The Best Employee Monitoring Software for Windows in 2024 | Remote Employee Monitoring

The best employee monitoring software lets you see everything your employees do on company-owned devices, be it laptops, desktop PCs, or mobile phones. They are indispensable for remote and hybrid teams but also offer a wealth of data and critical insights that can help boost productivity even if your entire team is in the office.

We’ve reviewed and compared the best employee monitoring software solutions on the market for 2024 and ranked them based on their monitoring features, ease of use, functionality, and pros & cons. Read through our in-depth guide to learn how providers like Teramind, ActivTrak, and HubStaff compare and how to leverage them to skyrocket productivity and make smarter, data-backed business decisions.

The Best Employee Monitoring Software for Windows in 2024 | Quick Answer

There are hundreds of providers to choose from if you’re looking for an employee monitoring tool. To save you valuable time and help you make an informed decision, we’ve scoured the web, filtered out all the scams, and put together a list of the top 10 employee monitoring software solutions in 2024.

Our research found that Teramind is the #1 solution for monitoring employees on Windows devices because of its customization, detailed reports, and real-time activity tracking. Try it for yourself with a 14-day money-back guarantee and see how it compares to the competition below:

1. Teramind — Overall the Best Employee Monitoring Software in 2024 | Start Your 14-Day Free Trial Today
2. ActivTrak — Best for Employee Workload Management and Technology Utilization Monitoring | See ActivTrak in Action for Free
3. HubStaff — Best for Real-Time GPS Location Tracking and Fleet Management | Try It Today Risk-Free With a 14-Day Free Trial
4. StaffCop — Best Employee Monitoring Software for Ensuring Compliance and Preventing Data Loss | Start Your 15-Day Free Trial Today
5. Controlio — The Best Web-Based Employee Monitoring Software With Screen Recording and Live View | Start Your 14-Day Free Trial Now
6. mSpy — The Best Employee Phone Monitoring Software With Built-in GPS Tracking and Geofencing | Comes With a 14-Day Money-Back Guarantee
7. eyeZy — Excellent Employee Phone Monitoring Software With Smart Real-Time Alerts
8. uMobix — Employee Phone Monitoring Software That Gives You Total Control Over the Monitored Company Phone
9. Cocospy — The Best Employee Phone Monitoring Software for iOS Devices Connected to iCloud
10. Spyic — Best For Monitoring Your Employees’ Social Media Activity

The Best Windows Monitoring Tools for Staff in 2024| In-Depth Reviews

Employee monitoring software is a long-term investment in your business, so you shouldn’t make your decision lightly. To help you choose the best employee monitoring software solution for your business, we’ve put together in-depth reviews of the best providers, focusing on their key functionalities and the value for money they offer.

1. Teramind — Overall the Best Employee Monitoring Software in 2024

Teramind is a feature-rich, powerful employee monitoring software that provides you, the business owner, with a plethora of data points regarding your employees’ performance and productivity. It relies on behavioral analytics to predict performance trends and lets you see how each employee performs historically and compare them to other members of the same team.

If Teramind detects an employee has been underperforming, it will immediately notify you, so you can investigate and find the root cause of their poor performance. This helps you find and remove bottlenecks that are preventing project progress and lets you proactively solve problems and, if necessary, take corrective action before the performance issues escalate.

Teramind also features customizable rules for data handling and compliance, ensuring your sensitive business information is secure and protected and that every employee adheres to all the relevant internal policies and external rules and regulations. It also automatically blocks any high-risk activities, allows you to record your employees’ screens to see exactly what they’re doing, and allows you to accurately assess organizational risk through neatly organized dashboards.

2. ActivTrak — The Best Free Employee Workload Management

ActivTrak is a workforce analytics and productivity management tool that helps remote and hybrid teams streamline their operations and skyrocket their productivity. As an employee productivity monitoring tool, ActivTrak lets you see how your team’s time was spent across different projects, tools, and processes so you can clearly identify areas of your business that you need to improve on.

ActivTrak lets you see organization-wide productivity trends and identify behavior patterns of top-performers, so you can see what motivates them and drives their success. You’ll also be able to see what distractions have the highest negative impact on overall business performance, as well as which technologies improve collaboration and lead to faster, higher-quality outputs.

One of ActivTrak’s unique features that we absolutely love is the ability to see every employee’s engagement level and discern their risk of burnout. The app leverages historical data and comparative insights to tell you whenever someone is over-worked or under-worked, so you can shift their priorities around and ensure the perfect balance of productivity and employee satisfaction.

ActivTrak is an excellent choice if you have a large software stack since it lets you see what SaaS applications are the most utilized on an organizational level and helps identify application redundancy. It also helps identify apps that don’t meet your privacy and security requirements and might pose a compliance risk to the organization.

3. HubStaff — The Best for Real-Time GPS Location Tracking and Fleet Management

HubStaff is a time-tracking and productivity monitoring software that automates the bulk of tracking tasks so you can focus on growing your business and maximizing profits. It offers dedicated apps for desktop, mobile, and web browsers, meaning it’s an ideal choice for both in-office teams and businesses whose workforce is on the field, such as delivery businesses.

HubStaff keeps your employees productive through constant check-ins and allows you to see every member’s activity rates. The app provides frequent activity reports that let you accurately identify inefficiencies and streamline your business operations.

HubStaff has built-in GPS location tracking, making it ideal for managing fleets and ensuring everyone’s taking optimal routes to reach their destination.

The best thing about HubStaff is the fact that it completely automates payroll, saving you a ton of time and energy in the long run and sparing you the headache of manually checking timesheets and approving each invoice. It integrates with all major payment processing platforms, including PayPal, Payoneer, Gusto, and TransferWise.

4. StaffCop — Best Employee Monitoring Software for Ensuring Compliance and Preventing Data Loss

StaffCop is an all-in-one solution for employee monitoring, remote administration, and information security. It’s geared towards large businesses and enterprises that put the emphasis on ensuring that employee behavior is aligned with internal policies and regulatory requirements.

StaffCop offers in-depth employee activity monitoring, which includes productivity reports, social media use during work hours, and app use. Everything’s collated in easy-to-read reports that also provide detailed information regarding time spent on each project.

Where StaffCop truly shines is in identifying employee behavior anomalies that may lead to data breaches and security risks. It proactively monitors every employee’s behavior and flags suspicious or high-risk activities, giving you the opportunity to react in time.

Additionally, StaffCop alerts both you and the employees of any non-compliant activities, helping ensure your business stays compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, or any other relevant rules and regulations.

When it comes to remote administration, StaffCop lets you easily manage the distribution of licensed software, block access to specific apps, recover deleted files, and even take full remote control over the target desktop PC so you can step in and help your employees resolve any issues that are impeding their progress on the project.

5. Controlio — The Best Web-Based Employee Monitoring Software With Screen Recording and Live View

Controlio is a web-based remote employee monitoring software solution that enables managers, executives, and business owners to measure employee productivity, monitor application and web usage, and see what every team member is working on through screen recordings.

Controlio’s platform supports employee monitoring for Windows and Mac PCs and laptops, and it comes with an API so you can easily integrate it with your existing software stack.

Controlio assigns a productivity score to each individual user and every department within the company, letting you see both the historical and comparative performance of every employee and the most common distractions that are decreasing their productivity.

As an administrator, you’ll also have full control over what applications and websites your employees can access on company-owned devices, so you can easily block YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and other apps that are distracting your workforce from the tasks at hand.

Controlio features Live View, letting you connect to any monitored device and see what the person is working on in real time. This is a crucial feature for full-remote and hybrid teams, as the employee remote monitoring software allows you to step in and correct an issue or work together on a solution to a problem as if you were physically right next to the employee.

6. mSpy — The Best Employee Phone Monitoring Software With Built-in GPS Tracking and Geofencing

mSpy is an employee phone monitoring app that lets you monitor the location of company-owned phones, see all the calls and messages to and from the device, and see what applications your employees use and what they search for online. The real-time GPS location tracking and geofencing functionality are ideal for any business operating a large fleet, whether you’re a moving company, a delivery service, or any other type of organization that does the bulk of its work on the field.

mSpy is also an excellent choice for any business that wants to ensure employees are using their company-owned phones for work-related purposes. The app captures every keystroke on the monitored device, letting you see exactly what they type. This is an excellent way to ensure your employees aren’t sharing sensitive company information with unauthorized third parties.

With mSpy, you can set up allowed and restricted zones on the map to get notified whenever an employee enters or leaves a particular area. This ensures you’ll always be up to speed with every employee’s location without having to monitor everyone’s phone 24/7.

Additionally, you can leverage mSpy to block access to certain apps and websites, such as YouTube and various social media platforms. This minimizes distractions and ensures your employees aren’t idling or wasting time mindlessly scrolling Instagram or Facebook instead of focusing on their tasks.

7. eyeZy — Excellent Employee Phone Monitoring Software With Smart Real-Time Alerts

eyeZy is a powerful phone monitoring app that lets you see everything your employees do on their company-owned phones. This includes everything from phone call logs and SMS messages to social media chat logs and web browsing history. Businesses will greatly benefit from eyeZy’s File Finder feature, as you can scan for every image, audio file, video file, and document on the target device, so you can easily review all work-related materials and deliverables.

With eyeZy, you’ll be in full control over what applications your employees can use and what websites they can visit. You can block specific apps, delete unwanted ones, and restrict access to time-wasting websites and other distractions.

Additionally, eyeZy lets you tap into the phone’s notes and calendar, so you can stay up to date with all the client meetings and events your employees are attending.

That said, the best part of eyeZy is the fact that you’ll get notified of any activity that requires your immediate attention, thanks to the app’s Magic Alerts. This way, you don’t have to waste time actively monitoring their device but will still be up to speed regarding every important phone activity.

8. uMobix — Employee Phone Monitoring Software That Gives You Total Control Over the Monitored Company Phone

uMobix is another powerful phone monitoring app that offers an overwhelming array of monitoring and tracking features businesses can benefit from. It lets you see every phone call made to and from the device, as well as every SMS message and social media chat, including deleted ones.

With uMobix, you can see every application installed on the target device and can schedule application use. In other words, you can allow your employees some time to relax and unwind on YouTube or Instagram, while simultaneously ensuring it doesn’t turn into a major distraction that will derail their productivity.

Your employees might perceive this level of control as invasive, but it’s often necessary to ensure they don’t share confidential business information with people outside of the organization.

uMobix even lets you tap into the device’s microphone and camera to listen in on the employee’s surroundings or take screenshots. If you opt for uMobix, you’ll also have full remote control over the monitored company phone, so you can delete specific apps, block their internet connection, disable messages, or even completely lock the phone if you discover non-compliant or suspicious activity.

9. Cocospy — The Best Employee Phone Monitoring Software for iOS Devices Connected to iCloud

Cocospy is one of the best iOS phone spy apps on the market. It lets you monitor any iPhone or iPad without having to jailbreak the device or go through a complex setup process. All you need to do is connect Cocospy with the associated phone’s iCloud backup.

The key features of Cocospy include real-time GPS location tracking, SMS and phone call monitoring, and a files finder. Besides being able to view every photo, video, or document on the target device, Cocospy lets you download them, so you can access and tweak them on your phone, laptop, or PC. This is invaluable for any collaborative project since it allows you to easily review someone’s work files and deliverables, tweak them when necessary, and share them with other team members.

Another useful feature of Cocospy is the ability to access the phone’s notes and calendar. This way, you’ll stay informed of every team member’s upcoming meetings and events, so you’ll know exactly how busy individual team members are and when they have room in their schedules for other activities.

10. Spyic — Best For Monitoring Your Employees’ Social Media Activity

Spyic is a decent phone monitoring app, although not as feature-rich as mSpy and eyeZy. It allows you to see every phone call made to and from the device, including call duration, timestamp, and a list of the most popular contacts. You’ll also be able to read all outgoing and received messages, regardless of if the employee deleted them from the company phone or not.

Spyic also features GPS location tracking and geofencing, allowing you to track your employees’ physical location and set up virtual boundaries to get notified whenever they check in and leave the office.

With Spyic, you can track all the social media activity of the target device, which can be incredibly useful if you’re monitoring the activity of your Social Media Manager or a similar role.

Additionally, you can also see everything your employees search for online, so you’ll know when they’re doing work-related research and when they’re slacking off or wasting time on various online distractions.

What Is Employee Monitoring Software? | Why Should I Monitor My Employees?

Employee monitoring in the workplace is no longer done manually, by physically overseeing the work of every single employee. This is partially due to the fact that businesses are adopting remote and hybrid business models, and partially because employee monitoring software provides so much more information than you could ever gather by observing an employee throughout the entire shift.

Employee monitoring software is a term used for applications that track employee activity, measure their productivity, and give managers and executives valuable insight into the performance of each employee.

With employee monitoring software, you can quickly see what project and task every employee is working on, discern what distractions are impeding their project progress and lowering their productivity, and remotely access their device to help remove bottlenecks or offer a solution to a problem.

Apart from ensuring your team stays productive, the main reasons to utilize employee monitoring software are ensuring data security and compliance, as well as streamlining business operations in hybrid and remote teams that do the bulk of the work asynchronously.

How We Chose the Best Employee Monitoring Software

When you’re considering adding a new application to your existing software stack, the most important factor to consider is the value for money the new application provides. That’s why our number one criterion for choosing the best employee monitoring software was functionality.

We looked at all the distinct features the best employee monitoring software applications offer, the level of customization they provide, and their reporting capabilities. Other key factors we took into consideration include the number of data points different tools rely on to discern behavior and productivity trends, the ease of use of each application, and integration with other software.

Our research has revealed that Teramind is the best employee monitoring software in 2024, thanks to its powerful real-time activity tracking, smart business intelligence reports, scriptable data handling and compliance rules, and proactive protection against malicious and non-compliant activities.

How To Set Up The Best Employee Monitoring Software

The setup process for employee monitoring software solutions varies greatly based on which provider you choose and whether you want to set up the app on-premise or on the cloud. Here’s a step-by-step guide for setting up Teramind, the best employee monitoring software for Windows in 2024.

Step 1: Start Your Teramind Free Trial

Navigate to the official Teramind website and click the Free Trial button in the top-right corner.

Provide your business email address, then select whether you’d like to deploy Teramind on-premise or on the cloud.

Step 2: Install Teramind on Company Devices You Want to Monitor

If you opt for an on-premise deployment, you’ll likely need help from your IT Officer or another IT specialist who has the technical know-how.

Here are the official guides for deploying Teramind in different development environments:

• On-premise deployment
• AWS deployment
• Azure deployment

If you opt for cloud setup, all you’ll need to do is choose a password and log into the Teramind dashboard.

You’ll see two options for inviting users — via a dashboard invite or through the direct link. The latter is easier since all you have to do is copy and paste the invitation link. Just make sure you paste the invitation link for the correct operating system (Windows vs. macOS).

Step 3: Start Monitoring Employee Activity With Teramind

After sending out the invitations, you can begin remote employee monitoring.

Use the left-hand menu to navigate through all the different features Teramind offers or choose the guided tour to familiarize yourself with the software before the data from all the monitored devices starts coming in.

Employee Monitoring Software FAQs