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RepoQuarry

Kimai kimai/kimai

Self-hosted time tracker for freelancers and teams that turns billable timesheets into invoices; rates per customer, project or user.

Creator kit + Compare GitHub ↗ Install guide (official) ↗

Kimai at a glance

Checked 16 Oct 2026

Kimai (5.1k stars, 2.69.0 Oct 2026) is a PHP/Symfony time-tracking web app with timers, punch-in mode, teams, per-customer/project/user rates, budgets, reports, a JSON API and SAML/LDAP login. It creates invoices from billable timesheet records using invoice templates in several file formats. AGPL-3.0. Needs PHP 8.2+, MariaDB or MySQL and its own subdomain; Docker images exist. Extra features come from a paid and free plugin store. It is not accounting software: no online payment collection, bank feeds or ledger.

Cite this pageRepoQuarry. “Kimai.” Checked 16 Oct 2026. https://repoquarry.dev/projects/kimai

How much of FreshBooks does it replace?

2 of 6 jobs. Strong on time tracking and invoicing time; no online payments, bank feeds or accounting.

Partial: Invoices Partial replacement
No: Online payment of invoices Not covered
Partial: Time tracking and billing for time Partial replacement
No: Expense and receipt tracking Not covered
No: Bank feeds and reconciliation Not covered
No: Bookkeeping Not covered

For online payment of invoices, expense and receipt tracking, bank feeds and reconciliation, bookkeeping, see other FreshBooks alternatives. You may also need to build an interface, an API server and hosting yourself.

How much of QuickBooks Online does it replace?

1 of 6 jobs. Replaces time tracking only.

No: Invoices Not covered
No: Online payment of invoices Not covered
No: Expense and receipt tracking Not covered
No: Bank feeds and reconciliation Not covered
No: Bookkeeping Not covered
Partial: Time tracking and billing for time Partial replacement

For online payment of invoices, expense and receipt tracking, bank feeds and reconciliation, bookkeeping, see other QuickBooks Online alternatives. You may also need to build an interface, an API server and hosting yourself.

Facts, with sources

Every answer links to where we found it. We read the documentation; we did not install it.

Report a correction
QuestionAnswerSourceChecked
Runs on my machine? Confirmed: Self-hosted (Docker or PHP server); Kimai Cloud also offered There are more documented ways for [on-premise hosting](https://www.kimai.org/documentation/chapter-on-premise.html). github.com · kimai#installation ↗ today
Code licence Partial: AGPL-3.0 (copyleft) The GNU Affero General Public License is a free, copyleft license for github.com · LICENSE ↗ today
Model weights licence Confirmed: No separate model weights github.com · kimai#readme ↗ today
Commercial use Partial: Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms The GNU Affero General Public License is a free, copyleft license for github.com · LICENSE ↗ today
Paid services needed? Partial: Core is free; some plugins in the plugin store are paid; optional cloud paid and free plugin marketplace github.com · kimai#plugins ↗ today
Hardware Unknown: Software requirements listed (PHP 8.2+, MariaDB 10.6+ or MySQL 8.4+); no RAM or CPU figures Know the answer? —
Operating systems Partial: Server with PHP 8.2+ and MariaDB/MySQL, Docker images, Synology; host OS not listed A webserver and subdomain (subdirectory is not supported) github.com · kimai#requirements ↗ today
Setup effort Confirmed: Medium; Docker Compose with Caddy guides, Docker images, or SSH install with Git and Composer [Docker images](https://hub.docker.com/r/kimai/kimai2) with FPM only or incl. Apache github.com · kimai#installation ↗ today

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