head to head · open source
Polar vs TimeTracker
Polar has 10,293 GitHub stars, 795 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped today. TimeTracker has 628 stars, 68 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Polar leads on adoption by 1,539% (10,293 vs 628 stars). Polar is written in Python under Apache-2.0; TimeTracker is written in Python under GPL-3.0. Polar has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, TimeTracker 11%. Polar 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
| Polar | TimeTracker | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 10K | ★ 628 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 795 | ⑂ 68 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Polar if
- You weight community size — 10K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick TimeTracker if
- You want the TimeTracker feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and TimeTracker fits your workflow better
About Polar
Polar is an open source billing platform and payment infrastructure project for digital products, SaaS applications, and AI workloads. It is written in Python, licensed under Apache 2.0, and built around FastAPI, Next.js, React, and Turborepo. The project positions itself as a financial layer for software that needs to charge for tokens, agents, compute, subscriptions, and usage based models.
read the full Polar overview →
About TimeTracker
TimeTracker is a self hosted, web based time tracking and invoicing application, released under the GPL 3.0 and built on Python and Flask, for freelancers, small teams, agencies and privacy focused organisations that want Toggl or Clockify style timers, project management and client billing while keeping their data on their own infrastructure.
read the full TimeTracker overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Polar or TimeTracker more popular?
Polar has 10,293 GitHub stars and TimeTracker has 628. Polar has the larger community by that measure.
Are Polar and TimeTracker free?
Both are open source. Polar is licensed under Apache-2.0 and TimeTracker under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Polar and TimeTracker?
Polar is written in Python and TimeTracker in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Polar or TimeTracker?
Choose Polar if you want the larger community (10,293 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose TimeTracker if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.