head to head · open source
ActivityWatch vs Freeter
ActivityWatch has 18,919 GitHub stars, 1,012 forks, 186 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Freeter has 1,026 stars, 64 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. ActivityWatch leads on adoption by 1,744% (18,919 vs 1,026 stars). ActivityWatch is written in Python under MPL-2.0; Freeter is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. ActivityWatch has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Freeter 6%. ActivityWatch was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (app, productivity), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| ActivityWatch | Freeter | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 1.0K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-05-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 64 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ActivityWatch if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Freeter if
- You want the Freeter feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Freeter fits your workflow better
About ActivityWatch
ActivityWatch is the free and open source automated time tracker in the productivity and time tracking ecosystem. It is written in Python and uses the MPL 2.0 license. The project records what a user does so the user can know how time has been spent, while keeping the data under the user's control.
read the full ActivityWatch overview →
About Freeter
Freeter is a free, open source desktop workspace organizer, licensed under GPL 3.0 and written in TypeScript, for people who work on their computer and need to gather everything required for a project into one place.
read the full Freeter overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ActivityWatch or Freeter more popular?
ActivityWatch has 18,919 GitHub stars and Freeter has 1,026. ActivityWatch has the larger community by that measure.
Are ActivityWatch and Freeter free?
Both are open source. ActivityWatch is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Freeter under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ActivityWatch and Freeter?
ActivityWatch is written in Python and Freeter in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ActivityWatch or Freeter?
Choose ActivityWatch if you want the larger community (18,919 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Freeter if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.