GitHub activity trackers: what they track and which to use
Updated
A GitHub activity tracker reads what you do on GitHub (commits, pull requests, reviews, issues) and turns it into something you can follow over time: a streak, a chart, a goal or a rank. GitHub shows some of this itself, and a handful of tools fill the gaps. They measure different things, so the right one depends on what you want to see.
What GitHub shows you
- The contribution graph on your profile: a year of daily activity, coloured by volume.
- Achievements: badges for milestones such as merged pull requests and co-authored commits.
- Repository Insights: pulse, contributors and traffic for each repository.
What's missing: there's no streak counter (it was removed in 2016), no history beyond the graph, no view across all your repositories at once, and no way to see how you compare with anyone else.
The main options
- WakaTime measures time spent coding through editor plugins. It tracks your editor rather than GitHub, so it answers "how long did I code?", not "what did I ship?". Many developers use it alongside a GitHub tracker.
- README stats cards, such as the open-source github-readme-stats project, render images of your stars, commits and top languages for your profile README. They're a snapshot: no history, goals or ranking.
- OSS Insight analyses GitHub event data to explore repositories, developers and trends. It's strongest for researching projects and the open-source ecosystem.
- DevTrack is a free, open-source dashboard for your own activity: contribution heatmap, streaks with freezes, pull request and review analytics, repositories, goals and weekly insights. It also turns your activity into a score from 0 to 1000 and a place on a global developer leaderboard, with live badges for your README.
Which one should you use?
- To keep a coding streak and track progress: a dashboard like DevTrack, which counts streaks in your time zone and lets you set goals.
- To see where your time goes: WakaTime.
- To decorate your profile README: stats cards or DevTrack badges, which also show your rank.
- To compare yourself with other developers: the DevTrack leaderboard, a head-to-head comparison, or the top developers by language and country.
You can try DevTrack without signing up: every GitHub user has a page at devtrack.live/u/username. Sign in with GitHub to claim yours and add private contributions to your stats.
Quick answers
- How can I track my GitHub activity?
- GitHub's contribution graph shows a year of daily activity. For streaks, goals, pull request and review analytics, and a ranking against other developers, sign in to a GitHub activity tracker such as DevTrack, which builds everything from your real GitHub data.
- What is the best GitHub activity tracker?
- It depends on what you want to measure. WakaTime tracks time spent in your editor, README stats cards show a snapshot on your profile, OSS Insight explores repositories and trends, and DevTrack tracks your streaks, pull requests and reviews and ranks you on a global developer leaderboard.
- Does GitHub track how long I spend coding?
- No. GitHub records contributions such as commits, pull requests, reviews and issues, not time. Tools like WakaTime measure coding time through editor plugins.