Donetick vs Tracks

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted project management & tasks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureDonetickTracks
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score86 · Excellent62 · Good
CategoryProject Management & TasksProject Management & Tasks
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageGoRuby
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 2,582★ 1,239
First released20242004
ReplacesTodoist, TodyTodoist, OmniFocus

What are Donetick and Tracks?

Donetick

Donetick is an open-source app for managing tasks and chores with assignment rotations and reminders. It is ideal for households and small teams sharing responsibilities.

  • Chore assignment rotations
  • Recurring task scheduling
  • Reminders and notifications
  • Single lightweight binary

Tracks

Tracks is a web-based application designed to help you implement the Getting Things Done methodology. It organizes tasks into projects and contexts with a focus on personal productivity.

  • GTD contexts and projects
  • Next-action tracking
  • Recurring todos
  • Mobile-friendly interface

Donetick vs Tracks: key differences

Donetick is written in Go, while Tracks is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Donetick versus GPL-2.0 for Tracks. Donetick is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Tracks. Tracks is the more established project (first released 2004), while Donetick arrived in 2024. Donetick has the considerably larger community, at 2,582 GitHub stars versus 1,239.

Why pick each one

Choose Donetick if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.6k GitHub stars)
Donetick details

Choose Tracks if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.2k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Ruby
Tracks details

Frequently asked questions

Is Donetick or Tracks better?

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

Are Donetick and Tracks free and open-source?

Yes. Donetick is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Tracks under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Donetick and Tracks with Docker?

Donetick: yes. Tracks: yes.

Which is lighter on resources, Donetick or Tracks?

Donetick has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Tracks. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.

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