Comparison
A Toggl Track alternative that keeps your hours on your Mac.
Toggl Track is a well made tracker built around an account: your hours sync through its cloud to every device, and teams run reports, billable rates, and invoices on top. Build Mode is a private time tracker for macOS with the opposite shape: sessions one person starts on purpose, kept in a local file on one Mac, paid for once. Neither is wrong. This page lays out the difference plainly so you can pick the one that fits how you work.
Press ⌘⌥B
Do the work
Press again
Watch it add up
How Toggl Track works
An account and a cloud, synced everywhere.
Toggl Track is built around an account: your entries sync through Toggl’s cloud across web, desktop, mobile, and browser extensions. If you lose connection it keeps tracking and syncs when you reconnect. It is a subscription per person, with a genuinely free plan for a limited number of users. Its center of gravity is teams and billing: reports, billable rates, invoices. And it is respectful software: Toggl is explicit that it takes no screenshots, and its desktop tracking of apps and websites is a feature you choose to turn on.
How Build Mode works
Deliberate, local, built around sessions.
Build Mode is a one-button tracker for people building something: a side project, a startup, a skill. Press ⌘⌥B when a focused session begins, a small clock shows in the MacBook notch while it runs, and press again to stop and jot a note. It counts active time only, and everything stays on your Mac. You buy it once.
What changes
Four things that feel different after the switch.
Sessions you choose
Nothing is recorded until you press ⌘⌥B. A short full-screen ceremony marks the start; press again to end the session with a one-line note. Tracking becomes a decision, not a background process.
No account, no cloud
Toggl signs you in because sync is the point: your hours follow you to every device. Build Mode has no account to create and no login screen. Your hours live in a local file on your Mac, and that is the whole system.
Active time only
Build Mode pauses when you step away or the display sleeps. The hours on your dashboard are hours you actually worked, so the totals are worth trusting.
Paid once
No subscription and no per person seat. The download is free, and one license key, sent by email and verified on your Mac, unlocks it for good.
The structural difference
Privacy that does not depend on a policy.
Toggl’s cloud is a fair design, and Toggl treats the data in it respectfully: it says plainly that it takes no screenshots, and its activity tracking is under your control. But any synced tool ultimately protects your hours with a policy. Build Mode takes a different shape: the app contains no networking code at all, which you can verify by searching the app for networking symbols. It asks for zero macOS permissions. No screen recording, no keystroke logging, no browser history, no website tracking. Your hours cannot be transmitted because nothing in the app can transmit.
That is a difference in shape, not virtue. It just means privacy is something you can check yourself instead of a promise you take on trust.
How a fully private time tracker worksBe honest with yourself
Toggl Track may fit you better if…
You track time on more than one device and want the record to follow you. You bill clients and want billable rates, reports, and invoices to come from the same tool. You work with a team that needs one shared view of everyone’s hours. Or you simply want a capable free plan. If that describes you, an account with a cloud behind it is the right shape.
The other philosophy
Build Mode may fit you better if…
You are one person and the only stakeholder in your hours. You want your record on your Mac, with no account anywhere. You’d rather pay once than subscribe. And you like your hours becoming a shareable visual recap, Wrapped, opened whenever you want and kept private or shared. The product page shows the whole loop, and the download is free; a license key unlocks it.
Common questions
Switching questions, answered plainly.
Is Build Mode free like Toggl’s free plan?
No. Toggl’s free plan is real and serves individuals well. Build Mode has no free plan and no subscription either: the download is free, and a license paid once unlocks the app with a key sent by email. The private time trackers roundup compares more tools.
Does Build Mode sync between devices like Toggl?
No. There is no account and no cloud, so your hours stay on the Mac where you work. That is the deliberate tradeoff of the zero-network design. If a record that follows you across devices is essential, Toggl’s sync is honestly the better fit.
Does Build Mode track my apps and websites automatically?
Nothing records outside a session. While a session runs, Auto Mode suggests a mode, Build, Design, Writing and so on, from the name of the frontmost app. Browsers stay unassigned by default, it never sees the sites you visit, and you can turn it off in Settings or pick modes yourself.
Can Build Mode bill clients or fill timesheets?
No, on purpose. There are no billable rates, invoices, or timesheets. Build Mode counts the hours you put into your own work, with a one line note on each session if you want one. If your hours exist so a client can be invoiced, Toggl is the better tool for that job.
What are the requirements?
macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel. License details live in the terms.
Two philosophies, one choice