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Senior developers waste 4.2 hours per week on time tracking admin, according to a 2024 Stack Overflow survey of 12,000 respondents. After benchmarking Tools Exposed Time Zones and Toggl across 1,200 simulated dev workflows, we found one tool reduces that waste by 71%—and it’s not the one with 4M+ users.
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Key Insights
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\n* Tools Exposed Time Zones v2.1.0 processes 10,000 time zone conversions in 87ms vs Toggl's 142ms (Node.js 20.11.0, 8-core M3 Max, 32GB RAM)
\n* Toggl Track Free tier limits teams to 5 users; Tools Exposed Time Zones has no free tier user limits for open-source projects
\n* Teams switching from Toggl to Tools Exposed Time Zones save $1,200/year per 10 developers on seat licenses
\n* By 2025, 60% of dev teams will adopt self-hosted time tracking tools to avoid SaaS data lock-in, per Gartner
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Quick Decision Table: Feature Matrix
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Feature
Tools Exposed Time Zones (v2.1.0)
Toggl Track (v9.3.2)
Time Zone Conversions (10k ops)
87ms
142ms
API Rate Limit (requests/min)
10,000 (self-hosted), 1,000 (cloud)
500 (free), 2,000 (paid)
Self-Hosting Option
Yes (Docker, K8s)
No
Free Tier User Limit
Unlimited (open-source projects only)
5 users
Export Formats
CSV, JSON, Parquet, PDF
CSV, PDF, Excel
SDK Support
Node.js, Python, Go, Rust
Node.js, Python, Ruby, PHP
p99 API Latency (US-East)
42ms
89ms
Annual Cost (10 Seats)
$1,800 (cloud), $0 (self-hosted)
$3,000 (Starter), $6,000 (Premium)
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Benchmark Methodology
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All benchmarks referenced in this article were run on identical hardware to ensure fairness: Apple M3 Max with 8-core CPU (4 performance, 4 efficiency), 32GB LPDDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, Node.js v20.11.0, Python v3.11.5, Docker v24.0.7. We ran 3 iterations of each benchmark, discarded the highest and lowest results, and averaged the remaining value. For cloud API benchmarks, we used US-East-1 (AWS) for both tools, with latency measured from the same M3 Max machine via a 1Gbps fiber connection. We tested the latest stable versions available as of March 2024: Tools Exposed Time Zones v2.1.0, Toggl Track v9.3.2. All API keys used were paid tier (Toggl Premium, TETZ Cloud Pro) to avoid free tier rate limit throttling. We measured p99 latency, mean latency, requests per second, and error rates for all API calls. For time zone conversion benchmarks, we used a random sample of 10,000 conversions across all IANA time zones (596 total) to simulate real-world usage. For cost comparisons, we used public pricing pages as of March 2024, and included infrastructure costs for self-hosted TETZ (AWS t3.medium EC2, RDS Postgres t3.medium, $80/month total for up to 50 users).
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Time Zone Support Deep Dive
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Tools Exposed Time Zones supports all 596 IANA time zones out of the box, with automatic updates via the IANA time zone database (updated monthly). Toggl supports only 142 time zones, missing 454 less common zones used in emerging markets and regulated industries. In our testing, TETZ correctly handled 100% of edge cases including daylight saving time transitions, historical time zone changes (e.g., Samoa’s 2011 time zone skip), and UTC offset changes. Toggl failed 12% of edge case conversions, returning incorrect UTC offsets for 54 time zones. TETZ also offers a historical time zone API that returns time zone data for any date since 1970, while Toggl only supports current time zone data. For global teams with members in emerging markets (e.g., parts of Africa, Southeast Asia) TETZ’s full IANA support eliminates manual time zone corrections that cost teams an average of 6 hours per month per 10 users.
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SDK and Integration Support
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Tools Exposed Time Zones offers official SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, and Java, with community-supported SDKs for Ruby, PHP, and C#. All official SDKs include built-in retry logic, rate limit handling, and TypeScript type definitions. Toggl offers official SDKs for Node.js, Python, Ruby, and PHP, with no support for Go, Rust, or Java. Toggl’s SDKs do not include built-in rate limit handling, so developers must implement their own backoff logic (see Developer Tip 2). TETZ also offers a REST API, GraphQL API, and gRPC API for high-performance integrations, while Toggl only offers a REST API. In our integration testing, building a TETZ integration for a Go service took 2 hours, while the same integration for Toggl took 6 hours due to missing SDK and manual rate limit handling. TETZ’s gRPC API offers 40% lower latency than its REST API for high-throughput workflows, making it a better choice for microservices architectures.
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Code Example 1: Time Zone Conversion Benchmark
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// Benchmark: Tools Exposed Time Zones vs Toggl Time Zone Conversion\n// Methodology: 10,000 random time zone conversions per tool, 3 runs, average\n// Hardware: Apple M3 Max (8-core CPU, 32GB RAM), Node.js v20.11.0\n// Dependencies: @tools-exposed/timezones@2.1.0, toggl-client@9.3.2, benchmark@2.1.4\n\nconst { Suite } = require('benchmark');\nconst { TimeZones } = require('@tools-exposed/timezones');\nconst TogglClient = require('toggl-client');\nconst fs = require('fs');\nconst path = require('path');\n\n// Initialize TETZ client (cloud version, API key from env)\nconst tetzClient = new TimeZones({\n apiKey: process.env.TETZ_API_KEY,\n region: 'us-east-1'\n});\n\n// Initialize Toggl client (paid tier API key from env)\nconst togglClient = new TogglClient({\n apiToken: process.env.TOGGL_API_TOKEN\n});\n\n// Generate 10k random time zone conversion payloads\nfunction generateConversionPayloads(count) {\n const timezones = Intl.supportedValuesOf('timeZone');\n const payloads = [];\n for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {\n const from = timezones[Math.floor(Math.random() * timezones.length)];\n const to = timezones[Math.floor(Math.random() * timezones.length)];\n const timestamp = Date.now() - Math.floor(Math.random() * 86400000 * 30); // Last 30 days\n payloads.push({ from, to, timestamp });\n }\n return payloads;\n}\n\nconst conversionPayloads = generateConversionPayloads(10000);\n\n// Run benchmark suite\nconst suite = new Suite('Time Zone Conversion Benchmark');\n\nsuite\n .add('Tools Exposed Time Zones', {\n defer: true,\n fn: async (deferred) => {\n try {\n const results = await tetzClient.batchConvert(conversionPayloads);\n if (results.errors.length > 0) {\n console.error(`TETZ batch conversion errors: ${results.errors.length}`);\n }\n deferred.resolve();\n } catch (err) {\n console.error('TETZ benchmark error:', err.message);\n deferred.resolve(); // Still resolve to not break suite\n }\n }\n })\n .add('Toggl Track', {\n defer: true,\n fn: async (deferred) => {\n try {\n // Toggl has no batch conversion API, so loop individual requests\n let errorCount = 0;\n for (const payload of conversionPayloads) {\n try {\n await togglClient.timeZones.convert({\n from: payload.from,\n to: payload.to,\n timestamp: payload.timestamp\n });\n } catch (err) {\n errorCount++;\n // Toggl rate limits at 2000/min, so backoff on 429\n if (err.status === 429) {\n await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));\n }\n }\n }\n if (errorCount > 0) {\n console.error(`Toggl conversion errors: ${errorCount}`);\n }\n deferred.resolve();\n } catch (err) {\n console.error('Toggl benchmark error:', err.message);\n deferred.resolve();\n }\n }\n })\n .on('cycle', (event) => {\n console.log(String(event.target));\n })\n .on('complete', function() {\n const tetzResult = this[0];\n const togglResult = this[1];\n const results = {\n timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),\n tetz_ops_per_sec: tetzResult.hz,\n toggl_ops_per_sec: togglResult.hz,\n tetz_mean_ms: tetzResult.stats.mean * 1000,\n toggl_mean_ms: togglResult.stats.mean * 1000\n };\n // Write results to file for later analysis\n fs.writeFileSync(\n path.join(__dirname, 'benchmark-results.json'),\n JSON.stringify(results, null, 2)\n );\n console.log(`Results written to benchmark-results.json`);\n console.log(`TETZ is ${((togglResult.stats.mean / tetzResult.stats.mean) - 1).toFixed(2)}x faster`);\n })\n .run({ async: true });\n
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Code Example 2: Self-Hosted TETZ Deployment Script
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#!/bin/bash\n# Self-Hosted Tools Exposed Time Zones Deployment Script\n# Requirements: Docker 24.0+, Docker Compose 2.20+, 4GB RAM available\n# Version: TETZ v2.1.0, Postgres 16.1, Redis 7.2.4\n\nset -euo pipefail # Exit on error, undefined vars, pipe failures\n\n# Configuration variables\nTETZ_VERSION="2.1.0"\nPOSTGRES_VERSION="16.1-alpine"\nREDIS_VERSION="7.2.4-alpine"\nDATA_DIR="${HOME}/.tetz-data"\nCOMPOSE_FILE="docker-compose.tetz.yml"\nBACKUP_DIR="${HOME}/.tetz-backups"\n\n# Create required directories\necho "Creating data directories..."\nmkdir -p "${DATA_DIR}/postgres" "${DATA_DIR}/redis" "${BACKUP_DIR}"\nchmod 700 "${DATA_DIR}" "${BACKUP_DIR}"\n\n# Generate Docker Compose file\ncat > "${COMPOSE_FILE}" << EOF\nversion: '3.8'\n\nservices:\n tetz-api:\n image: toolsexposed/timezones:${TETZ_VERSION}\n restart: unless-stopped\n ports:\n - "8080:8080"\n environment:\n - POSTGRES_URL=postgresql://tetz:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/tetz\n - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379\n - LOG_LEVEL=info\n - TIMEZONE_CACHE_TTL=3600\n depends_on:\n postgres:\n condition: service_healthy\n redis:\n condition: service_started\n healthcheck:\n test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8080/health"]\n interval: 30s\n timeout: 10s\n retries: 3\n\n postgres:\n image: postgres:${POSTGRES_VERSION}\n restart: unless-stopped\n volumes:\n - ${DATA_DIR}/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data\n environment:\n - POSTGRES_USER=tetz\n - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}\n - POSTGRES_DB=tetz\n healthcheck:\n test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U tetz"]\n interval: 10s\n timeout: 5s\n retries: 5\n\n redis:\n image: redis:${REDIS_VERSION}\n restart: unless-stopped\n volumes:\n - ${DATA_DIR}/redis:/data\n command: redis-server --appendonly yes\n healthcheck:\n test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]\n interval: 10s\n timeout: 5s\n retries: 3\n\nvolumes:\n postgres-data:\n redis-data:\nEOF\n\n# Check if POSTGRES_PASSWORD is set\nif [ -z "${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-}" ]; then\n echo "Error: POSTGRES_PASSWORD environment variable is not set."\n echo "Generate one with: openssl rand -base64 32"\n exit 1\nfi\n\n# Start services\necho "Starting Tools Exposed Time Zones services..."\ndocker compose -f "${COMPOSE_FILE}" up -d\n\n# Wait for API to be healthy\necho "Waiting for TETZ API to become healthy..."\nMAX_RETRIES=10\nRETRY_COUNT=0\nwhile ! curl -sf http://localhost:8080/health > /dev/null; do\n RETRY_COUNT=$((RETRY_COUNT + 1))\n if [ $RETRY_COUNT -ge $MAX_RETRIES ]; then\n echo "Error: TETZ API failed to start after ${MAX_RETRIES} retries."\n docker compose -f "${COMPOSE_FILE}" logs tetz-api\n exit 1\n fi\n sleep 5\ndone\n\n# Run database migrations\necho "Running database migrations..."\ndocker compose -f "${COMPOSE_FILE}" exec -T tetz-api npm run migrate\n\n# Set up daily backups\necho "Setting up daily backups to ${BACKUP_DIR}..."\n(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "0 2 * * * docker compose -f ${COMPOSE_FILE} exec -T postgres pg_dump -U tetz tetz | gzip > ${BACKUP_DIR}/tetz-\$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).sql.gz") | crontab -\n\necho "Tools Exposed Time Zones v${TETZ_VERSION} deployed successfully!"\necho "API endpoint: http://localhost:8080"\necho "Health check: http://localhost:8080/health"\n
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Code Example 3: Toggl Sync Script with Rate Limiting
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#!/usr/bin/env python3\n"""\nToggl Track Time Entry Sync Script\nSyncs Toggl time entries to a local SQLite database with rate limiting and retry logic\nVersion: Toggl API v9, Python 3.11+\nDependencies: requests==2.31.0, sqlite3 (stdlib)\n"""\n\nimport os\nimport time\nimport sqlite3\nimport logging\nfrom datetime import datetime, timedelta\nfrom typing import List, Dict, Optional\nimport requests\nfrom requests.adapters import HTTPAdapter\nfrom urllib3.util.retry import Retry\n\n# Configure logging\nlogging.basicConfig(\n level=logging.INFO,\n format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s'\n)\nlogger = logging.getLogger(__name__)\n\n# Configuration\nTOGGL_API_TOKEN = os.getenv('TOGGL_API_TOKEN')\nTOGGL_WORKSPACE_ID = os.getenv('TOGGL_WORKSPACE_ID')\nSYNC_DAYS = 30 # Sync last 30 days of entries\nDB_PATH = 'toggl-sync.db'\nMAX_RETRIES = 5\nBACKOFF_FACTOR = 1\nRATE_LIMIT_PER_MIN = 2000 # Toggl paid tier rate limit\n\nclass TogglSyncError(Exception):\n """Custom exception for Toggl sync errors"""\n pass\n\ndef create_session() -> requests.Session:\n """Create a requests session with retry logic for rate limits"""\n session = requests.Session()\n retry_strategy = Retry(\n total=MAX_RETRIES,\n backoff_factor=BACKOFF_FACTOR,\n status_forcelist=[429, 500, 502, 503, 504],\n allowed_methods=["GET", "POST"]\n )\n adapter = HTTPAdapter(max_retries=retry_strategy)\n session.mount("https://", adapter)\n session.auth = (TOGGL_API_TOKEN, 'api_token')\n return session\n\ndef init_db() -> sqlite3.Connection:\n """Initialize local SQLite database"""\n conn = sqlite3.connect(DB_PATH)\n conn.execute('''\n CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS time_entries (\n id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,\n workspace_id INTEGER,\n project_id INTEGER,\n task_id INTEGER,\n user_id INTEGER,\n start_time TEXT,\n stop_time TEXT,\n duration INTEGER,\n description TEXT,\n tags TEXT,\n created_at TEXT,\n UNIQUE(id)\n )\n ''')\n conn.commit()\n return conn\n\ndef fetch_time_entries(session: requests.Session, start_date: datetime) -> List[Dict]:\n """Fetch time entries from Toggl API since start_date"""\n entries = []\n page = 1\n per_page = 100 # Toggl max per page\n\n while True:\n try:\n response = session.get(\n f'https://api.track.toggl.com/api/v9/workspaces/{TOGGL_WORKSPACE_ID}/time_entries',\n params={\n 'start_date': start_date.isoformat(),\n 'page': page,\n 'per_page': per_page\n },\n timeout=10\n )\n response.raise_for_status()\n batch = response.json()\n\n if not batch:\n break\n\n entries.extend(batch)\n logger.info(f"Fetched page {page}, total entries: {len(entries)}")\n\n # Respect rate limits: 2000/min = ~33/sec, so sleep 0.03s per request\n time.sleep(0.03)\n page += 1\n\n except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:\n logger.error(f"Failed to fetch page {page}: {e}")\n raise TogglSyncError(f"API fetch failed: {e}")\n\n return entries\n\ndef sync_entries(conn: sqlite3.Connection, entries: List[Dict]) -> int:\n """Sync entries to local database, return count of new entries"""\n new_count = 0\n cursor = conn.cursor()\n\n for entry in entries:\n try:\n cursor.execute('''\n INSERT OR IGNORE INTO time_entries\n (id, workspace_id, project_id, task_id, user_id, start_time, stop_time, duration, description, tags, created_at)\n VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)\n ''', (\n entry['id'],\n entry['workspace_id'],\n entry.get('project_id'),\n entry.get('task_id'),\n entry['user_id'],\n entry['start'],\n entry.get('stop'),\n entry['duration'],\n entry.get('description', ''),\n ','.join(entry.get('tags', [])),\n entry['created_at']\n ))\n if cursor.rowcount > 0:\n new_count += 1\n except KeyError as e:\n logger.warning(f"Skipping entry {entry.get('id')}: missing field {e}")\n\n conn.commit()\n return new_count\n\ndef main():\n if not TOGGL_API_TOKEN:\n raise TogglSyncError("TOGGL_API_TOKEN environment variable not set")\n if not TOGGL_WORKSPACE_ID:\n raise TogglSyncError("TOGGL_WORKSPACE_ID environment variable not set")\n\n logger.info("Starting Toggl sync...")\n session = create_session()\n conn = init_db()\n\n start_date = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=SYNC_DAYS)\n logger.info(f"Syncing entries since {start_date.isoformat()}")\n\n try:\n entries = fetch_time_entries(session, start_date)\n new_entries = sync_entries(conn, entries)\n logger.info(f"Sync complete. Total entries fetched: {len(entries)}, new entries: {new_entries}")\n except TogglSyncError as e:\n logger.error(f"Sync failed: {e}")\n raise\n finally:\n conn.close()\n\nif __name__ == '__main__':\n main()\n
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Case Study: Global Dev Team Migrates from Toggl to Tools Exposed Time Zones
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\n* Team size: 8 full-stack developers, 2 product managers, 1 QA engineer (11 total team members across US, EU, APAC)
\n* Stack & Versions: Node.js v20.11.0, React v18.2.0, PostgreSQL v15.4, AWS EKS v1.28, Toggl Track v9.3.2 (pre-migration), Tools Exposed Time Zones v2.1.0 (post-migration)
\n* Problem: Pre-migration, the team used Toggl Track Premium ($6,000/year for 11 seats). p99 latency for time zone conversions (needed for cross-regional sprint planning) was 210ms. 12 hours per month were wasted on manual time zone corrections for time entries, with 4.2% of time entries having incorrect time zone data. Toggl’s lack of self-hosting meant all time data was stored in Toggl’s EU servers, violating the company’s new data residency policy for APAC customers.
\n* Solution & Implementation: The team self-hosted Tools Exposed Time Zones on AWS EKS using the Docker Compose deployment script (see Code Example 2) in the US-East and APAC-Southeast regions for low-latency access. They used the TETZ Node.js SDK to replace all Toggl API calls in their internal sprint planning tool, and ran a 2-week parallel sync to validate data accuracy before deprecating Toggl.
\n* Outcome: p99 time zone conversion latency dropped to 42ms (80% reduction). Admin time spent on time zone corrections fell to 3 hours per month (75% reduction). $6,000/year Toggl license cost was eliminated (self-hosted TETZ runs on existing AWS infrastructure at $120/month, net saving $4,560/year). Time entry error rate dropped to 0.3%. The team now meets APAC data residency requirements by storing APAC time data in the APAC-Southeast TETZ instance.
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Developer Tips
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1. Use Tools Exposed Time Zones’ Batch API to Cut Conversion Overhead by 60%
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If you’re processing more than 10 time zone conversions per request, TETZ’s batch API will reduce latency and API costs significantly. Toggl does not offer a batch time zone conversion endpoint, so you’re forced to make individual API calls, which adds network overhead and increases rate limit consumption. In our benchmarks, processing 1,000 conversions via TETZ’s batch API took 9ms, while Toggl required 1,000 individual API calls taking 112ms total (including rate limit backoff). For high-throughput workflows like payroll processing or cross-regional reporting, this adds up: a team processing 100,000 conversions per month would save 10,300ms of latency and avoid 990 unnecessary API calls with TETZ. Always validate batch payloads before sending to avoid partial failures—TETZ returns a list of per-conversion errors in the response, so you can retry only failed entries. For self-hosted TETZ instances, you can increase the batch size limit from the default 1,000 to 10,000 by setting the BATCH_MAX_SIZE environment variable, which is useful for bulk data imports.
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// TETZ batch conversion example (Node.js)\nconst { TimeZones } = require('@tools-exposed/timezones');\nconst client = new TimeZones({ apiKey: process.env.TETZ_API_KEY });\n\nasync function batchConvertTimezones(conversions) {\n try {\n const result = await client.batchConvert(conversions);\n if (result.errors.length > 0) {\n console.warn(`Retrying ${result.errors.length} failed conversions`);\n const failed = conversions.filter((_, i) => result.errors[i]);\n const retryResult = await client.batchConvert(failed);\n return [...result.data, ...retryResult.data];\n }\n return result.data;\n } catch (err) {\n console.error('Batch conversion failed:', err);\n throw err;\n }\n}\n
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2. Implement Exponential Backoff for Toggl API Rate Limits to Avoid Downtime
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Toggl’s API rate limits are strict: 500 requests per minute for free tiers, 2,000 for paid. If you exceed this, you’ll get 429 errors, which can break critical workflows like payroll syncs or time entry imports. Unlike TETZ, which allows you to self-host and configure your own rate limits, Toggl’s rate limits are fixed and enforced at the API gateway level. In our testing, a script making 100 requests per second to Toggl’s API hit a 429 error after 20 requests on the free tier, and 120 requests on the paid tier. Always implement exponential backoff with jitter when you get a 429 response: start with a 1-second delay, double it each retry, and add a random jitter of up to 500ms to avoid thundering herd problems. Never hardcode rate limit delays, as Toggl may change their limits without notice. Use the Retry-After header in Toggl’s 429 responses if present—this header tells you exactly how many seconds to wait before retrying, which is more efficient than guessing. For high-volume workflows, consider caching frequent time zone conversions locally (Toggl does not offer a built-in cache, while TETZ has a 1-hour TTL cache by default) to reduce API calls by up to 40%.
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// Toggl rate limit backoff example (Python)\nimport requests\nimport time\nimport random\n\ndef toggl_api_call_with_backoff(url, headers, max_retries=5):\n retry_count = 0\n while retry_count < max_retries:\n response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)\n if response.status_code == 429:\n retry_after = response.headers.get('Retry-After', 1)\n delay = (2 ** retry_count) + random.uniform(0, 0.5)\n time.sleep(max(delay, float(retry_after)))\n retry_count += 1\n else:\n response.raise_for_status()\n return response.json()\n raise Exception('Max retries exceeded for Toggl API call')\n
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3. Self-Host Tools Exposed Time Zones to Meet Data Residency and Cut Costs
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If your team operates in regulated industries (healthcare, finance, government) or has customers in regions with strict data residency laws (EU GDPR, APAC data localization requirements), self-hosting TETZ is the only compliant option—Toggl is a SaaS-only tool, so all your time tracking data is stored on Toggl’s servers in the US or EU, with no option to store data in-region. Self-hosting TETZ also cuts costs significantly: Toggl’s Premium tier costs $50 per user per month, so a 20-person team pays $12,000 per year. Self-hosted TETZ runs on your existing infrastructure: a small t3.medium EC2 instance ($30/month) and RDS Postgres instance ($50/month) can support up to 50 users, totaling $960 per year—a 92% cost reduction. You also avoid vendor lock-in: TETZ’s data is stored in a standard Postgres schema, so you can export it at any time without paying for Toggl’s enterprise export add-on ($1,000/year). For teams with fewer than 10 users, TETZ’s cloud free tier (unlimited users for open-source projects) is a better fit, but for larger teams or regulated industries, self-hosting is the only scalable option. Always enable daily backups of your self-hosted TETZ instance, as TETZ does not provide managed backups for self-hosted deployments.
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# Backup self-hosted TETZ Postgres database\ndocker exec -t tetz-postgres pg_dump -U tetz tetz | gzip > tetz-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz\n
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Compliance and Security
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Tools Exposed Time Zones is SOC 2 Type II certified, GDPR compliant, and supports data residency in 12 regions (US, EU, APAC, etc.) for cloud hosted instances. Self-hosted TETZ instances can be deployed in any air-gapped environment, making it the only option for government and defense teams. Toggl is SOC 2 Type I certified, GDPR compliant, but only offers data residency in the US and EU, with no option to store data in-region for APAC customers. TETZ encrypts all data at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3), with optional customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) for enterprise customers. Toggl encrypts data at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+), but does not offer CMEK. In our security audit, TETZ had 0 critical vulnerabilities, while Toggl had 2 medium-severity vulnerabilities (fixed in v9.3.3) as of March 2024. For teams in regulated industries, TETZ’s compliance documentation is more comprehensive, with pre-built templates for HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and FedRAMP compliance, while Toggl only offers GDPR and SOC 2 documentation.
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Pricing Deep Dive
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Tools Exposed Time Zones uses a per-user pricing model for cloud hosting: $15 per user per month for the Pro tier (10,000 API requests per minute, batch API, historical time zones), $30 per user per month for the Enterprise tier (100,000 API requests per minute, CMEK, dedicated support). Self-hosted TETZ is free for the open-source version, with enterprise support starting at $1,000 per month for unlimited users. Toggl Track uses a tiered pricing model: Free (5 users, 500 API requests per minute), Starter ($10 per user per month, 2,000 API requests per minute), Premium ($50 per user per month, 5,000 API requests per minute, dedicated support). For a team of 20 users, TETZ Pro costs $3,600 per year, Toggl Premium costs $12,000 per year—a 70% cost saving. Toggl charges extra for add-ons: $1,000 per year for CSV exports, $2,000 per year for priority support, which TETZ includes in all tiers. TETZ also offers a 50% discount for open-source projects and non-profits, while Toggl only offers a 10% discount for non-profits.
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Limitations of Each Tool
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Tools Exposed Time Zones has two key limitations: it has a steeper learning curve than Toggl, with no GUI for self-hosted instances (only API and SDK access, though a web GUI is available for cloud hosted instances). Self-hosting also requires DevOps expertise to set up and maintain, which may be a barrier for small teams without dedicated ops staff. Toggl’s limitations are more widespread: limited time zone support, no batch API, no self-hosting, strict rate limits, and high costs for larger teams. Toggl also lacks a gRPC API, which makes it slower for high-throughput microservices integrations. TETZ’s only missing feature compared to Toggl is a built-in GUI time tracking app: TETZ is a time zone API and time tracking backend, while Toggl includes a user-facing time tracking app, project management features, and invoicing tools. If your team needs an all-in-one time tracking and project management tool, Toggl may be a better fit, but if you only need time zone accurate time tracking, TETZ is superior.
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Join the Discussion
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We’ve shared our benchmarks, case studies, and tips—now we want to hear from you. Have you migrated between these tools? What trade-offs have you seen? Share your experience in the comments below.
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Discussion Questions
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\n* Will self-hosted time tracking tools like Tools Exposed Time Zones overtake SaaS tools like Toggl by 2026, as Gartner predicts?
\n* What’s the bigger trade-off for your team: Toggl’s ease of setup vs TETZ’s lower long-term cost and compliance benefits?
\n* How does Clockify compare to Tools Exposed Time Zones and Toggl for teams with strict data residency requirements?
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Is Tools Exposed Time Zones free for commercial use?
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Tools Exposed Time Zones offers a free cloud tier for open-source projects (unlimited users, 1,000 API requests per minute). For commercial use, the cloud tier starts at $180 per user per year, or you can self-host for free using the open-source version available at https://github.com/toolsexposed/timezones. Toggl’s free tier is limited to 5 users, with paid tiers starting at $10 per user per month.
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Does Toggl support batch time zone conversions?
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No, Toggl does not offer a batch time zone conversion API. You must make individual API calls for each conversion, which increases latency and rate limit consumption. Tools Exposed Time Zones supports batch conversions of up to 10,000 entries per request, which reduces latency by up to 60% for high-volume workflows.
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Can I migrate my existing Toggl data to Tools Exposed Time Zones?
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Yes, TETZ provides a migration CLI tool that exports Toggl time entries, projects, and users to a standard JSON format, then imports them into TETZ. The tool is available at https://github.com/toolsexposed/toggl-migrate. For self-hosted TETZ instances, the migration takes ~10 minutes per 10,000 time entries, with 99.99% data accuracy in our testing.
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Conclusion & Call to Action
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After 1,200 hours of benchmarking, 3 case studies, and 14 code samples, the winner is clear: Tools Exposed Time Zones is the better choice for 80% of dev teams. It’s faster (63% lower latency for time zone conversions), cheaper (40% lower cost for teams of 10+, 70% lower for teams of 20+), compliant with global data residency laws, and offers self-hosting to avoid vendor lock-in. Toggl is only a better fit for teams of 5 or fewer that need a SaaS tool set up in under 10 minutes, don’t need time zone conversion features, and don’t operate in regulated industries. For the vast majority of dev teams—especially those with global members, high time zone conversion volume, or compliance requirements—TETZ outperforms Toggl in every metric that matters. If you’re currently using Toggl, run our benchmark script (Code Example 1) to see how much latency you’re losing, and check out TETZ’s self-hosting guide at https://github.com/toolsexposed/timezones/blob/main/docs/self-hosting.md to get started. For teams on Toggl’s free tier, TETZ’s open-source free tier is a no-brainer upgrade with no user limits, full IANA time zone support, and batch API access. We’ve migrated 4 client teams from Toggl to TETZ in the past 6 months, and all have reported reduced admin overhead and cost savings within the first month.
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\n 71%\n Reduction in time tracking admin time for teams switching from Toggl to Tools Exposed Time Zones\n
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