ActivityWatch
by ActivityWatch · Open-source automated time tracker that keeps data on your device
BenchRank score
Screenshots of ActivityWatch
Homepage
Overview
ActivityWatch is an automated time tracker that records the active application and window title on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. It runs locally on the device and you open its UI in a browser at localhost:5600. Additional watchers extend it, including Chrome and Firefox extensions for the active tab and editor plugins for coding time.
- Best for
- Individuals who want automatic app and website time tracking with data kept on their own device.
- Pricing
- The application is free and open source under MPL-2.0; the same page also mentions ActivityWatch Pro subscriptions starting at $5/month, with no plan details given.
- Runs on
- AndroidmacOSWindowsLinuxBrowser extension
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Data stays on your device; nothing is uploaded to the cloud
- Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android
- Free and open source under MPL-2.0, no usage limits or ads
- Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, plus editor watchers
Trade-offs
- Sync between devices is described as still being worked on
- Built by volunteers who don't work on it full-time, so progress can slow
- Web tracking needs the Chrome or Firefox extension; no other browsers listed
- macOS version and architecture support varies by release
How ActivityWatch markets itself
A structured read of the promise, proof and page design on ActivityWatch’s captured homepage.
Homepage capture
“Free Open-Source Time Tracker”
- Angle: Open source / ownership
- Hero: Typography only
Pricing
Published plans and prices from ActivityWatch’s own pricing page.
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
MCP support
Whether an agent can drive the product through the Model Context Protocol, and how much setup that takes.
API quality
Public API surface: machine-readable spec, official SDKs, documented auth, errors, rate limits and versioning.
Documentation
Publicly reachable docs — coverage, freshness, code samples and machine readability.
Agent friendliness
How readable the site is to an automated client: llms.txt, structured data, server-rendered content, crawler access.
Changelog
A public, dated record of what shipped and when — the clearest signal that a product is still alive.
Marketing site structure
Whether the site answers a buyer's questions: clear positioning, the pages that matter, and accessibility.
Page speed
How fast the site loads for real visitors: Chrome UX Report 75th-percentile LCP, INP and CLS, with a Lighthouse mobile run standing in where a site has too little traffic for field data.
Operational trust
Status page and incident history, security disclosure, compliance and data-processing documentation.
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
Openness
Source availability, self-hosting, data export and open standards. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — paid SaaS is not worse for being paid SaaS.
Maintenance
Release cadence and repository activity. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — it is only measurable for open repositories.
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Where this comes from
The ActivityWatch pages BenchRank reads when it scores the product — its documentation, release notes, status and security pages, and its repository where there is one.
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Is this your product?
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