Best Sentrifugo Alternatives
Sentrifugo alternatives for small teams that want hosted HR software with vendor support instead of maintaining an open-source install.
Self-hosting is the reason most teams move on. Sentrifugo costs nothing to license, but someone has to run the server, apply updates and restore backups, and that work lands on whoever set it up. When that person leaves, or the business needs payroll and mobile access, a hosted HR tool becomes cheaper in practice.
Sentrifugo and its alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Sentrifugo (current) | IT-capable small firms wanting free self-hosted HR records | Free |
| ActivityWatch | Individuals who want private, on-device time tracking for free | Quote-based |
| Kimai | Freelancers and agencies self-hosting time tracking with invoicing | Free |
| TimeTrex | Cost-conscious employers wanting time, scheduling and payroll together | Free |
Stay if you have in-house engineers and a firm requirement to keep people data on your own servers. Otherwise, a paid SaaS product usually costs less than the staff hours spent maintaining an old install. Export the database before migrating and test that leave balances import correctly.
The alternatives buyers shortlist
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.
- Pricing
- Free / open source
- Deployment
- Self-hosted
- Free trial
- Not stated
Kimai is a free, open-source time tracking tool built for teams that want a more structured way to track time, activity, attendance, or workforce visibility in self-hosted or open environments.
- Pricing
- Free / open source
- Deployment
- Self-hosted
- Free trial
- Not stated
TimeTrex is time and attendance software with a free self-hosted community edition and paid cloud or on-site editions.
- Pricing
- Free / open source
- Deployment
- Cloud
- Free trial
- Available
Questions buyers ask
Is Sentrifugo really free?
The open-source edition has no licence fee, but you pay in hosting and admin time because you run it yourself. A commercial Standard plan is sold on custom terms, so ask the vendor what support it adds.