SHSelfHostIndex

ActivityWatch vs timetrace

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?
AC ActivityWatch Automatic, privacy-first time tracking for your devices VS TI timetrace Simple command-line time tracker for projects
FeatureActivityWatchtimetrace
CategoryTime TrackingTime Tracking
LicenseMPL-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePythonGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB64 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcebinary, source
GitHub stars★ 18,527★ 794
First released20162021
ReplacesRescueTime, ManicTimeClockify, Toggl

Why pick each one

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

Choose timetrace if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in Go
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
timetrace details

Frequently asked questions

Is ActivityWatch or timetrace better?

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

Are ActivityWatch and timetrace free and open-source?

Yes. ActivityWatch is licensed under MPL-2.0 and timetrace under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ActivityWatch and timetrace with Docker?

ActivityWatch: check the project docs for container support. timetrace: check the project docs for container support.

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