This Review Covers:
- Overview
- What Do Users Like About Time Doctor?
- What Don’t Users Don’t Like About Time Doctor?
- What Pricing Plans does Time Doctor Offer?
- What are the Standout Features of Time Doctor?
- Selected Positive User Feedback
- Selected Negative User Feedback
- What are Time Doctor’s Review Ratings from Review Sites?
- What’s My Final Verdict on Time Doctor?
Overview
Time Doctor is a cloud-based time tracking and productivity management software that touts employee empowerment as one of its cornerstones. It combines the features of a time tracker and other administrative tools to drive employee productivity and increase the profitability of projects.
Aside from time tracking, Time Doctor’s arsenal of features takes on productivity analytics, workforce management, and employee monitoring as well. The data gathered by the software includes logged hours, online activity, URLs visited, keyboard and mouse activity, and programs opened and used during working hours.
Time Doctor also allows its users to create custom work schedules that can be monitored and enforced. Time Doctor also offers integrations with payroll software (i.e. ADP) that ensures employees are paid their due on time.
One of the problems with Time Doctor are the issues with synchronization between the desktop and mobile apps which present the risk of losing tracked time.
The productivity tracker can sometimes automatically stop tracking, as it is reliant on mouse and keyboard activity, for periods of time. This disregards that work also happens away from the computer — such as when reading for research, attending meetings, formulating plans, waiting for exports, sketching off-screen, and more.
There are also some concerns about Time Doctor’s computer usage monitoring functions, particularly the screenshotting, URL tracking, and webcam recording features.
These can feel threatening to the privacy of employees, especially those who work from home, where the line between work and personal time is significantly blurred. I find this oversight quite ironic for software that is marketed as empowering for employees.
In addition, bugs and glitches present a less-than-ideal user experience, and the constant reloading doesn’t help much in that regard either.
The mobile app also needs a fair amount of work and can be a deal-breaker for users who value being able to work on the go. And to cap it all off, Time Doctor doesn’t have a free version, unlike most other time tracking and attendance software in the market.
But before we draw any conclusions, let’s take a look at Time Doctor’s details, shall we?
What Do Users Like About Time Doctor?
- Great for monitoring and boosting productivity
- Effective for tracking billable hours
- Streamlines billing with built-in invoicing feature
Find more on what users love about Time Doctor.
What Don’t Users Like About Time Doctor?
- URL tracking, screenshots, and webcam monitoring can compromise privacy
- Poor mobile app
- Lack of free version
Find more on what users hate about Time Doctor.
What Pricing Plans Does Time Doctor Offer?
Time Doctor has four paid plans that cater to various business needs.
Basic
The Basic Plan can be used by an unlimited number of managers and employees for unlimited custom projects, tasks, groups, and teams.
Users get automatic time tracking, team and individual user dashboards, online and offline tracking, silent tracking, screenshots, and access to the desktop and mobile apps.
This plan also offers timeline reports, and access to the knowledgebase and ticket portal. Users can see historical tracking data for 3 months. The Basic plan costs $5.90/mo/user annually or $7/mo/user monthly.
Standard
One tier up is the Standard Plan which has all of the Basic Plan features, plus productivity ratings, break tracking, inactivity alerts, web and app usage report, 60+ integrations via Chrome and Firefox extensions, payroll, and real-time notifications.
On the Standard plan users can see up to six months of tracked data history, and have live chat support. The Standard plan costs $11.70/mo/user annually or $14/mo/user monthly.
Premium
The Premium Plan has all of the features of the previous tiers, plus client login access, executive dashboard, video screen recording and reporting, internet connectivity tracking, unusual activity AI report, automatic user provisioning, Single Sign On (SSO), and access to Time Doctor’s open API.
Users can see up to two years of tracked data history, and have a dedicated account manager all for the whopping price of $16.70/mo/user annually or $20/mo/user monthly.
This is Time Doctors’ most popular plan.
Enterprise
For large organizations that require enterprise-grade security, scalability on a private cloud, and unique needs that require a fully customizable a-la-carte plan, Time Doctor offers an Enterprise Plan that comes with a dedicated success manager with guided implementation and onboarding.
Prices for this tier are directly communicated between Time Doctor and the client.
Read 5 things you MUST know about Time Doctor’s pricing.
What are the Standout Features of Time Doctor?
1. Simplified and Customizable Time Tracking
Time tracking on Time Doctor is simple and straightforward. It doesn’t just capture work hours, but it can also be categorized by projects and tasks for that extra bit of detail.
Admins can create tasks from which employees can begin tracking their time with just a single click, and as they progress, they can switch between tasks by clicking the timer off on the task they’ve finished and starting it on the next one.
The information gathered by the software from clock-ins, clock-outs, and automatic monitoring are presented in a productivity dashboard visible to both administrators and employees so everyone can see how much time they spend on work, and where they spend it specifically.
While clocked in, Time Doctor also helps users stay focused by notifying them about idle time. It prompts them by asking if they are still working when the software detects that they have been away for a certain period.
Time Doctor allows employers to verify if time was truly spent on real work with a variety of methods such as screenshots, screen recording, app and URL tracking, and mouse and keyboard activity.
Administrators can customize the combinations of verification methods that they wish to use for their businesses according to their unique circumstances, preferences, and needs.
Time Doctor can also track time offline. It will sync data with the servers as soon as a stable internet connection is available. Also, in case employees forget to clock in for work, they could always manually add time to their logs, pending the approval of a manager.
2. Powerful Project Management
Time Doctor’s computer usage monitoring and accountability features ensure that company time is spent where it should be — making progress on projects.
Coupled with its shift scheduling feature and the ability to track attendance, you can compare time against budget, and see which tasks take up the most time. The software presents a robust solution for managing projects and maximizing employee time for increased productivity, better accountability, and improved resource utilization.
Aside from that, Time Doctor also delivers other performance metrics that are essential in improving company time management and ensuring the quality of output.
But what I really admire the most about Time Doctor is that it delivers a double whammy with project budgeting and scoping — tracking workday activities to show how past projects were done, and analyzing project timelines to identify what practices need to be automated or cut to make room for more projects.
3. Actionable and In-depth Reporting
The Activity Summary Report shows how time was used by employees in a certain range. In this report, Time Doctor details how many minutes and seconds were recorded as active or idle, productive or unproductive, and which were spent in manual or mobile mode.
This report can be generated for individuals or teams, so administrators can compare time usage between employees in similar roles to identify discrepancies and problems right where they begin.
The Attendance Report allows administrators to monitor employee attendance by showing who is present, absent, partially absent, or late for their shifts. Time Doctor allows this data to be filtered in a couple of ways to show only those who have shifts or only those who are absent or late.
Time Doctor’s Hours Tracked Report displays the number of hours an employee has logged within a certain date range, such as a day or a week, and the Projects and Tasks Report breaks down tracked time according to which particular projects and tasks they were spent on.
The Timeline Report shows how individual users spent their workdays. The Day view displays their starting and ending times, their breaks, and which tasks they worked on and when.
In this report, Time Doctor also shows who’s online, who’s on break, and when a user last tracked time. The Week view shows how much time was tracked in a week, including the total hours tracked on every day of any chosen week.
The Web and App Usage report shows you how employees utilize time on various websites and apps. Administrators can choose any date range that they want to examine in detail, and Time Doctor shows a log of websites and apps visited and used within that period, complete with time spent and productivity rating in a trend chart that visualizes the data for easy comparison.
But the report that really caught my attention is the Internet Connectivity report, which shows a percentage breakdown of which activities were performed with an internet connection or offline.
This is especially helpful for the visibility of remote teams affected by connectivity issues and helps managers address these issues to improve productivity. It’s a thoughtful touch that addresses an important but often neglected issue for companies working with remote employees.
Selected Positive User Feedback:
- “the program has given us a broader look at what we should improve to reduce time costs and expand production.” – Verified Reviewer (Source Capterra)
- “Time Doctor has significantly improved my time management, task organization, and overall productivity as a data analyst.” – Eric R. (Source Capterra)
- “The real-time tracking, along with features like screenshots, website and application monitoring, and detailed reports, allows for thorough analysis and accountability. The user interface is intuitive, making it easy for me and my team to use effectively.” – Verified User in Information Technology and Services (Source G2)
- “I also appreciate the detailed reports and insights it provides, which help me stay on track and improve my productivity. Overall, Time Doctor is invaluable for anyone looking to manage their time more effectively..” – Mohammed Y. (Source G2)
- “This software simplifies my life and my work, as well as those of my employees. It’s a real ALL-IN-ONE. To be able to manage time efficiently, to keep track of my activities even remotely” – Georges T. (Source GetApp)
Selected Negative User Feedback:
- “What I dislike about Time Doctor is that there are occasional glitches with the time tracking feature, which can cause minor disruptions.” – Verified User in Information Technology and Services (Source G2)
- “Every now and then, it would also start tracking time automatically even though that option is disabled in my settings.” – Verified User in Marketing and Advertising (Source G2)
- “There are times when Time doctor has different bugs and at times slow. Also presents some lag after updating the app on either the desktop or mobile.” – Leo Ml (Source G2)
- “The new version has some things that could improve. Sometimes the app shutdowns out of nowhere and you need to be checking on it every once in a while to make sure it is still up and running.” – Karina L. (Source G2)
What are Time Doctor’s Review Ratings from Review Sites?
(As of October 2024)
- Capterra: 4.6/5
- G2: 4.4/5
- Software Advice: 4.5/5
- TrustRadius: 8.8/10
- App Store: 2.8/5
- Google Play: 2.4/5
What’s My Final Verdict on Time Doctor?
Time Doctor is a well conceptualized product that is more than just a time tracker. It’s a promising solution to a lot of HR and administration headaches, including monitoring, payroll, scheduling, reporting, and much more. Its automations are designed to significantly reduce the time spent on many of these processes and the stress that comes with it.
However, based on my experience and the reviews of many other users, things aren’t really as simple. While the timesheets, employee productivity metrics, and reporting features are great by themselves, they get their numbers from the time tracking feature which can be occasionally unreliable.
The mobile app also leaves much to be desired and needs quite a bit of work, as do the lags and glitches on the desktop and web versions that I’ve experienced while testing Time Doctor.
Another potential firestarter is its computer usage monitoring functions, particularly the screenshotting and webcam recording features. Employees, especially those working from home where professional and private lives often overlap, are justified in feeling concerned about their privacy.
I for one wouldn’t want to have my browsing preferences broadcast to colleagues, and heaven forbid that I should be caught in a random webcam shot in a less-than-presentable state of being… when the software thinks I’m slacking off at work.
Having said all that, I’m all praises for the thought that went into designing and making Time Doctor, but they’d have to ensure that the time tracking function accurately captures worked hours with no risks of time loss and maybe reconsider the way they define productivity.
