Free Open-Source Time Tracker
ActivityWatch is an app that automatically tracks how you spend time on your devices. It is the best free and open-source time tracking software for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.
It is privacy-first and cross-platform, and a great alternative to services like RescueTime, ManicTime, and WakaTime. Unlike closed-source time trackers, your data stays on your device — never uploaded to the cloud.
Use it as an activity tracker or productivity tracker to monitor time spent on different projects, manage screen time habits, track work hours, or just understand how you spend your day.
Time Tracking Features
- Tracking: Tracks active application and window title out of the box, more with watchers.
- Categories: Get a better overview of your usage by breaking it down into categories.
- Browser extensions: Track the active tab using the extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
- Editor plugins: Track how you spend time writing code with editor watchers.
- Privacy: Data is stored locally and doesn't leave your device, we put local and privacy first.
- Cross-platform: Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.
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Synchronization: Sync your activity between your devices.(We're working on it)
Why Use ActivityWatch? Time, Activity & Productivity Tracking
You can use ActivityWatch to:
- Monitor your productivity.
- Track how much time you spend on different projects.
- Get an overview of time spent on apps, games, videos, and music.
- Manage your bad screen habits.
- Measure your work-life balance.
- Find behavioral trends in how you use your devices.
- Gain "self-knowledge through numbers" (Quantified Self)
- Keep a log of your digital life (lifelogging).
- Research attention, productivity, and behavior (researchers: contact us!)
- Track who creates the things you use, so you can incentivize them to continue
- The goal of the Thankful app
Our users are diverse and we keep being surprised by what people use ActivityWatch for. If you've built something cool that you want to share with us, post about it on the forum!
How to Start Tracking Your Time
To get started with ActivityWatch, you need to download and install the application on your computer.
After you've installed it and it's running (see your system tray), you can visit localhost:5600 in your browser to open the UI.
For more detail, see the getting started guide.
Learn more
For more about ActivityWatch see the documentation and the Frequently asked questions.
For a feature comparison with other similar software, see the comparison section in the README.
How to Contribute
ActivityWatch is built entirely by volunteers and we need help from people (like you!) to keep the project going. If you're interested in contributing, check out the contributing guide.
Donate
If ActivityWatch has helped you in any way, and you don't have the means or time to contribute, please consider donating.
Spread the word
If you like ActivityWatch, please consider spreading the word by sharing it on social media, writing a blog post, or recommending it to a friend.
Frequently Asked Questions About ActivityWatch
What is ActivityWatch?
ActivityWatch is a free, open-source, automated time tracker that runs on your computer and monitors which applications and websites you use. It works on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Unlike cloud-based time trackers, all data is stored locally on your device for maximum privacy.
Is ActivityWatch really free?
Yes. ActivityWatch is completely free and open-source software, licensed under the MPL-2.0 license. There are no premium tiers, no usage limits, and no ads. It is developed and maintained by volunteers.
How does ActivityWatch compare to RescueTime?
ActivityWatch is a privacy-first, open-source alternative to RescueTime. While RescueTime sends your data to their cloud servers, ActivityWatch keeps everything local on your device. ActivityWatch also supports more platforms (including Linux, which RescueTime dropped support for) and offers browser extensions for both Chrome and Firefox.
Does ActivityWatch track my data privately?
Yes. ActivityWatch follows a local-first approach. All your time tracking data is stored on your own device and is never sent to any server. You have full control over your data and can export, delete, or back it up at any time.
What platforms does ActivityWatch support?
ActivityWatch runs on Windows (10 and later), macOS (10.15+), Linux (most distributions), and Android. Browser extensions are available for Chrome and Firefox to track your web activity.
For more answers, see the full FAQ in the documentation.
Blog posts
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2026-03-02
ActivityWatch vs RescueTime: Why I Built a Free Open-Source Alternative
- 2023-10-30 Announcing Winners of Screenshot Competition!
- 2023-08-30 The Future of Time Tracking: AI, Privacy, and Personalization
- 2023-08-30 Comparing ActivityWatch with RescueTime, ManicTime, and Apple ScreenTime
- 2019-03-12 Development Update March 2019
- 2018-08-28 Development Update August 2018
- 2018-05-16 Development Update May 2018
Timeline
For an overview of events in the project's history, see the timeline.
It includes milestones, features, releases, articles, and videos.
Where to follow the project
You can follow the project on social media, like Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Facebook.
You can chat with us in our Discord server, or discuss with us on the forum.
You can also subscribe to our very low-traffic newsletter to get very rare updates about the project.
About the maintainers
ActivityWatch was founded by brothers and current maintainers Erik Bjäreholt and Johan Bjäreholt. We started building ActivityWatch because we thought something like it should exist (it didn't), so we decided to build it ourselves. You can read the History page in the docs for more about the project's origins.
We don't work on ActivityWatch full-time, so development may slow at times. But we think that ActivityWatch is important software (if you agree, donate!), and we're building for the long term. We want to build an as useful tool as possible for as many people as possible.
Over the years, many significant contributions have come from the community, and we hope to see them increase over time. For details on who has contributed what and how much to ActivityWatch, check out the contributor statistics.