Compared honestly
Quarter Past vs RescueTime
RescueTime is the original automatic tracker, with a focus on distraction. Quarter Past is not automatic, on purpose.
Prices and facts checked 10 October 2026 · Quarter Past 2.3.10 · They change; tell us if one has
What RescueTime is
RescueTime runs on web, desktop and mobile, records the apps and websites you use, categorises them as productive or distracting, and offers focus sessions and blocking. The Solo plans are Focus at $7 a month billed annually ($84 a year, or $9 monthly) and Timesheets + Focus at $12 a month billed annually ($144 a year, or $15 monthly), each with a 14-day trial. Your data lives on RescueTime's servers.
Leaving it for something closer to the Mac? Six RescueTime alternatives for Mac is sorted by the reason you are going.
It has been doing this longer than almost anyone and does it across every device you own.
What RescueTime does better than Quarter Past:
- Every platform: Mac, Windows, web, iPhone, Android.
- Distraction blocking and focus sessions.
- Productivity scoring across years of history.
- A timesheet mode on the higher plan.
Side by side
| RescueTime | Quarter Past | |
|---|---|---|
| How it tracks | Automatically, from the apps and websites in use, with idle detection | 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 | Yes. Application and website activity is what it records | Never. No screen-recording or accessibility permissions |
| Where your data lives | On RescueTime's servers | A file on your Mac. No account, no server, no sync |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, web, iOS, Android | macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel |
| Price | Subscription. Solo (Focus) $84 a year ($7 a month billed annually, or $9 monthly); Solo+ (Timesheets + Focus) $144 a year ($12 a month annually, or $15 monthly). Team plans cost more per user | £54, once |
| Cost over five years | $420 on Solo, $720 on Solo+ | £54 |
| Trial | 14 days on any paid plan, no charge until it ends | 14 days, no card |
| Says how each entry was captured | Everything is measured automatically; nothing is asked or recalled | Yes: every entry says whether it was measured live or recalled later |
| Plan against actual | Goals and alerts, not a plan set against the record | Yes: a weekly plan set against the record, difference shown, nothing scored |
| What an AI gets | No official MCP server or assistant; community-built MCP servers exist on its public API | 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 on paid plans | CSV, and a full backup file |
| Teams | Yes, on team plans | No. One person, one Mac |
Prices, plan names and the trial read from rescuetime.com/pricing on 18 September 2026, monthly and annual toggled separately. Every figure was unchanged from the previous check; the plans are now named Solo, Solo+, Team and Team+ rather than by their contents. The trial is from that page's own FAQ. Quarter Past facts from this site. Subscriptions are judged forwards: five years is what you will actually have paid.
Which one, honestly
Choose RescueTime if
- You want the same picture across phone, tablet and every computer.
- Your problem is distraction and you want blocking.
- You want years of automatic history without lifting a finger.
Choose Quarter Past if
- You do not want an application logging which sites you visit.
- You want the record on your Mac, not a server.
- You want one payment. Five years of Focus is $420.
- You want the week you planned beside the week you had.
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