Sentrifugo pricing: free open-source software and what self-hosting really costs

Sentrifugo's pricing story is short: the software is free and open source, and you run it yourself. There is no per-user license fee and no hosted subscription. Instead, you download the software and deploy it on your own infrastructure under a self-hosted model. The Sentrifugo site lists no paid tier and publishes no commercial price.

This pricing breakdown covers what the free open-source route actually costs once you account for self-hosting, and how the model compares to hosted and commercially supported alternatives. Keep in mind that the project looks dormant: version 3.2 is the release offered on sentrifugo.com, and the public GitHub repository has had no code commits since April 2017.

Maya Patel·Editor·Updated October 17, 2026·Prices checked September 25, 2026·Fact-checked by Chandrasmita

Sentrifugo pricing overview: free open-source software and where real costs live

Sentrifugo is structured as free, open-source software under a self-hosted deployment model. The headline is that there is no per-user license fee — you download and run it on infrastructure you own. That makes the software cost effectively zero and removes the seat-based math that drives most workforce visibility pricing.

Because the software is free to obtain and host, there is no conventional free trial; you evaluate by deploying it yourself. The trade-off is operational: provisioning, updates, and support move from a vendor to your team, so the real cost of a deployment is infrastructure and internal effort rather than a subscription.

Sentrifugo does not publish a commercial plan or any paid pricing; the site offers only the free download. The bigger pricing risk is age. With no code commits on the public repository since April 2017, the cost of patching the software and keeping it running on current infrastructure sits with you.

For budgeting, the cleanest approach is to separate the free software from the cost of running it. Free open-source software does not mean a free deployment, so model hosting, maintenance, security patching, and support explicitly before comparing Sentrifugo with hosted tools.

PlanPublished priceAnnual
Open SourceFreeFree, self-hosted HR and workforce visibility software; hosting, maintenance, and support are the buyer's responsibility

Pricing source: view source, last checked September 25, 2026.

Sentrifugo pricing breakdown: the free download and what self-hosting it involves

For teams with engineering capacity, the free open-source self-hosted route is the natural entry point. There is no license cost to evaluate the software, so the decision rests on whether your team can deploy and maintain it sustainably. Map your time, activity, attendance, and workforce visibility requirements against what the software covers before committing.

For teams that want vendor-backed support, predictable updates, or a hosted service, Sentrifugo is not the right fit: no paid or supported plan is published, and the project has had no code commits since April 2017. Those teams should compare hosted HR tools with published pricing instead.

Sentrifugo Open Source — what 'free' covers and what it does not

The open-source plan is free with no per-user license fee. It gives you the self-hosted HR and workforce visibility software — workflow coverage, approval and automation support, and operational and people insights reporting — to run on your own infrastructure. What 'free' does not cover is the operational side: provisioning servers, applying updates, securing the deployment, and handling support are all your team's responsibility. The software cost is zero; the deployment cost is whatever your infrastructure and internal effort add up to. This route fits teams that treat self-hosting and data control as requirements and have the capacity to maintain open-source software.

No paid Sentrifugo plan: what the missing commercial option means

No Standard or other paid plan appears on sentrifugo.com, so there is no published price to compare. The site offers version 3.2 as a free download, and the GitHub repository (sapplica/sentrifugo, GPL-3.0) shows no published releases and no code commits since April 2017. In practice, there is no vendor to buy support, hosting, or updates from. Any help you need comes from your own team, the project's forum, or a contractor you hire, and each of those costs belongs in the budget.

Sentrifugo hidden costs: infrastructure, maintenance, and support you own when self-hosting

Self-hosting infrastructure, maintenance, and updates

The biggest unstated cost of free open-source software is running it. Under Sentrifugo's self-hosted model, you provision the infrastructure, apply updates, monitor uptime, and secure the deployment. None of this is a license fee, but it is a real recurring cost in infrastructure spend and engineering time. Teams should budget for this operational overhead explicitly rather than assuming free software means a free deployment, and confirm they have the capacity to keep the deployment current over time.

Internal support and the absence of a managed vendor environment

Because the software is self-hosted and no paid plan is published, day-to-day support is your team's responsibility. There is no hosted environment a vendor keeps running for you, and no free trial environment to fall back on. If internal maintenance capacity is lost, the deployment is at risk, so factor in the cost and continuity of internal support. With no code commits on the public repository since April 2017, expect to handle security fixes yourself as well.

How Sentrifugo pricing compares to hosted and commercial workforce visibility tools

Sentrifugo vs hosted managed platforms: free self-hosted versus subscription

Hosted, managed workforce visibility platforms typically charge a per-user subscription but remove the self-hosting and maintenance burden. Sentrifugo flips that: the software is free and open source, but you own deployment, updates, and support. For teams that value control and have engineering capacity, the free self-hosted route can be cheaper on a software basis. For teams that prefer a managed, supported product out of the box, a hosted subscription may have a lower total cost once internal operational effort is counted.

Sentrifugo vs other open-source self-hosted tools: comparable model, different scope

Other open-source, self-hosted HR and monitoring tools share Sentrifugo's core economics — free software with operational costs you own. The comparison comes down to feature scope and maintenance burden rather than license price. When evaluating open-source alternatives, weigh workflow coverage, reporting depth, and the effort required to deploy and maintain each, since the license cost is effectively zero across the category.

Sentrifugo vs commercially supported options: no support contract versus published tiers

Commercially supported workforce visibility tools usually publish defined tiers with support SLAs and managed updates. Sentrifugo has no paid tier to set against them: the software is free, but there is no support contract to buy and no code commits on the public repository since April 2017. For teams that want predictable pricing and vendor-backed support, a commercially packaged alternative will be easier to budget, while Sentrifugo remains the lower-software-cost option for teams that can maintain it themselves.

Sentrifugo pricing buyer checklist: what to verify before deploying or signing

Separate the free software cost from the cost of running it

The open-source software is free, but a deployment is not. Model your infrastructure, maintenance, and internal support costs explicitly so you have a true total-cost picture rather than assuming free software equals a free deployment.

Confirm your team's capacity to deploy and maintain a self-hosted tool

Sentrifugo is self-hosted, so provisioning, updates, and support are your responsibility. Confirm you have the engineering capacity to run it sustainably before adopting, since the maintenance burden is the real ongoing cost.

Confirm you can maintain a project with no code commits since 2017

Sentrifugo publishes no paid plan, and its public GitHub repository has had no code commits since April 2017. Before deploying, confirm your team can apply security fixes, keep it running on your server stack, and live without vendor support that cannot be bought.

Map workflow, reporting, and automation needs to what you actually require

Sentrifugo covers workflows, approvals, automation, and operational reporting. Validate these against your real time, activity, attendance, and workforce visibility requirements so you only take on the deployment effort the software justifies for your team.

Plan for data ownership, backups, and long-term maintenance

Because data lives on your infrastructure under the self-hosted model, you own backups, retention, and security. Confirm your backup and update process and how you will keep the deployment current, since continuity depends entirely on your internal maintenance.

Sentrifugo pricing should be evaluated in the context of team size, operating complexity, and the commercial metric that makes cost rise over time.

Buyers should use this page to understand more than the headline price. The real decision usually depends on implementation scope, support level, add-on exposure, and whether the pricing model still makes sense once the team grows.

  • Clarify whether cost scales by employee count, recruiter seats, payroll runs, locations, or another metric.
  • Confirm what implementation, premium support, compliance, or service add-ons do to total spend.
  • Model pricing against the actual team size and operating complexity expected over the next 12 months.

Is Sentrifugo worth the price?

Sentrifugo costs nothing to license: the GPL-3.0 software is a free download with no per-user fee, which is the headline advantage for teams that can self-host. But free applies to the software, not the deployment. Under the self-hosted model you own infrastructure, maintenance, and support, and there is no paid plan to hand any of that off to. The project also looks dormant, with version 3.2 on sentrifugo.com and no code commits on GitHub since April 2017. For teams with engineering capacity that want full control and are prepared to patch the software themselves, it can still work as a low-cost option. For teams that want managed hosting, predictable pricing, and vendor-backed support, a hosted or commercially supported alternative will be easier to budget and safer to run.

Frequently asked questions about Sentrifugo pricing

How much does Sentrifugo cost?

Sentrifugo is offered as free, open-source software under a self-hosted deployment model, so there is no per-user license fee to use it. You download and run it on your own infrastructure. Sentrifugo.com lists no paid plan and publishes no commercial price; the site offers only the free download, currently version 3.2. Even with free software, plan for the operational cost of hosting, maintenance, and support.

Is Sentrifugo really free?

The open-source software itself is free, with no license fee. What is not free is the operational side of running it: you provision and maintain the infrastructure, apply updates, and handle support internally because it is self-hosted. So while the software cost is effectively zero, the total cost of a deployment depends on your infrastructure and the internal effort required to keep it running.

Does Sentrifugo have a free trial?

No. Because Sentrifugo is free, open-source software, there is no hosted free trial. You evaluate it by downloading and running it yourself rather than signing into a vendor-managed trial environment. The upside is that the software is freely available to obtain and host without a license fee or time limit.

Is there a paid or supported version of Sentrifugo?

Not that we could verify. Sentrifugo.com lists no paid plan and publishes no price, and the only option on the site is the free version 3.2 download. The public GitHub repository (sapplica/sentrifugo, GPL-3.0) has had no code commits since April 2017, so do not count on vendor updates or paid support; plan to support the deployment yourself or through a contractor you hire.

What is not included in Sentrifugo's free pricing?

The free software does not include managed hosting, maintenance, or guaranteed support; those are your responsibility under the self-hosted model. There is no free trial environment, since you self-host to evaluate. No paid support plan is published either, and with no code commits on the public repository since April 2017, security fixes and compatibility work for newer server software would also fall to your team.