DoneThat vs Screenpipe

The short answer

Screenpipe is infrastructure. DoneThat is a product built on top of the same idea.

Screenpipe records your screen and audio into a local SQLite database and exposes it through an API so agents can query what you saw, said or heard. What you do with that is your problem — and for a lot of people that is exactly the appeal. DoneThat takes the same raw material and hands you a finished thing: a reconstructed day, goals, and a coach that reaches out while you are still working.

Note the rename

This project was Mediar.ai and is now Screenpipe; screenpi.pe redirects to screenpipe.com. Older comparisons using the Mediar name are describing this tool.

What Screenpipe gets right

Local-first, properly. Data lives in a SQLite database on your device. The site is explicit: cloud upload off, local policy applied before storage. This is the strongest local position in the category — stronger than ours — and it is the main reason to pick it.

It queries. The local database is exposed via an API, so your own agents and workflows can reason over your history. If you want to build something — meeting notes into your CRM, a custom daily digest — this is the substrate for it.

Full platform coverage. macOS, Windows and Linux. That matches DoneThat and beats most of this category.

Audio too. Screen plus audio means meetings and calls are searchable, not just what was on screen.

Source-available. The code is inspectable, which for a tool that records everything is close to a requirement.

It is the Rewind successor. For people displaced when Rewind shut down in December 2025, this is the closest thing to a continuation, and we would point them here before pointing them at ourselves if raw recall is what they want.

Where they genuinely differ

Infrastructure versus workflow. Screenpipe gives you a searchable record and an API. Turning that into "am I working on the right things?" is work you do. DoneThat has already done that work, and the answer is the product.

Reactive versus proactive. Screenpipe answers questions you ask it. Don reaches out first — 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 versus reconstruction. Screenpipe is optimised for finding a specific thing you saw. DoneThat is optimised for summarising what you were doing and how long it took. Both read the screen; they are answering different questions.

Two answers on storage

Both products face the same problem and solve it in opposite directions, and neither is universally right.

Screenpipe keeps everything, locally. Continuous screen and audio recording into a database on your machine. Nothing leaves. The cost is that a complete recording of your working life now exists on your disk — yours to secure, back up and eventually delete — and continuous capture of both screen and audio has a real resource footprint.

DoneThat keeps none of it. Screenshots are processed in real time and 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.

If your threat model is "I do not want a vendor to have this", Screenpipe wins. If it is "I do not want this recording to exist at all", we do.

Pricing

Screenpipe offers a free download; pricing beyond that is shown during onboarding rather than published on the site, so we are not quoting figures we cannot verify. Checked 11 August 2026.

DoneThat is subscription-based with a 14-day free trial; current prices are on the DoneThat download page.

Where Screenpipe is the better choice

• You want everything local. Nothing here beats a local SQLite database with upload off.
• You are building something. The API and agent-oriented design are the point.
• You want raw recall, including audio, rather than a summary.
• You are replacing Rewind and want the closest equivalent.
• You want to read the code before you let something record your screen.

Where DoneThat is the better choice

• You want a finished workflow, not a substrate to build on.
• You want coaching during the work, not a database to query afterwards.
• You want goals tracked and something that notices when you drift.
• You do not want a recording to exist. Processed and deleted beats stored-but-local, if that is your concern.
• You want a team dimension — 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.
• You do not want continuous audio recording running on your machine.

How we compared these

Everything stated about Screenpipe comes from its public site, read on 11 August 2026 and linked below. Paid pricing is not quoted because it is not published; the free download is.

Claims about DoneThat are first-hand: we build it. Screenpipe's local-first storage is a stronger privacy position than ours, its API is more open, and for anyone who wants raw searchable recall it is the better tool — all said plainly above.

Questions people ask about Screenpipe

Is Screenpipe the same as Mediar.ai?

Yes — this is the same project, now under the Screenpipe name. Older comparisons referring to Mediar.ai are describing this tool, and the screenpi.pe domain now redirects to screenpipe.com.

Where does Screenpipe store my data?

Locally, in a SQLite database on your device, accessible through an API. The site states cloud upload is off and local policy is applied before storage. That is the strongest local-first position in this category and stronger than DoneThat's.

Is Screenpipe open source?

It is source-available rather than fully open source — the code is inspectable on GitHub, but that is a different licence status from something like Dayflow's MIT licence. If licensing matters to you, check the terms before committing.

Screenpipe vs DoneThat?

Screenpipe gives you a local, queryable memory layer and leaves what to do with it up to you and your agents. DoneThat gives you a reconstructed day, goals and a coach that reaches out during the work. One is infrastructure, the other is a finished workflow — pick based on whether you want to build or to be coached.