ActivityWatch vs WakaTime

ActivityWatch

• People who want automatic tracking with all data kept on their own device
• Linux users, alongside Windows, macOS and Android
• Developers who want to query their own activity data through an API
• Personal screen-time and quantified-self tracking at no cost

WakaTime

• Developers who want coding time logged automatically by project and language
• Engineering teams measuring adoption and cost of AI coding tools
• Freelance developers who bill from time spent in the editor

ActivityWatch

• No iOS app is listed; platforms are Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
• The homepage describes syncing activity between devices as still being worked on.
• The stable macOS download (v0.13.2) is listed for Intel; Apple Silicon builds are in the v0.14 pre-release.
• Maintainers say they do not work on the project full-time, so development may slow at times.

WakaTime

• The free dashboard shows only the last week of history; the complete history needs Premium.
• Tracking depends on editor plugins, browser extensions or the desktop app, so it centers on computer work.
• The Team plan covers up to 100 developers; larger organizations are pointed to Business.
• SSO, OIDC and SCIM provisioning are limited to the Business plan.

ActivityWatch

Automatic window tracking

Tracks the active application and window title out of the box. A separate watcher notes when the keyboard and mouse are idle, without storing what the input was.

Categories

Activity is broken down into categories, which gives an overview of usage by type of work instead of a raw list of apps and window titles.

Browser extensions

Extensions for Chrome and Firefox track the active tab, adding website-level detail to the time recorded on the computer.

Editor watchers

Optional watchers for code editors track how much time goes into writing code, and other watchers can be added to track more.

Local data and API

Data stays on your own device and can be exported, deleted or backed up at any time. A documented REST API and Python client give access to buckets, events and queries.

Local web interface

The app runs from the system tray and its interface opens in the browser at localhost:5600, with activity and timeline views of the tracked data.

WakaTime

Automatic coding time

Editor plugins send heartbeat events while you work, so time is logged by project, language and file with no timer to start. File contents stay on your computer; file paths are sent.

Plugins for 100+ editors

Open source plugins cover VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Vim, Neovim, Xcode and more, with browser extensions and a desktop app that tracks time in any other app.

AI coding insights

Premium and team plans report AI adoption, per-model usage and estimated spend, and compare AI-generated with human-written code across tools such as Claude Code, Cursor and Copilot.

Goals and leaderboards

Set programming goals (1 on Free, 3 on Basic, unlimited on Premium) and compare coding time on the public leaderboard or on private ones.

Reports and history

Coding reports arrive weekly on Free and daily from Basic. Premium opens the complete history, export of stats and invoices generated from code stats.

Team dashboards

Team and Business plans add shared dashboards, commit and pull request insights and exportable team reports. Only developers shown on dashboards need a paid seat.

ActivityWatch

• Free$0

  Every feature on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, including the browser extensions and editor watchers.

WakaTime

• Free$0

  1 week of dashboard history, unlimited projects, shareable project charts, weekly coding reports and 1 programming goal.

• Basic$8.25

  per month, billed yearly ($99); $9 billed monthly

  2 weeks of dashboard history, daily and weekly coding reports, basic integrations, 3 goals and private leaderboards for 5 devs.

• Premium$12.83

  per month, billed yearly ($153.96); $14 billed monthly

  Complete coding history, AI adoption and spend insights, unlimited goals, premium integrations, stats export and invoices from code stats.

• Team$19.25

  per dev / month, billed yearly ($231); $21 billed monthly

  Up to 100 developers. Team dashboards, team-wide AI adoption and estimated spend, commit and pull request insights, and exportable reports.

• Business$22

  per dev / month, billed yearly ($264); $24 billed monthly

  For 100 to 1,000 developers. Adds SSO, OIDC and SCIM provisioning, guided onboarding, custom integrations and priority support.

ActivityWatch

No public discounts listed.

WakaTime

• Annual discount

  About 8% off with yearly billing

  Yearly plans are billed at 11 times the monthly price: Basic is $99 a year ($8.25 a month) against $9 monthly, and Premium is $153.96 a year against $14 monthly.

• Education

  Student discount available

  The pricing FAQ says a student discount is available. The page with its terms requires signing in, so the amount is not recorded here.