SHSelfHostIndex

Beaver Habit Tracker vs ActivityWatch

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted time tracking options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
BE Beaver Habit Tracker Habit tracking app to save your precious moments in your fleeting life VS AC ActivityWatch Automatic, privacy-first time tracking for your devices
FeatureBeaver Habit TrackerActivityWatch
CategoryTime TrackingTime Tracking
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseMPL-2.0
LanguagePythonPython
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdockerbinary, source
GitHub stars★ 1,812★ 18,527
First released20262016
Replaces—RescueTime, ManicTime

Why pick each one

Choose Beaver Habit Tracker if…

  • Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Python
Beaver Habit Tracker details

Choose ActivityWatch if…

  • Released under the MPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 18.5k GitHub stars
  • Written in Python
ActivityWatch details

Frequently asked questions

Is Beaver Habit Tracker or ActivityWatch better?

ActivityWatch is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Beaver Habit Tracker if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Beaver Habit Tracker and ActivityWatch free and open-source?

Yes. Beaver Habit Tracker is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and ActivityWatch under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Beaver Habit Tracker and ActivityWatch with Docker?

Beaver Habit Tracker: yes. ActivityWatch: check the project docs for container support.

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