Kimai Review — Free, Open-Source, Self-Hosted Time Tracking for Teams That Want Control
Kimai is an open-source time tracker from Austria, released under the AGPL 3 license and built on PHP and Symfony. Staff record hours against customers, projects and activities, and the data feeds budgets, invoices and exports in XLSX, PDF, CSV or HTML. Kimai says more than 7,000 companies use it, and you can either install it on your own server or Docker host or pay for Kimai Cloud with EU hosting.
The self-hosted edition costs nothing in license fees, while Kimai Cloud runs €2.99 to €4.99 per user per month. Add-ons such as working hours and vacation tracking, expense management and kiosk mode come from a plugin store. This review looks at Kimai for small agencies, NGOs and consultancies that bill by the hour, and at where a hosted payroll-linked timesheet tool serves an HR team better.
The verdict
Kimai is the cheapest credible timesheet system I know of: free if someone on your team can run a PHP app, and €2.99 per user on Kimai Cloud if nobody can.
It is strongest for client work. Customers, projects, activities, budgets and invoice templates are built in, so an agency or consultancy can go from tracked hours to a PDF invoice without a second tool.
HR use is weaker. Leave, overtime and public holidays need the Working Hours plugin (€299) or the Kimai Cloud Professional plan, and getting hours into payroll means an export or a script against the JSON API.
I would choose Kimai for a 10 to 200 person services firm or NGO that wants EU hosting or full data ownership at a low price. Companies that want scheduling, GPS clock-ins or payroll sync should look at a hosted workforce tool instead.
Where Kimai fits
Who it suits
Kimai suits agencies, consultancies, software shops and NGOs of roughly 5 to 200 people that bill or report hours by customer and project and want to own their time data.
It is a good match for European organizations that prefer EU hosting on Kimai Cloud, or that have an IT person comfortable running a Symfony app under Docker.
Teams that need shift scheduling, geofenced mobile clock-ins or direct payroll sync will find Kimai thin in those areas and should compare Clockify, Harvest or a workforce management suite.
What it does differently
Kimai stands out as one of the few time trackers you can run entirely on your own server under an open-source license, with no user limit and no license fee.
Invoicing is built in rather than bolted on. Configurable invoice templates pull tracked hours by customer and project, and E-Invoice Plus adds XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and Factur-X formats for European public-sector billing.
The time-clock mode restricts users to punch-in and punch-out records, and the Kiosk Mode plugin accepts barcode or RFID scanners, which turns the same tool into an attendance terminal for a warehouse or workshop.
How it gets bought
Kimai is a small Austrian vendor that makes money from Kimai Cloud subscriptions and plugin sales while keeping the core open source. That model keeps list prices low but means support is email based rather than an account team.
The 30-day Kimai Cloud trial and the free self-hosted edition make evaluation cheap. You can test the full invoicing flow with real projects before spending anything.
Cost planning is harder for self-hosted buyers who need several plugins, since each is priced separately. List the plugins you need first; for HR-heavy use, Kimai Cloud Professional may work out simpler than buying Working Hours, Custom Fields and Expense Management individually.
Kimai pricing: free self-hosted core and Kimai Cloud plans
Self-hosted Kimai is free under AGPL 3. You pay only for the server and the time to install and patch it, which for a small Docker deployment is modest. Paid plugins add capabilities, for example Expense Management at €99 and Kiosk Mode at €199.
Kimai Cloud Standard is €2.99 per user per month on yearly billing or €3.99 monthly. Professional is €3.99 yearly or €4.99 monthly and adds working hour accounts, vacation and sick leave, expenses, custom fields, task management, a customer portal, kiosk mode, daily backups and SAML SSO. For 50 users, Professional on yearly billing is about €2,400 a year.
| Plan | Published price | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Open Source | Free | Not stated |
| Standard | €2.99 per user per month on yearly billing, €3.99 billed monthly | Not stated |
Pricing last checked June 16, 2026. View source
Self-hosted Kimai: free license, paid plugins
The core application is free to download and run. You need a web server with PHP and a MySQL database, or you can use Docker. There is no user cap in the open-source edition.
Plugins are where money goes on a self-hosted install. The Kimai store lists Working Hours, Vacation, Sickness and Public Holidays at €299, Custom Fields at €99, Task Planning at €79 and E-Invoice Plus at €99, while the timesheet Approval Workflow plugin is free.
Kimai Cloud Standard versus Professional
Standard at €2.99 per user per month (yearly) covers project time tracking, billable hours, invoicing, exports, audit logs, email support and weekly backups. It suits teams that bill clients and do not need leave tracking.
Professional at €3.99 adds the HR-relevant parts: working hour accounts, vacation and sick leave, expense tracking and custom fields, plus kiosk mode, daily backups, SAML single sign-on and a custom domain. Both plans include a 30-day free trial and unlimited users, customers and projects.
Kimai features: timesheets, invoicing, reports and deployment options
Kimai timesheets, timers and time-clock mode
Staff start a timer or log hours afterwards against a customer, project and activity. Entries can carry tags and descriptions for later filtering.
Time-clock mode limits users to punch in and punch out, useful for attendance tracking. Teams group users by department, and role-based permissions control who sees and edits which timesheets.
Kimai time-clock and kiosk options. Time-clock mode is built in. The Kiosk Mode plugin (€199, and included on Kimai Cloud Professional) adds barcode or RFID badge scanning for shop floors and front desks.
Kimai timesheet approval workflow. The free Approval Workflow plugin lets managers approve timesheets weekly before hours are exported or invoiced. Check how it handles rejected weeks during your trial.
Kimai reports, exports and invoices
Reports break down hours by user, customer, project, activity, tag and date range. Budgets on customers and projects show remaining hours or money.
Invoices are generated from tracked time with configurable templates, and exports cover XLSX, PDF, CSV and HTML. A JSON API gives programmatic access to the same records.
Kimai invoice templates. Invoice templates pull billable hours for a customer and period into a document you can adjust. E-Invoice Plus (€99) adds EN16931, XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and Factur-X output.
Kimai exports and JSON API. Spreadsheet and PDF exports cover most accounting handoffs. The JSON API suits teams that want to send approved hours to payroll or a data warehouse.
Kimai deployment: self-hosted or Kimai Cloud
Kimai runs on PHP and Symfony with a MySQL-compatible database, and can be installed manually or with Docker. Kimai Cloud is the vendor-hosted option with EU hosting.
Authentication options include TOTP two-factor login and SAML or LDAP, and the interface is translated into more than 30 languages.
Kimai plugin store. Plugins extend the core with working hours and vacation, expense management, custom fields, task planning and kiosk mode. Each is priced separately for self-hosted installs.
Kimai Cloud hosting. Kimai Cloud handles updates and backups (weekly on Standard, daily on Professional) and adds a custom domain with SSL on Professional.
Kimai pros and cons: open-source control, plugin costs and self-hosting work
Strengths
Kimai ties hours to customers, projects and activities
Every timesheet entry belongs to a customer, a project and an activity, and can carry tags. That structure makes billable reporting accurate from day one.
Users can run a live timer or enter hours manually, and admins can switch on time-clock mode so staff can only punch in and out.
Budget tracking on customers and projects means project leads can see work running over before the invoice goes out.
Kimai reporting slices hours by user, project, tag and period
Kimai's reports analyse recorded time by user, customer, project, activity, tag and time period. Managers can see weekly totals per person or monthly hours per client.
Exports go to XLSX, PDF, CSV and HTML, which covers most handoffs to accounting or payroll staff who work in spreadsheets.
A JSON API exposes the same data for teams that want to push hours into a BI tool or a payroll system with a custom script.
Kimai costs nothing to self-host
The AGPL 3 license means no per-user fee for the self-hosted edition, however many users you add.
For NGOs and small firms that already run a Linux server, the only running cost is hosting and a few hours a year of updates.
Even on Kimai Cloud, Standard at €2.99 per user per month on yearly billing undercuts most hosted timesheet tools.
Kimai gives you a choice of where the data lives
Self-hosting keeps timesheets and client data on infrastructure you control, which matters for public bodies and firms with strict client contracts.
Kimai Cloud is hosted in the EU with GDPR-compliant processing, a simpler route for European firms that do not want to run servers.
Both options run the same Kimai software, so the features in this review apply whichever route you pick.
Limitations
Kimai HR features cost extra
Leave, sickness, overtime balances and public holidays are not in the free core. Self-hosted users need the €299 Working Hours plugin, and cloud users need the Professional plan.
Custom fields (€99) and expenses (€99) are also separate plugins on a self-hosted install, so the real cost of an HR-ready setup is higher than zero.
Add up the plugins you need before comparing Kimai with a hosted tool on price.
Kimai self-hosting needs someone technical
A self-hosted install needs PHP, a MySQL-compatible database and a web server, or Docker. Someone has to apply updates and back up the database.
Kimai's own support for self-hosted users runs through documentation and GitHub discussions, so there is no one to call when an upgrade fails.
If your company has no IT staff, Kimai Cloud removes this burden for €2.99 to €4.99 per user per month.
Kimai has no built-in payroll or scheduling
Kimai tracks and invoices time. It does not schedule shifts, calculate pay or sync with payroll providers out of the box.
Exports and the JSON API can feed payroll, but someone has to build or run that step.
Hourly workforces with rotating shifts are better served by a scheduling and timekeeping suite connected to payroll.
Kimai is open source under the AGPL 3 license, so the self-hosted version has no license fee, and it runs in Docker with a JSON API. It produces invoices in PDF or DOCX and, through a plugin, EN 16931 e-invoices such as XRechnung and Zugferd. A managed Kimai Cloud exists for teams that do not want to host it.
Kimai trial checklist and buying motion
Kimai sells through self-serve signup and plugin purchases, so a buyer can run the whole evaluation alone in the 30-day trial.
- Decide on hosting first. If nobody on staff can maintain a PHP app and database, start with Kimai Cloud and skip the self-hosting debate. If you have IT capacity and strict data rules, install the Docker image on a test server.
- Price the plugins you need. For HR use, list Working Hours (€299), Custom Fields (€99) and Expense Management (€99) and compare the total with Kimai Cloud Professional at €3.99 per user per month on yearly billing.
- Run one month of real timesheets. Set up your customers, projects and activities, turn on the Approval Workflow plugin, and have two managers approve a week each. Then export to your payroll or accounting spreadsheet.
- Test sign-in and access rules. If you use SAML or LDAP, connect it during the trial and confirm that team leads see only their own team's hours before rolling out to everyone.
How we evaluated Kimai
Rajat worked through Kimai directly. Every figure below was checked against Kimai's published pricing on June 16, 2026. Follow the link and check it yourself — if the vendor has moved since, that date tells you how stale this page is.
Plans as published
| Plan | List price |
|---|---|
| Open Source | Free |
| Standard | Contact vendor |
Trial: No free trial listed; the open-source software is freely available to deploy
What the list price doesn't cover
Self-hosting infrastructure, setup, and maintenance overhead
Kimai's free, open-source core has no license fee, but self-hosting carries costs that never appear on a price page. You own the servers or hosting environment, the initial setup, the ongoing updates, and the uptime. Unlike a managed SaaS time tracker that absorbs this work, Kimai's self-hosted, web-based model puts it on your team. For organizations with existing infrastructure capacity, the overhead is marginal; for those without it, it is a genuine cost to factor into any comparison against hosted alternatives.
Unpublished commercial pricing and variable implementation depth
The referenced Standard plan does not have published pricing, and the pack flags pricing as requiring validation — so any commercial cost is unknown until you ask the vendor. The pack also notes that implementation depth varies by plan, meaning the setup and support effort is not uniform. Both factors make total cost harder to predict than with a tool that publishes flat pricing, so get the commercial pricing and the implementation scope in writing before committing.
What we'd confirm on a demo
Confirm your team can self-host and maintain Kimai
Kimai's free core is self-hosted and web-based, so your team owns the infrastructure, setup, updates, and uptime. Verify you have the capacity to run it before adopting — the absence of a license fee does not mean the absence of cost.
Get the commercial Standard plan pricing in writing
The Standard plan's pricing is not published and the pack flags it for validation. Request the cost, billing terms, and packaging directly from the vendor, and do not assume a rate until it is confirmed.
Clarify implementation depth for the path you choose
The pack notes implementation depth varies by plan. Ask what setup, configuration, and ongoing support look like for the free open-source deployment versus the commercial plan so you understand the real effort involved.
Frequently asked questions about Kimai time tracking and cost
Is Kimai free?
Yes, the self-hosted edition is free under the AGPL 3 open-source license, with no user limit. You pay for your own server and for any plugins you buy. Kimai Cloud, the hosted version, costs €2.99 per user per month on Standard or €3.99 on Professional with yearly billing, and has a 30-day free trial.
Is Kimai self-hosted?
It can be. You can install Kimai on your own server manually or with Docker, using PHP and a MySQL-compatible database. If you would rather not run it, Kimai Cloud is the vendor-hosted version with EU hosting, backups and updates handled for you.
Who is Kimai best for?
Kimai fits agencies, consultancies, software teams and NGOs that track billable hours by customer and project and want low cost or full data ownership. It is less suited to hourly shift workforces that need scheduling, GPS clock-ins or payroll sync.
What does Kimai do?
Kimai records working time against customers, projects and activities, then turns it into reports, budgets and invoices. It supports timers, manual entry, time-clock mode, weekly timesheet approval through a free plugin, exports to XLSX, PDF, CSV and HTML, and a JSON API. Plugins add leave tracking, expenses and kiosk mode.
How much does Kimai cost?
Self-hosted Kimai is free, apart from hosting and any plugins such as Working Hours at €299 or Custom Fields at €99. Kimai Cloud Standard is €2.99 per user per month on yearly billing (€3.99 monthly) and Professional is €3.99 yearly (€4.99 monthly). Both cloud plans include a 30-day free trial.
Alternatives worth comparing
Kimai wins on price and data ownership. These options suit teams that weigh other things higher.
| Product | Pricing model | Free trial | Why buyers shortlist it |
|---|---|---|---|
| ActivityWatch | Free / open source | Not stated | ActivityWatch is a free, MPL-2.0 licensed automatic time [tracker](/software/tracker) for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android that logs the active app, window title and idle time, with browser extensions and editor plugins for more detail. |
| TimeTrex | Free / open source | Yes | TimeTrex is time and attendance software with a free self-hosted community edition and paid cloud or on-site editions. |
| OrangeHRM | Free / open source | Yes | OrangeHRM is open-source [HR software](/categories/hr-software) with a free Starter edition you can self-host and a paid Advanced edition with extra modules. |
| Sentrifugo | Free / open source | Not stated | Sentrifugo is a free, GPL-3.0 open-source HRMS that you download and host yourself, covering employee records, leave, attendance, appraisals and recruitment. |
Free templates for this
- Free policy
Severance Agreement Template
A severance agreement template covering pay, benefits continuation, and a release of claims — flagged for legal review since terms vary sharply by jurisdiction.
- Free form
Employee Handbook Acknowledgment Form
A short employee handbook acknowledgment form confirming an employee received, read, and agrees to follow the handbook — ready to file or store in an HRIS.
- Free template
Employment Contract Template
Clause-by-clause employment agreement with sample wording: at-will or notice period, pay, FLSA status, IP, restrictive covenants, UK and fixed-term notes.