How Hubstaff calculates activity percentage
Your Hubstaff activity looks low on days full of calls and reading. This is how Hubstaff works the number out, what it calls a normal score, and what it suggests for meetings.
Every fact below is from Hubstaff's own documentation, last checked 2026-10-20.
Hubstaff marks each second with any keyboard or mouse input as active and reports active seconds divided by 600 for every 10-minute segment. Calls, reading and thinking produce little input, so a day of email and calls often averages around 50%, which Hubstaff itself describes as normal.
How the number is worked out
Hubstaff labels every second active or inactive, and any mouse movement or key press makes it active. For each 10-minute segment, it divides the active seconds by 600 to give the percentage. Mouse moves, clicks, the scroll wheel and key presses all count. Hubstaff says it records only that input happened, and stores neither the keys you press nor where you click. Manual time, breaks and projects with activity recording turned off are left out of the sum.
In Hubstaff's own words
“For every second, we label the user as active or inactive. A mouse movement or keyboard stroke = active. No keyboard or mouse = inactive.”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?“give a total % of activity for that 10-minute segment using this equation: Active seconds / 600 = activity rate %”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?“the number of seconds we detect keyboard or mouse activity, which includes mouse moves, mouse clicks, mouse wheel, and keyboard presses.”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?“Hubstaff does NOT store individual keystrokes that are entered (there is no keylogging) or where your mouse clicks.”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?“Manual time, work breaks, and projects that have the Record activity setting disabled are not included in activity calculations.”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?
What Hubstaff calls a normal score
Hubstaff says anything above 50% is generally considered good. It expects a day of email, reading and calls to average around 50%. It also discourages quotas based on the score. In the dashboard, a score from 20% to 50% shows yellow, as a caution.
In Hubstaff's own words
“Generally, any activity percentage above 50% is considered good, but this can vary by industry, role, and session length.”
Hubstaff FAQ“If a usual day for your team involves checking email, reading articles, or having calls with one another, they might have an average activity rate of around 50%.”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?“At Hubstaff, we discourage the use of quotas or scoring based on activity rates.”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?“Activity levels from 20% to 50% will be color-coded as Yellow (caution status).”
Hubstaff: Activity overview
Why calls and reading score low, and the fix Hubstaff suggests
Reading produces very little input: ten minutes on a few pages may add up to 20 or 30 seconds of interaction. For meetings, Hubstaff advises a project called "Meetings" with activity and idle time turned off, so a call no longer drags the score down. Separately, the idle prompt appears after 5 minutes without input by default, and an organisation can change that to 10 or 20 minutes, a custom time, or never. By default the app asks whether to keep the idle time; an organisation can instead always keep it or always discard it.
One Hubstaff page puts the idle default at 20 minutes; its inactivity-warning page and its FAQ say 5. Stayaway uses 5, from the warning page.
In Hubstaff's own words
“if you read 4 different pages for a total of 10 minutes, it's very likely that you only "interacted" for 20 or 30 seconds total.”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?“we advise adding a project called "Meetings", and while doing so, you can "Disable Activity" and/or "Disable Idle Time" to prevent a drop in activity levels.”
Hubstaff: How are activity levels calculated?“This happens every 5 minutes by default.”
Hubstaff: Idle time alert (inactivity warning)“The default setting for idle time is to prompt the user.”
Hubstaff: Keep idle time setting
What Hubstaff says about simulated activity
Hubstaff's Insights add-on includes an Unusual Activity report, and Hubstaff documents what it checks.
The report looks for input patterns that match tools which simulate work, such as mouse jigglers and auto-clickers. It keeps a list of applications known to simulate keyboard or mouse activity. An average score that stays at 95% or more for 30 minutes counts as unusually high. Hubstaff adds that the feature is not only for catching cheating.
In Hubstaff's own words
“matches the patterns produced by tools that simulate work, such as mouse jigglers and auto-clickers. The detection is AI-powered”
Hubstaff Insights: Unusual activity“Hubstaff maintains a list of applications known to simulate keyboard and/or mouse activity to mimic work.”
Hubstaff Insights: Unusual activity“Unusually high activity is recorded when a member’s average activity level stays at 95% or higher for 30 minutes or more.”
Hubstaff Insights: Unusual activity“Hubstaff's unusual activity feature is not exclusively a cheating detection system.”
Hubstaff Insights: Unusual activity
Using Stayaway with Hubstaff
While it runs, Stayaway's mouse, keyboard and scroll input counts like any other input, so Hubstaff's idle prompt doesn't appear while you step away to make a coffee.
Stayaway keeps your computer active while you step away; it doesn't alter screenshots, app logs or anything else a tracker records.
If calls are what pull your score down, ask your admin for the "Meetings" project Hubstaff recommends, with activity turned off.
For Hubstaff's idle number and the Stayaway setting that matches it, see Hubstaff idle timeout, explained.
Questions
What is a good Hubstaff activity percentage?
- Hubstaff says anything above 50% is generally considered good, and that a day of email, reading and calls typically averages around 50%. It also discourages quotas based on the score.
Why is my Hubstaff activity low during calls?
- Because the score counts seconds with keyboard or mouse input, and a call has very little. Hubstaff suggests a "Meetings" project with activity and idle time disabled for exactly this.
Does Hubstaff record what I type?
- No, by its own account. Hubstaff says it counts whether a key was pressed in each second and doesn't store the keystrokes or where you click.
Can Hubstaff tell a mouse jiggler is running?
- Hubstaff says its Insights add-on looks for input patterns that match mouse jigglers and auto-clickers, checks a list of known activity-simulating apps, and flags scores that stay at 95% or more for half an hour.
Does Stayaway raise my Hubstaff activity percentage?
- For the minutes it runs, yes: its input counts like any other, so those segments aren't idle. Stayaway is built for short breaks away from the desk. For calls, Hubstaff's own Meetings-project advice is the better fix, and it needs nothing installed.
Sources
All read on 2026-10-20. Where a page shows its own date, it is given.
Step away without watching the clock.
Tell Stayaway you use Hubstaff and it sets Auto Detect to match. Free to start, with no card.