Alternatives / WakaTime
Looking for an open source WakaTime alternative? We compared 6 open source time trackers by license, editor support, and maintenance. Wakapi and Hackatime are WakaTime-compatible, while ActivityWatch and TimeScribe track general activity.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| ActivityWatch | Local general activity tracking | MPL-2.0 |
| solidtime | Time tracker with reports | AGPL-3.0 |
| Wakapi | WakaTime-style self-hosted tracker | MIT |
| TimeScribe | Automatic session detection | GPL-3.0 |
| Hackatime | WakaTime-compatible from Hack Club | MIT |
| Ziit | Coding sessions with summaries (small) | AGPL-3.0 |
We looked for open-source tools that track coding time like WakaTime. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Wakapi is a self-hosted tracker that captures coding time across editors with dashboards by language and project. Hackatime is Hack Club's tracker compatible with WakaTime plugins, with no artificial history limits and JSON or CSV export, but its hosted service is run by Hack Club.
ActivityWatch tracks app usage, window titles, and browser and editor activity locally on desktop and Android. TimeScribe detects work sessions automatically with local storage, and SolidTime is a time tracker with multi-project tracking and self-hosting.
Ziit tracks coding sessions with language statistics, but it is small, with a few hundred stars and few details on self-hosting.
Hackatime and Wakapi are MIT. ActivityWatch is MPL-2.0. SolidTime and Ziit are AGPL-3.0. TimeScribe is GPL-3.0.
All six had commits within weeks of this update.
WakaTime is a proprietary service that stores your coding activity on its servers and limits history on free plans. Open-source trackers keep data on your server and work with WakaTime plugins, but dashboards are simpler.
ActivityWatch is an MPL-2.0 tracker that records app usage, window titles, browser and editor activity locally on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. It tracks general device activity, not coding time specifically, and is maintained by volunteers.
Pricing: Free and open source.
solidtime is an open-source time tracking application with projects, clients, tags, billable rates, detailed reports, and a clean interface, available as a self-hosted AGPL-3.0 app or through solidtime cloud, with guides and examples for self-hosting.
Pricing: Free to self-host; solidtime cloud has paid plans.
Wakapi is a self-hosted, WakaTime-compatible coding time tracker that records coding activity automatically through editor plugins and shows it in analytics dashboards, with data kept on your own server. It is MIT-licensed and tracks coding time rather than general client work.
Pricing: Free and open source.
TimeScribe is a local desktop time tracker for macOS and Windows with automatic activity detection, productivity analytics, and project tracking, storing everything offline with no cloud, no registration, and no paywall. It is GPL-3.0.
Pricing: Free and open source.
Ziit is an AGPL-3.0 coding time tracker with real-time tracking, per-language statistics, and daily, weekly, and monthly summaries. It is a small project with a few hundred stars.
Pricing: Free to self-host.
Hackatime is an MIT coding time tracker from Hack Club that works with WakaTime plugins in VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, vim, emacs, and more. It collects metadata only, has no artificial history limits, and supports JSON and CSV export and self-hosting. The hosted service is run by Hack Club.
Pricing: Free.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActivityWatch | Activity tracker | MPL-2.0 | Local | Whole-device tracking |
| solidtime | Time tracker | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Project time |
| Wakapi | Coding tracker | MIT | Yes | Closest replacement |
| TimeScribe | Time tracker | GPL-3.0 | Local | General professionals |
| Hackatime | Coding tracker | MIT | Yes | Plugin compatibility |
| Ziit | Coding tracker | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Experimenting |
Want a drop-in WakaTime server
Wakapi captures time automatically and shows dashboards by language and project.
Want WakaTime plugin compatibility with exports
Hackatime works with WakaTime plugins and exports JSON and CSV.
Want to track everything on your device
ActivityWatch records app and browser activity locally.