Top 15 Employee Monitoring Apps 2021
Since many companies have shifted to remote work recently, CEOs and HR managers try various employee monitoring methods to control their employees’ productivity. Employees monitoring software became one of their favourite tools in 2021 because it allows tracking employees’ performance remotely from any device. Additionally, such programs provide data to be studied to find patterns, trends, and correlations to obtain ways to improve the entire business activity.
Is Employee Monitoring Software Helpful in 2021?
When the team works from the office, employers usually monitor them in the following way:
- listen to all phone calls;
- monitor email and activity in social apps and messengers;
- track Internet activities;
- monitor removable drives;
- verify the use of websites and emails.
In some companies, employers don’t allow the use of social apps, the Internet, or phone for personal use. There are also managers who enable limited access to the phone, email, and the Internet. Due to the massive shift to remote work, the picture has changed a bit. Now CEOs prefer to check employees’ productivity and see detailed statistics of every coworker or whole departments. In other words, they want to see an overall picture of business processes since managing a remote team is time and energy consuming by itself.
Luckily, the employee monitoring software of 2021 offers a global image of how people work in the company, be it a remote team or a department working from the office. This article will describe the best employee monitoring apps and show you how you can use them to improve your business processes and boost the company’s sales.
Are Employee Monitoring Apps Legal in 2021?
Employee monitoring is absolutely legit in 2021 but note that in any company the staff must be informed of employee monitoring apps and the reason why they are applied. Every procedure must be clear, easy to understand for all employees. I don’t recommend asking employees to install employee monitoring software on their personal desktops when they work from home. Remember that any employee monitoring app can be installed on the device you own and you have the right to track.
This short introduction does not allow me to cover more than these few key points of employee monitoring. If you want to learn more about the topic, the pitfalls of employee tracking, its ethical side and future trends, I recommend checking this guide.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the best programs for employee monitoring in 2021 and the features they offer.
Top 15 Employee Monitoring Apps in 2021
CleverControl is the best employee monitoring program for 2021 out there. It offers total control over the staff’s computers and provides a vivid picture of every team member’s performance. It presents running applications, web surfing, social networking, and Internet search. Moreover, CleverControl allows you to control USB drives, emails, and chats. Another amazing feature is the recording of sound and video from the webcam and mic of the computer. The program can also broadcast the webcam and the screen of the target computer live performing functions of a simple security system for the office. The screen recording feature of this activity monitoring software is also useful when it comes to investigating staff’s unlawful actions or checking their daily activity.
Advantages
One of the greatest features is monitoring from anywhere, whatever the location. The solution is cloud-based and has remote access to the data via a web account. No dedicated server is required. The system allows a great variety of recording features from making screenshots to monitoring removable drives. CleverControl monitors all times when a printer is in use and records the name of the task. Search engine activity monitoring is possible for all most popular sites such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing, and Yandex. The system allows control of social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and others.
The software agent is invisible to all users on any PC, including the task manager.
The software can be removed remotely.
Finally, the installation can be done simply and rapidly, even without an IT specialist. It takes only 3 minutes. The application works on PC and macOS.
Disadvantages
There are small chances to hack access control.
Spyrix Employee Monitoring is another leading employee monitoring software on the market. The functionality of the program is truly impressive and variable. From keylogging to webcam recording, the program captures all the person’s activity on the monitored computer. Spyrix Employee Monitoring can track what websites the employee visits, what they type in messengers and chats, what they print, what programs they use and more. The program can also record calls in most popular messengers, such as Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype, etc. More than that, you can set the program to record videos and sound clips from the webcam. This feature is a perfect tool for assessing the quality of work of the customer care department or for investigating cases of inappropriate behaviour.
Advantages
Quick and easy setup. You can effortlessly install the program on the computers you want to monitor, even if you are not a techie.
Remote monitoring via the online account. You don’t need to have access to the employees’ computers to know what they are doing.
Log delivery to email, Google Drive, FTP or LAN. If you don’t want to use the online dashboard, you can choose another way of log delivery that suits your purpose best.
User and company statistics for any period. The program analyses the collected data to create convenient charts and graphs. You can get an overview of the work process at a glance: how much time the staff is active, what apps and websites they use the most often, how much time they spend on social networks and more.
Live streaming of the screen and webcam of the computer. It is enough to log in to your online account to see what the team is doing at the moment. You can monitor each employee separately or display all the streams on one screen for convenience.
Screen and webcam recording. The program will make recordings during the day for you to watch at your convenience. These recordings are also helpful in investigating cases of improper conduct or data leakages.
Disadvantages
Screen, webcam and call recordings come at an extra price.
3. AktivTrak
ActivTrak is one of the most popular programs for employee performance control. It’s an employee computer monitoring software with automated alerts. It has productivity tracking and user privacy features. The program can make screenshots of any employees’ action. The system offers two-factor authentication and directory integration. The features are sophisticated, yet the interface is user-friendly. There is an option to sign in with a Google account. Productivity tracking is also available.
Advantages
It’s compatible with the most popular operating systems, including macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. A considerable advantage is an affordable price. It works like Google Analytics for a firm. The employee monitoring software provides sensitive data redaction and features to ensure user privacy.
Disadvantages
No OCR capabilities when the user searches for a keyword within the screenshots.
4. Teramind
Teramind has a simple, easy to use admin dashboard. The software has integrated layers and compliance features. The functionalities are advanced and offer analytic and reporting options. The system provides monitoring customizations.
Advantages
The system offers an intuitive and user-friendly dashboard. This employee monitoring system also detects anomalies. Another spectacular feature is the OCR screen recording. The system also allows the possibility to switch from revealed mode to stealth. Generally, the system provides all the functions required for effective supervision.
Disadvantages
Too many monitoring features can create confusion by offering similar possibilities.
5. Interguard
Interguard records employees’ activity even when they are not connected to a network. It prevents data loss by scanning employees’ activity to find policy violations. The program provides control over a remote device, for example, deletes files and locks the endpoint. It offers a web content filtering. What is more, the system allows dashboard customization.
Advantages
The system helps to prevent data leakage. A great variety of features is a certain benefit too, for example, chat and social media monitoring, keystroke logging, geolocation and audit logs, even rude keyword tracking. The system also offers a mobile application.
Disadvantages
The installation is difficult because there are compatibility issues and some settings must be made manually. Data needs time to sync. The user interface is challenging to adapt to.
6. TimeDoctor
TimeDoctor lets the manager create invoices within the app. It offers a mix of project management and employee monitoring features. TimeDoctor is a perfect tracking tool as it helps to establish working hours. For example, it can create an excel timesheet to measure the working time for every employee. It also offers a number of features useful for project management. The user can acquire a simple free version.
Pros
Monitoring features are efficient. The system can create invoices in the application favouring the program among similar products. It is a stable platform combining a project management system with employee monitoring features.
Cons
The user interface needs an update. Besides, to use the stopwatch feature, the manager needs to use a Chrome extension or a desktop app.
7. Hubstaff
Hubstaff has a variety of useful features such as keystroke and screenshots monitoring. It also has the possibility to schedule shifts for employees. The program offers 14 days free trial to test all the features.
Advantages
The time-tracking feature works excellent. The software offers keystroke monitoring and screenshots recording. There are many good reviews about the soft on the Net.
Disadvantages
Unfortunately, the tracking is not advanced, and the reporting feature lacks details. The system has some problems with tracking insights. Besides, it is quite expensive: the user needs to pay for file storage, progress reports, and in-app chat.
8. Veriato
Veriato provides full control over screen capture, playback, and data collection. The program tracks keywords and files and allows customizing reports and alerts. Besides, it detects anomalies in behaviour and may help to prevent incidents. It also offers productivity monitoring. The software has two types: Veriato Recon and Veriato 360. Together, they realize threat detection, respond to online communications, and activities within the network.
Pros
Veriato has a long experience in the screen capture. Further, the software allows monitoring of Internet usage.
Cons
No cloud-based option, unfortunately. The server is difficult to set up and requires an IT specialist. What is more, the virtual machine is necessary to access the web dashboard.
9. Workexaminer
Workexaminer offers a free 30-day trial to help you decide if you need this app. It silently records what the user types or sees. Workexaminer shows how employers use the Internet at work. Besides, the system tracks working time, computer usage, and helps to manage HR resources thus increasing staff’s productivity.
You will agree that employees working hard must be appreciated, unlike people spending hours on social networks, or leaving early. The use of Workexaminer promises a 26% productivity boost.
Advantages
The system offers efficient features like activity monitoring, website filtering, and keylogging. The software provides screenshots search, email search, and chat logs.
Disadvantages
The user must install the application locally. The system doesn’t provide location tracking, keyword tracking, or alerts. There is no remote desktop control either.
10. VeriClock
Vericlock is another good soft for employee monitoring. It has many settings for the administrator. The program offers all features a business owner needs to have information about the employees’ activity and efficiency. Vericlock also provides reports on the employee active and idle time being and efficient time tracking.
Pros
The software is cloud-based, so you can access the data from any place in the world. It’s easy to use, offers lots of settings for the admin. The price is affordable and reasonable.
Cons
The system offers only 1 GB of storage space. It doesn’t allow scheduled time. There are no project management and collaboration features.
11. Kickidler
Kickidler is an employee monitoring program that allows control of computer activities and attendance. Time tracking is also possible. The program provides features that may help you check what the employees do every moment. The manager can see visited websites, used applications, and receive automatic alerts when a violation of the terms or rules happens. The software offers an intuitive interface made for remote monitoring of an unlimited number of employees.
Advantages
The user can set up different levels of access and set monitoring tools depending on the employee’s profile. The system broadcasts any employee desktop activity and time-tracking of workers; it detects violations and negligence.
Kickidler also monitors employees’ productivity. Activities such as social networks, online games, messengers, or smoking breaks won’t go unnoticed anymore. Employees' computer screenshots, as well as keystrokes, are recorded. Kickidler allows efficient remote administration tools, working on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. The connection is made with one click.
Disadvantages
File transfer feature, as well as remote keyboard, clipboard control, and mouse control, are slow.
12. Webwork Timetracker
Webwork Timetracker is good employee monitoring software that protects against threats showing how employees use websites and applications. It studies network packets to find rogue applications. The app compares workers performing similar jobs. It also protects confidential data against leakage of information.
Pros
The software is easy to install and offers an easy way to monitor the employee. It has perfect time-tracking features. The system allows setting many tasks for every project, generates detailed reports, and lets the user keep track of his or her statistics. The customer support keeps the users updated, you can always get in touch with them.
Cons
The time tracker stops working after 7 minutes of “inactivity.” If the user doesn’t type or click, after 7 minutes, the program considers it to be idle time. It is not a significant problem, like the inability to know when the clients accessed the invitation to view the activity on their work.
13. SentryPC
SentryPC system is easy to navigate, providing a large scale of tools to monitor, archive, and manage employees’ activity. The app is a cloud-based solution, so it allows remote monitoring, showing the employees' activity accurately. The soft provides administrative tools to support Windows scripts.
Advantages
The software offers free trial versions. There is no flood of information. The price is affordable. Besides, it offers content filtering and confirmation mode versus silent mode.
Disadvantages
The system works perfectly only for tiny companies. The tech support is the main limitation, almost no immediate response.
14. Fairtrak
Fairtrak monitors employees’ computer activity and helps managers to improve their productivity. The program analyzes the staff members’ behaviour at work and many computer activities. The reports are easy to understand and present detailed information about employees’ productivity.
Pros
The application can track workers’ productivity in real-time. Screenshots can be customized. The activity can be recorded continuously, or random. Fairtrak can also block websites that influence the workers’ productivity badly.
Cons
The installation is local and the interface requires an update. Besides, there is no remote desktop control or keyword tracking as well as location tracking.
15. DeskTime
DeskTime is one of the best tools to track an employee’s activity on the computer. The system tracks URLs and integrates with Outlook and Google Calendar. Generally, Desktime is focused on time tracking, though the application works excellent for task and project management as well since it monitors employee’s productivity.
Advantages
The remote employee monitoring system is affordable. It monitors applications and offers many customization possibilities.
Disadvantages
Unfortunately, there is no keyword monitoring feature. The system provides blurred screenshots and the reporting has limits. There is no keystroke logging or automated alerts. The software provides only XLS export, no CSV.
The Best Employee Performance Monitoring Tool 2021
Clever Control is helpful in employee monitoring, investigating unlawful actions, increasing productivity, preventing significant information leakage, and detecting slackers among remote teams. The firm manager easily obtains employee productivity monitoring as statistics data is represented in the form of convenient charts and graphs. The employee monitoring system provides applications and sites filter. It also provides settable storage time for staff desktop monitoring files.
Clever Control delivers employee work hours timekeeping and timesheet reporting. The system has a free 14 days fully functional trial period for 10 PCs. All the above makes Clever Control the best-rated employee monitoring system.
ActivTrak, Teramind, Interguard, and TimeDoctor are also good solutions for businesses. Their features are helpful when it comes to any kind of control, including user activity, screen recording, listening to live surroundings, etc. Check the official websites of the mentioned software and get your free trial.
