Stop Guessing. Start Seeing What Actually Shipped
Hubstaff shows you activity metrics: '87% productive,' 'keyboard activity rate,' website visits tracked. But these metrics are completely disconnected from whether your features actually shipped. Founders switching to Shipanel get real clarity: 'Implemented login feature, fixed authentication bug, deployed to production.' That's data you can actually use.
Free to start • Setup in 90 seconds
Why Teams Leave Hubstaff
Hubstaff gives founders the illusion of insight while providing no actionable visibility into actual shipping. Here's the problem:
Problem 01
Metrics That Don't Predict Shipping
Hubstaff's dashboard is full of data: activity graphs, productivity percentages, screenshot history, URL tracking. 87% active looks impressive until you realize it tells you nothing about whether features shipped on time. You could have developers at 95% activity and zero progress. Or developers at 60% activity shipping critical features. Activity is not output. Hubstaff confuses the two.
"Hubstaff told me my team was 86% productive last week. We shipped zero new features. The metric was meaningless but I spent 30 minutes analyzing it."
— Emma T., Non-Technical Founder
Problem 02
Dashboard Paralysis From Too Much Data
Hubstaff's dashboard has 50+ metrics, charts, and graphs. Time reports, URL reports, app usage reports, screenshot galleries. Most of it is noise. You're drowning in data but can't answer simple questions: 'Did we ship the feature?' 'Are we on track for this deadline?' 'What exactly did each developer accomplish this week?' Hubstaff optimizes for data volume, not clarity.
"I spend 2 hours every week analyzing Hubstaff reports trying to understand if we're on track. I still can't answer the question. It's theater, not insight."
— Marcus W., Bootstrapped CEO
Problem 03
Screenshots & Surveillance That Create Resentment
Hubstaff takes random screenshots throughout the day. It tracks which websites you visit. It monitors app usage. Developers feel spied on, even if they have nothing to hide. This surveillance culture damages trust and makes remote work feel oppressive. You're trying to monitor work, but you're actually measuring activity—which is not the same thing.
"My developer asked why random screenshots were being taken. I realized I couldn't give him a good answer. He started looking for another job."
— Rachel P., Remote CEO
The Cost of Staying
of developers say activity tracking hurts motivation
metrics in Hubstaff dashboard that don't matter
per week spent analyzing Hubstaff data
How Shipanel Solves This
Shipanel replaces activity tracking with output tracking. Instead of monitoring what developers do, we track what actually got shipped.
Output-Based Reporting
See exactly what shipped today: 'Implemented API endpoint, fixed database query performance issue, deployed to staging.' Real output in plain English. No productivity percentages. No website tracking. No screenshots. Just actual accomplishments you can understand and act on.
One Clear Dashboard (Not 50 Confusing Graphs)
Shipanel shows you what matters: What shipped today? What's in progress? What's blocked? That's it. No dashboard paralysis. No time wasted analyzing meaningless metrics. Just clarity on the things that actually impact your business.
Developer-Friendly Monitoring
No screenshots. No website tracking. No app monitoring. Just GitHub commits (which developers already make public anyway). Developers appreciate this. Remote teams work better when they feel trusted instead of surveilled.
Real Results from Founders Like You
Time saved on monitoring analysis
From 2-3 hours/week to actionable insights
Faster decision-making on shipping
Real data vs confusing metrics
Improvement in developer satisfaction
Less surveillance, more trust
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Here's how output-focused tracking compares to activity-focused monitoring:
| Feature | Hubstaff | Shipanel | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screenshot Monitoring | Shipanel | ||
| Website Activity Tracking | Shipanel | ||
| App Usage Monitoring | Shipanel | ||
| Complex Dashboard With 50+ Metrics | Shipanel | ||
| Plain English Shipping Summaries | Shipanel | ||
| GitHub Integration | Shipanel | ||
| AI-Powered Context | Shipanel | ||
| Developer-Friendly | Shipanel | ||
| Simple Decision-Making | Shipanel | ||
| Cost | Shipanel |
Key Insight
Hubstaff optimizes for surveillance comprehensiveness. Shipanel optimizes for founder clarity. Different goals produce different results.
Switch in 5 Minutes
Moving from Hubstaff to Shipanel takes about 5 minutes. You'll start seeing real shipping clarity immediately.
Sign Up for Shipanel
60 secondsGo to shipanel.com/start. Sign up with your work email. No credit card. No demos with sales people. Immediate access.
Invite Your Team
2 minutes totalSend team members an invite link. They authorize GitHub, choose their repos. Everyone sees exactly what Shipanel accesses (public GitHub commits). Completely transparent.
Connect Your Main Repos
1 minuteSelect the GitHub repos you want to monitor. That's it. No mandatory tracking. No screenshots needed. No website monitoring required.
See Real Shipping Progress
ImmediateFirst commit gets explained: 'Implemented user authentication, fixed login timeout issue, merged to main.' You finally understand what's actually shipping.
Cancel Hubstaff
2 minutesRemove Hubstaff. Your team will appreciate the shift from surveillance to trust. Stop analyzing meaningless metrics.
Total Migration Time
5-7 Minutes Total
Teams Who Made the Switch
Founders who've switched from Hubstaff's confusion to Shipanel's clarity:
Emma T.
Non-Technical Founder, SaaS • 10-person team
"I'm not technical. Hubstaff's 50 metrics confused me more than helped. Shipanel's 'here's what shipped' approach made everything clear. Finally I understand my product."
Can now answer 'Are we on track?' instead of analyzing confusion
Marcus W.
Bootstrapped CEO, Micro SaaS • 3-person team
"Hubstaff cost $15/developer plus the time to make sense of the data. Switched to Shipanel at $29/team. Actually cheaper, and the clarity is better."
Same visibility, 80% lower cost, better team culture
Rachel P.
Remote CTO, Startup • 8-person distributed team
"Developers hated Hubstaff's screenshots. After switching to Shipanel, they said 'This actually makes sense.' They feel trusted but visible. Remote team culture improved overnight."
Better team dynamics without sacrificing visibility
Antonio C.
Founder, Early SaaS • 6-person team
"Hubstaff gave me paralysis analysis. 50 metrics, 0 useful insights. Shipanel gives me exactly what I need: what shipped. The simplicity is the feature."
Went from confused to confident in 2 weeks
Questions About Switching
Questions about switching from Hubstaff's complexity to Shipanel's simplicity:
Your question
answered
No. Shipanel intentionally gives you less data—because most of Hubstaff's data is noise. Shipanel focuses on the metrics that actually matter: What shipped? When did it ship? What's in progress? That's all you need. If you're spending time analyzing detailed metrics in Hubstaff, you don't actually need that data. You need clarity.
Shipanel doesn't do time tracking—it does output tracking. If you need billable hours, pair Shipanel with Toggl or Harvest. But honestly, most teams find that after they start using Shipanel, they stop caring about detailed time tracking. Output clarity is better than time logs.
Shipanel doesn't show real-time activity—we only show commits. But here's the thing: watching activity in real-time doesn't tell you anything useful. It makes developers feel micromanaged. And it doesn't predict shipping. Commits (actual output) matter. Activity (looking busy) doesn't.
Shipanel works beautifully across time zones. A developer in Singapore pushes code at 11 PM. You see the commit with its explanation in the morning. Zero real-time monitoring required. This is one of the huge benefits of output-focused tracking.
Opposite of Hubstaff. GitHub OAuth + select repos = done. No mandatory app installation. No forced screenshots. No complex dashboard to configure. 5 minutes and you're seeing real insights.
Shipanel integrates with GitHub, which is where the actual work happens. Jira is where people write about work; Git is where people do work. We focus on Git. This gives you the most reliable view of what's actually shipping.