Top 10 Free Keyloggers for Employee Monitoring 2024

Keylogger is a type of software designed for keyboard tracking and logging. The users don’t even have a hunch that their every click and tap is being logged. And keyloggers record absolutely everything, be it passwords, or credit card numbers. This kind of program works in the background and goes practically unnoticed, it is perceived as an integral part of the computer system.

Is it legal?

Many people link these tools to illegal activity and malicious software – though, as Harvard Law understands, in some cases keyloggers can be regarded as an invasion of privacy, but it’s definitely legal. Parents use keyloggers to protect their children on the internet – for instance, to find out who they chat with on Facebook and WhatsApp.

A keylogging app tracks data on PC, Mac, iPhone and other devices.

This way employers can check if the staff is actually working on their tasks, or slacking off. The system generates online reports on personal productivity in great detail.

Another use case is for privacy settings, passwords, and other data protection. For instance, passwords are often lost after the system crashes.

But, on the other hand, cybercrooks can possibly collect private and personal data, which, of course, is prohibited by the law.

Capabilities

Keyloggers for Windows and MacOS:

• Record time that a child or an employee spends near the monitor
• Create the list of frequently used programs and websites
• Monitor online activity in real time
• Analyze employee productivity
• Display frequently used contacts (calls, SMS, chat, email, Skype)
• Track a phone location
• Remotely monitor PCs and phones

There’s a variety of vendors, so when you choose your keylogger in 2019, list functions that shouldn’t be in your ideal program. This way you’ll exclude unnecessary features.

In the Kickidler the keylogging feature is integrated with video recording capability. In other words, it lets you see what was on the user’s screen when he/she was typing a key combination. A bird's eye view of your employee’s actions is what you make of it.

There’s a filter by keywords and keyboard clicks export in Excel timesheet. The system collects data on all clicks in all of the programs:

• Email (including Mail.ru, Gmail.com, Yandex.ru, etc)
• Social media (Facebook, Twitter, VK.com)
• Messengers (Skype, Viber, Telegram, ICQ, Lync, etc.)
• Office programs (Microsoft Office, or 1С)

Pressed keys are displayed in real time, or in the report. There’s a pressed key report, which tells you whether an employee typed on the keyboard all day long, or just clicked the space bar from time to time.

Kickidler collects information, such as texts, videos and all violations of the daily routine, which will help you to know for sure what your employees have been doing at a particular time.

What do you need a keylogger for:

• DLP – Data Leak Prevention
• DLP – Data Loss Protection
• The effectiveness analytics of typing on the keyboard

Additional features:

• Violation control, 
• Violation prevention, 
• Video recording, 
• Online computer monitoring, 
• Employee working hours timekeeping.

Kickidler is compatible with every OS: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. There’s a free version – up to 6 employees.

Best Free Keylogger is the monitoring tool for PC, which works in the background and is invisible. Recognized as one of the best solutions for child protection, this software monitors pressed keys, chat messages, other online activity, URLs, texts copied in the clipboard, and text docs. It captures screens as well.

• Pressed keys monitoring
• Online activity recording
• Passwords and chats logging 
• Clipboard monitoring 
• Apps monitoring 
• Screenshots 
• Email, FTP, LAN, USB      
• Password protection
• 100% Invisible
• Schedule monitoring
• Automatic log removal

Windows Keylogger is installed on thousands of computers all over the world. This keylogger is used for user monitoring in various apps. Easy Read feature is a quick and easy way to find out which keys were pressed.

This keylogger doesn’t collect or transmit personal data, which are stored locally. Logs are delivered only via e-mail or FTP servers.

• “Easy Read” is a unique feature of Windows Keylogger.
• You can change settings and monitor only selected users/applications.
• Logs filter that makes search easier.
• Uninstallation on a selected date.

Spyrix Keylogger is a free software for recording every pressed key. This tool saves screenshots of an active program in a specific time frame, that being said, every activity on the screen is being recorded.

Other features:

• Remote monitoring through free web account
• Pressed keys logging
• Invisible for antiviruses
• Microphone recording (in Pro-version, for $80)
• Web Camera recording – (Pro-version, for $80)

Parental control feature helps to protect children in the internet environment. You can find out about your child’s online life, and who they talk to in particular. Moreover, an employer, armed with this software, can monitor personnel activity and discipline them in this way. It is like a personal automated journal.

What is monitored:

• Laptop or phone location through GPS
• Pressed keys
• Screenshots saving
• Web history monitoring
• Calls recording (for Windows)
• Time-tracking
• Chat monitoring (Windows and Mac)
• Phone location tracking (Android, iOS, BlackBerry, MAC OS X), GPS or WiFi coordinates
• SMS (Android, Nokia, BlackBerry). All the inbound/outbound messages with names are tracked.

Revealer Keylogger Free is an effective keylogger for Windows. The program is activated as a login item. It’s invisible for users and password protected. Nevertheless, the main feature here is the screenshot tool and email notifications (a paid one). The program doesn’t record IP addresses as well.

• There’s a message monitoring in Skype, Facebook, MSN, AOL, ICQ, AIM, and GTalk. 
• Keystroke Recorder feature records texts, passwords and chats
• Password Protection feature won’t let unauthorized persons to access the program
• Screenshot feature (Pro-version for $50)

User-friendly interface is the main advantage of Refog Free Keylogger compared to competitors. Most of the spy tools have lots of features and for not tech-savvy people it would be extremely difficult to look into it. But this program is very easy to set up, and it’s also free.

Here’re some of the features:

• Monitoring of all of the pressed keys, including passwords
• Sent and received messages in chat
• Opened webpage
• Logs in/out of the System
• Chats on Skype and Voice communications
• Opened apps and games
• Screenshots

Ardamax Keylogger is a small and easy to use keylogger which records every user activity and saves data in the log file. The admin can look into the log file in text or web page format. This tool will tell you about every activity on the computer while you were away.

• Pressed keys recording: it includes all pressed keys, entered passwords, and hidden symbols 
• Browser history
• All opened web page logging
• Web Camera recording
• The program records screenshots and saves them in logs here and then
• Logs are sent via email

In every given time the keylogger can send recorded logs, which is quite useful for remote monitoring.

• Microphone Recording. Voice recording through a microphone with audio file compression in real time.
• Visual monitoring. Screenshots are being done at regular intervals and saved in log files.        
• Chat monitoring. Ardamax Keylogger was developed for recording and monitoring chats on both sides (Skype, Yahoo Messenger, or Google).

Actual Keylogger is a program that monitors the PC activity and helps to find out what other users were doing while you had been away. This software monitors opened or closed programs, visited websites and all pressed keys, makes screenshots and copies the content in the clipboard.

Features:

• All the data from opened or closed apps
• Pressed key logging
• Any activity related to document printing
• Web Page history in browser
• Screenshots at a set time
• Encrypted files of any activity

Iwantsoft Free Keylogger deliberately monitors any activity on a PC, records every pressed key, the clipboard content, activity in apps, websites history in the browser, there’s a screenshot feature – to make a conclusion on employee productivity. The program is suitable for work and personal usage. Parents with its help can find out about potential threats to their children, and for employers it’s an opportunity to protect company from any data leaks.

• It works in the background. The keylogger is invisible to the end users, and only the administrator of the computer can enter the password for the eyboard to be visible again. 
• Filter and notifications – all the unwanted apps and websites are blocked. You can get instant email notification when users enter specific keywords.

Why it’s worth to install a keylogger?

Computers are used for entertainment, education, and communication, but in the perpetrator`s hands it transforms into a dangerous tool. For instance, some crooks can communicate to your children on the internet. Employees of organizations can copy secret data, trade secrets, know-hows, or just do nothing while they are expected to work hard. Keylogger will tell about all of such cases. These programs are also very convenient to monitor the work of freelancers.