SHSelfHostIndex

Hamster vs Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo

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?
HA Hamster Desktop time tracker for individual productivity VS TO Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo Pomodoro-based time tracking and focus tool
FeatureHamsterToggl Selfhost Pomotodo
CategoryTime TrackingTime Tracking
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguagePythonRust
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, source
GitHub stars★ 1,127★ 5,408
First released20082018
ReplacesToggl, RescueTimeRescueTime, Forest

Why pick each one

Choose Hamster if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Python
Hamster details

Choose Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 5.4k GitHub stars
Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo details

Frequently asked questions

Is Hamster or Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo better?

Neither is universally better. Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Hamster and Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo free and open-source?

Yes. Hamster is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Hamster and Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo with Docker?

Hamster: check the project docs for container support. Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo: yes.

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