Is Aurelius or DeskTime better?

Neither clearly leads. Aurelius starts at $49/month and DeskTime at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Aurelius or DeskTime?

DeskTime has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $49/month for Aurelius and Free for DeskTime.

Does Aurelius or DeskTime run on more platforms?

Aurelius runs on Web. DeskTime runs on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, Linux.

Can I use DeskTime for free?

Yes. DeskTime has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Aurelius starts at $49/month.

What is Aurelius best used for?

Aurelius is most often used for a research team of three whose findings currently live in individual miro boards and google docs that nobody outside the team can find six months later, a product organisation that wants every designer and product manager to search past research without paying forty repository seats, a consultancy running discovery for multiple clients that needs tagged evidence kept separate per client but searchable internally, a team preparing a repeat study who need to know what was already learned about the same problem two years ago before they recruit anyone. Of those, a research team of three whose findings currently live in individual miro boards and google docs that nobody outside the team can find six months later and a product organisation that wants every designer and product manager to search past research without paying forty repository seats are not what DeskTime is typically brought in for.

What can Aurelius do that DeskTime cannot?

Aurelius covers Research repository, Analysis board, Tagging, Insights and recommendations. DeskTime covers Automatic activity tracking, Application and website tracking, Daily reports, Weekly summaries.

Research · head to head

Aurelius vs DeskTime

Aurelius

Research

UX research repository for tagging notes, building insights and finding them again years later

From: $49/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

DeskTime

Productivity

Automatic computer activity tracking and productivity analytics

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only DeskTime has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Aurelius aurelius does not recruit participants or run unmoderated studies, so it is always a second tool alongside a testing or recruitment platform and never the whole research budget.; DeskTime screenshots are excluded from the Pro plan and start at Premium
They diverge on capability: Aurelius covers Research repository, DeskTime covers Automatic activity tracking.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Aurelius and DeskTime actually diverge.

Attributes where Aurelius and DeskTime differ
Attribute	Aurelius	DeskTime
Starting price	$49/month	Free
Pricing model	Flat monthly fee, unlimited users	freemium
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, Linux
Category	Research	Productivity
Founded	Unknown	2013

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Aurelius

Research repository
Analysis board
Tagging
Insights and recommendations
Transcription
AI assist
Automatic report builder
Universal search

Only in DeskTime

Automatic activity tracking
Application and website tracking
Daily reports
Weekly summaries
Privacy-first design
Detailed analytics
Goal setting
Mobile apps

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Aurelius

A research team of three whose findings currently live in individual Miro boards and Google Docs that nobody outside the team can find six months laternot DeskTime
A product organisation that wants every designer and product manager to search past research without paying forty repository seatsnot DeskTime
A consultancy running discovery for multiple clients that needs tagged evidence kept separate per client but searchable internallynot DeskTime
A team preparing a repeat study who need to know what was already learned about the same problem two years ago before they recruit anyonenot DeskTime

DeskTime

Automatic time tracking of desktop app and website usagenot Aurelius
Measuring team productivity and idle timenot Aurelius
Scheduling shifts and tracking absencesnot Aurelius

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Aurelius

Aurelius does not recruit participants or run unmoderated studies, so it is always a second tool alongside a testing or recruitment platform and never the whole research budget.
Integrations are thin, with Zapier, Jira and Slack rather than direct connections to the call recording and testing tools most teams already run, so getting material in often means manual upload.
The tag vocabulary is only as good as the discipline applied to it, and repositories where several researchers invent overlapping tags become unsearchable within a year with no built-in governance to prevent it.
Unlimited users is genuinely unlimited but permissions are basic below Enterprise, so a team that needs client-safe or stakeholder-only views has to buy the quoted tier for something that reads as a table-stakes control.
It is a small independent vendor competing with much better funded repositories, which is a real procurement risk for an organisation storing years of research in it, and enterprise assurance material such as penetration test reports sits behind the top tier.

DeskTime

Screenshots are excluded from the Pro plan and start at Premium
Integrations and API access require the Premium plan
Shift scheduling requires the Premium plan
Enterprise is aimed at 200+ users and is priced by quote with no published rate
The advertised $6.42 and $9.17 per user rates require annual billing; monthly billing costs more
The trial lasts 14 days

Pricing, plan by plan

Aurelius

$49/month

Professional$49/month
- Unlimited users
- Unlimited projects and storage
- Notes, tags and documents
Premium$199/month
- Everything in Professional
- Recommendations
- Universal search across projects
Enterprise$undefined/year
- Everything in Premium
- SSO with SAML 2.0
- IP allowlisting

DeskTime

Free

FreeFree
- Activity tracking
- Basic reports
- Weekly emails
Pro$9/month
- Everything in Free
- Advanced reports
- Detailed analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Aurelius if

You need research repository.
You also want analysis board.

Aurelius review

Choose DeskTime if

You need automatic activity tracking.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, Linux.
You also want application and website tracking.

DeskTime review

Questions people ask

Is Aurelius or DeskTime better?: Neither clearly leads. Aurelius starts at $49/month and DeskTime at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Aurelius or DeskTime?: DeskTime has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $49/month for Aurelius and Free for DeskTime.
Does Aurelius or DeskTime run on more platforms?: Aurelius runs on Web. DeskTime runs on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, Linux.
Can I use DeskTime for free?: Yes. DeskTime has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Aurelius starts at $49/month.
What is Aurelius best used for?: Aurelius is most often used for a research team of three whose findings currently live in individual miro boards and google docs that nobody outside the team can find six months later, a product organisation that wants every designer and product manager to search past research without paying forty repository seats, a consultancy running discovery for multiple clients that needs tagged evidence kept separate per client but searchable internally, a team preparing a repeat study who need to know what was already learned about the same problem two years ago before they recruit anyone. Of those, a research team of three whose findings currently live in individual miro boards and google docs that nobody outside the team can find six months later and a product organisation that wants every designer and product manager to search past research without paying forty repository seats are not what DeskTime is typically brought in for.
What can Aurelius do that DeskTime cannot?: Aurelius covers Research repository, Analysis board, Tagging, Insights and recommendations. DeskTime covers Automatic activity tracking, Application and website tracking, Daily reports, Weekly summaries.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Aurelius: Does the price really include unlimited users?

Yes. Professional at 49 US dollars a month and Premium at 199, both billed yearly, both with unlimited users, projects and storage.

DeskTime: What are DeskTime's subscription tiers?

DeskTime offers Pro at $6.42/user/month (annual billing) for small teams and startups, Premium at $9.17/user/month (marked Most Popular) for hybrid and growing teams, and Enterprise with custom pricing for 200+ users.

Source

Aurelius: Can I run usability tests in it?

No. Aurelius stores and analyses research; it does not recruit participants or host sessions. Pair it with a testing tool.

DeskTime: What features differentiate the Premium tier from Pro?

Premium adds screenshots, integrations & API, and shift scheduling compared to Pro's document title tracking and calendar integrations.

Source

Aurelius: What is the difference between Professional and Premium?

Premium adds universal cross-project search, collections, recommendations and Zapier. If your value comes from finding old research, Premium is the tier that delivers it.

DeskTime: How long is the DeskTime free trial?

DeskTime offers a 14-day free trial. No credit card is required to start.

Source

Aurelius: Is there single sign-on?

Only on Enterprise, along with IP allowlisting, Jira and advanced permissions. Everything below is quoted separately.

DeskTime: What billing options does DeskTime offer?

DeskTime offers monthly or annual billing. Annual subscriptions include one complimentary month compared to monthly plan pricing. You can pay by credit card or PayPal.

Source

Aurelius vs DeskTime

Aurelius

DeskTime

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Aurelius

Only in DeskTime

What people use each for

Aurelius

DeskTime

Where each one falls short

Aurelius

DeskTime

Pricing, plan by plan

Aurelius

DeskTime

Which should you pick?

Choose Aurelius if

Choose DeskTime if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Aurelius

More on DeskTime

Keep looking

Other head to heads