DoneThat vs Timing

The short answer

Timing is one of the best automatic time trackers on the Mac, and it is only on the Mac. The vendor is unusually direct about this: asked about other platforms, the answer is no, with no plans to change.

So for a lot of readers this comparison is settled by one fact rather than by any feature. If you are all-Mac and expect to stay that way, Timing is genuinely good and worth the trial. If you have a Windows machine, a Linux box, or a team that is not uniformly Apple, the comparison is over before it starts.

Where Timing is genuinely strong

The tracking itself. Automatic, no timer, and the interface is fast and clean in a way that macOS-native apps often are and cross-platform apps often are not. Nothing here is a compromise build.

Scripting. Basic scripting from the Expert tier and a web API plus Zapier on Connect. For people who want to wire their time data into their own workflows, this is more capable than most of the category.

Task-tool syncing. Two-way sync with ClickUp, Linear and Clio, which matters if your work is already organised in one of those.

Filling the gaps. Calendar sync and iOS activity import cover work that happened away from the Mac.

A 30-day trial with no card. One of the more generous evaluations available, and long enough to actually judge a tracker, which two weeks often is not.

The device-count pricing model

Something to check before comparing headline prices: Timing prices partly by how many Macs each person uses. One on Professional, two on Expert, three on Connect.

If you work across a laptop and a desktop — extremely common — the entry tier does not cover you, so the relevant price is at least the middle one. Web API and Zapier are Connect-only, so integration needs push you to the top.

Exact figures are behind interactive elements rather than published as a table, so plan to go through checkout to see them. What is clearly published, and verified 11 August 2026: three tiers, monthly or annual billing, annual discounted but not pro-rated on refund, and the 30-day no-card trial.

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

How each one records your time

Both capture automatically with no timer, so the honest difference is what the capture becomes.

Timing records application and document activity and presents it for you to organise into projects — a very good record of what was open.

DoneThat captures screen-first and reconstructs what the work was about, which is what allows the coaching layer to exist: Don can tell you that you drifted off a stated goal because the reconstruction knows what you drifted onto.

The trade, and it is larger than Timing's: screenshots are never stored. Processed in real time, deleted immediately; only 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.

Timing's local-first posture asks less of you, and for some readers that alone decides it.

Platform support

Where Timing is the better choice

• You are all-Mac and staying that way. This is the whole argument, and it is a strong one.
• You want scripting. More capable than anything else compared here.
• You live in ClickUp, Linear or Clio. Two-way sync is real.
• You prefer local-first. A smaller privacy ask than screen-first capture.
• You want a long, no-card evaluation. 30 days versus our 14.

Where DoneThat is the better choice

• You use Windows or Linux, ever. Timing will not follow you there.
• You use several machines. No device-count tier to climb.
• You want coaching, not reports. Don nudges you onto goals, blocks calendar time, flags low-value work while you can still fix it, checks your mood, reminds you of meetings, suggests breaks.
• 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.

How we compared these

Everything stated about Timing comes from its public pricing and product pages, read on 11 August 2026 and linked below. Exact tier prices are not quoted because they are not published as text on the page; the structure of the tiers is.

Claims about DoneThat are first-hand: we build it. On the Mac, Timing's native polish and scripting are better than ours, its trial is longer, and its privacy ask is smaller — all said plainly above.

Questions people ask about Timing

Does Timing work on Windows or Linux?

No, and it is not coming. Timing is macOS only and the vendor states plainly that there are no plans to change that. If you have a mixed-platform setup or ever expect to move off the Mac, this is the deciding fact — DoneThat runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.

How many Macs can I use with Timing?

Device count is part of the pricing: one Mac per person on Professional, two on Expert and three on Connect. If you work across a laptop and a desktop, you need at least the Expert tier.

Does Timing have an API?

Yes, on the top Connect tier, along with Zapier and two-way syncing for ClickUp, Linear and Clio. Basic scripting is available from Expert. Lower tiers are more limited.

Timing vs DoneThat for a Mac user?

If you are all-Mac and want polished automatic tracking with scripting, Timing is excellent and its 30-day no-card trial makes it easy to judge. Choose DoneThat if you want coaching during the work rather than reports afterwards, need Windows or Linux, or want your work history queryable by AI assistants.