The ActivTrak Agent is our lightweight software that enables everything to work seamlessly. Once installed, it creates two components that work together to populate your reports and dashboards:
Computer Agent: Tracks device-level information, such as computer name, operating system, network details, and system health. This component monitors the physical device itself.
Agent: Monitors individual user activity on that device, including applications used, websites visited, and productivity metrics. This component tracks each person's activities on a device.
Without at least one deployed Agent, your reports and dashboards will appear empty.
Contents
- How the Agent works
- Important setup considerations
- System requirements
- ChromeOS Agent vs. ActivTrak Assist Browser Extension
- Learn more
How the Agent works
ActivTrak offers a Windows Agent, macOS Agent, and ChromeOS Agent.
| Windows: 9.0.0 | |
| macOS: 9.0.0 | |
| Chrome: 8.1.0 |
The Agent runs quietly in the background with minimal impact on device performance. Most Agents auto-update without admin intervention, so you always have the latest features and security improvements.
You can manage Computer Agents and Agents separately in your ActivTrak account under Settings > Users & Groups, where you'll find dedicated pages for Computer Agents and Users, respectively.
New User Management - March 2026
Starting March 18, 2026, our new and improved user management is rolling out to all accounts. Account management actions—including merging Agents, setting the tracking status, and much, much more—are now managed on the new Users page. The following pages will be read-only: User Agents, User Aliases, and Do Not Track. Learn more!
Most Agents auto-update without Admin action. Enable the Weekly Digest to receive timely notifications about agent updates.
Check which Agent version is installed by going to Settings > Users and Groups > Computer Agents.
Note: We require Agents to be up-to-date before troubleshooting any issues
Important setup considerations
Allowlist the agent: Add the ActivTrak Agent to your antivirus and firewall allowlists. This is one of the most common reasons users experience issues with Agents.
Installation & Deployment method: Choose from various installation & deployment methods based on your organization's needs and policies, including direct installation, remote deployment, and silent installation options.
User awareness: Decide whether to communicate to employees how you use ActivTrak up front for transparency, or deploy silently if your organization's policies permit monitoring without prior notice.
Update strategy: Choose to enable automatic updates (on by default) to ensure agents receive the latest optimizations and fixes, or manually update agents by downloading the latest version from your ActivTrak dashboard when troubleshooting issues or deploying security patches.
Deployment method
| Direct | Direct methods install the ActivTrak Agent directly on each device you want to monitor. With this method, you download the agent installer and run it on individual computers, giving you complete visibility into user activity on those specific devices. This deployment type works best for smaller teams or when you need to monitor specific devices rather than an entire network. |
| Remote | Remote methods let you install the ActivTrak Agent on multiple devices from a central location without physically accessing each computer. IT administrators use deployment tools like Group Policy, SCCM, PDQ Deploy, or other remote management software to push the agent installation to target devices across the network. This method streamlines large-scale deployments and reduces the time needed to get ActivTrak running across your organization. |
User awareness
| Transparent | Transparent methods involve openly communicating with employees about the ActivTrak Agent installation and its purpose. With this approach, users are informed about the monitoring software, may need to accept certain permissions during installation (especially on macOS), and understand how their activity data will be used. This deployment type builds trust through clear communication about productivity monitoring goals and can include employee training on how ActivTrak benefits both the organization and individual workers. Transparent deployment is particularly important for macOS Sequoia installations where users must grant accessibility and screen recording permissions. |
| Silent | Silent methods install the ActivTrak Agent without requiring user interaction or displaying installation prompts. The installation runs in the background, allowing IT administrators to deploy the agent across an organization without disrupting employees' work. You can achieve silent deployment through group policy, remote management tools, or deployment scripts that include command-line parameters to suppress the installation interface. |
System requirements
Agent footprint
The ActivTrak Agent is lightweight and discreet with no measurable performance impact on up-to-date devices. Screenshots (available only with the Screen Details (Add-on)) are stored locally until they are uploaded to ActivTrak servers, keeping local storage minimal.
Storage and bandwidth usage depends on:
- Number of monitors
- Resolution
- Number of active alarms
- Computer hardware (CPU & memory)
Example performance: A test device with 4 GB RAM and Intel Core i7 @ 2.30GHz CPU, running the agent for 8 hours continuously with screenshots every 20 seconds:
- Less than 85MB data uploaded
- Less than 3MB data downloaded
- Averaged 32MB memory used
For comparison, Slack averaged 91MB, and Spotify averaged 102MB on the same machine.
Minimum requirements
- RAM: 4 GB
- Processor: Dual-core, 2GHz or better
- Network: 4 Mbps download and upload speeds
Supported operating systems
| Operating System | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Windows | 8.1, 10, 11 |
| macOS | 10.14 (Mojave), 10.15 (Catalina), 11.X (Big Sur), 12.X (Monterey), 13.X (Ventura), 14.X (Sonoma), 15 (Sequoia)*, 26 (Tahoe) |
| Windows Server | Windows Server 2012 and greater |
*macOS Sequoia introduced new privacy controls. Consult our macOS Sequoia deployment guide or our support team if you have any concerns.
Note: ActivTrak only supports Agents running on OS versions that can receive up-to-date security patches from their vendors. Learn more about Windows service lifecycle information here.
Supported browsers
- Google Chrome
- Safari
- Mozilla Firefox*
- Microsoft Edge
- Brave
- Decentr
- Avast Browser
- Vivaldi Browser
- Opera Browser
- Island Browser
- Arc Browser
- DuckDuckGo (currently Windows only)
*Mozilla Firefox does not support website blocking. Therefore, sites blocked in ActivTrak remain accessible in Firefox.
Note: If you are using a Chromium-based browser and the URLs are not displaying properly, please send a support ticket to support@activtrak.com with your browser name and as much detail as possible regarding where to find and download it to expedite support for a new browser.
ChromeOS Agent vs. ActivTrak Assist Browser Extension
These two tools both install as browser extensions, which can make them easy to confuse. Here's how they're different.
ActivTrak Assist Browser Extension
The ActivTrak Assist Browser Extension works alongside the desktop agent on Windows and Mac devices. It enhances activity tracking by capturing more detailed URL data than the agent collects on its own. If your users are on Windows or Mac and you want more complete web activity data, this extension complements your existing agent deployment.
ChromeOS Agent
The ChromeOS Agent is the agent for Chromebook devices. Because ChromeOS doesn't support a traditional desktop agent, the ChromeOS Agent handles all activity tracking directly from the browser. It's a standalone solution built specifically for ChromeOS environments.
Which one do you need?
- Windows or Mac users → Deploy the desktop agent. Add the ActivTrak Assist extension for enhanced URL tracking.
- Chromebook users → Deploy the ChromeOS Agent. No desktop agent or additional extension is needed.