DoneThat vs Focusmate

The short answer

Focusmate solves starting. DoneThat solves knowing.

Focusmate books you into a video session with a real person, you both say what you are going to do, and then you do it because someone can see you. That is a genuinely effective mechanism and no software feature replicates it. What it does not do is record anything — the work happens, and then it is gone.

These are not really competitors. They fix different failures, and a lot of people have both.

Why Focusmate works

Worth being precise, because the mechanism is the product.

Social presence is the strongest commitment device available. Dismissing a notification costs nothing. Sitting on video with someone who watched you say "I'm going to write the report" and then opening Reddit is genuinely uncomfortable. That discomfort is the feature.

It creates a start time. For a lot of people the blocker is not knowing what to do — it is beginning. A booked session at 10:00 makes 10:00 the moment.

A real free tier. 3 sessions a week, no card. Enough to know whether the mechanism works for you.

Cheap for unlimited. $8 a month billed annually against a category Focusmate says typically runs $20–40.

Financial assistance for people who cannot afford Plus. That is not a feature, but it says something.

What Focusmate does not do

It does not measure. No record of what you worked on, how long it took, or what happened in the 35 hours of your week that were not in a session. The session ends and nothing persists.

It only covers what you book. Coverage equals attendance, and attendance is the thing you are trying to fix.

It requires scheduling. Which is the point, and also the friction — a booked session is a commitment you can also cancel.

It does not suit everyone. Video coworking with a stranger is either energising or excruciating, and pricing does not change which.

Where DoneThat fits

DoneThat has no video sessions and does not attempt them. What it does is record: capture runs continuously, the day is reconstructed, and Don reaches out during the work — nudging you onto goals, blocking calendar time for them, flagging low-value work while you can still fix it, checking your mood, reminding you of meetings, suggesting breaks.

It also has a social layer, though a different one: you can follow other people, share summaries with followers, push updates into Slack or Discord, and join accountability groups. All opt-in, and fully private is supported. That is asynchronous accountability rather than synchronous — weaker than a live session as a commitment device, but it requires no scheduling and covers your whole week rather than three hours of it.

On capture: screenshots are never stored — processed in real time, immediately deleted, only the derived structured activity persists. Excluded apps are redacted on your machine before anything is sent. With your own Gemini or OpenAI-compatible model, raw activity never reaches our servers. The desktop app is open source.

The combination

This is the honest recommendation if you have both problems.

Focusmate for the sessions where you genuinely cannot start. DoneThat for knowing what happened across the rest of the week, and whether the sessions are actually moving the thing you said mattered.

At $8 a month, Focusmate is cheap enough that this is not an either/or for most people evaluating it.

Where Focusmate is the better choice

• Starting is the problem. Nothing here beats a person watching.
• You want human accountability rather than a system.
• Budget is tight. 3 free sessions a week, then $8.
• You want zero capture. Nothing is recorded at all.
• You work well with body doubling. If it suits you, it really suits you.
• You want it in a browser with nothing installed.

Where DoneThat is the better choice

• You start fine but lose the thread. A session gets you going; it does not tell you the afternoon went sideways.
• You want to know where the week went. Focusmate records nothing.
• You do not want to schedule anything. Capture needs no booking.
• You want the whole week covered, not three hours of it.
• You want goals tracked and drift noticed.
• You want AI tools to have your work history through MCP and an API.
• Video with a stranger is not for you, but accountability still is — the opt-in follower and group model is asynchronous.

How we compared these

Everything stated about Focusmate comes from its public pricing page, read on 11 August 2026 and linked below. Claims about DoneThat are first-hand: we build it.

Focusmate is cheaper than we are, has a free tier we do not offer, and its accountability mechanism is stronger than anything software-only can achieve — all stated plainly. We have not argued that we replace it, because we do not: one gets you started, the other tells you what happened.

Questions people ask about Focusmate

Is Focusmate free?

There is a free tier with 3 sessions per week and no credit card required. Plus is $8 per month billed annually or $12 monthly for unlimited sessions. Business pricing is custom, and financial assistance is available if Plus is out of reach.

How does Focusmate work?

You book a session, get paired with another person, and work alongside them on video. You each state what you intend to do at the start and report back at the end. The mechanism is social presence — it is much harder to drift when someone can see you.

Does Focusmate track my time?

No. It gets you into a focused session; it does not record what you worked on or how long anything took outside those sessions. If you want to know where your week went, that is a different tool.

Can I use Focusmate and DoneThat together?

Yes, and they complement each other unusually well. Focusmate solves starting; DoneThat records and coaches on what actually happened. If you want peer accountability without scheduling, DoneThat also supports following others, sharing summaries, and accountability groups via Slack or Discord — all opt-in.