Screen Time comes free with every Mac and is fine for a quick look at today. But it keeps about four weeks of history, shows websites mainly for Safari, and its website limits only work in Safari. Timecard tracks every app and site in every major browser, keeps it forever, and blocks over-limit sites in Chrome and Arc too.
Timecard
Screen Time
01
Best for: free, for a quick look and family limits
Best for: seeing, and limiting, where your Mac day goes
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Screen Time is free. Timecard is a single payment for what it adds.
TimecardPay once$5once, for 1 Mac
Screen TimeBuilt into macOSFrom Screen Time's own pages, October 2026.
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 Timecard | Screen Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking | ||
| Tracks apps automatically | Yes | Yes |
| Tracks websites | Yes, in Safari, Chrome, Arc, Dia, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera and Comet | Mainly Safari; other browsers count as one app |
| History | Forever, plus the weeks Screen Time already kept | About four weeks |
| Privacy | ||
| Account | Not needed | Not needed |
| Where your data lives | On your Mac, in one local file | On your devices, optional sharing through iCloud |
| Limits | ||
| Limits that block apps and sites | Yes: blocks the tab or covers the app, then asks why | App Limits and Downtime; website limits in Safari only |
| Beyond tracking | ||
| AI coding usage | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, opencode, Gemini CLI: time, tokens, API value | No |
| Daily summary | A timecard printed from the notch every evening | No |
| Teams and client billing | No, it's built for one person | Family Sharing, for children's devices |
| Availability | ||
| Platforms | Mac, macOS 14 or later | Mac, iPhone, iPad |
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01
Screen Time sees websites in Safari, and other browsers mostly appear as a single app. Timecard reads the front tab of Safari, Chrome, Arc, Dia, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera and Comet, so a day in Chrome becomes the sites you actually used.
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Screen Time keeps roughly the last four weeks. Timecard keeps everything in one file on your Mac, and on first launch it imports the weeks macOS already has, so you don't start from zero.
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Screen Time's App Limits offer One More Minute and Ignore Limit, and its website limits only apply in Safari. When a Timecard limit runs out, the tab goes blank in any supported browser, or the app is covered, until you close it or explain why you need more time.
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Timecard picks up the App Limits you already set in Screen Time, including ones synced from your iPhone, and keeps them linked. Keep Screen Time for your phone and family; use Timecard for the detail on your Mac.
For most people on a Mac, Timecard: it tracks every app and website automatically, keeps the data on your Mac, blocks apps and sites when a daily limit runs out, tracks AI coding usage, and costs one payment with no account. Screen Time is still the better fit if a rough daily total is all you need.
It can be, on your Mac. Most people keep Screen Time for their iPhone and family, and use Timecard for the Mac: every website in every browser, history forever, and limits that block outside Safari. Timecard reads your Screen Time limits, so the two work together.
Mainly in Safari. Time in Chrome, Arc or Brave mostly shows up as the browser itself. Timecard splits time in those browsers into the real websites.
About four weeks. Timecard imports those weeks when you first open it, then keeps everything from then on, for as long as you use it.
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