Compare Web Activity Tracker and Weava: Which Extension is the Best?

Web Activity Time Tracker is an open-source extension that tracks time on websites, providing insights and customizable alerts to help manage online activities.
Weava Highlighter was once a popular choice, but now it’s filled with ads and has a poor user experience. Better options like Web Highlights do the job better without the hassle.
Key Features
  • Activity Monitoring: Tracks time spent on different websites.
  • Detailed Reports: Provides insights into daily, weekly, and monthly activity.
  • Limit and Block Distracting Websites: Set daily time limits for specific websites
  • Custom Alerts: Set alerts for excessive time on specific sites.
  • Pomodoro Mode: Use the Pomodoro technique for focus work
  • Export: Export your Data to CSV.
  • Web & PDF Highlighting: Easily highlight text on web pages and PDFs using various colors.
  • Annotations: Add detailed notes to your highlights for better reference and organization.
  • Cloud Syncing: Seamlessly access your highlights and notes across multiple devices.
  • Organize with Folders: Structure your highlights with folders and sub-folders for easy retrieval.
  • Citation Creation: Automatically generate citations for your highlighted text, simplifying your research process.
Our Rating
9.2
7.0
Total users
37,399
200,000
Total ratings
814
2,728
Average rating
4.7 ⭐
4.1 ⭐
Entry Level PriceFreeFree
Chrome
Chrome Web Store logo
4.8
4.66
789 ratings
30.0K+Users
Chrome Web Store logo
4.1
3.01
2.7K+ ratings
200.0K+Users
Edge
Microsoft Edge Store logo
4.6
4.41
25 ratings
7.4K+Users
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Firefox
-
-
Safari
-
-
Features
8.7

The tool offers the option of independently tracking your time on different websites. Compared to its competitors, it stands out because it has thought about which functions are important for effective tracking.

featured

This can be seen, for example, in the function that automatically stops tracking if there is no activity on the website within a certain period. This avoids the problem faced by competitors: if several tabs are open, they all continue to be tracked simultaneously.

settings

The reports are also very clearly presented, but there is still some room for improvement in the evaluation, for example by classifying the websites directly into categories such as social media or similar, so that they can be evaluated later.

8.5

Weava offers basic but functional features like web and PDF highlighting, annotations, and folder organization.

The basic functionalities work great but the lack of innovative or advanced functionalities, especially compared to competitors, limits its appeal.

Top 3 Features of Weava Highlighter

1. Highlight Websites and PDFs

Highlighting text with Weava

Similar to our favorite highlighter Web Highlights, you can highlight text on any website or PDF. Choose different colors to customize your highlights and make important information stand out.

2. Organize Research into Folders

Organize in folders

Weava lets you save your highlights and organize them into folders, making it simple to keep your research organized and find what you need fast.

3. Collaborate with Your Team

Share folders with your co-workers

Weava allows you to share folders with your team, making collaboration on research projects easy. Everyone can add and view highlights and notes all in one place.

Performance
9.7

The tool works reliably, there were no crashes or errors during testing. It tracks and reports data efficiently without you noticing any performance issues during use. A few users wrote in reviews that there were inaccuracies in the tracked time, which we could not reproduce in the test.

7.0

Weava performs adequately when it comes to basic highlighting and syncing. However, the overall performance is marred by the intrusive ads and occasional bugs that make the experience less smooth than it should be.

Design
9.0

The Design is clear and intuitive. Some design changes such as the dark mode can also be adjusted in the settings. In our opinion, the dashboard is the only area where there is still room for improvement in terms of presenting the evaluations.

Dashboard
6.0

The design is where Weava really struggles. The interface is cluttered with ads, making it not only visually unappealing but also frustrating to use.

Here's a screenshot showing one of their ads taking up nearly half the height of their sidebar:

Ads are covering half of the sidebar

The overall design feels outdated and lacks the intuitive flow found in other tools. This poor design significantly hampers the user experience.

Value for Money
9.3

As a free tool, it offers good value for money for users looking for basic tracking features at no cost. In comparison with competitors, many functions are already offered, but other competitors still have useful functions, particularly in the evaluation of data, and there is still room for improvement here.

6.8

The free version of Weava offers basic features, and their premium plan at $3.99/month is priced similarly to competitors.

However, given the ads in the free version and the overall user experience, you can find better value in alternatives that provide more features and a cleaner interface for the same or even lower cost.

Ease of Use
9.0

Setting up the Web Activity Time Tracker is simple and does not require a great deal of technical skill. The tool is designed to be very user-friendly, including the setup with short instructions. The only thing that is a little confusing is that not all evaluations can be displayed in the dashboard via the icon. Only the evaluation for the current day is displayed here.

6.5

Weava’s basic highlighting functionality is straightforward, but the poor design and mandatory account creation add unnecessary friction. The ads make navigation cumbersome, and while it’s not difficult to learn, using the tool effectively can be a challenge due to these barriers.

Security & Privacy
9.7

Web Activity Time Tracker performs almost perfectly here, as it does not collect or transmit any data. This data is only stored on the local computer. The entire code can be read open source on GitHub.
However, it is also pointed out in the very short privacy policy that this can change; a somewhat more detailed policy would be desirable in this case, in which it is also specified which data is stored locally and where.

7.0

Weava does take steps to protect user data, and their privacy policy is clear about not selling personal information. However, the requirement to create an account and the potential for data collection through ads could be a concern for privacy-conscious users.

Conclusion

Web Activity Time Tracker is a perfect choice for anyone who wants to know how much time is spent on which websites. The user-friendly design and comprehensive reports make it an easy tool to increase productivity. The customizability of various features also stood out. Overall, it offers good added value, especially when you consider that it's free.

Weava Highlighter may still be a popular choice, but its current state leaves much to be desired. The overwhelming presence of ads and a clunky design significantly detract from the user experience, making it hard to justify its use when other tools offer a more polished and ad-free environment.

If you’re serious about your productivity, it’s worth exploring alternatives like Web Highlights, which delivers all the benefits of Weava without the downsides.

Our Recommendation

In our comparison between Web Activity Tracker and Weava, Web Activity Tracker came out on top, scoring 9.2.

Weava is the most widely used, with over 200k users and 3k+ reviews, but Web Activity Tracker outperformed it in our review. User reviews for Web Activity Tracker reflect our findings, while we rate Weava lower than users do.

Notably, Web Activity Tracker has the highest user rating in the Chrome Web Store at 4.71, which supports its strong performance in our review.

There are big differences between these extensions, so it's important to look at the details below to find the best fit for your needs.


  • Looking for the richest feature set? Web Activity Tracker stands out with a rating of 8.7. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.5.
  • Need top performance? Web Activity Tracker stands out with a rating of 9.7. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.
  • Design lovers, take note: Web Activity Tracker stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.
  • Want to get the most for your money? Web Activity Tracker stands out with a rating of 9.3. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.8.
  • If you hate complicated tools, Web Activity Tracker stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.5.
  • With privacy and security becoming ever more important, Web Activity Tracker stands out with a rating of 9.7. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.

If you want a quick recommendation, Web Activity Tracker is our top pick. But as always, the best choice depends on what matters most to you.