ActivityWatch
ActivityWatch/activitywatch
An open-source alternative to RescueTime.
The best free and open-source automated time tracker. Cross-platform, extensible, privacy-focused. (from the repository)
- Stars
- 19,278
- Licence
- MPL-2.0
- Last push
- 2026-10-18
- Written in
- Python
Is it alive?
Four readings from the repository, each with the rule behind it. No blended score.
Activity
Active
Last push 9 days ago
Active: pushed within 90 days. Slowing: within a year. Quiet: longer.
Releases
Recent
v0.14.1, 17 days ago
Recent: a tagged release within six months. Some projects ship from the main branch and never tag.
Issues
87% closed
120 open · 809 closed
Share of all issues ever filed that are now closed. Under 20 issues is too few to read.
Momentum
+111 in 9 days
19,278 stars
Change in stars across our daily readings, over up to 30 days. Needs a week of readings.
What a business may do with it
Weak copyleftMPL-2.0
Usable inside a closed product. Changes to its own files must be shared under the same licence when you distribute them.
This describes the licence family GitHub identified, not legal advice about this project. The repository’s own LICENSE file is what binds you.
Run it yourself
ActivityWatch’s README does not show a docker run, docker compose up or helm install in a code block, so this page will not guess one. It may be a desktop app, a library, or documented on its website.
ActivityWatch against the other open-source options
Every project offered against RescueTime, most-starred first.
| Project | Stars | Activity | Licence | Self-host | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 ActivityWatch (this page) | 19,278 | Active | Weak copyleft | ○ | Python |
 Ever Gausy | 8,389 | Active | Network copyleft | ○ | TypeScript |
Where this page comes from
- Stars, licence, activity, issues, releases and the self-host command are read from the repository. 2026-10-19
- The pairing with RescueTime and the category come from opensourcealternative.to, a community directory of open-source alternatives. We re-read it weekly.
- Star momentum comes from our own daily readings of the repository. How we collect data