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Productivity · head to head

Memtime vs Microsoft 365

Memtime logo

Memtime

Productivity

Automatic time tracking that never leaves your machine

From
€10/month
Rated
-
Microsoft 365 logo

Microsoft 365

Productivity

Subscription bundle of the Office applications with mail, storage, meetings and organisational identity

From
$7/month
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Memtime no free tier. There is a 14 day trial and after that the cheapest route is €10 a user a month on a two-year commitment, or €15 quarterly.; Microsoft 365 business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • They diverge on capability: Memtime covers Automatic activity timeline, Microsoft 365 covers Office applications.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 24 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Memtime and Microsoft 365 actually diverge.

Attributes where Memtime and Microsoft 365 differ
AttributeMemtimeMicrosoft 365
Starting price€10/month$7/month
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxWeb
Founded2016Unknown

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

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 Memtime

  • Automatic activity timeline
  • Local-only storage
  • Timesheet automation
  • Offline tracking
  • 100+ project software integrations
  • Calendar integration
  • Phone call tracking
  • Billability reporting

Only in Microsoft 365

  • Office applications
  • Hosted services
  • Teams
  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • OneDrive storage
  • Device management and endpoint protection
  • Purview compliance
  • Copilot

What people use each for

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

Memtime

  • Reconstructing a day nobody remembered to timenot Microsoft 365
  • Billing clients accurately without running a stopwatchnot Microsoft 365
  • Tracking time where activity data must not leave the machinenot Microsoft 365
  • Filling timesheets in Jira or Asana from a recorded timelinenot Microsoft 365
  • Separating billable from non-billable work after the factnot Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365

  • Any organisation that wants mail, documents, meetings and identity from one supplier on one bill.not Memtime
  • A company standardising on single sign-on, where Entra ID becomes the account other services authenticate against.not Memtime
  • Regulated work that needs retention, legal hold and eDiscovery across mail and documents, provided the tier that includes them is actually bought.not Memtime
  • A household that needs installed Office applications on several machines rather than browser-only editing.not Memtime

Where each one falls short

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

Memtime

  • No free tier. There is a 14 day trial and after that the cheapest route is €10 a user a month on a two-year commitment, or €15 quarterly.
  • The integrations most buyers arrive for are on Connect, not Basic, so the entry tier is a local tracker with no link to the project software you already run.
  • Desktop only. There is no mobile app, so work done away from the computer has to be entered by hand.
  • Local-only storage is the product's point and also its limit: there is no central view for a manager, and a lost or wiped machine takes its timeline with it.
  • Tracking is at five or six minute granularity rather than to the second, which is right for reconstructing a day and wrong for anyone billing in one-minute units.

Microsoft 365

  • Business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • The compliance capabilities most organisations eventually need, including retention, data loss prevention, advanced eDiscovery and insider risk, sit at the top tier or in add-ons, so the real cost surfaces after an audit or a customer questionnaire rather than at purchase.
  • Annual term subscriptions commit you for the year and month-to-month terms cost measurably more per seat, so the flexibility to reduce seats during a quiet period is bought at a permanently higher rate.
  • Entra ID becomes the identity for everything else the organisation uses, which is the hardest kind of lock-in to put a number on, because leaving means re-federating every connected application rather than simply replacing a word processor.
  • The licensing model is complicated enough that most organisations are either over-licensed or quietly non-compliant, and reconciling it usually requires a partner or a specialist, which is a recurring cost that never appears in the advertised per-user figure.

Pricing, plan by plan

Memtime

€10/month
  • Basic$15/month
    • Per user, quarterly billing
    • €12 annual, €10 on two years
    • Automatic desktop tracking
  • Connect$22/month
    • Everything in Basic
    • €18 annual, €15 on two years
    • 100+ software integrations
  • Premium$30/month
    • Everything in Connect
    • €25 annual, €20 on two years
    • Call system integrations
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Custom pricing from 50 seats
    • From €10 a month on a two-year term
    • Team trial and onboarding

Microsoft 365

$7/month
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7/month
    • Email and calendar with 50 GB mailbox
    • Web and mobile versions of Office apps
    • Microsoft Teams included
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard$14/month
    • Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
    • Email and Teams
    • 1 TB cloud storage per user
  • Microsoft 365 E5$60/month
    • Comprehensive security and compliance
    • All productivity apps
    • Advanced analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Memtime if

  • You need automatic activity timeline.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want local-only storage.

Choose Microsoft 365 if

  • You need office applications.
  • You also want hosted services.

Questions people ask

Is Memtime or Microsoft 365 better?
Neither clearly leads. Memtime starts at €10/month and Microsoft 365 at $7/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Memtime or Microsoft 365?
Memtime starts at €10/month and Microsoft 365 at $7/month.
Does Memtime or Microsoft 365 run on more platforms?
Memtime runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. Microsoft 365 runs on Web.
What is Memtime best used for?
Memtime is most often used for reconstructing a day nobody remembered to time, billing clients accurately without running a stopwatch, tracking time where activity data must not leave the machine, filling timesheets in jira or asana from a recorded timeline. Of those, reconstructing a day nobody remembered to time and billing clients accurately without running a stopwatch are not what Microsoft 365 is typically brought in for.
What can Memtime do that Microsoft 365 cannot?
Memtime covers Automatic activity timeline, Local-only storage, Timesheet automation, Offline tracking. Microsoft 365 covers Office applications, Hosted services, Teams, Microsoft Entra ID.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Memtime: Does Memtime send my activity data to a server?

No. Activity is stored locally on the device that recorded it and never reaches a server, which is the basis of the product's "built for privacy" positioning and why no manager console exists.

Source
Microsoft 365: What is the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office?

Office was a one-off licence for a specific version. Microsoft 365 is a subscription covering the applications and the hosted services together, and when payment stops the applications drop to a reduced state rather than continuing as they were.

Memtime: What does Memtime cost?

Per user per month, falling with commitment: Basic is €15 quarterly, €12 annual or €10 on two years. Connect is €22, €18 or €15. Premium is €30, €25 or €20. Enterprise is custom from 50 seats. Every tier has a 14 day trial with no card required.

Source
Microsoft 365: Is Teams included?

Not automatically for newer customers. Microsoft unbundled Teams and now sells it alongside the suite, so check what a given quotation actually covers.

Memtime: Which plan includes the integrations?

Connect and above. Basic covers automatic tracking, timesheets, calendars and reporting, but the 100+ project software integrations and the sync with them start at Connect.

Source
Microsoft 365: What happens to our files if we stop paying?

The documents remain yours and can be downloaded, but access to hosted mailboxes and sites ends after a retention window, so leaving requires a planned export rather than a cancellation.

Memtime: How does the automatic tracking work?

It records the program and document in your foreground window at five or six minute granularity and builds a timeline from that. There is no timer to start, so nothing is lost to forgetting.

Source
Microsoft 365: Is Copilot part of the subscription?

No. It is a per-user add-on on top of the base licence, generally with its own term commitment, and it is priced per seat regardless of how much any individual uses it.

Memtime: Which platforms does it run on?

Windows, macOS and Linux desktops. There is no mobile application.

Source
Memtime: Who makes Memtime?

Memtime GmbH, a German company founded in 2016.

Source
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