How a non-technical founder can see what remote developers did today (7 tools compared, 2026)
A founder managing developers across time zones can stay on top of what everyone did today with two things: one short written update from each developer every day, and a way to check that update against the work itself, meaning the pull requests in GitHub and the tickets in Linear. You do not need to read code, and you do not need a call. Geekbot, DailyBot and Range collect the written updates. Linear and GitHub show the work. Eodly is free for up to 5 people and $29 a month flat for up to 10, and it puts the two side by side in one evening report. Below is what each tool shows you, its price and its free plan, checked on each vendor's own site on 9 November 2026.
We make Eodly, so it is on this list. Where another tool is the better fit, we say so.
Quick comparison
| Tool | What you see each day | Free plan | Paid from | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eodly | One evening report: each developer's update next to their GitHub and Linear work, with unbacked updates flagged | Up to 5 people | $29/month flat for up to 10 people | Best if you want one read a day and cannot judge the code yourself |
| Geekbot | Written standup answers posted to a channel | Up to 10 users | $2.50 per participant a month, annual ($3 monthly) | The simplest written standup on Slack or Microsoft Teams |
| DailyBot | Check-ins, forms and AI reports across chat tools | Unlimited members, 50 compiled reports a month, 14 days of history | $2.40 per active user a month, annual ($3 monthly) | Good if the team is spread across several chat tools |
| Range | Written check-ins, goals and meeting agendas | Up to 12 users, 2 teams, 30 days of history | $8 per team member a month | Good if you still run a weekly meeting |
| Steady | Check-ins and a daily digest, priced by usage | No free plan; 100 free credits for every user you add | $25/month for 500 credits | Good for teams that coordinate people and AI agents |
| Linear | Issues, cycles and project progress | Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues | $10 per user a month, billed yearly | A tracker your developers keep current; you read progress there |
| GitHub Projects | Issues and pull requests on boards and tables | Issues and Projects included | Team, $4 per user a month | Fine if everything already lives in GitHub and someone can explain it to you |
What you need if you cannot read the code
A non-technical founder has one extra problem: when a developer says "nearly done", you have no way to tell whether that is true. So the daily picture needs three parts.
- A plain-language update from each developer. What got done today, what is next, what is blocked. Written, so that it works across time zones and you can read it when you wake up.
- Evidence next to the update. A merged pull request or a closed ticket is a fact you can see without understanding the code. An update with nothing behind it for several days is the thing worth asking about.
- One place to read it. If you have to open a tracker, a repository and three chat threads, you will stop checking within a month.
The questions to ask a developer also change. "Can you show me what changed?" and "What does a user see now that they could not see yesterday?" work without any technical knowledge, and a good developer will be glad you asked.
1. Eodly
Eodly messages each developer once a day in Slack, Telegram or Discord, at 9:00 in their own time zone, and reminds anyone who has not answered 45 minutes before your report time. You get one report in the evening. With GitHub and Linear connected, each update sits next to the pull requests and tickets behind it, and updates the work does not back up are flagged for you to look at.
- Price: free for up to 5 people, no card. Team is $29 a month flat for up to 10 people, Growth $49 for up to 20, Scale $89 for up to 50.
- Choose it if: you manage a small team across time zones and want to know what happened today in one read, without a call and without reading code.
- Look elsewhere if: you need Microsoft Teams today (coming soon), custom questionnaires, or a project tracker. Eodly reads your tracker; it does not replace it.
2. Geekbot
Async standups, polls and surveys in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Each person answers a few questions and the answers are posted to a channel.
- Price: free for teams of up to 10 users, with up to 3 months of reporting history. Basic is $2.50 per participant a month on the annual plan, or $3 paying monthly. You pay only for people included in standups.
- Choose it if: you want the standard written standup and you are happy to read every answer yourself.
- Main drawback for a founder: you read what people wrote, without the work next to it.
3. DailyBot
Check-ins, forms and AI reports across Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat and Discord.
- Price: the free Starter plan has unlimited members, 50 compiled check-in reports per organization a month and 14 days of history. Essentials is $2.40 per active user a month on the annual plan, or $3 paying monthly.
- Choose it if: your team is spread across several chat tools.
- Main drawback for a founder: the free plan's 50 compiled reports a month are shared across the whole organization.
4. Range
Written check-ins with goals and meeting agendas.
- Price: free for up to 12 users and 2 teams, with 30 days of check-in history. Pro is $8 per team member a month, month to month.
- Choose it if: you still run a weekly team meeting and want written check-ins to feed it.
- Main drawback for a founder: it is built around team rituals, so it asks for more setup than a daily update.
5. Steady
Check-ins and a daily digest in Slack or Microsoft Teams, formerly Status Hero.
- Price: credits with no charge for adding users: 100 free credits every time you add a user, then 500 credits for $25 a month.
- Choose it if: your team coordinates work between people and AI agents and you prefer usage pricing.
- Main drawback for a founder: there is no free plan listed, and you have to estimate how many credits you will use.
6. Linear
Issue tracking with cycles and projects, built for software teams.
- Price: free for unlimited members with 2 teams and 250 issues. Basic is $10 per user a month, billed yearly.
- Choose it if: your developers will keep it up to date and you are comfortable reading progress on a board.
- Main drawback for a founder: a ticket's status tells you where the work stands, not what each person did today.
7. GitHub Projects
Tables and boards over the issues and pull requests already in GitHub.
- Price: Issues and Projects are on the Free plan. Team is $4 per user a month.
- Choose it if: your code and issues already live in GitHub and you would rather not add a tool.
- Main drawback for a founder: it is written for developers, so without help the activity is hard to interpret.
A routine that works across time zones
- Keep whichever tracker the developers already use, and ask them to move tickets when work moves.
- Ask each developer for one written update a day, in their own morning or at the end of their own day. Do not make anyone attend a call at midnight to tell you what they did.
- Read one place, once a day. With a standup bot that is a channel; with Eodly it is one evening report with the GitHub and Linear work next to each update.
- Ask about exceptions only: the update with nothing behind it, the person who has gone quiet, the blocker nobody picked up.
- Hold a short weekly demo. Seeing the product work is the check a non-technical founder can always make.
Questions people ask
How do I know what my developers did today if I am not technical? Ask each developer for a short written update every day, and look at it next to their merged pull requests and closed tickets. You do not need to read the code to see that a pull request was merged or a ticket was closed.
How do I manage developers across time zones without daily calls? Move the status part of the day into writing. Each person writes their update in their own working hours and you read them together once a day. Keep calls for blockers that need a conversation.
Is this monitoring my developers? No. The tools here work from what people write and from code and ticket data, not from screenshots or time on apps. Eodly asks people for an update and shows the GitHub and Linear work next to it; it does not track screens or keystrokes.
Is there a free option? Yes. Eodly is free for up to 5 people, Geekbot for up to 10 users, Range for up to 12 users, DailyBot has a free plan with limits, Linear has a free plan up to 250 issues, and GitHub's Free plan includes Issues and Projects.
What should I ask when a developer says something is almost done? Ask what is left, what is blocking it and when you can see it working. If the same update repeats for several days with no code or ticket moving, have a conversation about it rather than assuming anything.
Prices and features were checked on each vendor's own site on 9 November 2026 and can change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
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