ActivityWatch Cloud

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to ActivityWatch Cloud

A curated collection of the 2 best self hosted alternatives to ActivityWatch Cloud.

Hosted SaaS version of ActivityWatch that automatically tracks time and device activity, syncs data across devices, and provides dashboards and reports showing app/website usage, idle time, and productivity analytics.

Alternatives List

#1
ActivityWatch

ActivityWatch

Open-source, privacy-first automated time tracker with local storage, extensible watchers, and dashboards for analyzing app, browser, and coding activity.

ActivityWatch screenshot

ActivityWatch is an automated time tracking and lifelogging suite that records how you spend time on your devices. It stores data locally under your control and provides a web interface to explore and analyze your activity.

Key Features

  • Automatic tracking via “watchers” (active app/window, AFK status, browser tab activity, and more)
  • Local, user-controlled data storage with a REST API and query engine
  • Web dashboard to visualize time usage and breakdowns
  • Categorization to group and summarize activity for better overviews
  • Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android)
  • Extensible ecosystem with browser extensions and editor plugins

Use Cases

  • Personal productivity and work-life balance tracking
  • Understanding time spent across apps, websites, and projects
  • Quantified-self lifelogging and behavioral research datasets

Limitations and Considerations

  • Activity synchronization across devices is still a work in progress

ActivityWatch is a strong fit for individuals and teams who want detailed, automatic time tracking without giving up data ownership. Its modular watchers and API make it adaptable to many workflows and research needs.

16.4kstars
810forks
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#2
Wakapi

Wakapi

Minimalist, self-hosted WakaTime-compatible backend to track coding time with dashboards, leaderboards, badges, reports, and a REST API.

Wakapi screenshot

Wakapi is a minimalist backend for collecting and visualizing coding activity, compatible with the WakaTime client ecosystem. It helps individuals or teams track time spent across projects, languages, editors, machines, and operating systems.

Key Features

  • WakaTime-compatible API to ingest editor “heartbeats”
  • Dashboards with statistics for projects, languages, editors, hosts, and operating systems
  • Public leaderboards (configurable scope and access restrictions)
  • Shareable badges for profiles and repositories
  • Weekly email reports
  • REST API for integrating and exporting data
  • Prometheus-compatible metrics export
  • Multiple database options (SQLite by default, with support for MySQL and PostgreSQL)

Use Cases

  • Personal developer productivity tracking without relying on third-party SaaS
  • Team-wide coding activity dashboards and friendly competitions via leaderboards
  • Feeding coding-time metrics into monitoring/analytics stacks via API or Prometheus

Limitations and Considerations

  • Data collection depends on WakaTime-compatible editor plugins and correct client configuration
  • WakaTime compatibility is partial, so not every upstream feature or endpoint may be supported

Wakapi provides a lightweight, fast way to own your coding-time statistics while remaining compatible with widely used WakaTime tooling. It’s well-suited for privacy-conscious users who want dashboards, reports, and automation-friendly exports.

4.1kstars
259forks
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Why choose an open source alternative?

  • •Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • •No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • •Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • •Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running