DoneThat vs Microsoft Recall

The short answer

Recall is free, built into Windows, opt-in, and stores encrypted snapshots on your own drive. If you have a Copilot+ PC, it costs nothing to try and there is no vendor to trust beyond the one that already ships your operating system.

It also answers a different question. Recall helps you find something you saw before. It does not tell you where your week went, does not total time against projects, and does not coach you. Those are the gaps a paid tool has to justify itself in.

The hardware is the price

Recall has no subscription, but it is not free in the sense that matters:

• A Copilot+ PC meeting Secured-core standard
• A 40 TOPS NPU
• 16 GB RAM minimum
• 256 GB storage, with 50 GB free to enable — and snapshots pause below 25 GB
• Device Encryption or BitLocker enabled
• Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security

Most machines in service today do not meet that. If yours does, Recall is genuinely free. If it does not, the price is a new laptop, which is a different conversation from a subscription.

DoneThat runs on Windows, macOS and Linux without special hardware. Current prices are on the DoneThat download page.

Credit where it is due on privacy

Recall's design after its rocky launch is better than its reputation, and it is worth being accurate:

• Opt-in by default. Saving snapshots is off until you turn it on.
• Encrypted locally, and Microsoft states snapshots are not shared with Microsoft, third parties or other users of the device.
• App and website exclusions are supported.
• Sensitive-information filtering for passwords and card data is on by default.

That is a stronger local-storage position than DoneThat's, and anyone comparing on privacy alone should know it.

DoneThat's approach differs rather than dominating: 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 distinction: Recall keeps encrypted images locally; we keep no images at all but do process them. Pick by which you mind less.

Recall answers a different question

This is the substantive point, and it is easy to miss because both products watch a screen.

Recall is retrospective search. "What was that chart I saw on Tuesday?" You describe it, semantic search finds the snapshot, you jump back. It is very good at that and it is genuinely useful.

DoneThat is reconstruction and coaching. "Where did this week go, and what should I change?" The record is aggregated into a reviewable day, measured against goals, and Don reaches out during the work — nudging you onto goals, blocking calendar time, flagging low-value work while you can still fix it, checking your mood, reminding you of meetings, suggesting breaks.

Recall will not total your time, will not notice you drifted off a priority, and has no MCP server for other AI tools to query. It is not trying to.

Platform support

Where Recall is the better choice

• You have a Copilot+ PC. It is free and already there.
• Your need is "find that thing I saw". Semantic search over snapshots is exactly right for this.
• You want nothing extra installed. OS-level integration, no third-party agent.
• You want encrypted local storage with no vendor involved beyond Microsoft.
• You are Windows-only and expect to stay that way.

Where DoneThat is the better choice

• You use macOS or Linux, or a Windows machine that is not a Copilot+ PC.
• You want to know where your time went. Recall does not measure time.
• You want coaching, not search.
• You want goals tracked and something that notices when you drift off them.
• You want AI tools to have your work history through MCP and an API.
• Your team wants shared signal without surveillance. Summary-level dashboards, relative trends rather than per-person hours, visibility set per summary, optional mood tracking.
• You want peer accountability. Follow others, share summaries, Slack and Discord, accountability groups — all opt-in.
• Disk space is tight. Recall needs 50 GB free and pauses under 25 GB.

Can you run both?

Yes, and there is little conflict — they do different jobs. Recall for finding what you saw, DoneThat for understanding what you did. The practical consideration is resources: two capture systems on one machine, and Recall already wants a substantial amount of your disk.

How we compared these

Everything stated about Recall comes from Microsoft's own support documentation, read on 11 August 2026 and linked below. Claims about DoneThat are first-hand: we build it, and we charge for it, which is the bias to read this with.

Recall is free on qualifying hardware, opt-in, and stores snapshots encrypted locally without a third-party vendor involved. Those are real advantages over a paid subscription and we have said so. The narrow claim we would defend is that search over what you saw and reconstruction of what you did are different products.

Questions people ask about Microsoft Recall

Is Microsoft Recall free?

There is no separate charge — it ships with Windows 11 — but it requires a Copilot+ PC meeting Secured-core standard with a 40 TOPS NPU, 16 GB RAM and 256 GB storage. The cost is the hardware, and most existing machines do not qualify.

Is Recall on by default?

No. Saving snapshots is opt-in — off until you enable it in Settings or when first opening Recall. Sensitive-information filtering for passwords and card details is on by default once enabled, and you can exclude specific apps and websites.

Where does Recall store its snapshots?

Encrypted on your local hard drive, and Microsoft states they are not shared with Microsoft, third parties or other users of the device. Note it needs 50 GB free to enable and pauses when free space drops below 25 GB.

Does Recall tell me where my time went?

No. Recall is retrospective search — finding something you saw before. It does not reconstruct your day, total time by project, set goals or coach you. If the question is 'what did I spend this week on', that is a different category of tool.