SHSelfHostIndex

TimeOff Management 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?
TI TimeOff Management Self-hosted leave and absence tracking for companies VS AC ActivityWatch Automatic, privacy-first time tracking for your devices
FeatureTimeOff ManagementActivityWatch
CategoryTime TrackingTime Tracking
LicenseBSD-2-ClauseMPL-2.0
LanguageJavaScriptPython
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbinary, source
GitHub stars★ 1,041★ 18,527
First released20152016
ReplacesBambooHR, Vacation TrackerRescueTime, ManicTime

Why pick each one

Choose TimeOff Management if…

  • Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1k GitHub stars)
  • Written in JavaScript
TimeOff Management 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 TimeOff Management or ActivityWatch better?

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

Are TimeOff Management and ActivityWatch free and open-source?

Yes. TimeOff Management is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and ActivityWatch under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run TimeOff Management and ActivityWatch with Docker?

TimeOff Management: yes. ActivityWatch: check the project docs for container support.

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