ManicTime Reviews

Indispensable tool for tracking time - and billing

Comments: The challenge I have is tracking all the different projects I work on through the day to how much time should be billed to each. As I frequently jump from project to project, ManicTime ensures that I can work as I would like - bouncing between projects (driven for part of the day by email/Slack messages) and still charge each project correctly. Incredibly valuable!

Pros:

The automated screenshot (every 60 seconds by default) combined with the extremely effective user interface for scanning the screenshots to determine how to bill my time makes ManicTime indispensable for my workflow and business. I bill to multiple clients/projects daily and trying to track as I work is extremely difficult and distracting. I have found that using ManicTime enables me to work and then go back - even several days later - and bill exactly what I should be billing and document exactly what I was doing on each project. I've been considering switching computers from Windows to Mac or Chromebook and in looking around I realize that I would lost $1000s if I did not have a tool as good as ManicTime on my system. Its just that important.

Cons:

I'd like it to work on a high end Chromebook - e.g. Pixelbook, but if not, I'll stick with Windows or Mac where ManicTime is supported.

Specific code and time detailed with manic.

Comments: It has been a broad experience, good time details, but I think it exceeds the processes used on your PC too much, this is not good, I think it is quite inconvenient that this happens in this way since the main thing about this situation is that with others Similar programs don't have the same problem for me.

Pros:

I like how ManicTime automatically records my computer activity, allowing me to analyze how I'm spending my time on different tasks and projects. This helps me identify areas where I can improve my efficiency and productivity. I like that it records sensitive details of typing when programming, when I am doing a test or indicating the difference between test and specific code.

Cons:

System resource consumption, I have noticed that ManicTime can consume a significant amount of system resources, especially if it is configured to closely track activity on the computer. This can slow down the performance of the computer, especially on older systems or those with limited resources. In my case, I have the latest Windows system with a 32 GB RAM laptop, but it seems to slow down other tasks quite a bit.

Intended to improve your productivity, but will actually decrease it

Comments: This program has a very nice price, and you get what you pay for. Its quality is absolutely dismal. I checked the trial version before purchasing it, and I got a very misleading positive impression. The interface seems nice and intuitive, and there are many features intended to keep track of your time usage in different ways. However, the trial version only provides basic functionality. In order to track your time efficiently you need to automate repetitive tasks, and the automation features (like automatic tagging) are only available in the full version. When you purchase the full featured version and start using the automation features ManicTime drops its beautiful princess mask and reveals itself as the ugly nine headed monster it really is. The documentation is absolutely chaotic. Most of it is obsolete, doesn't make sense or both things at the same time. The program is full of bugs. They create versions intended to fix those bugs and add new features regularly, but, after almost a year of use, my experience is that every new version introduces more bugs than it fixes. And it takes them months to fix just the most obvious and annoying bugs. Some examples:
' Some reports report nothing at all, like the usage details in the timesheet.
' About six months ago they introduced a screenshots feature. The idea is good, but the feature is full of bugs, from errors in the display to straight away crashes. Last month they released a fix for this. The result is that now the screenshots screen just doesn't display any screenshots at all.
' There is a feature to remind you to log your time when you're away from your computer for a while. Great feature' if it worked. Half of the time, the reminder to log your away time just pops up randomly, regardless of whether you've been away from the computer or not. The list goes on, but you get the picture. The bottom line: A program that is intended to improve your productivity, but will actually decrease it.

Pros:

Beautiful interface in some screens.

Cons:

Everything else.

Automated time & task tracking

Comments: We have used ManicTime for tracking time across numerous projects that are running at any given time. The reports allow you to deep-dive into the data if needed but can also give you the data straight and simple. Auto task & time tracking removes the need to remember to start & stop time for specific tasks. At the end of the day you can see exactly what you worked on and categorize it accordingly.

Pros:

Automatic time & task tracking. Optional screen capture/logging.

Cons:

No free plan. Cloud subscription is cheapest option.

A complete game changer

Comments: Its been a complete game changer for me. I work as an Architect juggling lots of projects. Its an industry with tight fees and you have to know what sort of projects are making the practice money and what are not. And you have to have clear backup for additional fees.
It has increased profitability in our office by over 30% with all staff using it. Everyone is aware of how much time they are spending on projects and what their downtime is.
Its so cheap that it probably paid for itself in a day.
When you can see the extent of non-work time it forces you to improve yourself, it works best if you are honest. We allow staff 20% non-work time a week by default, as long as they get the work done. Everyone is happy.
All time is reported to a central server where management can review where office time is being spent and take action.

Pros:

The "Timelines" system is genius. I have it tracking my phone calls, phone location, meetings, computer time spent on multiple different PCs I use. Set it up once and forget it. Then when I go to tag time at the end of the week I see all those time streams of info on one page each as a row. I can then create tags tailored knowing what project, what exact task I was doing for each project, if I was driving there, if I was on site, if I was at lunch. You drag the tags to points in the timeline stream. I created a custom tag tree noting Project, Stage, Task etc. You can make it as simple or complex as you want. If you go deep enough it has the likes of regex autotagging which I also use. So you can set it to auto tag emails to/from client1.com to a particular project. Or emails with a particular phrase to a particular project. The ability to see (to the minute) totals on time spent on different projects and stages over the last 5 years is amazing. Bring these into excel and generate graphs, and do time per fees analysis and it is mind blowing. And it is extremely cheap. And they are really quick to reply for support and very helpful.

Cons:

Its perfect. If I had one wish I would give it more power, perhaps ability to link into my watch so I know if I was walking to a site meeting or link to my google location tracking.

Manictime to the rescue - and not just for billing

Comments: Quicker / easier / less cost intensive administration related to billing. It also makes an useful audit log. I have been saved by Manictime many times when I have had to look months or years back into what I did for a specific project.

Pros:

Tracking different computer programs/file/URL and adding tags for billing of my time has made the administrative work a lot easier and less time consuming since I started with Manictime. Building a good set of autotags, makes this tagging process even easier. The server solution is very useful as a do my work on multiple devices. I started with Manictime to simplify my billing, however Manictime has another VERY important feature: It remembers ! Examples: keeping track of the web site I used 6 months ago (and the history in the web browser is long gone), or what was that command line string I used last year. When my memory comes to short, a few searches in Manictime and I can pinpoint the day and the sequence of apps I used. File timestamps usually keep create and modified dates, but Manictime has all the timestamps in between.

Cons:

I would like to see better synchronization of autotags between devices. Autotags can only be manually synchronized between my laptops and my desktop.

powerful time saver for an otherwise tedious, inaccurate task

Comments: This removed the guesswork and the need for manual management from the task of tracking my work - whether it was for the purpose of producing a timesheet of some kind, or other restrospective needs. If you work on many tasks interspersed through the day and don't have the wherewithal or discipline to log such activity manually, then there is no substitute for this tool. I had to spend 10-15 minutes per day (or an hour or so at the end of the week) trying to recall from memory how I spent my time. That now takes zero time.

Pros:

automatic categorization, configurability, enhancement releases, team management, multi-machine integration

Cons:

reporting flexibility, missing import/export API, should provide more usage examples it cannot read your mind, you have to tell it what how to interpret

Great idea, average UI

Pros:

It helped me track all activities in my computer, and through some post-filtering I could pull out useful reports.

Cons:

The UI felt a bit convoluted. I would have appreciated more ease of use and a friendlier interface to display such large amounts of data.

Manage your time easily

Comments: We are tracking our time within the IT department using manictime. It does this easily and effectively

Pros:

You can setup different color codes for frequent activities. This allows you to easily distinguish different activities in your time graph

Cons:

There can be lag on away time. It does not start counting away time towards the graph until you ahve been away for a certain set period.

There is no support and if you cannot program you cannot get this product to work

Comments: I lost money on it.

Pros:

It tracks everything. Amazing how well it works to track what you do. It shows you want it tracks and now I'm wasting time to get enough words in, because that is the only pro it has.

Cons:

You can't do anything with what it tracks unless you can program the software. ManicTime tracks it but you can't get it out. Nor can you readily understand what it does. A lot of the settings are actually reverse. meaning it says what you do not want to track and then if you check it, that is all it tracks.

Manic Time is a Must Have for Independent Consultants!

Comments: This tool is constantly improved. Support is fantastic, even small little problems get addressed quickly. This is a core tool in my stack. When it does not function my billing process is broken. Manic Time realizes this and is on any blocking problem right away. Can't say enough good things about their support!

Pros:

Manic Time is awesome, I use it all day every day. It does four core functions.1. Automagically tracks what I worked on when - application, document, duration with screenshots.2. An intuitive and functional way of matching and assigning captured work to tasks3. A seamless interfaces with time sheet solutions so that you can push your tasks in and time logs out.4. Effortlessly provides backup to show any client where their consulting money was spent.The last one is important. Thought I have never been asked to provide supporting evidence by a client, I know that I can show any client what the hours went towards - with screen shots. This has the follow on effect of keeping me honest and on task - worth it's weight in gold for a billable-hours consultant. Less time at work, but more revenue, with more peace of mind.I recommend creating a task called Wasting Time and log to it honestly, even auto-tag it (Twitter, I'm talking about you here!). The net effect has been it dramatically reduces time wasting because I effortlessly self-police, just from the added visibility. You can't control what you don't measure.

Cons:

Automatic tracking is a double edged sword. It is so awesome for tracking work that unscrupulous companies will use it to surveil their employees. I think this is the wrong way to manage people and would not work for a company that made me use Manic Time if they got the data and spied on me. Let people manage their own time and lives. Being watched from within a hierarchy is creepy and not good for anyone's soul.

Ammar's ManicTime Review

Comments: very good, I realize with using this application I waste a lot of time surfing the internet which makes me decrease the usage of it

Pros:

well implemented, nice interface, wonderful analytics

Cons:

The implementation of the server is not easy if someone does not have the appropriate background to setup it up (not all people read the documentation ), so I suggest a video on how to set up the server and other videos also for knowing the features and what I can do.as I am using some basics function and am happy with them but it would be cool if I know some extra features without going to the documentation or discovering the app.

Inexpensive yet powerful self-hosted time tracking solution

Comments: ManicTime was an excellent choice for my case because it saves money in the long run (pretty quickly..) and keeps all my data with me.As it also offers all the features I need, I guess that will be the time tracking system I stay with at the end.

Pros:

Concerned about your data? Than that is THE solution for you! Running your own server you never depend on a service provider and never have to trust another company to keep your valuable data save. It's all in your own hands!In addition, ManicTime is really excellent value for money with no permanent expenses if you are happy with the version you are running.

Cons:

The UI could be polished a bit here and there but that is all minor. All essential functions work great.Some might not like the extra work for running the server but for me that is a plus in safety and security for which I happily accept that little extra effort.

If you have to enter a timesheet look no further than ManicTime

Comments: It's very reliable. It does what it does very well. Having it automatically take screenshots is a great feature. I just used it while entering this survey because the webpage crashed I had to start the survey again. I could easily look back at the saved screen shots and re-type my opinions from them.Keeping accurate timesheets are a big stressor for me due to the nature of my job. I couldn't do it without ManicTime.

Pros:

ManicTime runs reliably in the background and since 2009 it has never impacted the performance of my computer. I am a software developer and this impresses me. It is very rare to have any issues with the software. I use it multiple times every day.

Cons:

Over the years there have been features that I thought would be good to add and my suggestions were often implemented into the software, and sometimes before I had even made the suggestion. I have no complaints.

The best for personal, automatic time tracking

Pros:

I work on a peculiar kind of rev share agreement with partners, where we count rev share strictly by hours worked. ManicTime is one of the best things for this and has saved me way too many times. The best part is integration with my other laptop and my phone, which means no matter what I always have a good idea of what I was doing on any particular day. Automatic screenshots that appear whenever you hover over any time Overall the user experience just feels like they really thought about what the easiest and most efficient workflow would be. For my personal use case, where I just want to know what I was doing at any particular time, this software beats out every other that I've used, and I have experimented a LOT. Thank you also for making software that takes up very little RAM (it's made natively instead of in Electron like most apps nowadays ugh)

Cons:

Legitimately the only con i can possibly think of is that it doesnt know what i'm doing when i'm not using any of my devices haha. But even then, they now have a location tracking feature on the Android version in beta, so I basically have a good idea of where i'm at at any time of the day of any day. All I need to do is to be mindful of writing down what I was doing outside of my laptop or phone.

Works well with Linux Mint desktop distro when combined with Docker

Comments: Excellent product

Pros:

Installed the docker image for Manictime Server and the client on my Linux Mint desktop computer. It works extraordinarily well and captures all applications from the Linux environment.

Cons:

Does not show document titles or website titles

best time tracker

Pros:

easy to use and report. I use it for last 5+ years and very happy

Cons:

no mobile app out-of-the-box - need to install server

Manic Time has Changed the Way I Work

Comments: I have difficulties keeping track of things as I have multiple projects and tasks on the go. This software was sought after to hopefully provide me with a tool that would ease some of the stress. I am happy with the software and it is a good purchase.

Pros:

I work extensively on my computer as a Technical Analyst and the software has many time helped me with it's screenshot taking feature. At multiple occasions I have used this to track history of meetings and other data that I may have forgotten to document. I consider this a very good feature and it has saved me time, hassle and my sanity on occasion. I am also happy that they allow a trial to try the pro features before buying.

Cons:

I do not have any negative experience with this software.

Powerfull automatic time tracking application

Comments: I make my customers happy thanks to a documented timesheet which shows value for their money

Pros:

Thanks to a smart "Timelines" approach, ManicTime gathers a lot of real time activity information from applications and documents levels, which can be used ideally by a powerfull configurable "autotag" tool

Cons:

Export capability, but it gets better every day

A must have for any freelancer working on a computer

Comments: A must have tool for a freelancer like myself. Tracking work hours for a day takes me seconds and I know that work hours are accurate. Creating a timesheet is also a breeze.

Pros:

I can just work without interruptions and assign my work hours when I'm ready.

Cons:

I miss an iPhone app.

Good tool for time management

Comments: ManicTime help me to get documented time-sheet that is a requirement for my graduation project

Pros:

I like the interface of ManicTime. It is very easy to use and navigate through. The chrome plugin extension makes the platform even easier. ManicTime is a good tool in project management. I use it mainly to assign my hours before starting any project with my classmates at school

Cons:

I don't like that there is no mobile app available and there aren't enough tutorials to help

Works really well!

Comments: It has been nice, working with it was good and well.

Pros:

The software works really well especially for time and project management. We have been using it since few months now and its going great. It enables me to complete the tasks and project efficiently within time.

Cons:

There are some glitches, and software does need more feature other than that all good.