Kimai review

Kimai is open-source time-tracking software for teams that need to connect recorded hours to customers, projects and activities. You can use its cloud hosting or self-host it. Team members can enter timesheets or use a time clock to record start and stop times.

From there, Kimai lets teams analyze time by user, customer, project, activity, tag and date range. It also includes project management basics such as budgets, order numbers and visibility settings. Invoicing is part of the product: teams can use configurable templates, group entries, assign invoice numbers and create PDF or DOCX files. Timesheet data can be exported as XLSX, PDF, CSV or HTML, and exported records can be locked against changes.

This is a focused system for recording and billing time, rather than a broad project-management suite. Authentication options include LDAP, SAML and optional TOTP two-factor authentication.

Kimai covers the practical steps between logging hours and charging for them. Time can be recorded as a timesheet or with punch-in and punch-out clock entries, then analyzed across users, clients, projects, activities, tags and time periods. That gives teams several ways to review where recorded work went without relying on a single project-level report.

The invoicing and export options are useful if time data has to move into a billing or finance workflow. Kimai supports configurable invoice templates, entry grouping, invoice numbering, and PDF or DOCX output. For timesheet data, the listed export formats are XLSX, PDF, CSV and HTML; exported records can also be locked against edits.

Other practical strengths include:

• Cloud hosting or self-hosting, depending on how a team wants to run the software.
• Customer and project records with budgets, order numbers and visibility controls.
• LDAP, SAML and optional TOTP two-factor authentication.

For teams switching from a basic timer, this combination puts tracking, reporting and invoice preparation in one product. The main appeal is the coverage of those workflows, not a claim that Kimai replaces every business system.

The main buying question is whether Kimai’s low per-user price stays low for your team. The pricing information we found lists Standard at €3.99 per user per month with monthly billing, or €2.99 with annual billing. Professional is €4.99 monthly or €3.99 annually. Annual billing is listed as 20% less, and both plans include a 30-day trial; there is no free plan listed.

But the listed plan details leave important capacity questions unanswered. Standard’s maximum user, customer, project and activity limits are not published. Professional’s limits for users, customers, projects, activities and invoice templates are also not published. Add-on prices and overage costs are not published either. That makes it hard to calculate the cost of growth or compare plans if you have a large customer or project list.

Before switching, ask Kimai to confirm the limits and any extra charges that apply to your expected usage. The pricing details we found have medium confidence, so verify the current terms directly. Teams that need published caps to forecast spend may find this uncertainty more consequential than the starting price.

Kimai’s listed annual starting price is €2.99 per user per month on Standard; month-to-month is €3.99. Professional costs €3.99 annually or €4.99 monthly. That’s a €1-per-user monthly jump between tiers under either billing option—about 33% more on annual billing and 25% more month to month.

The pricing notes say annual billing costs 20% less, but Standard’s listed prices work out to about 25% less. Check the checkout price before committing. Standard includes five custom invoice templates. User, customer, project and activity caps are not published for Standard, and limits for Professional—including invoice templates—are also not published. Add-on and overage costs are not published, so the entry price does not show what a larger team might pay.

There is no free hosted plan; both plans list a 30-day trial. The low starting price is easier to assess for a small team than for one that may hit unpublished limits.

Kimai lists timesheet exports in XLSX, PDF, CSV and HTML, and says exported records can be locked against changes. Those formats help with reporting and keeping a copy of records, but the published information does not say whether Kimai can import data from another time tracker or provide a migration tool. Confirm import options before planning a move, especially if you need to carry over historical entries, clients, projects or invoices.

Kimai offers cloud hosting and self-hosting, so hosting choice is part of the switch: self-hosting means your team is responsible for its own environment. The published details do not spell out migration steps, export of all account data, or how moving between Kimai’s hosting options works. We also can’t substantiate a common reason people leave from Reddit: no Reddit posts or comments were provided. Treat migration effort and exit steps as questions for Kimai, rather than assuming exports cover a full account transfer.