Overpriced employee monitoring software market. Find the right price.

What the market offers

The market for employee monitoring software is crowded with numerous vendors, which can make it difficult to navigate the offerings. In addition to selecting the right vendor, it is important to choose the right set of monitoring functions that suit your business needs. With each vendor offering different features and at least three to four subscription plans, the process can be daunting. Even after identifying the necessary monitoring functions and researching potential vendors, there is still more work to be done. In most cases, there won't be a subscription plan that perfectly meets your requirements. You also need to ensure that the software operates smoothly, is bug-free, and stable in your office environment.

The employee software market is represented by numerous vendors, each offering different monitoring functions and subscription plans. Choosing the right software requires thorough research and evaluation.

As WorkTime employee monitoring software, we bring over 20 years of experience in the field, offering reasonable prices and a unique non-invasive approach to productivity monitoring.

Behind the price tag

The price of employee monitoring software is based on a few key factors: vendor's visibility on the internet, customer support features, software quality, and the set of monitoring features. While all four factors are important, there must be an order of importance for you. For example, you might prioritize monitoring features as #1, software quality as #2, customer support features as #3, and the vendor's visibility on the internet as #4. We recommend that you establish your requirements in order of priority to make the right decision.

Employee monitoring software price is formed by a few key factors. We suggest you set them in the priority order to simplify the search.

Subscription plans, addons, hidden fees, and cancellation policies can all impact how much you ultimately pay for employee monitoring software. It's important to carefully review the terms and conditions of any subscription plan to understand what you'll be paying, and whether there are any hidden costs or fees. Additionally, some vendors may require multi-year contracts, rather than month-to-month subscriptions, so it's important to clarify this upfront as well.

Subscription plans, addons, hidden fees, and cancellation policies can all impact how much you ultimately pay for employee monitoring software.

Monitoring features set & the price tag

Let's review the primary areas (or primary sets of monitoring features) available in the employee monitoring market: 1. The main monitoring functions include: monitoring of computer active/idle time, monitoring of login/logout, monitoring of applications/websites usage, attendance and productivity monitoring, and monitoring of employees, computers, departments. The majority of monitoring software is designed for Windows. Most software vendors offer this core set of functions, but each vendor has its own approach to how these functions should work, which can affect your decision. For example, productivity monitoring can differ significantly from one vendor to another.

There are the main monitoring functions offered widely on the market. Each vendor has its own approach to how these functions should work, which can affect your decision.

Productivity monitoring functions can include: 1.1. All used applications and websites can be categorized as productive, unproductive, or undefined. This function is very common and can be found in many offerings. 1.2. Productivity can be assigned per department or per employee. This function is rare and often limited to app or website monitoring only. 1.3. A productivity goal can be set. This function is common and simplifies managers' work by establishing a target productivity rate for employees to reach. 1.4. Some vendors use invasive methods for productivity monitoring, such as capturing screenshots and tracking keystrokes. 1.5. WorkTime offers a non-invasive screen productivity monitoring approach, which provides numbers rather than images. For example, John's screen is 55% productive (MSWord) and 45% unproductive (Netflix). No content is captured, and private information remains secure.

WorkTime offers a non-invasive screen productivity monitoring approach, which provides numbers rather than images and content.

The price of a software subscription depends on the number of features implemented. When you subscribe, you pay for all of them. The question is, which features do you need? For smaller teams, basic functions such as 1.1 may suffice. For larger teams, the more rare function of 1.2 or the goal-oriented approach of 1.3 may be necessary. Additionally, the use of invasive productivity monitoring varies depending on preference. The WorkTime customers usually emphasize the importance of non-invasive monitoring.

The price of a software subscription depends on the number of features implemented. When you subscribe, you pay for all of them. The question is, which features do you need?

2. Additional monitoring functions include employee action alerts, behavioral analysis, integrations, GPS tracking, Linux/Mac/Smartphone monitoring, and more. Each additional function adds to the price tag, so it's important to make sure you're not paying for unnecessary features. Choosing the right subscription plan and add-on set (if available) can save you a lot of money.

Each additional function adds to the price tag.

Software quality & the price tag

The quality of monitoring software can be estimated using several metrics: 1. Software stability and reliability. It is important to verify that the software can handle the number of employees you plan to monitor and can continue to function effectively over time. You may want to request specific performance metrics from the vendor to assess its reliability.

WorkTime employee monitoring software is designed to handle heavy workloads and has been successfully implemented in offices with 15,000+ employees.

2. System and network resources consumptions. The software must use as minimum system resources as possible. Please refer to the test results, comparing WorkTime with the competitors. 3. Disaster resistance. The monitoring data must be kept safe and delivered to the central storage even when there is no network connection. If the central storage is temporarily out of service, the monitoring data must be added in full once the service is restored. 4. Data safety. Ensure that the software uses a secure connection to send data, and that the data is encrypted and password-protected.

WorkTime uses AES-256 protocol for data encryption and more other safety features.

5. Bug-free. The software must be bug-free, it must operate without any errors. To develop high quality software, software vendors engage the best software architects, engineers, and testers. This affects the price tag.

Software quality affects the price tag.

Customer support features & the price tag

Customers typically expect customer support to be responsive, attentive to their requests and needs, and available 24/7. Often, customer support features are at the top of the requirements list.

Often, customer support features are at the top of the requirements list.

This is especially true for large companies, which prefer to stick with vendors that offer high-quality customer support, even if they could get a better price or feature set elsewhere (unless the features are a must-have). If the software performs well and the vendor meets customer support needs, that's usually enough, especially for larger companies.

The features of customer support and the size of the support team certainly affect the cost of the product.

Vendor's visibility on the internet & the price tag

The truth is that among all the key factors forming the price, the vendor's visibility on the internet is usually the last on the buyers' list but is actually the number one factor affecting the cost.

In order to ensure good visibility of their monitoring software on the internet, software vendors have to invest significant amounts of funds, which ultimately affects the price tag.

When researching to find the right monitoring software for your business, you might notice that the top visible software on the internet is not always the best fit. You may find that such software includes unnecessary features and lacks clear structure due to being overloaded with numerous functions, all of which contribute to a higher price tag.

Subscription plans, cancellation policies impact what you pay

When searching for a monitoring software subscription plan, it's important to find one with clear pricing that clearly states all features and fees, so there are no hidden costs. Additionally, it's important to look for a clear cancellation policy. If the policy is unclear or doesn't explain how to cancel, we don't recommend subscribing as it may be difficult to end your subscription.

Subscription plan must be clearly described. Confusing plans, hidden fees, and unclear cancellation policies should be avoided at all costs.

In the employee monitoring software market, vendors often focus on adding as many features as possible to their software. They do this in an attempt to look good on comparison charts and reviews. However, this approach has a serious disadvantage - there is no clear understanding of the customer's needs. As a result, subscription plans are developed with a wide range of monitoring features that may not match your specific needs. The logic behind the plan may not be based on your requirements, but rather on the vendor's strategy for selling the software, and these two may not align.

Subscription plans are often based on the vendor’s strategy for selling the software and not the customer’s needs.

WorkTime is an example of a monitoring software with clear subscription conditions and no hidden fees. Each plan is tailored to meet the customer's needs, whether it's monitoring personal work, a department, multiple departments, multiple offices, or in-office and remote employees.

WorkTime is an example of a monitoring software with clear subscription conditions and no hidden fees.

WorkTime is an example of a monitoring software with flexible subscription policies and clear cancellation terms. You can cancel your auto-renewal at any time, and if you need to change your plan or employee count, you can do so at any time.

WorkTime is an example of a monitoring software with flexible subscription policies and clear cancellation terms.

Market prices

Here is our research on the year of 2023 prices for the employee monitoring software:

WorkTime

WorkTime offers 4 plans: Free, Basic, Premium, and Enterprise. You can subscribe as minimum as for 1 employee. There are two options: monthly and annual. For the monthly option, the price varies from $5.99 to $9.99 per employee per month. For the annual option, the price ranges from $4.99 to $8.33 per employee per month. Unlimited monitoring data storage.

Vendor 1

Vendor 1 offers 4 plans. Free plan is offered. You can subscribe as minimum as for 5 employees. There are two options: monthly and annual. For the monthly option, the price varies from $15 to $39+ per employee per month. For the annual option, the price ranges from $13 to $33+ per employee per month. Limited monitoring data storage.

Vendor 2

Vendor 2 offers 4 plans. Free plan is not offered. You can subscribe as minimum as for 5 employees. There is one option: annual contract. For the monthly option, the price varies from $10 to $17+ per employee per month. Limited monitoring data storage.

Vendor 3

Vendor 3 offers 11 plans. Free plan is offered. You can subscribe as minimum as for 1 employee. There are two options: monthly and annual. For the monthly option, the price varies from $7 to $15+ per employee per month. For the annual option, the price ranges from $5.83 to $12.50+ per employee per month. Unlimited monitoring data storage.

Vendor 4

Vendor 4 offers 3 plans. Free plan is not offered. You can subscribe as minimum as for 1 employee. There are two options: monthly and annual. For the monthly option, the price varies from $7 to $20 per employee per month. For the annual option, the price ranges from $5.90 to $16.70 per employee per month. Unlimited monitoring data storage.

5 reasons why considered overpriced

1. People complain about ridiculously high market prices

At WorkTime, we receive numerous feedback from our customers about why they choose our software. The primary reason is that they appreciate the concept of our software, and secondly, they find that other software options are unreasonably expensive.

2. The price is higher than your requirements

The product is generally considered overpriced if your requirements are much lower than what is offered in the product. You clearly see that your requirements should cost less than what is being asked for the product. The reality of most employee monitoring software is that the variety of offered functions is way wider than what you need, and not only that, it simply does not match what you are looking for. For example, if you only need the main monitoring features and you don't care about any integrations or the vendor's visibility on the internet, then you might consider the product overpriced.

3. The value is lower than the cost

You might find some functions promising in the beginning but useless later on. For example, you might find that alerts are there mostly to disturb you, or that the behavioral analysis is not an accurate reflection of reality.

4. You are ready to pay the monthly amount but not the annual fee

When you are only given the option to pay annually instead of monthly, you might consider the product overpriced. The fee when paying for a year is usually lower than when paying month-to-month, but being forced to pay a larger amount at once can make you unhappy. Also, you might only need to use the product for a couple of months and then stop, but an annual fee makes it overpriced and could be a deal breaker. Your project might be a short one, such as a couple of months of migration, and you don't need a one-year contract.

5. The vendors keep working and the price grows

Vendors invest significant resources into improving their software, such as by continuously adding new features. Additionally, new vendors entering the market contribute to the rising costs of advertising.

Affordable employee monitoring software

If you're searching for a cheap employee monitoring software, it's important to keep in mind how the price is determined. Cheap software may lack important monitoring functions, be buggy, and have poor customer support. In the end, you may pay for cheap software, waste time and money, and eventually switch to a higher-priced option. We hope this article has helped to explain how employee monitoring software pricing works. Generally speaking, the price should be reasonable for your needs, rather than just the cheapest option on the market. What's important is finding a balance between your requirements and the overall software service offering.

A balance between your requirements and the overall software service offering is important.

Free employee monitoring software

Some vendors advertise their monitoring software as being fully free. However, the reality is that this is simply not true, as there is always a fee for using the software. Almost every vendor offers a limited free plan, which is usually restricted to a low employee count and offers minimal data storage and monitoring reports.

Almost every vendor offers a limited free plan, but there is rarely fully free employee monitoring software available.

When it comes to the quality of a free subscription plan, it's usually reflective of the overall software quality. However, it's important to ensure that the plan includes all the necessary features you require. Additionally, if you decide to subscribe, ensure that all data is unlocked from the beginning of the account. WorkTime offers this feature.

Switching from a free to a paid plan with WorkTime grants access to all data from the beginning of your account.

The trial offer is super important

Almost every vendor offers a free trial period of 14 to 30 days on average. It's important to understand all the features included in the trial to avoid any confusion when paying for the software. Here are some qualities to look for in a trial offer: 1. The longer the trial period, the better. 2. Free trial: this means you can try the software without paying, but it's important to understand what features are available during the trial period. Ideally, it should include all possible features so you can try the product fully. 3. Data retention: it's important to know what happens to your data during the trial period and beyond. At WorkTime, we keep all data and allow you to unlock it at any time.

Try WorkTime 14 days free, unlimited employees/computers, fully featured!

About WorkTime

WorkTime is a high-quality, non-invasive employee monitoring software that offers a clear and concise concept. Its main focus is on monitoring employee productivity without invading their privacy. WorkTime is the best affordable employee monitoring software for any type of computerized office, such as healthcare, banking, IT, defense, government, education, and more. It is excellent for monitoring both remote and in-office employees, making it the ideal monitoring software for small businesses, startups, and enterprises. WorkTime offers monthly subscriptions, no annual long-term contracts, and flexible cancellation policies. Here's a customer review from WorkTime: "WorkTime is an excellent employee monitoring software. We appreciate the product's concept and the variety of features it offers. With WorkTime, we were able to improve our employees' active time by 42%!"