WakaTime

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to WakaTime

A curated collection of the 3 best self hosted alternatives to WakaTime.

WakaTime — automated developer time tracking and productivity analytics. Integrates with editors, IDEs and version control to record coding activity, generate dashboards, reports and team/project metrics for individual developers and engineering teams.

Alternatives List

#1
Kimai

Kimai

Self-hosted time tracking and timesheet app with projects, rates, reporting, invoicing exports, and extensions for teams and freelancers.

Kimai screenshot

Kimai is a web-based time tracking and timesheet application for freelancers, agencies, and teams. It helps you record work time against customers/projects/activities, manage rates, and generate reports and exports for billing and payroll workflows.

Key Features

  • Track time via browser UI with running timers and manual entries
  • Organize work by customer, project, and activity with configurable rates
  • Timesheets with filtering, approvals/validation workflows (via permissions) and comments
  • Reporting and analytics with export options (e.g., CSV/Excel/PDF depending on setup/extensions)
  • User, team, and role-based access control (RBAC) for multi-user environments
  • Extensible via a plugin/extension system (marketplace) to add features (e.g., invoicing, expenses, additional reporting)
  • API support for integrations and automation
  • Internationalization (multi-language UI) and configurable currencies/time zones

Use Cases

  • Freelancers tracking billable hours per client/project and exporting timesheets for invoicing
  • Agencies tracking team time across projects with permission-controlled access and reporting
  • Internal teams tracking effort for cost allocation, payroll inputs, or project analytics

Limitations and Considerations

  • Some advanced features (e.g., invoicing/expenses, specialized reports) may require installing extensions rather than being included in the core

Kimai is a mature option for organizations that want full control of time tracking data while supporting multi-user workflows, reporting, and integrations. Its structured customer/project/activity model and extension ecosystem make it suitable from solo use up to team deployments.

4.4kstars
713forks
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#2
Wakapi

Wakapi

Privacy-friendly WakaTime-compatible server to collect, store, and visualize coding activity from editor plugins via dashboards, reports, and exports.

Wakapi screenshot

Wakapi is a self-hosted server that collects coding activity from IDE/editor plugins using the WakaTime API protocol, then stores and visualizes the data in a web UI. It is designed as a privacy-focused alternative to hosted time-tracking/telemetry services, with multi-user support and exportable reports.

Key Features

  • WakaTime-compatible API for seamless use with existing WakaTime editor/IDE plugins
  • Web dashboard with time stats by project, language, editor, operating system, and time ranges
  • Multi-user accounts with per-user API keys
  • Goal tracking and summaries (e.g., daily/weekly targets and progress)
  • Export and reporting (e.g., JSON/CSV-like exports and shareable views depending on configuration)
  • Optional integrations (e.g., Prometheus metrics endpoint / observability hooks where supported)
  • Multiple database backends (commonly SQLite by default; can be configured for others)
  • Container-friendly deployment (Docker/Docker Compose images and straightforward configuration)

Use Cases

  • Track personal coding time across devices without sending data to third-party SaaS
  • Provide an internal coding-activity dashboard for a team or organization
  • Maintain historical engineering activity data for retrospectives and personal improvement

Limitations and Considerations

  • Requires editor plugins that speak the WakaTime protocol; feature parity depends on plugin capabilities
  • Some advanced analytics found in commercial services may be limited or require external tooling

Wakapi is a practical drop-in backend for WakaTime-compatible clients that prioritizes data ownership and local control. It fits individuals and teams who want transparent, exportable coding-activity insights with minimal setup overhead.

4.1kstars
257forks
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#3
TimeTagger

TimeTagger

Self-hosted web-based time tracker for logging work with tags, timelines, and reports; runs locally or on a server and stores data in SQLite.

TimeTagger screenshot

TimeTagger is a lightweight, web-based time tracking app for recording how you spend time using flexible tags and short descriptions. It focuses on fast entry, clear timelines, and simple reporting, and can run as a local app or as a small server for multiple users.

Key Features

  • Fast time logging with tag-based entries (e.g., #project, #client)
  • Timeline view for browsing and editing tracked intervals
  • Reporting and summaries based on tags and time ranges
  • Multi-user support when running in server mode
  • Data stored in SQLite with export/backup-friendly files
  • Runs as a small Python web app (suitable for Docker/self-hosting)

Use Cases

  • Personal time tracking for deep work vs. meetings with tag summaries
  • Freelancers tracking time per client/project for timesheets
  • Small teams running a shared instance for consistent categorization

Limitations and Considerations

  • Reporting is intentionally lightweight; advanced billing/invoicing features are limited compared to dedicated suites

TimeTagger is best suited for users who want a simple, responsive time tracker with tag-based organization and straightforward reports, without the overhead of a large project management platform.

1.6kstars
152forks
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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