Kimai vs Clockify: Which Is Better for a Small Team on a Budget in 2026?

Clockify wins for a small team that wants no setup. Its free plan covers up to 5 users and includes apps on every major platform. Kimai wins if someone on the team can run a server, because the self-hosted version is free, open source and has no per-user price. Kimai Cloud starts at €2.99 per user per month billed annually. Dayflow, which is ours, suits solo Mac users only.

Kimai is open-source time tracking software that you can run on your own server for free, and it has a paid hosted version if you would rather not run it. Clockify is a closed-source cloud service with native apps on nearly every platform and a free plan that stops at five users. After that you pay per seat, and invoicing and approvals need the Standard plan or above. Our Clockify for Mac page covers its Mac app in more detail.

Disclosure: we make Dayflow, a free, open-source Mac app that records the screen at one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write the day into a readable timeline. It is not a team timesheet tool. It appears here only as a third option for one narrow case. This comparison is based on each vendor’s own documentation as checked on October 4, 2026. Dayflow’s facts were reviewed against version 2.2.0.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	How it tracks	Price	Platforms
Kimai	Small teams that can self-host, or want low-cost hosting in Germany	Manual timers, multi-timer, punch-in punch-out, tags	Self-hosted free; Cloud from €2.99 per user/month billed annually	Web (self-hosted or Kimai Cloud)
Clockify	Teams of up to 5 who want zero setup and apps everywhere	Timer, timesheet, calendar, kiosk, auto tracker in desktop app	Free for up to 5 users; paid from $3.99 per seat/month billed annually	Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, browser extensions
Dayflow (ours)	One person on a Mac who wants a record of the day without timers	Screen capture at one frame every 10 seconds, turned into an AI-written timeline	$0 (MIT); optional Pro at $20/month	Mac (macOS 14 or later)

Key takeaways

• Clockify’s Free plan costs $0 for up to 5 users. It includes the timer, timesheets, the auto tracker, the calendar, reports and apps. If five people just need to log hours, nothing here is cheaper or easier to start.
• Kimai’s self-hosted edition is free, open source under AGPL 3, and has no per-user price. It lists invoicing among its core features. The cost moves to setup and maintenance: a web server, PHP 8.2 or newer, and MariaDB or MySQL.
• On paid hosting, Kimai Cloud Standard is €2.99 per user per month billed annually. Clockify Basic is $3.99 per seat per month billed annually. Clockify’s invoicing starts at Standard, which is $5.49.
• Clockify covers far more devices. Kimai is a web app, and mobile or desktop apps were not confirmed on the vendor pages checked.
• Neither tool lists AI features. Dayflow, which is ours, writes an AI timeline for one person on a Mac. It has no invoicing, payroll approvals, team reports or website blocking, so it does not replace either tool for a team.

What Kimai does better

No per-user fee if you host it

The self-hosted version is free regardless of how many people use it, and the vendor says Kimai handles companies with dozens or hundreds of users. For a team that expects to grow past five, that matters more than any discount. Clockify’s free plan has a hard cap, and every seat after it costs money each month.

The catch is real. Someone has to run a web server with PHP 8.2 or newer and MariaDB or MySQL, keep it updated, and back it up. Kimai ships Docker images, which makes this easier if anyone on the team already works with containers. If nobody does, the free option comes with ongoing maintenance work.

Invoicing in the free version

Kimai lists invoicing with configurable templates as part of the product, along with data exports and a JSON API. A self-hosted install gets all of that at no license cost. Clockify keeps invoicing on Standard and above. A small agency billing clients by the hour gets invoices from Kimai without a monthly bill, provided someone can host it. If you bill hourly, the real hourly rate calculator shows what your rate looks like after unbilled time.

Kimai also supports rates specific to a user, a customer or a project. This helps when different people bill at different rates on the same job.

You decide where the data lives

Self-hosted Kimai keeps timesheets on your server and nowhere else. Kimai Cloud is, according to the vendor, hosted in Germany and GDPR compliant, and the company describes itself as “Made in Austria.” Some teams have client contracts or internal rules that keep work records off third-party clouds. For them, Kimai is the only one of the two that fits.

Login options and extensibility

Kimai lists SAML and LDAP login and two-factor authentication. It also has over 30 translations and a plugin marketplace. On Kimai Cloud, SSO is a Professional plan feature at €3.99 per user per month billed annually. Clockify puts SSO and audit logs on Enterprise, at $11.99 per seat per month billed annually. A small team with a company directory gets single sign-on much more cheaply with Kimai.

It is open source

The code is AGPL 3 and public on GitHub. You can read it, patch it, or keep running it if the vendor changes direction. Clockify is not open source.

What Clockify does better

Five people, $0, nothing to install on a server

Sign up and invite your team. The Free plan covers a five-person workspace with unlimited tracking, the timer, timesheets, the auto tracker, the calendar, reports and apps. A small team on a budget can run on that indefinitely, as long as it stays at five or fewer people and doesn’t need invoicing or approvals.

One detail: Clockify’s pricing card says “for up to 5 users,” and its FAQ says you can invite up to 4 people for free. Both describe the same workspace, which is you plus four others.

Apps on every device

Clockify lists web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and browser extensions. A mixed team with a Windows laptop, a couple of Macs and someone logging time from a phone is covered without any workarounds. Kimai is a web app. It works in any browser, but the vendor pages checked did not confirm native mobile or desktop apps.

More ways to get time in

Clockify accepts time from a running timer, a weekly timesheet, a calendar view, or a kiosk where people clock in on a shared device. Its desktop app also has an auto tracker. Kimai offers timers, multi-timer and punch-in punch-out, and it lists no automatic app or website tracking. If your team forgets to start timers, Clockify gives you more ways to recover the hours.

A longer upgrade path

Clockify adds features as you pay more. Standard adds invoicing, time off and approval workflows. Pro adds scheduling, forecasting, expenses and GPS tracking. Enterprise adds SSO and audit logs. A team that expects to need approvals or attendance tracking later can stay in one product the whole way. Kimai’s Cloud Professional plan covers working hour accounts, expenses, custom fields and SSO. Clockify’s paid tiers cover more features overall.

Hosting region choice

Clockify is cloud only, but the vendor offers data hosting in the EU (Germany), the UK, the USA or Australia. That handles many residency requirements without anyone running a server.

Head-to-head table

Capability	Kimai	Clockify	Dayflow (ours)
Automatic capture	No automatic app or website tracking	Auto tracker in the desktop app; activity monitoring on Pro	Screen capture at one frame every 10 seconds, written into a timeline
Timers and manual entry	Timer, multi-timer, punch-in punch-out	Timer, timesheet, calendar, kiosk	Records the screen instead of running timers
Invoicing	Yes, with configurable templates	Standard plan and above	No
Team reports	Multi-user with exports and a JSON API; see the vendor’s pages for reporting detail	Reports included on Free	No
Website blocking	Not listed	Not listed	No
AI summaries	None stated	None listed	Yes; summaries can miss or misinterpret work
Data location	Your own server, or Kimai Cloud in Germany	Cloud: EU (Germany), UK, USA or Australia	Recordings and timeline on your Mac; analysis runs locally, through your own provider, or through Pro
Free tier	Self-hosted free; Cloud has a 30-day trial	Free for up to 5 users; 7-day Pro trial, no card	Free app; Pro optional
Platforms	Web	Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, browser extensions	macOS 14 or later
Open source	Yes, AGPL 3	No	Yes, MIT

Pricing compared: what does each seat cost per year?

Plan	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Kimai Self-hosted	Free	Free
Kimai Cloud Standard	€2.99 per user/month	€3.99 per user/month
Kimai Cloud Professional	€3.99 per user/month	€4.99 per user/month
Clockify Free	$0, up to 5 users	$0, up to 5 users
Clockify Basic	$3.99 per seat/month	$4.99 per seat/month
Clockify Standard	$5.49 per seat/month	$6.99 per seat/month
Clockify Pro	$7.99 per seat/month	$9.99 per seat/month
Clockify Enterprise	$11.99 per seat/month	$14.99 per seat/month
Clockify CAKE.com Bundle	$12.99 per seat/month	$15.99 per seat/month
Dayflow (ours)	$0	$0; optional Pro at $20/month

Kimai’s Cloud prices are in euros and exclude taxes. The pricing page shows two figures per plan without labeling them and says annual billing saves 20% compared with monthly. The lower figure is read here as the annual price. Clockify’s prices are in US dollars. We have not converted between the two currencies.

Here is what one person pays per year on the cheapest plan that fits a small team’s job. If the job is only logging hours, Clockify Free costs $0 a year. Self-hosted Kimai also costs $0 in license fees, plus whatever your hosting costs. If the job includes invoicing clients, a Clockify Standard seat costs $5.49 × 12 = $65.88 per year on annual billing. A Kimai Cloud Standard seat costs €2.99 × 12 = €35.88 per year before tax. Multiply either figure by your headcount for the team total. If you need expenses, both vendors charge more: Kimai Cloud Professional is €47.88 per user per year, and Clockify Pro is $95.88 per seat per year, both billed annually. On monthly billing, the same Kimai Standard seat comes to €47.88 a year and a Clockify Standard seat to $83.88. For exact current figures, check each vendor’s pricing page before you commit.

Dayflow’s free app is $0, and Pro at $20 a month comes to $240 a year for one person. That is a personal tool, priced per person, and it does not do the team-billing job above. See Dayflow’s plans for details.

When to choose Kimai

• Someone on the team is comfortable running a PHP app with MariaDB or MySQL, or already runs Docker.
• You bill clients and want invoicing without paying per seat for it.
• The team has more than five people, or will soon, and the budget is tight.
• Timesheets have to stay on your own infrastructure, or at least on a cloud hosted in Germany.
• You want SAML or LDAP login, or you want to be able to read and modify the code.
• Everyone is fine logging time in a browser.

Choose Kimai Cloud over self-hosting if nobody wants to maintain a server. Even then, Cloud Standard at €2.99 per user per month billed annually is the lowest per-person paid price in this comparison. Start with the 30-day trial.

When to choose Clockify

• The team has five or fewer people and only needs hours, reports and apps. The Free plan covers that at $0.
• Nobody wants to host or maintain anything.
• People are spread across Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, or need to log time from a phone.
• You want several entry methods, including kiosk clock-in and the desktop auto tracker.
• You expect to add time off, approvals, scheduling or GPS tracking later and want to stay in the same product.

Before you upgrade to Pro, think about what activity monitoring would mean for the team. Tracking hours and monitoring activity are different things, and people can feel very differently about each. Our piece on time tracking without surveillance covers that distinction.

Where both fall short: what happens when nobody starts the timer?

Both tools depend on people recording time as they work. Kimai has no automatic tracking at all. Clockify has an auto tracker in its desktop app, but the product is built around timers and timesheets. Neither lists any AI that can tell you what someone actually did during a block of hours. When a timer runs through lunch or never gets started, you end up rebuilding the week from memory, browser history and old messages.

Neither tool can fill that gap for a team, so Dayflow does not solve it at the team level. It does solve it for one person on a Mac. Dayflow records the screen at one frame every 10 seconds, stores the recordings and timeline on that Mac, and has AI write the day into a readable timeline. With Local AI, the screenshot analysis stays on the Mac through Ollama or LM Studio. If you choose your own cloud provider or Dayflow Pro, selected screenshots are processed off the device. The local and cloud processing page explains where each mode sends data. A team member who forgot to run Clockify or Kimai can open Dayflow, see what they worked on Tuesday afternoon, and type the hours into the team’s tracker. We wrote up that approach in a Mac timesheet without manual entry. You can also export a date range as Markdown, which the export work history workflow walks through.

Dayflow’s summaries can miss or misinterpret work, so check them before you put hours on an invoice. If you want to compare more options in this category, our roundup of Mac time trackers covers tools beyond these two.

Where Dayflow is the wrong pick

For the job in the title, Dayflow is the wrong primary tool. It has no team reports, so a manager cannot see the team’s hours in one place. It has no invoicing, so it can’t replace Kimai’s templates or Clockify Standard. It has no payroll approvals, which Clockify offers from Standard, and no website blocking. It also runs only on macOS 14 or later, so anyone on Windows, Linux or a phone is left out.

If you need a shared system for hours on a small budget, Clockify wins for teams of five or fewer, and Kimai wins if you can self-host or need invoicing cheaply. Dayflow is useful alongside either one, for individual Mac users who want a record to fill in timesheets from.

The bottom line: is Kimai or Clockify better for a small team?

For a team of five or fewer that wants to start today and pay nothing, Clockify is better. The Free plan covers the basics, the apps run on everything, and nobody has to host anything. Its cost rises once you need invoicing, approvals or a sixth person.

For a team that bills clients, plans to grow past five, or needs control over where its data lives, Kimai is better, as long as someone can host it or the team accepts Kimai Cloud’s per-user price. In that setup it is the cheaper of the two, and the open-source license means no vendor can take it away from you.

Dayflow, which is ours, does not compete for the team job. It is a personal record of the workday for one Mac user. You can pair it with whichever tracker your team picks, so your timesheets come from what you actually did rather than what you remember.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kimai really free?

The self-hosted version of Kimai is free and open source under the AGPL 3 license. You still provide the server: a web server, PHP 8.2 or newer, and MariaDB or MySQL. If you would rather not host it, Kimai Cloud is paid after a 30-day free trial. Cloud Standard costs €2.99 per user per month billed annually, or €3.99 billed monthly, excluding taxes.

How many users does Clockify's free plan allow?

Clockify's pricing page shows the Free plan as "for up to 5 users." Its FAQ says you can invite up to 4 people for free. Both describe the same thing: a five-person workspace, which is you plus four others. The Free plan includes unlimited tracking, the timer, timesheets, the auto tracker, the calendar, reports and the apps. A sixth person means moving to a paid plan.

Which is cheaper for a team of five, Kimai or Clockify?

If five people only need to log hours, Clockify Free costs $0 with no server to run. Self-hosted Kimai also costs $0 in license fees, but you pay for and maintain the hosting. If you need invoicing, compare Kimai Cloud Standard at €2.99 per user per month billed annually with Clockify Standard at $5.49 per seat per month billed annually. Kimai's prices exclude taxes.

Does Kimai have a Mac app?

Kimai is a web app. You run it on your own server or use Kimai Cloud, and you reach it from a browser on a Mac like any other site. Mobile or desktop apps were not confirmed on the vendor pages checked for this comparison. If your team wants native Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android apps, Clockify lists all of them, plus browser extensions.

Can Clockify track time automatically?

Clockify's desktop app includes an auto tracker, and the Free plan lists it. Clockify is still mainly a timer and timesheet tool. Activity monitoring is a separate feature on the Pro plan, which costs $7.99 per seat per month billed annually. Kimai's documentation lists no automatic app or website tracking. Its entry modes are manual timers, multi-timer, and punch-in punch-out.

Which tool includes invoicing without paying?

Kimai lists invoicing with configurable templates as part of the open-source product, so a self-hosted install gets it at no license cost. Clockify reserves invoicing for the Standard plan and above. Standard is $5.49 per seat per month billed annually, or $6.99 billed monthly. If invoicing is the reason you want a tracker and you can host software, Kimai is the cheaper route.

Where is my data stored with Kimai and Clockify?

With self-hosted Kimai, data stays on whatever server you run. Kimai Cloud is, according to the vendor, hosted in Germany and GDPR compliant. Clockify is cloud only, and the vendor offers data hosting in the EU (Germany), the UK, the USA or Australia. If your team cannot put timesheets on a third-party service at all, self-hosted Kimai is the only option of the two.

Can Dayflow replace Clockify for a small team?

No. Clockify is the better choice for a team. Dayflow has no team reports, invoicing, payroll approvals or website blocking, and it runs only on macOS 14 or later. Clockify's free plan gives up to five people shared reports and apps on Windows, Linux, iOS and Android as well as Mac. Dayflow fits as a personal record for individual Mac users, not as the team's system.

Do Kimai or Clockify have AI features?

No AI features were stated on Kimai's vendor pages, and none are listed on Clockify's. Both expect people to enter or time their own work. If you want an AI-written summary of your own day on a Mac, Dayflow does that from screen recordings. The AI can miss or misinterpret work, so check its output before you share it.

What do you need to self-host Kimai?

Kimai's documentation lists a web server, PHP 8.2 or newer, and MariaDB or MySQL. Docker images are available, which helps if someone on the team already runs containers. You are also responsible for updates, backups and uptime. If nobody wants that job, Kimai Cloud removes it, starting at €2.99 per user per month billed annually.