head to head · open source
ActivityWatch vs Kanri
ActivityWatch has 18,919 GitHub stars, 1,012 forks, 186 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kanri has 2,029 stars, 171 forks, 140 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ActivityWatch leads on adoption by 832% (18,919 vs 2,029 stars). ActivityWatch is written in Python under MPL-2.0; Kanri is written in Vue under GPL-3.0. ActivityWatch has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Kanri 8%. Kanri 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 | Kanri | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 171 |
| 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 Kanri if
- You want the Kanri feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and Kanri 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 Kanri
Kanri is a desktop Kanban board application for Windows, macOS, and Linux, built with Tauri, Nuxt 3, Vue, and TypeScript. It is positioned as an offline first productivity tool for task management, and it does not require an internet connection or a user account. The project lives in the open source desktop application ecosystem, where it is distributed as a native application rather than as a hosted web service.
read the full Kanri overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ActivityWatch or Kanri more popular?
ActivityWatch has 18,919 GitHub stars and Kanri has 2,029. ActivityWatch has the larger community by that measure.
Are ActivityWatch and Kanri free?
Both are open source. ActivityWatch is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Kanri under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ActivityWatch and Kanri?
ActivityWatch is written in Python and Kanri in Vue. 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 Kanri?
Choose ActivityWatch if you want the larger community (18,919 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Kanri if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.