TimeUno vs RescueTime: focus score or filed timesheets?

RescueTime and TimeUno both track automatically. Neither asks you to start a timer. The difference is what they do with the day once they have it. RescueTime turns it into a productivity score, a category log and focus tools that block distractions. TimeUno turns it into projects and a timesheet you can hand to a client.

If you want to know how focused you were, RescueTime has spent years on that question. If you want to know how many hours went to each client, without filing them yourself, that is what TimeUno is built for. Here is how they compare on tracking, projects, price, privacy and AI, with prices as of October 2026 from each company's own pricing page.

The short answer

Pick RescueTime if your goal is focus. It gives you a daily score from 0 to 100, Focus Sessions that block distracting sites and apps, goals and alerts, and a phone app. It never takes screenshots, and it has a free Lite plan.

Pick TimeUno if your goal is a timesheet. TimeUno files every stretch of your day into a project on its own, builds the timesheet per client, and counts the time your AI coding tools spend working, including agents that run while you do something else.

How tracking works

Both apps run in the background and record what is in front of you.

RescueTime records the app in focus, the window title and, for browsers, the URL when it can. It sorts that time into five levels, from Focus Work to Distracting, and turns it into the Productivity Pulse, a score from 0 to 100 weighted by time. You set a Focus Work goal, get alerts, and can start a Focus Session that blocks distracting websites, apps, and even email or chat. On macOS, RescueTime needs its browser plugin to see which sites you visit. Google and Outlook calendars feed meetings and scheduled Focus Sessions into your timeline.

TimeUno records the app or site in front, the window title and idle time, all day. It never records what you type. Every stretch is sorted into a project and a category, and every hour is marked productive or unproductive. When it files something wrong, you correct it once and TimeUno remembers the correction. On a Team plan, category corrections are shared.

TimeUno has no distraction blocker and no score beyond productive and unproductive time. If blocking sites is the main reason you want a tracker, RescueTime does something TimeUno does not.

Projects and timesheets

This is where the two split.

In RescueTime, projects live in Timesheets, which come with the Solo+ and Team+ plans. You add "hints" to each project, such as keywords, file names or apps. RescueTime then suggests which project your activity belongs to, first from your history, then with AI, and you review and accept or adjust each suggestion. The "+" plans add clients, projects and tasks, billable rates, and on Team+, shared projects, a team weekly calendar and bulk timesheet approval. You can export to CSV or Excel. On the Focus plans you get the activity log and reports, but not project timesheets.

In TimeUno, project filing is the core of every plan. The project is detected from what you were working in: the folder open in your editor, or keywords you set for a client or project. There is no suggestion queue to review. Timesheets are built from the tracked time per project for this week, last week or this month, with a client name. You edit any line, then export as CSV. TimeUno does not do billable rates, invoices or approvals, so if you need those, RescueTime's "+" plans have more.

Pricing in October 2026

For focus tracking alone, RescueTime is cheaper, and Lite costs nothing. The comparison changes once you need projects. RescueTime's timesheets cost extra on the "+" plans, while TimeUno includes project filing and timesheets in every plan. A solo user pays $12 a month for Solo+ against $10.49 for TimeUno, both billed yearly. For a team, Team+ is $16 per user against $13.99 per seat. TimeUno charges in USD or EUR; RescueTime lists prices in USD.

Privacy: what each one sees

RescueTime records the app, window title and URL. It never captures your camera, screenshots, keystrokes or what you type into web forms. Data is hosted on Amazon's cloud. In a team, by default no one sees another member's individual data; owners and admins see high-level summaries and category totals, and team timesheet reports only show time assigned to a project. RescueTime positions itself against employee monitoring.

TimeUno records more by default. Screenshots and on-screen text are on, private to you, and you can turn them off for each computer. It never records what you type. From AI tools it reads metadata only, never your prompts, answers or code. In a team, admins see worked time and scores, never your apps or sites, and the team dashboard shows weekly totals, never anyone's screens. Data is stored in Germany and never sold.

If you never want screenshots taken on your computer, RescueTime is the stricter tool out of the box. With TimeUno you get the same choice, but you have to turn screenshots off yourself.

AI: timesheet suggestions vs tracking your AI tools

RescueTime uses AI to suggest which project your time belongs to. When you turn it on, app and website names may be sent to OpenAI's API to make those suggestions, and RescueTime says they are not used for training. RescueTime also has an MCP server, so AI assistants can read your activity and project time and start or stop Focus Sessions and timers.

TimeUno tracks the AI tools themselves. Claude, Cursor and other coding agents often work while you do something else. RescueTime can see Cursor as an app in front of you, but not an agent running in the background, and not what it costs. TimeUno gives AI tool time its own timeline, with tokens and cost, and a server agent picks up AI coding sessions on a remote server. On the Team plan, admin connectors for Anthropic and Cursor add this with nothing to install.

When RescueTime is the better choice

• You want a focus score and a daily goal, not a timesheet.
• You want Focus Sessions that block distracting sites, apps, email or chat.
• You want a free plan, or the cheapest paid plan for focus tracking.
• You want screenshots never taken, with no setting to change.
• You want to track time on your iPhone or Android phone too.
• You need billable rates or bulk timesheet approval.

When TimeUno is the better choice

• You bill by project and want time filed without reviewing suggestions.
• You want timesheets on every plan, not as an upgrade.
• You work with AI coding tools and want their time, tokens and cost counted.
• You run coding agents on a remote server.
• You work on Linux. RescueTime's current help page lists Linux as not supported.
• You want your data stored in Germany.

Can you use both?

Yes. They do different jobs. Keep RescueTime for Focus Sessions and your Productivity Pulse, and run TimeUno for projects and timesheets. Both run in the background, so neither asks anything extra of you during the day. If you only want one bill, decide which question matters more each week: how focused you were, or where your hours went.

Questions people ask

Does RescueTime have a free plan? Does TimeUno?

RescueTime has Lite, a free plan with basic tracking and reporting. TimeUno has no free plan, but every plan starts with a 14-day trial, so you see a full week of your own time filed into projects before you pay.

Can TimeUno block distracting websites like RescueTime?

No. TimeUno marks every hour productive or unproductive and files it into categories, projects and goals, but it has no blocker. If you need sites or apps blocked during focus time, RescueTime's Focus Sessions do that.

Does RescueTime work on Linux?

RescueTime's current help page lists Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, and says Linux is not supported. TimeUno has a Linux app in beta, as an AppImage for Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+ and Fedora.

Can I import my RescueTime history into TimeUno?

Not today. TimeUno starts tracking from the day you install it. Most people keep their RescueTime reports and compare a week of each.