RescueTime Reviews

“Track your time

Pros

I like that it tracks time spent across all my devices, including my phone and multiple computers.

Cons

Sometimes it misses the time I spent on one machine or another, and it's hard to tell if it is tracking.

“If I wasn't so cheap, I'd pay for it

Pros

It is incredibly useful when reconstructing my day. We log every hour to determine what's billable and what's not. Some days, I'm so scattered that I forget what I have done, and this helps me figure it out. I appreciate being able to set my own labels for "productive" and "distracting." For most companies, Facebook would be a huge distraction, but since we do a lot of social media work for clients, it can be productive time for us. Having that flexibility is great. Plus, the weekly emails are a helpful reminder of how time accumulates.

Cons

For a short period of time, I was able to use the "FocusTime" feature, which was awesome. I essentially turned off my access to programs or websites that were listed as "distracting." It pretty much stopped me from being my own enemy. I wish that was still part of the free version because it was very helpful. Also, it's pretty clunky getting through the report of how I spent my time. I either have to look at it by category (Very Productive, Productive, Neutral, Distracting, Very Distracting) individually, or by task (Communication, Business, etc.), and there's no way to see a full list of everything. Navigating between the different views isn't easy, but I got the hang of it.

“Identify & highlight distractions

Pros

This software allowed me to objectively and quantitatively pinpoint which distractions were most detrimental to my daily earnings.

Cons

I have no cons, really. The software is unobtrusive, not pushy, it just does its thing well.

“It holds a mirror back to you to show you how you spend your time at the computerduring working hour

Pros

This tool has been a great support in helping me stay focused and maintain a balance between productivity and distractions.

Cons

At first, it was trial and error for me as I was not sure it reflected my usage accurately, but I realized I could customize how it adds items to its categories.

“RescueTime rescued my productivity!

Pros

It is very intuitive and offers detailed data if you are curious about how you focus and spend your time. It provided me with a lot of information on how often I switch between conversations, which helped me start blocking my time and tackling the biggest tasks first.

Cons

I wish the data visualization was a little bit more developed. It's pretty basic and just looks so next to other data visualization tools. It's purely a design aesthetic thing that I think would improve the perception of this tool!

“RescueTime runs in the background, it's customisable, you can set goals and you get weekly reports.

Pros

RescueTime helps me monitor my browsing and the windows I am working on, aiding in time management by categorizing wasted time and productive time, and presenting actionable insights. The paid version offers extra help by allowing me to block distracting websites.

Cons

Occasionally, RescueTime would misqualify the sites I visit, but the incidence lowers the more frequently I visit them.

“My favorite solution for seeing where time is spent

Pros

RescueTime automatically tracks and categorizes the activities of me and my team. It makes it easy to see which areas and applications we might be spending more time on than expected. The weekly report emails are excellent, and the productivity score gives a quick overview of our productivity compared to previous months.

Cons

I would like if there was a different way to categorize specific files from different projects into projects within RescueTime. There may be a way to make a solution like this happen with the current features, but if I could tag certain portions of time towards specific projects, it would give me further insight not only on the type of work I am doing (development, communication) but into the specific project that time was spent on. This is a small niche need, though, and it hasn't stopped me from using RescueTime.

“Use it understand where my time goes.

Pros

This software requires no setup at all. Everything is done automatically. If needed, you can later re-categorize some tasks. For instance, if I'm searching for candidates on social networks, I can label this time as productive.

Cons

I have no real cons. Sometimes it is hard to see the picture of my time habits with a helicopter view, as this software tends to focus on large tasks.

“Essential for Telecommuters and anyone billing hourly

Pros

It seamlessly integrates with all browsers and can run on multiple machines under the same account. The default setup is pretty accurate and easy to customize to match my productivity tendencies.

Cons

Viewing trends over multiple years can be slow. I'd love the ability to generate a lifetime report for later viewing.

“Not the best time managment software but not bad either

Pros

It's a aimple software that tracks how and where I spend my time on the computer. It's really helpful to see at the end of the day how much time was spent on different tasks and to meet my goals. It helps a lot to know exactly how much "working" time was not productive.

Cons

Since I work on different projects but on the same software or webpage, it became hard to track how much of that time was actually spent on the different programs, so it didn't really work for me.

“So that's where all my time goes ... writing software reviews.

Pros

I have been using the free version for a while. It was really interesting at first, but now I tend to ignore it. However, I should probably review my reports again to see how I'm doing. I am impressed that it not only tracks time spent browsing different sites but also time spent using local programs like Word, Excel, or even Remote Desktop (though not the specific usage on a remote computer). You can categorize each website or program as productive or distracting, which is really helpful since a site could be productive for some and distracting for others, depending on the type of work.

Cons

Sometimes I wish it kept more history. I think it does if you pay for it, so that makes sense. I just have it on my Windows desktop. I tried to add it to my Android phone once, and it didn't seem to work well. But to be honest, I didn't try very hard to get it set up.

“Great for small business owners & entrepreneurs

Pros

Using RescueTime to measure my computer usage which I admire the most. It provides excellent productivity metrics and operates seamlessly in the background.

Cons

There is not much to dislike; it does what it says it does. I would like more tools to improve productivity during the day, as RescueTime is so invisible that I sometimes forget its running.

“Helps me keep track of my time, both on the computer, and otherwise, using (premium) offline-time

Pros

It accurately tracks the time spent on each program and website, then categorizes it by productivity. Usually, it gets the category right, but it's easy to edit when it doesn't. Some things it can't categorize, like IP addresses used to access admin servers.

Cons

I think the interfaces could be improved. It would be nice if the productivity stats could be shown in a basic GUI on the PC. But I don't mean an embedded browser type of thing; I'd like to install something to view the dashboard in its own window instead of the browser, like so many programs are nowadays.

“It helps me manage my time and my website activity!

Pros

I have been using this to track my internet usage and the time spent on specific websites. This is crucial, especially when trying to manage and optimize my time. I need to know how I am spending it, and RescueTime is a lifesaver!

Cons

There are times when website activity detection is not that accurate, but I don't mind the glitch as it still serves its purpose.

“RescueTime lets me see how much "business" work I do each week.

Pros

I find it easy to customize and configure to track the things I do. I use the free version, which has great features for free. Being competitive, I like to try and beat my previous week's score and be more productive.

Cons

There are a few things I don't like about RescueTime. They frequently release new versions, but the installation process is completely painless and doesn't require a computer restart, so it's a very minor inconvenience.

“Great way to make sure you stay on task

Pros

It works unobtrusively in the background, tracking my time usage daily and sending me reports on my productivity. Its nice to have productivity targets and to see how I actually spend my time on my laptop. The reports make this easy.

Cons

It is easy for me to forget its there (which is good and bad) and therefore not stop procrastinating until its too late.

“Surprisingly accurate and very insightful

Pros

It was easy for me to get set up and customize what behavior I consider valuable or not for my work day.

Cons

There is nothing I dislike, it delivers what it promises and even works on my desktop! I have not tried using this with a team and only used it personally, but I imagine that with a team, there are ways to beat the machine.

“I use it mainly to see how much time I spend on certain websites

Pros

It gives me useful insights into my web browsing habits. I can easily see how much time I spend on websites, and it even sorts them into categories.

Cons

Sometimes it mischaracterizes the websites I visit. It doesn't happen very often, so it's not a huge problem.

“Use it every day to understand how I spend my time

Pros

This software really helps me see how I spend my day without much fuss, as it just works in the background. To get a thorough analysis, I recommend the premium version.

Cons

To get a clear picture, I paradoxically have to invest my time categorizing various activities. Plus, it tends to underestimate my hard work in certain tasks, for example, if I am doing research and have to Google a lot.

“Thank you Rescue Time for keeping me on track!

Pros

Weekly report that shows how much time I have spent on each task is my fav part about this software. Even better, it was all set up for me without requiring any extra input. I like that it separates tasks into client work and non-productive time and provides a visual chart to help me see how I am doing.

Cons

Honestly, I can't think of anything I don't like! Since social media is both a business task and personal, it is hard to know 100% on that one category, but I don't think that is a fault of the software.