StayUp vs PowerToys Awake: when free is enough.
Awake is Microsoft's own keep-awake utility, it's free, and for some jobs it is genuinely all you need. Here's exactly where the line sits — so you don't pay for what you won't use, and don't fight a tool that wasn't built for what you're asking.
The short version
PowerToys Awake is one module inside Microsoft's PowerToys suite. From a tray icon you can keep the PC awake indefinitely, for a time interval, or until a set time, with an option to keep the screen on. It's free, it's Microsoft, and it works.
StayUp is a standalone app built around one question Awake never asks: why is the PC supposed to stay awake? Because Zoom is running. Because it's a workday between 9 and 6. Because a download needs another half hour. StayUp lets you say that once — per-app rules, a daily schedule, one-tap durations — and then stops thinking about it. Plus the thing remote workers actually search for: an optional Stay active nudge that keeps idle-based status dots accurate while you step away.
Feature by feature
| PowerToys Awake (free) | StayUp ($8.99) | |
|---|---|---|
| Keep PC awake: forever / for a time / until a clock time | Yes | Yes — with the favourites one tap away |
| Keep the display on (optional) | Yes | Yes |
| Per-app rules (“while Zoom / OBS / my backup runs”) | — | Yes, any app on your PC |
| Daily schedule (9:00–18:00, overnight ranges) | — | Yes |
| Stay active (idle-based status stays accurate) | — | Optional, off by default |
| Global hotkey toggle | — | F9, rebindable |
| Footprint | Part of the full PowerToys suite | One portable .exe, no install, no admin |
| Where it lives | Tray icon; settings inside the PowerToys app | Tray icon + a small window you understand in ten seconds |
| Price | Free | $8.99 one-time, 2 PCs, 14-day refund |
Feature set as checked in August 2026 — if Awake has since grown, good: it deserves to.
Keep PowerToys Awake if…
- You already run PowerToys anyway — then Awake is a tray icon you already have.
- Your need is “don't sleep for the next two hours”, occasionally. Awake does exactly this, for free, from Microsoft.
- Your IT department only allows Microsoft-signed software. Awake wins that argument every time.
Move to StayUp when…
- You keep forgetting — in both directions. Screen goes dark mid-presentation, or the laptop stays insomniac all night. Per-app rules and the daily schedule remove the remembering.
- “Awake” isn't enough — you need “active”. The power API keeps the PC on, but idle-based status dots still turn away. StayUp's optional nudge covers the case where you're around, just not touching the mouse.
- You don't want the whole suite. PowerToys is excellent and substantial; StayUp is one small portable file you can run from a USB stick on a locked-down PC, no admin needed.
- You want it at your fingertips. One sun-shaped button, a rebindable hotkey, a glowing tray icon that answers “is it on?” at a glance.
Verdict. If your need is occasional and manual, install PowerToys and use Awake — it's free and it's good. If keeping your PC awake is part of how you work — meetings, recordings, renders, presence, every day — StayUp turns it from a thing you remember into a thing that happens. $8.99 once, on 2 PCs, refund within 14 days.
ONE-TIME · 2 PCs · 14-DAY REFUND · WINDOWS 10/11