Actvt vs SessionWatcher: two paid Mac apps for AI agent usage
Updated
Oye Collective makes Actvt, and wrote this page. We’ve described SessionWatcher from its own site, dated below, and we say plainly where it’s the better choice.
In brief: both are paid, native apps that track Claude Code and Codex usage. SessionWatcher tracks limits, alerts and cost across 20 tools, on Mac and Windows, with plans for several accounts and teams. Actvt shows the sessions themselves (transcripts, live state, dollars over time), your Mac’s own metrics, on-device secret scanning, and sessions on remote machines.
What each one is
SessionWatcher is a usage tracker for 20 AI coding tools, including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Copilot. It runs in the Mac menu bar (macOS 14+, Apple Silicon and Intel) and the Windows taskbar (Windows 10 2004+ and 11). It shows 5-hour and weekly limits with reset times, a usage-rate chart, token and dollar breakdowns, and pace indicators. It sends alerts at 70% and 90% (or every 10%) and when a limit resets. Pro adds several Claude or Codex accounts, 90 days of history, and an iPhone and Apple Watch companion in beta. It says it reads usage statistics only, and that they stay on your machine.
Actvt is a native Mac app that reads the session files Claude Code, Codex and Pi write to disk and keeps them as a searchable history with full transcripts. It shows the live state of running sessions, spend over time by project with a daily heatmap and cache hit ratio, and plan usage meters with reset countdowns. It also shows live CPU, GPU, memory, network and listening ports, scans transcripts for secrets and personal data on-device, and can show sessions from other Macs and Linux machines over SSH.
Side by side
| Feature | SessionWatcher | Actvt |
|---|---|---|
| Tools and agents | 20 | Claude Code, Codex, Pi |
| Plan limits and resets | Yes, with alerts | Yes (Premium) |
| Tokens and dollars | Yes | Yes, over time by project (Premium) |
| History | 7 days (Solo, Bundle), 90 days (Pro) | 72 hours free, 30 days ($9.99), unlimited (Premium) |
| Several accounts | Yes (Pro) | No |
| Session transcripts and search | No | Yes |
| Live session state | No | Yes |
| System metrics and ports | No | Yes |
| Secrets and personal data in transcripts | No | Yes, scanned on-device |
| Sessions on other machines | No | Yes, over SSH (paid tiers) |
| Platforms | macOS 14+, Windows 10/11, iPhone and Watch (beta) | macOS 15.5+, Apple Silicon |
| Teams | $40 per seat per year, 3 seats minimum, Macs only | No team plan |
| Price | From $6.99 one-time (Claude, one device) to $59 Pro Lifetime, or $24/year; rising to $8.99 and $79 on 1 November 2026 | Free tier; $9.99 one-time; Premium $7.99/month billed yearly or $14.99 monthly |
Where SessionWatcher wins
- Windows. If any of your machines run Windows, SessionWatcher covers them. Actvt is Mac only.
- More tools. 20, including Cursor, Copilot and Gemini CLI. Actvt covers Claude Code, Codex and Pi.
- Several accounts. Pro tracks more than one Claude or Codex account, each with its own limits.
- Teams. Per-seat licences on one invoice. Actvt has no team plan.
- Limit alerts at thresholds you choose, plus a phone and Watch companion (beta).
- A one-time price if you’d rather not subscribe.
Where Actvt wins
- Session transcripts. Full transcripts with tool calls, searchable across every session, with what subagents spent and a one-click resume in Terminal.
- Live session state while agents run.
- System metrics: CPU, GPU, memory, network and ports in the same window.
- Secrets and personal data: Actvt flags API keys, emails, card numbers and similar in transcripts, and the scan runs on your Mac.
- Other machines: sessions from other Macs and Linux hosts over SSH.
- A free tier with system monitoring and the last 72 hours of sessions.
Pick SessionWatcher if…
…you need Windows, use tools beyond Claude Code, Codex and Pi, juggle several accounts, want alerts before you hit a limit, or are buying for a team.
Pick Actvt if…
…you’re on an Apple Silicon Mac and want to read back what your agents did, see what it cost over time, catch a secret that ended up in a transcript, or watch your Mac and other machines while agents run.
For every option, including the built-in commands and the terminal tools, see our roundup: How to see what Claude Code and Codex are costing you, on a Mac.
Sources: sessionwatcher.com (read ), actvt.io (read ).
Try it on your own agents
ACTVT is free to start, and reads the session files Claude Code, Codex CLI and Pi already write. Nothing to configure.