ScreenJournal vs Insightful
Updated on 14 September 2026
Insightful, formerly Workpuls, is workforce analytics software that labels apps and websites as productive or unproductive, backed by screenshots, optional screen recording and a stealth mode. ScreenJournal reads the work itself rather than labelling the apps around it, writes a timeline of what each person actually did, and keeps no footage by default.
What is Insightful?
Insightful, formerly Workpuls, is workforce analytics and employee monitoring software used across office, hybrid and remote teams. It tracks the apps and websites each person uses and labels them productive or unproductive, records active and idle time, and handles attendance. Screenshots are included on its base plan, with on-demand screenshots and screen recording available as paid add-ons; per Insightful's documentation, captures are typically retained for 60 days and then deleted. It deploys in visible mode, where employees clock in and out and can see their own dashboard, or stealth mode, where the app shows no tray icon and employees cannot see or control the tracking. It does not record keystroke content, insider-threat features sit on its custom tier, and the agent runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
What is ScreenJournal?
ScreenJournal is an AI work visibility tool that reads on-screen work as it happens, turns it into a detailed timeline of what each person actually did, and then, by default, deletes the raw screen data. Timelines accumulate into a searchable chronicle of everyone's work history, and from them ScreenJournal generates timesheets and reports automatically and drafts standup summaries on request, answering questions about any of it in plain English.
It works in three steps. ScreenJournal reads screen activity as work happens. A frontier AI model analyses that activity to understand the work and measure output. By default the raw screen data is then deleted. What remains is the timeline, the timesheet, the reports and the answers, and The Assistant chat (Ask AI) opens beside any page to answer questions from that derived record, never from footage.
Apps and sites on the organisation's privacy exclusion list, such as banking, payroll, HR and health, are never captured. PII is removed during processing, and every employee sees the same timeline their manager sees, with the ability to redact entries when the organisation allows it. A redacted entry is erased entirely and never appears in anyone's search; who may redact is a permission the organisation's administrators grant, and nobody has it until they do. An admin can correct any score, and nudges are off until an admin writes an alert rule.
How do Insightful and ScreenJournal compare?
The table below summarises the practical difference: Insightful measures the activity around the work and stores captures of it, while ScreenJournal reads the work itself and, by default, keeps only the derived timeline.
| Insightful | ScreenJournal | |
|---|---|---|
| What it captures | Apps and websites with productivity labels, active vs idle time, attendance; runs automatically in stealth mode per configuration | On-screen work activity in work apps; excluded apps and sites never captured |
| What it stores | Screenshots on the base plan; on-demand screenshots and screen recording as paid add-ons; captures typically retained for 60 days | An AI-written timeline of the work; recordings not stored by default, though a manager can opt in to keep video evidence for up to 3 months |
| How you get answers | Real-time dashboards, productivity scores and trend reports a manager interprets | The timeline, a Timesheet computed from tracked hours, a weekly Ranking and Excel reports, Ask AI in plain English |
| Employee privacy | Visible mode gives employees a dashboard and clock-in control; stealth mode hides the app entirely with no employee control | PII removed during processing; employees see everything the manager sees and, when the organisation allows it, can redact entries first; redaction erases the entry entirely |
| Searchable history | Historical dashboards and reports filtered by date range | A chronicle of the most recent 12 months of derived work history, searchable in plain English through chat and MCP, permission-scoped by role |
| Best for | App-level productivity analytics across large office, hybrid and outsourced teams | Knowing what was produced, transparently, with no stored footage by default |
Two rows deserve emphasis. On storage, the difference is not screenshot frequency but what accumulates: Insightful retains captures for review, typically for 60 days, while ScreenJournal keeps the most recent 12 months of derived work history, and by default what it retains is the written record, not footage. Where a manager needs video evidence they can opt in to keep the recordings (Evidence Mode), and those recordings are stored for up to 3 months. On visibility, Insightful offers transparency as a configuration choice; in ScreenJournal it is the design.
When should you pick Insightful?
Pick Insightful when app-level analytics across a large, mixed estate is the actual requirement. Its productivity labels, attendance tracking and trend dashboards suit organisations that want to see where time goes across hundreds of office, hybrid and outsourced seats. Pick it too when your review process genuinely requires stored screenshots or screen recordings as evidence, since that is precisely what its base plan and add-ons provide. And if your organisation has weighed the trust cost and still decided it needs hidden monitoring on company devices, Insightful's stealth mode does that; ScreenJournal deliberately does not. Insightful is also the more established choice if you simply want to continue an existing screenshot-review workflow with better analytics on top, rather than change how proof of work is produced.
When should you pick ScreenJournal?
Pick ScreenJournal when you need to know what was produced, not which apps were open. An app label tells you where time went; two hours in Excel is not a result. ScreenJournal's work timelines record what those hours actually produced, in plain English, entry by entry, and the same record prepares timesheets automatically with each line tagged to its source.
Pick it when transparency matters to retention and morale. Employees see the same timeline managers do, can redact segments when the organisation allows it, and see exactly the score their manager sees. That is a different footing from software that can be configured to hide itself.
And pick it when you want the history without the archive. Past work accumulates into a searchable chronicle, so you can ask what happened last month rather than scrolling dashboards, and by default there is no store of employee screens to secure, review or explain. For how this plays out across the wider category, see ScreenJournal vs screenshot trackers.
Frequently asked questions
Does Insightful record your screen?
It can, depending on configuration. Screenshots are included on Insightful's base plan, and on-demand screenshots and screen recording are available as paid add-ons, with captures typically retained for 60 days before deletion. ScreenJournal takes no screenshots and stores no recordings by default: raw screen data is deleted during processing, and only the AI-written timeline is kept. A manager can opt in to keep video evidence, stored for up to 3 months.
Does Insightful have a stealth mode?
Yes. In stealth mode the Insightful app shows no tray icon and employees cannot start, stop or see the tracking. ScreenJournal is employee-visible: every employee sees the same timeline their manager sees and can redact entries when the organisation allows it.
What is the difference between app categorisation and reading the work?
App categorisation labels time by application, so two hours in Excel counts as productive regardless of what happened in it. Reading the work records what those two hours produced. On a ScreenJournal timeline, a spreadsheet built and a spreadsheet stared at stop looking identical.
Does ScreenJournal have a stealth mode?
No. There is no hidden deployment: employees see the same activity view managers do, entries are summarised in plain English, and employees can redact segments when the organisation allows it, and every score they see is the one their manager sees.
The bottom line
ScreenJournal and screenshot time trackers are trying to answer the same question: did real work happen? Trackers answer it with stored screenshots and activity percentages a manager interprets. ScreenJournal answers it directly: it reads the work, writes the timeline, generates the timesheet and, by default, deletes the footage. If you are choosing between them, the real decision is whether you want evidence to review or answers to act on.
See the work itself, not screenshots of it
Timesheets, reports and answers from the work your team actually did. Available for Windows and macOS, with Linux and mobile support coming soon.