Qbserve vs Timely

Like Timely, Qbserve is one of the few automated time tracking solutions currently available on the market. Both can capture everything you work on in the background for you, without the need for any manual timers or note taking. However, the tools diverge on the application and sophistication of their automation, and what you can actually do with your time data. Here are a few reasons why Qbserve users upgrade their automatic time tracking to Timely.

Works seamlessly from anywhere

Timely lets you manage your time on web, Mac, Windows, iOS or Android, allowing you to switch effortlessly between devices and work on the go. On mobile, you have the option to enable GPS tracking to see how long you spend in different locations, which is handy for capturing all time at client sites. Qbserve, on the other hand, is only available to Mac users who only work from that device, with no mobile option. Since all Qbserve tracked data is stored locally, there is no ability to sync information with another Mac and data is left insecure—if your hard drive fails or you lose your Mac, you lose all your data.

Advanced project time tracking

‍ Timely is designed to help you seamlessly capture, report and invoice accurately across your project portfolio, whereas Qbserve is primarily designed for managing your personal productivity. Beyond tagging an activity to a project, Qbserve has no real project time tracking capabilities. In contrast, Timely lets you manage project budgets and retainers in real time, compare your billable and non-billable percentage, visualize project team activity, and assign project work in line with team capacity.

Intuitive, modern design

Both Timely and Qbserve capture every second of your work day, so it’s important that the sheer granularity of that data stays accessible. Qbserve’s text- and list-heavy UI can leave users seeking a rich visual overview of their day underwhelmed. Many are also surprised that they need to install extensions to be able to track sites in Firefox, Vivaldi, Opera and Yandex Browser. Contrastingly, Timely’s tactile, highly-visual design lets you customize how you view and manage your data, with colour coding, AI-drafted timesheets and drag-and-drop functionality proving to be popular.