actiTIME vs Zistemo (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, actiTIME and Zistemo share a 2.2 GPA, and only actiTIME has a free plan.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
actiTIME
Timesheets with project budgets, billing and a self-hosted option
Zistemo
Project time tracking, attendance and invoicing in one app
Which one is for you
Pick actiTIME if
- Fits if you run projects and want budgets and profit tracked down to the task
- Works for companies that must keep timesheet data on their own server
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free, as it stops at 3 users and approvals, overtime, budgets and the API are switched off
- Skip it if you want a desktop app with a timer, because actiTIME Online is browser only
- Pricey if you self-host for years, as each major upgrade costs the full $120 a user again
- Watch out: self-hosting puts maintenance on your own IT staff, engineer sessions are $40 an hour, and prices exclude taxes
- Too light for teams that connect lots of tools, as the integrations are QuickBooks Online, Zapier and actiPLANS
Pick Zistemo if
- Fits if you are a small agency that tracks hours and sends the invoice from the same place
- Makes sense if your client data has to stay in Switzerland
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you work alone and want to pay little, since 1 user is $15 a month
- Tight if you will need more than 5 or 15 users, because extra users on Enterprise cost $5 each
- Not for you if you need timesheet approval without paying $75 a month for Enterprise
- Watch out: cancel and the account's data is deleted, so export first, and payment is PayPal or Visa or MasterCard only
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAactiTIMEFair | 2.2GPAZistemoFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | COnline is $6 a user a month billed yearly for up to 40 people, $5 above that, which is the middle of what time tracking charges. The one-time Self-Hosted license is $120 a user, but every major upgrade costs the full $120 again. | C$15 a month for 1 user ($158 a year), or $45 for 5 users, which is $9 a head. That's in the dearer part of what time trackers charge, and a solo user pays the full $15. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree takes 1 to 3 users, and the list of what's switched off is long: approvals, overtime, task estimates, budgets, custom fields, the API, the Chrome extension, Zapier and QuickBooks. A 30-day card-free trial covers the full product. | C14-day trial, no card needed, and nothing after that. There's no free plan. |
| Features | COn the accounting side it has weekly timesheets with approvals, tasks with estimates and a Kanban view, time, cost and billing budgets, profit and loss reports, invoices and a QuickBooks hand-off. But there's no desktop app with a timer at all, so tracking happens in a browser tab, on a phone or in a Chrome extension. | CTime, attendance, absences, tasks and invoices in one place. Gap: timesheet approval and the employee planner are Enterprise only. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record, and this is the kind of tool somebody sets up: customers, projects, tasks, billing rates, budgets and an approval workflow all have to be in place before the numbers mean anything. | CNo store rating on record. It's a web app where you set up clients, projects and leave rules before it's useful. |
| Platforms and integrations | BBrowser, iPhone, Android and a Chrome extension, with a REST API on the paid plans. No desktop app on any operating system, and the integrations list is short: QuickBooks Online, Zapier and actiTIME's own actiPLANS. | BWeb plus iOS and Android, with QuickBooks, Asana, Jira, HubSpot and Slack. No desktop app. |
| Best for | timesheets tied to project budgets | time tracking and invoicing for a small team |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: actiTIME and Zistemo. How we grade
Price against what you get
actiTIME starts at $5 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zistemo starts at $15 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and actiTIME starts $10 a month lower. Of the other time tracking apps on the chart, 14 score higher than actiTIME for less, and 38 score higher than Zistemo for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- actiTIME is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- actiTIME can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Zistemo also covers expense tracking, time clock and time off.
At a glance
| actiTIME | Zistemo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $5 per user / month, billed yearly ($6 for up to 40 users) | $15 per month for 1 user, billed monthly ($158 per year) |
| Free plan | Free actiTIME Online for 1 to 3 users with limited functionality: no approvals, overtime, task estimates, budgets, custom fields, API, Chrome extension, Zapier or QuickBooks integration. | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial, no credit card required | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | actiTIME Inc | DAYquiri GmbH |
| Price read from | actitime.com | zistemo.com |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
actiTIME
- The free version stops at 3 users and omits approvals, overtime, budgets, task estimates, custom fields, the API and the Chrome extension.
- actiTIME Online is browser-only: there is no desktop app, only iOS and Android apps and a Chrome extension.
- Self-Hosted maintenance falls to your own IT staff, major upgrades cost 100% of the initial price, and engineer sessions are $40 an hour.
- Listed prices exclude taxes.
Zistemo
- Plans include a fixed number of users: 1, 5 and 15. Additional users on Enterprise cost $5 a month each.
- Timesheet approval and the employee planner are listed only on the Enterprise plan.
- Cancelling an account permanently deletes its data, so export first.
- Payment is by PayPal or Visa or MasterCard cards, as stated on the pricing page.
Key features
actiTIME
- Timesheets and calendar
- Time is entered in a weekly timesheet or as start and stop time cards on a calendar, with comments, overtime and leave. Timesheets can be locked and sent for approval.
- Task management
- Tasks carry estimates, deadlines, priorities, assignments and custom workflow statuses, and a Kanban view shows progress across a project.
- Budgets
- Time, cost and billing budgets can be set for tasks, projects and customers, over a date range or the lifetime of the work, in any number.
- Reports
- Reports cover staff performance, overtime, leave balances, estimated against actual time, billing summaries and profit and loss, with charts and CSV export.
- Billing and invoicing
- Billable amounts come from billing rates and logged time, and invoices are generated from them. A QuickBooks Online integration passes time data to accounting.
- Online or self-hosted
- actiTIME Online runs in a browser on Amazon servers with daily backups. The self-hosted edition runs on an internal server, and both offer a REST API.
Zistemo
- Project time tracking
- Time tracker on the mobile app, plus monthly or weekly timesheets on the web app, with reminders and planned-versus-actual comparisons.
- Attendance time
- Clock-ins, breaks and overtime with automatic flextime balances, escalation rules and detailed time reports.
- Absence management
- Several leave types, bank holidays handled automatically, time-off requests and a department calendar.
- Invoices and estimates
- An invoice wizard turns tracked time into invoices, and web-based offers cover estimates. Clients can pay by PayPal or credit card.
- Tasks and planning
- Tasks with tags, attachments, checklists and dependencies, plus an employee planner and skill-based resource planning on Enterprise.
- Swiss data hosting
- The vendor says data is stored in a Swiss data center with automatic backups; trial data is kept 60 days after the trial ends.
Plans
actiTIME
Free$0
1 to 3 users on actiTIME Online with limited functionality, unlimited customers, projects and tasks, and CSV reports.
Online, 41-200 users$5
per user / month, billed yearly ($6 billed monthly)
The full online product at the lower rate that applies to accounts with 41 to 200 active users.
Online, 1-40 users$6
per user / month, billed yearly ($7 billed monthly)
Full functionality in the cloud, with the API, QuickBooks and Zapier integrations, the mobile app, the Chrome extension and daily backups.
Self-Hosted$120
one-time per user
Installed on your own Windows or Unix server, with direct database access. Minor upgrades are free; major upgrades cost 100% of the initial price.
Online, 200+ users$1,250
per month for unlimited users, billed yearly ($1,500 billed monthly)
A fixed cost for accounts with more than 200 users, in place of per-user pricing.
Zistemo
Starter$15
per month for 1 user, billed monthly ($158 billed yearly)
Unlimited invoices, estimates, clients, projects and expenses, time tracking by project, late payment reminders and 1 GB storage.
Pro$45
per month for up to 5 users, billed monthly ($475 billed yearly)
Starter extended to 5 users, with team timesheets, a live tracker, reminders, billable team rates and access levels. 2 GB storage.
Enterprise$75
per month for up to 15 users, billed monthly ($790 billed yearly)
Pro plus timesheet approval, team performance overview, an employee planner, skill-based resource planning and an own SQL database copy.
Ways to pay less
actiTIME
- Annual discount
$1 less per user a month with yearly billing
The pricing calculator shows $6 per user a month billed yearly against $7 billed monthly for up to 40 users, and $5 against $6 for 41 to 200 users.
- Nonprofit
Discounted rates for nonprofits
The pricing FAQ says actiTIME offers discounted rates for nonprofit organizations that contact support. No percentage is published.
- Lifetime license
One-time Self-Hosted license at $120 per user
actiTIME Self-Hosted is a one-time payment of $120 per user in place of a subscription, with a fixed-cost option for unlimited users.
Zistemo
- Annual discount
Yearly billing costs less than 12 months
The pricing page has a Yearly toggle: for example $158 a year for Starter against $15 a month, and $475 against $45 for Pro.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, actiTIME or Zistemo?
As of Nov 13, 2026, actiTIME starts at $5 per user / month, billed yearly ($6 for up to 40 users), and Zistemo starts at $15 per month for 1 user, billed monthly ($158 per year). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, actiTIME or Zistemo?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only actiTIME has a free plan. Zistemo does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do actiTIME and Zistemo run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only actiTIME lists a browser extension. Both list a web app and iOS and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.