RescueTime

★ 4.0

Automatic time tracker that logs where your hours go — then blocks your worst offenders during focus sessions.

Last verified: May 2026

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Type
app
Pricing
paid · $6/month or $72/year. 14-day free trial.
Platforms
mac, windows, ios, android, chrome, firefox
Targets
all

Strengths

  • ✓ Passive automatic time tracking — no timers to start or stop
  • ✓ Detailed productivity reports and weekly summaries
  • ✓ FocusTime blocking feature covers most browsers and apps
  • ✓ Slack integration shows team your focus status
  • ✓ Identifies your actual distraction patterns before you try to fix them

Weaknesses

  • ✕ FocusTime blocking can be cancelled mid-session — not a hard blocker
  • ✕ Higher price than dedicated blockers at $72/year
  • ✕ Requires background process running at all times for tracking
  • ✕ No cross-device Locked Mode — phone blocking is less strict than desktop

Best for

Users who don't know where their time is going and want data before trying to block anything.

#time-tracker#distraction-blocker#productivity#reporting#mac#windows#ios#android

RescueTime is a time-tracking application that runs passively in the background and logs every application and website you use, categorized by productivity level. Unlike distraction blockers that require you to know what to block before you start, RescueTime shows you your actual distraction patterns first — which applications consume your time, when your focus is weakest, and how your productivity varies by day and hour.

The core use case: you suspect Reddit is your biggest distraction, but RescueTime’s weekly report shows it’s actually YouTube and email that are taking the most time. Now you can target the right problem.

RescueTime includes a FocusTime blocking feature that makes its top distracting sites inaccessible during configured sessions. The limitation compared to dedicated blockers: FocusTime can be cancelled from the RescueTime interface mid-session — it is not a hard, unbypassable block. Users who need hard blocking should use Freedom or Cold Turkey for that purpose, with RescueTime providing the tracking layer alongside.

Best combined with: Freedom or Cold Turkey for blocking, RescueTime for understanding the full picture of where time goes.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions — click any to expand.

RescueTime runs silently in the background and logs every application you use and every website you visit, categorized by a productivity rating (very productive, productive, neutral, distracting, very distracting). It tracks time at the window level — so it distinguishes between writing in Google Docs vs. reading Reddit in the same browser. No manual input is required.

Block distracting sites across every device

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