ActivityWatchvspolar
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| ActivityWatch | polar | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 11 in Time Tracking | #1 of 13 in Billing |
| GitHub stars | 19 414 | 10 435 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +446 | +157 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 13 | 1 |
| Latest release | v0.14.1 · 10 Oct 2026 | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Python | Python |
Which one should you pick?
ActivityWatch scores 80/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.
ActivityWatch ships more often: 13 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.
If you want the quickest setup, ActivityWatch is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.
ActivityWatch is growing faster right now (+446 stars in 30 days).
ActivityWatch details →polar details →
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