SHSelfHostIndex

ActivityWatch 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?
AC ActivityWatch Automatic, privacy-first time tracking for your devices VS TO Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo Pomodoro-based time tracking and focus tool
FeatureActivityWatchToggl Selfhost Pomotodo
CategoryTime TrackingTime Tracking
LicenseMPL-2.0MIT
LanguagePythonRust
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker, source
GitHub stars★ 18,527★ 5,408
First released20162018
ReplacesRescueTime, ManicTimeRescueTime, Forest

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 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 ActivityWatch or Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo 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 Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo free and open-source?

Yes. ActivityWatch is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ActivityWatch and Toggl Selfhost Pomotodo with Docker?

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

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