In today’s workplace, how your team spends its time impacts more than just individual productivity—it affects security, efficiency, and business decisions. When sensitive data is at stake or compliance requirements are strict, you need a solution that not only tracks activity but also helps you make informed decisions.
This year, two tools are leading the conversation: AnySecura and ActivTrak. Both give you visibility into employee activity, but they approach it differently. AnySecura offers deep insights, proactive protection, and audit-ready reports—perfect for enterprises and regulated industries. ActivTrak, by contrast, focuses on privacy-friendly productivity monitoring, helping your teams optimize workflows without feeling intrusive.
Below, we’ll break down each platform’s strengths in key areas, so you can see which tool best aligns with your organization’s needs and priorities.
AnySecura vs ActivTrak: Quick Summary
| Dimension | AnySecura | ActivTrak |
|---|---|---|
| Tool Positioning | Enterprise-grade security ✅ Compliance, control, risk mitigation |
Cloud-based workforce analytics ⭐ Employee-centric visibility |
| Deployment Flexibility | On-premises + integration ✅ | Cloud-only ❌ Compliance gaps |
| Feature Comprehensiveness | 23 modules (security + IT + DLP + monitoring) |
Basic productivity tracking only |
| Screen Monitoring | Multi-screen snapshots + historical logs ✅ | Add-on only ❌ |
| App & Web Monitoring | Tracks + enforces (blocks, restricts) ⚡ | Reports only ❌ |
| Reporting | Security audits + proactive alerts ✅ | Highly customizable analytics ⭐ |
| Unique Features | Encryption, DLP, watermarking, AI vision | Privacy-friendly design (no invasive logging) |
| Scalability | Enterprise modular design ✅ | Cloud scalability ⭐ |
| Pricing & Value | Higher upfront, better ROI | Strong free plan + low entry cost ⭐ |
| Integration & Continuity | ERP/OA integration + disaster recovery ✅ | Limited continuity ❌ |
| User Experience | Complex setup ❌ | Intuitive UI, easy adoption ⭐ |
| Best Fit | Enterprises & regulated industries ✅ | SMEs & quick deployment teams ✅ |
AnySecura vs ActivTrak: What are the Differences?
Not all employee monitoring tools deliver the same level of insight and protection. Some focus only on basic productivity tracking, while others go deeper—helping you protect sensitive data, stay compliant, and gain actionable insights. AnySecura and ActivTrak both promise visibility into your workforce, but the way they achieve it is very different.
1) Tool Overview
What is AnySecura?
AnySecura offers a comprehensive suite designed to keep your organization secure while giving you full visibility and control over employee activity. Beyond tracking basic productivity, it enables detailed monitoring of user behavior across documents, emails, instant messages, network activity, removable media, and devices.
Key features also include screen watermarking and transparent encryption to safeguard sensitive information. Combined with modules for IT asset management and sensitive content inspection, AnySecura functions as an enterprise-grade security framework, allowing you to detect risky employee actions and prevent data leakage at every endpoint.
What is ActivTrak?
ActivTrak is a cloud-based productivity and workforce analytics platform that helps you understand how your teams spend their time. It focuses on employee-centric insights, tracking application and website usage, generating productivity reports, and identifying potential burnout. By avoiding invasive security measures like keystroke logging, ActivTrak maintains trust with your employees. However, this emphasis on productivity comes at the cost of deep security controls, making it less suitable if you need to protect sensitive data or meet strict compliance requirements. Advanced monitoring and security features are limited or require paid add-ons.
2) Feature Comparison: AnySecura vs ActivTrak
AnySecura is built to give you a comprehensive, real-time view of employee activity. It monitors user actions across applications, websites, emails, instant messaging, devices and more. Unlike tools that simply observe, AnySecura actively flags risky behavior according to your company's policies and provides context through screenshots, screen recordings, and detailed audit logs, allowing you to quickly investigate and mitigate potential security risks.
| AnySecura Modules | ActivTrak Modules |
|---|---|
|
|
AnySecura offers an impressive suite of 23 modules, each designed to address a critical aspect of endpoint management and security. This integrated platform delivers comprehensive control, visibility, and protection, including:
- Core Security and Control: Modules such as Document Control, Print Control, Device Control, Removable Media Control, Email Control, and Application Control give you complete oversight of employee actions and resource usage.
- Advanced Data Protection: Features like Transparent Encryption, Watermarking, Document Tagging, and Sensitive Content Inspection create a multi-layered defense that not only monitors but actively safeguards sensitive information.
- Network Management: Network Access Control and Network Traffic Control modules enable segmentation and bandwidth management, enhancing security while maintaining operational efficiency.
- IT Operations: Modules for IT Asset Management, Remote Maintenance, and a Software Center consolidate essential IT functions into one platform, simplifying management and improving productivity.
In contrast, ActivTrak focuses mainly on workforce analytics with capabilities like time tracking, application and website monitoring, and productivity reporting. While useful for understanding workflow patterns, it lacks the extensive control, data protection, and IT management features that AnySecura provides. Essential security functions such as on-premises deployment, keystroke logging, and advanced DLP are intentionally excluded, leaving gaps for organizations that prioritize data security and compliance.
3) Shared Features in AnySecura and ActivTrak: Depth & Capabilities
Both AnySecura and ActivTrak provide core monitoring capabilities, but the level of control and actionable insight differs dramatically. While ActivTrak delivers surface-level visibility into employee activity, AnySecura gives you granular, real-time oversight and the tools to act on potential risks immediately.
- Screen Monitoring: ActivTrak offers screen recording as a paid add-on, mainly for productivity review. AnySecura, however, integrates screen monitoring as a core security feature. It captures multi-screen real-time snapshots and high-frequency historical recordings triggered by specific application usage (e.g., financial software). This enables targeted oversight of high-risk behavior and provides concrete evidence for audits or investigations, a level of detail ActivTrak cannot match.
- Application and Web Monitoring: Both platforms track app and website usage. ActivTrak uses this data for productivity reporting, while AnySecura does the same with its Application and Web Browsing Statistics modules. The key difference is control: AnySecura can block unauthorized apps, prevent installation of non-work software, and restrict access to specific websites—not just report usage. ActivTrak’s control capabilities remain limited.
- Reporting and Analytics: ActivTrak delivers customizable productivity reports, whereas AnySecura’s Security Audit Reports module provides extensive analysis across multiple dimensions: printing, emails, document operations, mobile storage, and even encryption/decryption activity. Its "Risk Sign Indicator Reports" automatically flag high-risk behaviors, converting reporting from a passive review into a proactive threat detection system.
📌Takeaway: ActivTrak shows you what employees are doing, but AnySecura gives you both visibility and control. If you need to monitor, enforce security policies, and proactively prevent risky behavior, AnySecura’s depth and capabilities clearly outperform ActivTrak.
4) Unique Features of AnySecura: Why It Stands Out
AnySecura’s true strength lies in its extensive suite of advanced security features—capabilities that ActivTrak, with its employee-friendly focus, does not provide. These features give you unparalleled control over employee activity, data security, and insider threat prevention.
- Transparent Encryption: AnySecura ensures that sensitive files are always encrypted at rest and in transit, without affecting user workflow. Authorized users can access and work with files seamlessly, while any unauthorized access attempts are blocked or logged. This provides continuous protection of sensitive data and reduces the risk of leaks or compliance violations—a level of security that ActivTrak does not offer.
- Screen Monitoring: AnySecura captures multi-screen real-time snapshots and high-frequency historical recordings triggered by specific application use. This allows you to monitor high-risk activities and gather concrete evidence for audits or investigations.
- Comprehensive Data Loss Prevention (DLP): AnySecura actively monitors applications, websites, emails, instant messaging, and file transfers. It can block unauthorized apps, restrict non-work software, and control website access, transforming monitoring into proactive data protection rather than just reporting.
- AI Visual Perception & Risk Sign Indicators: Using advanced analytics, AnySecura identifies high-risk behaviors—like mass document copying—through hierarchical alerts. This converts reporting from passive review into a proactive threat detection system.
- Granular Device and Document Control: Every endpoint, device, and document can be monitored and controlled. Managers gain precise oversight of employee actions across printing, file transfers, removable media, and more, ensuring compliance and mitigating insider threats.
- Full Communication Auditing: AnySecura inspects emails, instant messages, and other communications for sensitive content, providing comprehensive auditing capabilities that go far beyond basic productivity tracking.
📌Takeaway: AnySecura is more than a productivity tool—it’s a complete security and control platform. If your priority is protecting company assets while maintaining visibility into employee activity, AnySecura’s advanced, proactive features are indispensable.
5) Other Considerations Before Buying
Beyond core features, there are several strategic factors that make AnySecura a stronger choice for management-level decisions.
Deployment Flexibility: ActivTrak is a cloud-only solution, which can limit organizations with strict data sovereignty, compliance, or security requirements that demand on-premises deployment. AnySecura supports both on-premises and cloud deployments and includes a Secure Access Gateway to protect cloud servers, ensuring the platform aligns with your company’s security architecture and regulatory needs. This flexibility is a major advantage for long-term planning.
Scalability and Modularity: While both tools track application and website usage, ActivTrak focuses on generating productivity reports. AnySecura not only provides detailed insights but also gives you the ability to enforce security policies — you can block unauthorized apps, prevent non-work software installations, and restrict website access. ActivTrak stops at visibility, leaving enforcement up to manual action.
Pricing and Value: ActivTrak offers a competitive entry-level price ($7.20/user/month) and a robust free plan, including time tracking, idle/active monitoring, and website usage reports. But additional features like screen recording can quickly increase costs, and integration expenses may frustrate teams. AnySecura uses a modular, all-in-one approach, combining security, IT asset management, and remote maintenance into one platform, often reducing your total cost of ownership while providing broader capabilities.
Integration and Business Continuity: AnySecura integrates deeply with enterprise systems. Its Secure Access Gateway ensures that OA and ERP systems remain secure through transparent encryption and controlled access. Built-in disaster recovery mechanisms, including standby servers and backups, ensure business continuity. ActivTrak, by comparison, focuses on alerting and reporting—useful for spotting trends but unable to actively block risky behavior.
📌Takeaway: For companies in regulated or high-risk industries, AnySecura offers a more strategic, flexible, and secure investment. ActivTrak remains attractive for smaller businesses or teams prioritizing ease of use, quick deployment, and productivity insights over comprehensive security enforcement.
Which Solution Should You Choose?
Why AnySecura?
- Unmatched Security and Control: AnySecura is more than a monitoring tool—it’s a comprehensive security platform. While ActivTrak focuses on workflow analytics, AnySecura gives you granular control over every potential data leakage channel.
- Advanced Data Protection with Transparent Encryption: With its Transparent Encryption module, AnySecura ensures sensitive information remains secure in transit and at rest. ActivTrak, focused on productivity, offers no comparable encryption or advanced DLP capabilities.
- Proactive Threat Prevention: Unlike ActivTrak, which analyzes behavioral patterns and flags potential productivity risks, AnySecura actively prevents security breaches and insider threats before they escalate.
- Comprehensive Auditing for Compliance: AnySecura logs every user action—from file operations and printing to chats and device connections—providing you with actionable data for audits, investigations, and regulatory compliance.
Best for organizations seeking both security oversight and actionable control over employee activity.
Why ActivTrak?
- Focus on Productivity: Gain insights into workflows, habits, and team performance.
- Privacy-Friendly Monitoring: Avoids intrusive tracking, maintaining employee trust.
- Quick Deployment: Cloud-native, lightweight agents ideal for small and medium teams.
- Behavioral Analytics: Helps optimize processes and employee engagement.
Best for teams prioritizing productivity insights and privacy-conscious monitoring.
Think of it this way: ActivTrak measures activity, while AnySecura protects your data. For managers who know that the risks of data leakage, intellectual property theft, and insider threats far outweigh the benefits of basic monitoring, the choice is clear. Choosing ActivTrak is like installing a speedometer in a car with no locks; choosing AnySecura is like building a secure garage and giving the keys only to trusted drivers. With AnySecura, you gain comprehensive control, proactive data protection, and peace of mind knowing your company's digital assets are truly secure.
FAQs about the Best Employee Monitoring Solution
Do both solutions support major desktop platforms?
Yes. Both support Windows and macOS. AnySecura also supports Linux, while ActivTrak adds ChromeOS support.
Can ActivTrak perform data loss prevention like AnySecura?
No. ActivTrak provides alerts and logs for potential risks, but it cannot enforce real-time blocks or encrypt files.
Are monitoring features privacy-compliant?
Both solutions can comply with privacy regulations, but differently: ActivTrak is privacy-first, whereas AnySecura requires transparent policies and approval workflows.
Can AnySecura handle productivity analysis?
AnySecura’s dashboards primarily focus on security risks, so productivity insights are limited compared to ActivTrak.
What are the pricing models?
Both offer free tiers and per-user subscriptions. ROI should be evaluated based on prevented leaks, regulatory compliance, and long-term risk mitigation, not just subscription fees.
Conclusion
After evaluating both platforms, AnySecura emerges as the only viable choice for enterprises that require robust security. While ActivTrak provides useful productivity analytics, it lacks the depth needed to prevent data leakage or insider threats.
AnySecura is built as a security-first solution, offering multi-layered DLP, sensitive data discovery, transparent encryption, and full control over exfiltration channels such as email, storage, and web uploads.
The decision comes down to a simple choice: monitoring versus protection. ActivTrak monitors; AnySecura protects, delivering superior risk mitigation and lasting peace of mind.
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