SHSelfHostIndex

TimeTagger vs FocusTime Tracker

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 TimeTagger Tag-based time tracker with an interactive timeline VS FO FocusTime Tracker Minimal command-line and web work timer
FeatureTimeTaggerFocusTime Tracker
CategoryTime TrackingTime Tracking
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguagePythonPython
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcebinary, source
GitHub stars★ 1,769★ 2,535
First released20212015
ReplacesToggl, HarvestToggl, Harvest

Why pick each one

Choose TimeTagger if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
TimeTagger details

Choose FocusTime Tracker if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Python
FocusTime Tracker details

Frequently asked questions

Is TimeTagger or FocusTime Tracker better?

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

Are TimeTagger and FocusTime Tracker free and open-source?

Yes. TimeTagger is licensed under GPL-3.0 and FocusTime Tracker under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run TimeTagger and FocusTime Tracker with Docker?

TimeTagger: yes. FocusTime Tracker: check the project docs for container support.

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