ActivityWatch

Contents

1. 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2. 02Insider tipsWhat most people miss: ways to pay less, settings worth changing and the catches
3. 03What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
4. 04What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
5. 05Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
6. 06The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
7. 07Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
8. 08About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it

ToolGPA put this guide together from ActivityWatch’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on ActivityWatch’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 5, 2026.

1. 1

   Best for automatic tracking that stays on your own machine

   ActivityWatch sits in your system tray and records which app and window you're in, free and open source, with the data kept on your device.

2. 2

   It is free

   ActivityWatch has no paid plan at all. Entirely free and open source under the MPL-2.0 license, with no feature gates, usage limits or ads. Optional support subscriptions from $5 a month unlock nothing extra.

3. 3

   It runs on 4 platforms

   Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, with a browser extension too.

4. 4

   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.

5. 5

   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.

6. 6

   Browser extensions

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

7. 7

   A 3.0 GPA, above 34 of 42

   That is against the other time tracking apps we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.

8. 8

   Keep it

   ActivityWatch is free, so making your own would save you nothing.

The things about ActivityWatch that are easy to miss until they cost you: ways to pay less, settings worth changing and the catches at renewal or when you leave. Each one is from ActivityWatch’s own pages, linked beside it.

Read on Oct 17, 2026. Read from ActivityWatch's documentation (FAQ, watchers, categorisation and exporting data) on 17 October 2026. Not tried out: these tips are what its own pages say.

1. 1

   Setting

   Change the 3-minute idle timeout if it cuts into your reading time

   You count as away after 3 minutes with no input. To change it, open the config folder from the tray menu, edit aw-watcher-afk/aw-watcher-afk.toml and set timeout in seconds, like timeout = 300, then restart. With the browser extension on, audio playing in the tab counts as active.

   docs.activitywatch.net
2. 2

   Setting

   On a Mac, grant Accessibility or window titles won't be recorded

   The window watcher needs Accessibility access to read window titles: System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility. The core install doesn't use Screen Recording or Full Disk Access. Only the optional Screen Time importer asks for Full Disk Access.

   docs.activitywatch.net
3. 3

   Easy to miss

   Install the browser extension, or you won't see which sites you visited

   Out of the box only two watchers run, one for the active window and one for idle time. Website detail needs the official aw-watcher-web extension for Chrome, Edge or Firefox. Separate watchers cover VS Code, Vim, JetBrains IDEs, Zed, Obsidian and more.

   docs.activitywatch.net
4. 4

   Easy to miss

   Categories match app names and window titles, not URLs

   Set them up in Settings, under Categorization, with a regex rule for each. The deepest matching sub-category wins. An empty rule matches everything, so pick "No rule" for a category that's only a folder. To sort websites, the docs suggest an extension that puts the URL in the window title.

   docs.activitywatch.net
5. 5

   Leaving

   Export everything as JSON from the Raw Data page

   Open localhost:5600/#/buckets and click "Export all buckets as JSON" at the bottom, or export one bucket at a time. The same export sits at /api/0/export if you'd rather script it. Your data only lives on your device, so a copy now and then is worth having.

   docs.activitywatch.net
6. 6

   Privacy

   Redact your data before you hand it to an AI tool

   The export page advises against uploading raw bucket exports to an AI assistant, since they hold your window titles and more. Its advice is to sum things up and redact them on your own machine first. We'd do that every time.

   docs.activitywatch.net
7. 7

   Setting

   On GNOME with Wayland, the window watcher can't see anything

   Wayland doesn't expose the active window, so on compositors like GNOME's Mutter events show up as "unknown". The FAQ's options: switch to an X11 session, use a Wayland-compatible watcher, or try the experimental Tauri build from v0.14, which bundles awatcher.

   docs.activitywatch.net

• Free

  $0

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

Read from activitywatch.net on Oct 5, 2026.

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.

ActivityWatch's GPA of 3.0 is higher than 34 of the 42 other time tracking apps we grade, and level with 4.

It stands best on free plan and trial (A, above 37 of 42) and worst on features (C, above 0).

ActivityWatch has no paid plan.

On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4, and no tool on the category's chart scores higher without costing more.

Part 06 · Alternatives

The alternatives

The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side

RescueTime, WakaTime, ManicTime, Timing and Rize

The 5 tools ActivityWatch is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.

• 

  2.8GPA

  RescueTime

  Free plan · from $7/mo

  Automatic time tracking with distraction blocking and timesheets.

  • Only ActivityWatch lists a Linux app.
  • Only RescueTime lists a web app.
  • Only RescueTime lists an iOS app.

  ActivityWatch and RescueTime compared in full
• 

  2.2GPA

  WakaTime

  Free plan · from $8.25/mo

  Automatic coding time tracking and AI usage analytics.

  • Only ActivityWatch lists an Android app.
  • Only WakaTime lists a web app.
  • ActivityWatch is open source, according to its own site.

  ActivityWatch and WakaTime compared in full
• 

  2.4GPA

  ManicTime

  Free plan · from $7/mo

  Automatic time tracker, in the cloud or on your own server.

  • Only ActivityWatch lists a browser extension.
  • Only ManicTime lists an iOS app.
  • ActivityWatch is open source, according to its own site.

  ActivityWatch and ManicTime compared in full
• 

  2.4GPA

  Timing

  Free trial · from $9/mo

  Automatic time tracking for Mac with no timers to start.

  • ActivityWatch has a free plan. Timing does not, though it has a free trial.
  • Only ActivityWatch lists Windows, Linux and Android apps.
  • Only ActivityWatch lists a browser extension.

  ActivityWatch and Timing compared in full
• 

  2.2GPA

  Rize

  Free trial · from $9.99/mo

  Automatic time tracker with focus tools and AI reports.

  • ActivityWatch has a free plan. Rize does not, though it has a free trial.
  • Only ActivityWatch lists Linux and Android apps.
  • ActivityWatch is open source, according to its own site.

  ActivityWatch and Rize compared in full

The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.

ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.

Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.

• 3,189

  tools graded

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• 426

  price changes on record

• 579

  apps priced in 12 countries