---
title: "inlinr vs WakaTime"
description: "An honest comparison. WakaTime has far more editor plugins and a decade of history. Both track your editor and AI assistants automatically. inlinr adds freelance billing: manual entries, versioned rates and client share links."
url: https://inlinr.com/vs/wakatime
lang: en
---

[Comparison](https://inlinr.com/alternatives)

# inlinr vs WakaTime
  
WakaTime: Hosted coding-time tracker with plugins for 50+ editors.  
Both track your editor and your AI assistants automatically. inlinr is built around a second question WakaTime treats as a side feature: what do I invoice for this, and what can I show the client. WakaTime covers far more editors, and it has been doing so since 2013.

[See pricing](https://inlinr.com/pricing)

## Choose WakaTime if

- · You need AI attribution in an editor other than VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf or Claude Code.
- · You want to self-host: Wakapi is a real option, we have none.
- · Ten years of continuous operation matters more than the newer features.

## Choose inlinr if

- · You bill clients: meetings next to coding time, versioned rates, invoices.
- · You want to send a client a read-only report of their project.
- · You want AI time and Claude Code token cost on the same project page.

- 4 inlinr ahead
- 2 WakaTime ahead
- 7 Even

__What inlinr and WakaTime each offer__
| Feature                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | inlinr                                           | WakaTime                 |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------ |
| Tracking                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |                                                  |                          |
| Automatic editor trackingBoth send heartbeats from the editor and compute duration at read time. Same idea, same 15-minute idle rule.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | Yes                                              | Yes                      |
| Both send heartbeats from the editor and compute duration at read time. Same idea, same 15-minute idle rule.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |                                                  |                          |
| Editors supportedWakaTime wrote the 50+ plugins. inlinr has its own extension for VS Code and its forks and a Claude Code plugin, and accepts the WakaTime plugins too: point one at inlinr and Emacs or Xcode time lands here. AI attribution needs the inlinr extension or plugin.                                                                                                            | VS Code family, Claude Code, any WakaTime plugin | 50+ editors              |
| WakaTime wrote the 50+ plugins. inlinr has its own extension for VS Code and its forks and a Claude Code plugin, and accepts the WakaTime plugins too: point one at inlinr and Emacs or Xcode time lands here. AI attribution needs the inlinr extension or plugin.                                                                                                                             |                                                  |                          |
| AI assistants                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |                                                  |                          |
| AI-tool attributionBoth attribute lines to an assistant per project, Claude Code included. inlinr only counts an edit as AI-written when it saw a generated insert, never because an extension is installed.                                                                                                                                                                                    | Yes                                              | Yes                      |
| Both attribute lines to an assistant per project, Claude Code included. inlinr only counts an edit as AI-written when it saw a generated insert, never because an extension is installed.                                                                                                                                                                                                       |                                                  |                          |
| Token counts and costBoth read Claude Code token usage and price cached input at its lower rate. inlinr puts the cost next to the time spent on the same project.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | Yes                                              | Yes                      |
| Both read Claude Code token usage and price cached input at its lower rate. inlinr puts the cost next to the time spent on the same project.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |                                                  |                          |
| Billing and clients                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |                                                  |                          |
| Manual entriesMeetings, calls and reviews alongside coding time. A freelance day is not only the editor.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Yes                                              | No                       |
| Meetings, calls and reviews alongside coding time. A freelance day is not only the editor.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |                                                  |                          |
| Hourly rates and invoicingWakaTime can generate a PDF invoice from coding time. inlinr bills by the hour, by the day or for a fixed price, puts meetings and calls on the same invoice, prints the VAT that applies, and versions rates over time, so raising yours never rewrites a past invoice.                                                                                              | Yes                                              | Coding time only         |
| WakaTime can generate a PDF invoice from coding time. inlinr bills by the hour, by the day or for a fixed price, puts meetings and calls on the same invoice, prints the VAT that applies, and versions rates over time, so raising yours never rewrites a past invoice.                                                                                                                        |                                                  |                          |
| Client share linksA read-only report you choose the contents of, optionally PIN-gated.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Yes                                              | No                       |
| A read-only report you choose the contents of, optionally PIN-gated.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |                                                  |                          |
| Teams                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |                                                  |                          |
| Team rollupsBoth aggregate across a team. inlinr bounds each member's contribution to the period they were on the team.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | Yes                                              | Yes                      |
| Both aggregate across a team. inlinr bounds each member's contribution to the period they were on the team.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |                                                  |                          |
| Public profile                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |                                                  |                          |
| Profile and GitHub README cardWakaTime has a public profile and embeddable charts; the README cards most people use, such as waka-readme or github-readme-stats, read your WakaTime stats through an API key, a GitHub Action or a public profile. inlinr hosts its card: one line to paste, no key and no Action, the AI share on it, and it follows each reader's light or dark GitHub theme. | Yes                                              | Embeddable charts        |
| WakaTime has a public profile and embeddable charts; the README cards most people use, such as waka-readme or github-readme-stats, read your WakaTime stats through an API key, a GitHub Action or a public profile. inlinr hosts its card: one line to paste, no key and no Action, the AI share on it, and it follows each reader's light or dark GitHub theme.                               |                                                  |                          |
| Product                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |                                                  |                          |
| Track recordWakaTime has been running since 2013\. inlinr is new. That is a real reason to choose them for something you cannot afford to lose.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | New                                              | Since 2013               |
| WakaTime has been running since 2013\. inlinr is new. That is a real reason to choose them for something you cannot afford to lose.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |                                                  |                          |
| Open sourceWakaTime's plugins are open, its server is not. inlinr's plugins are open, its server is not. Same shape.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | Plugins only                                     | Plugins only             |
| WakaTime's plugins are open, its server is not. inlinr's plugins are open, its server is not. Same shape.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |                                                  |                          |
| Self-hostingWakapi is a compatible open-source server you can run yourself. inlinr has no equivalent and none planned.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | No                                               | Via Wakapi               |
| Wakapi is a compatible open-source server you can run yourself. inlinr has no equivalent and none planned.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |                                                  |                          |
| Price                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |                                                  |                          |
| PriceWakaTime's free plan shows the last week and Basic ($9 a month, $99 a year) the last two; full history needs Premium at $14\. inlinr's free plan keeps 30 days and includes AI attribution and manual entries; Pro is €4 a month or €40 a year, VAT included, with unlimited history and billing.                                                                                          | Free, Pro €4/month                               | Free, paid from $9/month |
| WakaTime's free plan shows the last week and Basic ($9 a month, $99 a year) the last two; full history needs Premium at $14\. inlinr's free plan keeps 30 days and includes AI attribution and manual entries; Pro is €4 a month or €40 a year, VAT included, with unlimited history and billing.                                                                                               |                                                  |                          |

## Coming from WakaTime

Paste your WakaTime API key and inlinr asks WakaTime for your export itself, or upload the file, so your history comes with you rather than starting from zero. A preview shows where each project goes before anything is written, and the import can be undone. Nothing has to be switched off on their side first: running both for a couple of weeks is a reasonable way to decide.

What we say about WakaTime was checked on 14 Oct 2026 against: [wakatime.com](https://wakatime.com/plugins), [github.com](https://github.com/wakatime/claude-code-wakatime), [wakapi.dev](https://wakapi.dev), [wakatime.com](https://wakatime.com/pricing), [wakatime.com](https://wakatime.com/share/embed). Products change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it. WakaTime is a trademark of its owner; inlinr is not affiliated with or endorsed by WakaTime.

## Read also

- [Setup Switching from WakaTime without losing a day Your history comes with you, your WakaTime plugins keep working, and the scripts that read WakaTime's API too. Three steps. 4 min read](https://inlinr.com/guides/switch-from-wakatime)
- [Integration Time tracking with WakaTime plugins Track JetBrains, Neovim, Zed, Xcode, Emacs or any editor with a WakaTime plugin in inlinr: one line of config, no new plugin to install. Open](https://inlinr.com/integrations/wakatime)
- [Time tracking How coding time is counted, and why two trackers disagree Time is the gaps between heartbeats. Which gaps count is one setting, and getting it subtly wrong adds over an hour a day. 5 min read](https://inlinr.com/guides/how-coding-time-is-counted)

## Try it on your own repositories

Run it next to WakaTime for a couple of weeks and compare. Free for solo use.

[Install in VS Code](https://inlinr.com/integrations/vscode)

No card to start · no source code leaves your machine
