Timing alternative
A Timing app alternative that writes the journal for you
Timing is one of the best Mac time trackers around. It records your apps, documents and websites, and you shape that record into time entries with rules. Didon is a Timing app alternative for people who would rather let an AI model on their Mac do the sorting.
What is Timing good at?
Timing runs in the background on your Mac and records time in apps, documents and websites. You assign that time to projects by dragging blocks on a timeline or by writing rules, and Timing applies the rules from then on. It also handles manual time entries, billing status, report rounding and integrations with calendars, ClickUp, Linear, Clio and the GrandTotal invoicing app.
It's a precise, mature tool. If you bill by the hour and like control, it's hard to beat.
Why look for a Timing alternative?
Two reasons come up most.
The rules are work. Timing gets more accurate as you build rules, and you keep tuning them as projects change. Some people enjoy that. Others want the day sorted without maintaining a rule set.
The AI runs in the cloud. Timing's AI summaries are optional and need a Timing Sync account. Per Timing's own help page, some data about your Mac usage is processed by OpenAI to create them, then deleted after 30 days. That's a reasonable setup. It's still a cloud step.
How does Didon handle the same job?
Didon also runs in the background on your Mac. While tracking is on, it takes a screenshot every 30 seconds and a vision model on your Mac reads it: window titles, file names, visible text. It matches what it sees to the projects you typed in, with no rules to write.
- No rule set. List your projects once. The model matches the screen to them. Unmatched time goes to "Other".
- A written daily journal. Time per project, a category split and a short summary of the day.
- Ask your logs. Type "What did I work on for Acme last week?" and get an answer from your own history.
- Local AI. Screenshots are analysed on the Mac and never uploaded. Logs are saved in
~/Documents/Didon/. - CSV with timestamps. Export is included on any paid plan.
Should you pick Didon or Timing?
Pick Didon if you want automatic tracking without building rules, you'd like the AI to run on your own Mac, and a written daily summary is more useful to you than a precise timeline. It suits developers, founders and freelancers who review the week rather than curate every block.
Stay with Timing if you bill hourly through an invoicing app, need two-way sync with ClickUp or Linear, use more than one Mac, or work in a team. Timing has more control and more integrations than Didon, and it's been refined for years. Didon is narrower on purpose.
How do you move from Timing to Didon?
Didon doesn't import Timing data, so run both for a week and decide with real numbers.
Weighing other tools too? See the RescueTime alternative and Toggl alternative for Mac pages, or how Didon's screenshot-based tracking works.
- Export your Timing history if you want to keep it.
- Install Didon and enter your projects as a comma-separated list in the Configuration tab. Reuse your Timing project names so the two reports line up.
- Let both run for five days. Don't touch Didon. Keep using Timing the way you do now.
- Compare at the end of the week. Did Didon get the projects right without rules? Did you read its summary?
Didon vs Timing at a glance
| Topic | Didon | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| How it tracks | Screenshot every 30 s, read by an on-device AI model | Records app, document and website use |
| Sorting time into projects | AI matches the screen to your project list | Rules and drag-and-drop on a timeline |
| AI summaries | On your Mac | Optional, processed by OpenAI, needs a Timing Sync account |
| Free option | Free plan, 1 week of history | 30-day free trial, no card |
| Paid price | €9/month or €20/month | Professional $11/month or $108/year; Expert $14/month or $132/year; Connect $20/month or $192/year per user |
| Sync across Macs | No | Yes, with Timing Sync |
| Integrations and invoicing | None; CSV export | Calendar, ClickUp, Linear, Clio, GrandTotal, web API |
| Teams | No team plan | Yes, on Connect |
Timing prices from timingapp.com/pricing (US prices, checked 26 October 2026). Prices can differ by country and tax.
FAQ
Common questions about how Didon compares.