Published Oct 23, 2026 · Updated Oct 23, 2026 · 9 min read · By Eodly

Employee monitoring software alternatives in 2026: 8 ways to see the work, not the screen

The alternatives to employee monitoring software fall into two groups. Some show you the work itself: written check-ins (Range, Geekbot, Basecamp), check-ins next to the activity in GitHub and Linear (Eodly, Steady), or delivery metrics from the code (Swarmia). Others are lighter forms of tracking: time tracking with no screenshots (Toggl Track), or activity data with screenshots off by default (ActivTrak). People switch because screenshots and keystroke counts measure motion rather than finished work, and because being watched has a cost: in the American Psychological Association's 2023 Work in America survey, 56% of workers who experience monitoring said they feel tense or stressed at work, against 40% of those who are not monitored (APA). Below are eight alternatives compared, with prices checked on each vendor's own site on 23 October 2026.

We make Eodly, so it is first on this list. Where another tool is the better fit, we say so.

Quick comparison

What you are replacing

For reference, here is what the best-known monitoring tools capture, in their own words, and their starting prices.

1. Eodly

Eodly asks each person for one short update a day in Slack, Telegram or Discord, reminds anyone who has not answered, and sends you one report in the evening. Connect GitHub or Linear and each update sits next to the work behind it: the merged pull request or the moved ticket. People who did the work but forgot to check in still count, and an update that keeps saying "almost done" while nothing moves is flagged for you to look at. There are no screenshots, no keystroke counts and no activity scores; it reads the work your team already produces, not their machines.

• Price: free for up to 5 people, no card. Team is $29 a month for up to 10 people.
• Choose it if: you manage a small software or mixed team and want to know what got done without watching anyone.
• Look elsewhere if: you need billable hours (Toggl Track) or the work leaves no trace in GitHub or Linear.

See a sample evening report.

2. Range

Range runs written check-ins alongside meetings and goals, with Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations.

• Price: free for up to 12 users and 2 teams, with 30 days of check-in history. Pro is $8 per team member, billed month to month.
• Choose it if: you want a lightweight written check-in and goals in one tool.

3. Steady (formerly Status Hero)

Steady combines check-ins, a daily digest and goal tracking, and pulls activity from GitHub and other tools.

• Price: no free plan; you get 100 free credits for every user you add. Paid starts at $25 a month for 500 credits, with unlimited users.
• Choose it if: you want check-ins with activity attached and coordinate people and AI agents.

4. Swarmia

Swarmia measures engineering delivery from code and issues, including DORA metrics, with developer surveys.

• Price: free for companies with up to 9 developers. Standard is $45 per developer a month on annual billing.
• Choose it if: you lead an engineering team and want delivery metrics instead of activity data.

5. Geekbot

Geekbot runs async standups, polls and surveys inside Slack or Microsoft Teams. Everything in the report is written by the team.

• Price: free for up to 10 users. Basic is $2.50 per participant a month on annual billing, $3 monthly.
• Choose it if: written updates are enough and you want the most established tool.

6. Basecamp

Basecamp's automatic check-ins ask your team questions on a schedule, such as every Monday at 9am, and save everyone's answers in one place, inside its project management tool.

• Price: free for 1 project and 3 users. Paid plans are flat per account: Freelancer $29 a month for up to 5 users, Pro $79 a month for up to 10.
• Choose it if: you want project management and check-ins together.

7. Toggl Track

Toggl Track is time tracking with an explicit anti-surveillance stance: its site says it does not monitor employees, take screenshots, or record keystrokes, browsing history or location.

• Price: free for up to 3 users. Starter is $9 per user a month on annual billing, $12 monthly.
• Choose it if: you need hours for billing or estimates, without screenshots.

8. ActivTrak

ActivTrak is still activity data (app and website usage, productivity trends), but with lighter defaults: it says it does not log keystrokes or use webcams, and does not take screenshots by default; screenshots come only with an add-on, triggered by an alarm.

• Price: free for up to 3 workers with limited features. Work Activity Tracking is $10 per worker a month, annual plans only.
• Choose it if: you still want activity data and prefer a tool without screenshots or keystroke logging by default.

When monitoring software is the right call

Some situations call for it: contractors billed by the hour who must show their time, regulated work where activity records are required, or security investigations. If that is your case, choose a tool whose defaults you can explain to your team, tell people what is collected, and switch off what you do not need. Hubstaff and Insightful let you turn screenshots off; ActivTrak has them off by default.

How to choose

• You want to know what got done, not how busy someone looked: Eodly, Range or Geekbot.
• Your team writes code: Eodly to compare check-ins with GitHub and Linear, Swarmia for delivery metrics.
• You need billable hours: Toggl Track.
• You want project management with check-ins built in: Basecamp.
• You still want activity data with lighter defaults: ActivTrak.

How we compared them

We listed tools that show remote work without screenshots or keystroke data, plus lighter tracking tools people switch to, and checked each one's features, free tier and price on its own website on 23 October 2026. For the monitoring tools, we quote what each vendor says it captures. Survey figures come from the American Psychological Association's 2023 Work in America survey and the UK Information Commissioner's Office, whose 2023 survey found 70% of people would find being monitored by an employer intrusive (ICO, archived).

Questions people ask

What is an alternative to employee monitoring software? Measuring results instead of activity: a short daily written check-in, compared with the record of the work (pull requests, tickets, published pages). Tools like Eodly, Range, Steady and Geekbot do this without screenshots or keystroke counts.

How can I track productivity without monitoring software? Agree on what finished work looks like for each role, ask for a daily update that points to it, and check the update against the record. We wrote up the method in how to verify your team's status updates are accurate.

Is there free software to see what my remote team did? Range is free for up to 12 users, Geekbot for 10, Swarmia for 9 developers and Eodly for 5 people.

Do monitoring tools record keystrokes? It depends on the tool. Hubstaff and Time Doctor say they count keyboard and mouse activity rather than recording what is typed. Teramind offers keystroke logging on its UAM plan and above. ActivTrak says it does not log keystrokes.

Features and prices were checked on each vendor's own site on 23 October 2026 and can change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

Related reading

• The employee monitoring alternative that isn't surveillance
• How to measure team productivity without tracking activity
• Remote team accountability without micromanaging
• How to verify your team's status updates are accurate