Compared honestly
Quarter Past vs Daily for Mac
Daily is the closest thing to Quarter Past that exists, and it has been asking since 2013. The difference is what happens to your answer.
Prices and facts checked 10 October 2026 · Quarter Past 2.3.10 · They change; tell us if one has
What Daily is
Daily is a Mac app by Niels Mouthaan that, in its own words, creates timesheets by periodically asking what you are doing instead of using timers. It is on the Mac App Store and Setapp, has an iPhone companion for viewing and editing timesheets away from the Mac, syncs through iCloud if you switch that on, and exports CSV, JSON, PDF and a Toggl-formatted CSV. It has a web API, Zapier and AppleScript. Its App Store privacy label says the developer collects no data.
It is a mature, well-made product with years behind it, and if you want the same idea with an iPhone app and integrations, it is the one to look at first.
What Daily does better than Quarter Past:
- An iPhone companion app.
- Zapier, a web API and AppleScript for getting data out automatically.
- On the Mac App Store and Setapp, if that is how you prefer to buy.
- A decade of releases behind it.
Side by side
| Daily for Mac | Quarter Past | |
|---|---|---|
| How it tracks | Periodically asks what you are doing; the interval is configurable. By design it records the duration of each activity, not its start and end time (its FAQ says so) | Asks what you have been doing every 5 to 60 minutes; one tap logs the interval that just passed, to the minute, with a start and an end |
| Reads your screen | No. Its App Store privacy label says no data is collected | Never. No screen-recording or accessibility permissions |
| Where your data lives | On your Mac, with optional iCloud sync | A file on your Mac. No account, no server, no sync |
| Platforms | macOS 11 or later, plus an iPhone companion | macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel |
| Price | In-app purchase: £7.99 a month, £19.99 a quarter, £39.99 a year, or £99.99 once for life | £54, once |
| Cost over five years | £99.99 on the lifetime licence, or £199.95 paying yearly | £54 |
| Trial | Free to download; the licence is an in-app purchase | 14 days, no card |
| Says how each entry was captured | No. An answer is an answer; the record does not distinguish measured from recalled | Yes: every entry says whether it was measured live or recalled later |
| Plan against actual | No | Yes: a weekly plan set against the record, difference shown, nothing scored |
| What an AI gets | An MCP server and a web API, added 26 June 2026: an assistant can pull your summaries and timesheets. It answers from the record; the record does not say how much of itself was recalled | A written brief you read before you send it: the fortnight, the plan against the record, and how much of it was measured rather than recalled. You choose the assistant and the moment |
| Export | CSV, JSON, PDF, Toggl CSV, web API | CSV, and a full backup file |
| Teams | No | No. One person, one Mac |
Prices read on 18 September 2026 from the App Store listing's own in-app purchase data (id686910553), UK store: Monthly £7.99, Quarterly £19.99, Yearly £39.99, Lifetime £99.99. Apple charges the same numbers in dollars on the US store. Daily's own press kit still says $29.99 a year and $59.99 for life and is out of date; the store is the authority. Mechanism from dailytimetracking.com and its FAQ. Quarter Past facts from this site. Subscriptions are judged forwards: five years is what you will actually have paid.
Which one, honestly
Choose Daily if
- You want the same asking mechanism with an iPhone app alongside.
- You need Zapier, AppleScript or an API to push time into other systems.
- You would rather buy through the Mac App Store or already have Setapp.
Choose Quarter Past if
- You want the record to be a record: real intervals on the clock, 09:00 to 09:15, not just a duration.
- You want honesty built in: which entries were measured live and which were reconstructed.
- You plan the week and want to see it against what actually happened.
- You want to ask an AI where the fortnight went, with a brief written for that.
- You would rather pay £54 once than £99.99 for life or £39.99 a year.
What Quarter Past does not do
So that this page is worth trusting:
- Mac only. No Windows, no phone, no web version yet.
- One person. No team view, no shared projects, no manager reports.
- No invoicing, no integrations, no Zapier. It exports a CSV and stops there.
- Not on the Mac App Store, by choice; it is signed and notarised with Apple and downloaded from this site.
Try it for a fortnight. Decide then.
Free for fourteen days, no card and no account. If it earns its place, it is £54 once, paid from inside the app. If not, nothing to cancel.
Version 2.3.10 · 7 MB · macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel · Checked by Apple