head to head · open source
ActivityWatch vs Hackatime
ActivityWatch has 19,481 GitHub stars, 1,068 forks, 186 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Hackatime has 216 stars, 181 forks, 114 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ActivityWatch leads on adoption by 8,919% (19,481 vs 216 stars). ActivityWatch is written in Python under MPL-2.0; Hackatime is written in Ruby under MIT. ActivityWatch has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Hackatime 84%. Hackatime was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Hackatime | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 216 |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 181 |
| 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 Hackatime if
- You want the Hackatime feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and Hackatime fits your workflow better
About ActivityWatch
Records what you do so that you can know how you've spent your time . All in a secure way where you control the data . Website — Forum — Documentation — Releases Contributor stats — CI overview Do you want to receive email updates on major announcements? Signup for the newsletter! Table of Contents About Screenshots Is this yet another time tracker? Feature comparison Installation & Usage About this repository Server Watchers Libraries Contributing About The goal of ActivityWatch is simple: Enable the collection of as much valuable lifedata as possible without compromising user privacy. We've worked towards this…
read the full ActivityWatch overview →
About Hackatime
Documentation The free, open source, WakaTime compatible coding time tracker from Hack Club. Local development Please read DEVELOPMENT.md for instructions on setting up and running the project locally. Installer repo Looking for the installer code? It's over at hackclub/hackatime setup. License Hackatime is licensed under the MIT License. Go wild!
read the full Hackatime overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ActivityWatch or Hackatime more popular?
ActivityWatch has 19,481 GitHub stars and Hackatime has 216. ActivityWatch has the larger community by that measure.
Are ActivityWatch and Hackatime free?
Both are open source. ActivityWatch is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Hackatime under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ActivityWatch and Hackatime?
ActivityWatch is written in Python and Hackatime in Ruby. 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 Hackatime?
Choose ActivityWatch if you want the larger community (19,481 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Hackatime if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.