Running an agency with a mix of freelancers and full-time employees is like conducting an orchestra where half the musicians are in different time zones. You’ve got talented people doing great work, but keeping track of productivity, project hours, and client deliverables can feel impossible—especially when everyone’s working remotely.
That’s where Insightful.io (formerly Workpuls) comes in. This workforce analytics platform promises to give you complete visibility into your team’s productivity, whether they’re freelancers working from coffee shops, employees at home, or staff in your office.
But here’s the million-dollar question for agency owners: Is Insightful actually worth your time and money, or is it just another tool that creates more problems than it solves?
As someone who’s managed agencies with diverse teams of contractors and employees, I’ve spent considerable time diving deep into Insightful’s features, pricing, and real user experiences. By the end of this review, you’ll know exactly whether Insightful is the right fit for your agency or if you should keep looking.
The short answer: should you use Insightful.io?
If you’re short on time, here’s the quick verdict:
YES: If you’re running an agency with remote freelancers and employees, struggling to track billable hours accurately, or need better visibility into project profitability across your mixed workforce.
NO: If you have a small agency with just a few trusted freelancers, if you’re concerned about contractor privacy issues, or if your projects don’t require detailed time tracking.
For the full breakdown, keep reading.
What is Insightful.io?
Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s establish what Insightful actually is and why it exists.
Insightful is a workforce analytics platform designed to help agencies track, measure, and optimize productivity across their entire team—whether that’s full-time employees, part-time contractors, or freelancers working project-by-project. Originally launched as Workpuls, the company rebranded to Insightful to better reflect their mission of providing actionable insights into team performance.
The platform combines time tracking, activity monitoring, and productivity analytics into one comprehensive solution. It’s built specifically for the modern agency environment—where you might have employees in your main office, freelancers across multiple time zones, and hybrid workers splitting time between locations.
At its core, Insightful aims to answer three critical questions that keep agency owners up at night:
- How is my mixed team actually spending their time?
- Are we hitting our billable hour targets and project deadlines?
- How can we improve productivity and profitability without micromanaging freelancers or burning out employees?
Reviewing Insightful’s Key Features
Let’s break down what Insightful brings to the table. From my research, the platform offers a robust suite of features that go well beyond basic time tracking.
Real-Time Attendance and Time Tracking
This is where Insightful really shines. The platform automatically tracks when employees start and finish work, captures break times, and provides detailed breakdowns of active versus idle time.
What sets it apart from manual timesheets is the automation—crucial when you’re managing freelancers who might be working on multiple clients simultaneously. Your team members don’t need to remember to clock in or out—Insightful handles all of that in the background. This eliminates the common problem of “time sheet amnesia” where people forget to log their hours and end up guessing at the end of the week.
The real-time aspect is particularly valuable for agency owners who need to know what’s happening right now across multiple projects. You can see which freelancers are currently working, who’s on break, and who might need support—all from a single dashboard. This is especially helpful when clients ask for project updates or when you need to shift resources between urgent projects.
Screen Monitoring and Activity Tracking
Here’s where things get a bit more controversial, but also where Insightful provides some of its most valuable insights for agency management.
The platform can take screenshots at regular intervals and track which applications and websites your team is using. For agencies, this feature serves multiple purposes: ensuring freelancers are actually working on your projects (not other clients during your time), maintaining security when contractors access sensitive client data, and identifying productivity blockers across your diverse workforce.
Before you worry about Big Brother scenarios, you can customize how invasive this monitoring is. Some agencies use it sparingly for security purposes when freelancers handle sensitive client information, while others use it more extensively for productivity optimization and client billing transparency.
The key is clear communication in your contracts. When implemented properly with transparent policies for both employees and freelancers, this feature helps identify productivity blockers, security risks, and workflow inefficiencies that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Automated Project and Task Time Mapping
One of Insightful’s smartest features for agencies is its ability to automatically assign time to specific projects and tasks. Instead of asking your freelancers and employees to manually categorize every minute of their day, the platform uses AI to map activities to the appropriate client projects.
This is absolutely huge for agencies that bill clients based on time or need to understand project profitability. You get accurate data without the administrative overhead of manual time entry—particularly important when managing multiple freelancers who might be less diligent about detailed time tracking than your full-time staff.
For client billing, this means you can provide detailed, accurate invoices that show exactly what work was done and when. For internal analysis, you can see which types of projects are most profitable and which might be consuming more resources than expected.
Productivity Analytics and Reporting
This is where Insightful transforms from a simple monitoring tool into a strategic agency management asset. The platform automatically categorizes applications and websites as productive, unproductive, or neutral based on your agency’s specific needs.
You can see productivity trends over time across your entire workforce, identify which team members (employee or freelancer) might need additional support, and spot patterns that indicate burnout or underutilization. This is particularly valuable in an agency setting where you might have some people overloaded while others are underutilized.
The reporting capabilities help you make data-driven decisions about workflow optimization, resource allocation, and team development. You can also generate detailed reports for clients that show exactly how their budget was spent and what work was accomplished.
Remote Team Management
For agencies with distributed teams of employees and freelancers, Insightful provides the visibility that traditional in-person management naturally offers. You can monitor when remote freelancers are working on your projects, track their productivity patterns, and ensure they’re meeting their commitments—all without being physically present.
This is especially valuable when managing freelancers who might be working with multiple clients. You can ensure they’re dedicating the agreed-upon time to your projects and maintaining the quality standards your agency requires.
The platform also helps with compliance and security for remote work, ensuring that sensitive client data is being handled appropriately even when freelancers are working from various locations. For agencies handling confidential client information, this peace of mind is invaluable.
How Much Does Insightful Cost?
Pricing is always a critical factor, and Insightful offers several tiers to accommodate different business needs and budgets.
The entry-level plan starts at around $6.40-$8 per user per month, depending on which features you need and whether you pay annually. This basic plan includes core time tracking and productivity monitoring features.
Higher-tier plans include more advanced analytics, additional integrations, and enhanced security features. Enterprise plans with custom pricing are available for larger organizations with specific compliance or integration requirements.
What’s notable is that Insightful includes the cost of supporting tools in their pricing. Unlike some competitors that charge separately for each component, you get a comprehensive solution for one monthly fee per user.
For most agencies, the ROI calculation is straightforward: if the productivity insights help you optimize even a few hours per person per week, and if the accurate time tracking helps you bill clients more precisely, the tool pays for itself quickly. Plus, the ability to provide detailed work reports to clients can justify higher rates and improve client relationships.
What Real Users Are Saying About Insightful
To get a balanced perspective, I’ve gathered feedback from actual Insightful users who run agencies or manage mixed teams of employees and contractors. Here’s what they’re saying:
The Good:
Sarah, a marketing agency owner, shared: “Insightful has been a game-changer for managing our mix of full-time employees and freelance contractors. We can see productivity patterns across our entire team, identify when people are struggling with particular tasks, and provide support before client projects fall behind. The data has also helped us create more accurate project estimates and improve our profitability.”
David, who runs a digital agency, noted: “The client billing aspect is crucial for us. We can provide detailed reports showing exactly what work was done and when. Our freelancers were initially hesitant about the monitoring, but once they saw it helped us justify better rates and more consistent work, they were on board.”
The Challenges:
However, not every agency’s experience has been perfect. Jennifer, who runs a creative agency, mentioned: “The setup took longer than expected, and some of our freelancers were initially uncomfortable with the monitoring. We had to spend time addressing privacy concerns and updating our contractor agreements to include clear monitoring policies.”
Mark, an agency project manager, pointed out: “While the data is comprehensive, sometimes it feels like information overload. You need to invest time in learning how to interpret the analytics to get real value. Also, some of our freelancers work in different time zones, and coordinating the monitoring settings took some adjustment.”
Insightful’s Pros and Cons
Based on extensive research and feedback from agency owners, here’s my honest assessment of Insightful’s strengths and weaknesses for agencies managing mixed teams:
Pros:
Comprehensive visibility: You get a complete picture of how your entire team—employees and freelancers—spends their time, which is invaluable for agency management and client billing.
Accurate client billing: Automated time tracking eliminates disputes about billable hours and provides detailed documentation for client invoices.
Freelancer accountability: Helps ensure that contractors are dedicating appropriate time to your projects rather than multitasking with other clients during your hours.
Strong security features: Essential when freelancers access sensitive client data—the platform meets enterprise-grade security standards with SOC2, ISO 27001, and GDPR compliance.
Project profitability insights: Clear data on which types of projects and clients are most profitable, helping you make better business decisions.
Scalable solution: Works well whether you have 2 freelancers or 20+ team members across multiple projects.
Cons:
Freelancer privacy concerns: Some contractors may feel uncomfortable with monitoring, requiring careful contract language and clear communication about policies.
Initial resistance: Both employees and freelancers may pushback against monitoring—you’ll need a clear implementation strategy.
Contract complexity: You’ll need to update your freelancer agreements to include monitoring policies and data handling procedures.
Learning curve: Getting the most value requires time to understand the analytics and customize settings for your specific agency needs.
Potential for misuse: Without proper policies and training, the monitoring capabilities could damage relationships with freelancers or create a culture of distrust.
Who Should Use Insightful?
After analyzing the platform thoroughly, I believe Insightful is an excellent fit for specific types of agencies:
Perfect for:
- Agencies with remote freelancers and employees who need accurate time tracking for client billing
- Creative agencies that handle sensitive client data and need security monitoring
- Growing agencies that want to optimize workflows and identify inefficiencies across mixed teams
- Service-based agencies where time directly correlates to profitability
- Agencies that bill clients hourly and need detailed documentation
Not ideal for:
- Very small agencies (under 5 people) where informal communication and trust-based relationships work well
- Agencies working primarily with long-term, trusted freelancers who resist monitoring
- Creative agencies where productivity is hard to measure quantitatively or where inspiration-based work doesn’t fit traditional productivity metrics
- Agencies with extremely tight budgets where the monthly cost per person is prohibitive
Alternatives to Consider
If Insightful doesn’t seem like the right fit for your agency, here are a few alternatives worth exploring:
For simpler time tracking: Tools like Toggl or Harvest might be sufficient if you just need basic time tracking without comprehensive monitoring—though they won’t give you the freelancer accountability features.
For project management focus: Platforms like Asana or Monday offer project tracking with some time management features, though they’re less comprehensive for billable hour tracking than Insightful.
For freelancer-specific management: Tools like Bonsai or FreshBooks provide good time tracking and invoicing but lack the detailed monitoring capabilities for ensuring accountability.
My Final Recommendation
After thoroughly examining Insightful’s features, pricing, and user feedback from agency perspectives, here’s my honest take:
Insightful is a powerful, well-designed platform that delivers on its promises for agencies managing mixed teams of employees and freelancers. If you’re struggling with accurate time tracking, client billing transparency, or freelancer accountability, it’s absolutely worth considering.
The key to success with Insightful isn’t just the technology—it’s how you implement it. Be transparent with both your employees and freelancers about why you’re using it, what data you’re collecting, and how it will benefit everyone. Include clear monitoring policies in your contracts and focus on using the insights to support your team and improve client relationships rather than police people.
The platform isn’t perfect, and it’s not right for every agency. But for agencies that need comprehensive workforce analytics and accurate client billing, Insightful provides exceptional value and can genuinely transform how you manage your diverse team and optimize profitability.
The pricing is reasonable for the value provided, especially when you consider the potential improvements in billable hour accuracy, client billing transparency, and productivity insights. Most agencies see ROI within the first few months of implementation through more accurate billing alone.
If you’re on the fence, I’d recommend taking advantage of their free trial to see how it works with your specific mix of employees and freelancers. Just remember: the goal isn’t to watch every minute of your team’s day—it’s to gain insights that help everyone work more effectively while ensuring your agency remains profitable and provides excellent client service.
The bottom line: Insightful is a solid investment for agencies serious about optimizing their mixed workforce productivity and improving client billing accuracy, provided you implement it thoughtfully and with clear communication to all team members.
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