbserve covers tracking and invoicing in one app. Our roundup of time tracking apps for freelancers on Mac covers that use case in more depth. If you are not sure what your hours are actually worth, the real hourly rate calculator is a quick check.

It is a single native Mac app. No plugins to install, no local server to think about. You pay once, and the license is yours. For someone who wants a tool rather than a project, that matters.

It exports cleanly. JSON and CSV export means your history is not locked in. You can move it into a spreadsheet or another tool when you need to.

The data stays put. The vendor’s privacy policy states that all tracked data is stored locally on your Mac and never sent anywhere. For the “local, no subscription” job, Qbserve checks both boxes.

What ActivityWatch does better

It costs nothing, with nothing held back. The vendor describes ActivityWatch as completely free and open source, with no feature gates, no usage limits and no ads. There is no trial clock and no upgrade screen.

You can read the code. ActivityWatch is licensed under MPL-2.0. If “the data never leaves my device” is the claim you care about, being able to inspect the source is a stronger basis than a privacy policy alone. Qbserve is not open source.

It runs on more than a Mac. Windows, Mac, Linux and Android are all supported. If your work machine is a Mac but your home desktop runs Linux, ActivityWatch is the only one of these three that can run on both.

It is built to be extended. ActivityWatch records the active app, the window title, and whether you are away from the keyboard. Browser extensions add the active tab’s title and URL. Editor plugins add coding activity. Beyond that, you can write custom watchers and query everything through a local API. For developers who want raw data to build their own reports, this is the main draw. Our guide to time trackers for developers on Mac goes further on editor-level tracking.

Is ActivityWatch really free?

Yes, per the vendor. The site does mention optional “AW Pro” patronage, but we could not confirm a price for it, and nothing in the core app is gated behind it. If you want to support the project, see the vendor’s site for current details.

What is still unfinished?

Device sync is listed as work in progress, so each computer keeps its own history for now. There is no iOS support. Neither of these is unusual for a free open-source tool, but both are worth knowing before you plan around it.

Head-to-head table

Capability	Qbserve	ActivityWatch	Dayflow (ours)
Automatic capture	Apps, websites, window titles	Active app, window title, away-from-keyboard; tab URL and coding activity via plugins	Screen captured at one frame every 10 seconds
Productivity scoring	Yes, rates 8,100+ sites, apps and games; menu bar score	Not listed	Not listed
Invoicing	Yes, 18 languages	Not listed	No
Team reports	No team or sync features listed	Not listed	No
Website blocking	Not listed	Not listed	No
AI summaries	None listed	None listed	Yes; local AI via Ollama or LM Studio, your own provider, or Pro
Data location	Local on your Mac, per vendor	Local on your device, per vendor	Recordings and timeline stored on your Mac; cloud only if you choose a provider or Pro
Free tier	None (15-day trial)	Everything is free	Full app at $0
Platforms	Mac	Windows, Mac, Linux, Android	Mac (macOS 14+)
Open source	No	Yes, MPL-2.0	Yes, MIT

Pricing compared: what does each cost per year?

Tool	Plan	Price	Billing
Qbserve	Qbserve license	$29.00 (US checkout, October 4, 2026)	One-time purchase
ActivityWatch	ActivityWatch	Free	None
Dayflow (ours)	Free	$0	None
Dayflow (ours)	Pro	$20	Per month

For local tracking with no subscription, the cheapest fit for one person is easy to work out. ActivityWatch costs $0 in year one and every year after. Qbserve costs $29.00 once in year one, and the facts list no recurring fee, so three years of use is still $29.00 total. The vendor notes that the price may differ by country. Dayflow’s free app is $0, and with local AI the screenshot analysis also stays on your Mac, though local inference uses your own hardware. Dayflow Pro at $20 a month comes to $240 a year. That is a subscription, so it falls outside this job, and you do not need it to use Dayflow locally. If you connect your own cloud AI provider instead, that provider’s charges apply.

When to choose Qbserve

• You work on a Mac only and want a productivity score you can glance at in the menu bar.
• You bill clients by the hour and want tracked project time to become an invoice without a second app.
• You want a finished, configured app, not a toolkit to assemble.
• You are happy to pay once (listed at $29.00 in the US) to avoid any recurring cost.
• You want JSON or CSV exports for your own records.

When to choose ActivityWatch

• You want to pay nothing, ever, with no feature limits.
• You want open-source code you can audit or modify.
• You use Windows, Linux or Android alongside your Mac and want one tool on all of them.
• You are a developer who wants editor-level coding activity, tab URLs, and a local API to build your own dashboards.
• You are fine with some unfinished edges, such as sync that is still in progress.

Where both fall short: can either tell you what you actually did?

Both tools answer “which app was in front of me, and for how long.” Neither answers “what was I working on.” A log entry like “Figma, two hours” or a window title like “Untitled - Google Docs” is accurate but thin. A week later, it will not remind you which design you iterated on, or what the document turned out to be. Neither vendor lists AI features that would turn the log into a description.

This is the gap Dayflow was built for, and it is the main reason it exists alongside these two. Dayflow captures the screen at one frame every 10 seconds, and AI writes the day into a readable timeline of what you worked on, not just which apps were open. The recordings and the timeline are stored on your Mac. With Local AI, a supported model runs through Ollama or LM Studio, and screenshot analysis stays on-device. You can also send selected screenshots to your own cloud provider, or use Dayflow Pro, which deletes screenshots after processing but may retain Activity Data for sync. The local and cloud processing page spells out each boundary. If you use a cloud assistant to ask questions about your day, the data it retrieves goes into that conversation. Local storage does not make a cloud chat local. You can export any date range as Markdown from Settings, which helps for standups, timesheets and remembering what you worked on.

The trade-offs are real. Screen frames are more sensitive than window titles, so read whether Dayflow is safe before you decide. Local AI needs hardware resources on your machine. AI summaries can miss or misread work, so check them before you share anything.

Neither Qbserve nor ActivityWatch lists team reports, and Dayflow has none either. If you need a manager-facing dashboard, none of these three is the right tool.

Where Dayflow is the wrong pick

• You need invoices. Dayflow has no invoicing. Qbserve generates invoices in 18 languages and is the better choice here.
• You are not on a Mac, or not only on a Mac. Dayflow is Mac only. ActivityWatch runs on Windows, Linux and Android as well, and wins outright.
• Your Mac runs something older than macOS 14. Dayflow requires macOS 14 or later. Qbserve and ActivityWatch are the options to check instead.
• You want a live productivity score. Dayflow does not list one. Qbserve’s menu bar score is built for that.
• You want the least sensitive capture possible. Recording app names and window titles is lighter than capturing screen frames. If that difference matters more to you than a written timeline, ActivityWatch or Qbserve fits better. Our piece on time tracking without surveillance covers that trade-off.
• You want raw data and an API to build on. ActivityWatch’s custom watchers and local API are designed for that.
• You want website blocking. Dayflow does not block sites, and neither Qbserve nor ActivityWatch lists blocking in its documentation. You will need a dedicated blocker.
• You need payroll or team reports. Dayflow does neither. Of these three, none is a team tool.

The bottom line

For local tracking with no subscription, ActivityWatch is the default answer. It is free with no gates, open source, stores data on your device, and runs on more platforms than anything else here. Choose Qbserve instead if you live on a Mac, want productivity scoring with no setup, and bill clients. A one-time license (listed at $29.00 in the US) buys you invoicing and a finished app.

If what you are missing is not time totals but a record of what the time was spent on, Dayflow, our app, adds that: a free, MIT-licensed Mac app that turns screen frames into an AI-written timeline, with local AI if you want analysis to stay on-device. It is not an invoicing tool, and it is not cross-platform.

For the wider field beyond these three, our guide to Mac time trackers compares more options side by side.

Frequently asked questions

Is ActivityWatch better than Qbserve?

It depends on the job. ActivityWatch is better if you want a free, open-source tracker that runs on Mac, Windows, Linux and Android and can be extended with plugins and a local API. Qbserve is better if you work only on a Mac and want a productivity score, rules that assign time to projects, and built-in invoicing, and you are fine paying once.

Does Qbserve require a subscription?

No. Qbserve is sold as a one-time license. The vendor's checkout showed $29.00 with a US locale on October 4, 2026, and the price may differ by country. There is no free tier, but there is a 15-day trial. The vendor says all tracked data stays on your Mac, so there is no cloud account to keep paying for.

Does ActivityWatch send my data to a server?

According to the vendor, no. ActivityWatch says all data is stored on your own device and is never sent to any server. It is open source under MPL-2.0, so the code can be inspected. Syncing between devices is listed as work in progress, which means each machine currently keeps its own separate history.

Should I use Dayflow or Qbserve to invoice clients?

Use Qbserve. It generates invoices in 18 languages from tracked project time, and Dayflow has no invoicing at all. Dayflow can export a date range as Markdown, which helps you remember and describe the work. But you would still need a separate tool to bill from it. For a solo Mac freelancer who bills hourly, Qbserve does that job directly.

Does ActivityWatch work on iPhone?

No. The vendor lists no iOS support. ActivityWatch runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. Qbserve is Mac only, and Dayflow is Mac only, on macOS 14 or later. If you need your iPhone use in the same record as your computer time, none of these three covers it. Check the wider field of trackers for a tool that includes iOS.

Is there a free trial of Qbserve?

Yes. The vendor offers a 15-day trial. After that, Qbserve is a one-time purchase, listed at $29.00 at the US checkout on October 4, 2026. There is no permanent free tier. If you want something free indefinitely, ActivityWatch is free with no feature gates, and Dayflow is $0 under the MIT license.

Do Qbserve or ActivityWatch have AI summaries?

Neither vendor lists any AI features. Both record what was active, meaning app names, window titles and, with plugins or built-in rules, websites. Neither writes a description of what you did. Dayflow is built around that: it captures the screen at one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write a timeline. That AI can run locally through Ollama or LM Studio.

Can I sync ActivityWatch between my laptop and desktop?

Not yet in a finished form. The vendor lists device sync as work in progress. For now, each computer keeps its own local data. Qbserve lists no sync or team features either, and it only runs on a Mac. If you need one combined history across machines today, plan around that gap before you commit to either tool.

Is Dayflow free without a subscription?

Yes. Dayflow is $0 and MIT licensed. The optional Pro plan is $20 a month and covers managed cloud analysis. On the free app, you can run AI analysis locally through Ollama or LM Studio, so screenshots stay on your Mac. You can also connect your own cloud provider, which brings that provider's charges and terms. Dayflow requires macOS 14 or later.