Kimai vs Timewarrior (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Timewarrior grades higher than Kimai: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Kimai grades higher on ease of use. Timewarrior grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Kimai
Open-source time tracking with invoicing, self-hosted or cloud
Which one is for you
Pick Kimai if
- Fits if you want your time tracking data on a server you control
- Works for freelancers and agencies who invoice clients straight from timesheets
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want an official phone or desktop app, because Kimai itself only runs in the browser
- Not for you if you want a free hosted plan, as the cloud gives a 30-day trial and nothing after
- Tight if you self-host and need expenses, custom fields or kiosk mode, since they're paid plugins, expenses at €99
- Watch out: cloud prices are in euros before tax, and on Professional kiosk mode and SAML show only with annual billing
- Too light for automatic tracking, since nothing records by itself
Pick Timewarrior if
- Fits if you live in the terminal and want a timer you can script
- Works for developers who feed tracked time into their own tools
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a window to click in, as there is no graphical interface
- Skip it if you use Windows, as no Windows package is listed
- Not for you if you need team or sync features, as none are described
- Watch out: distribution packages are made by community maintainers, not the project
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAKimaiFair | 2.6GPATimewarriorGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BCloud Standard is €2.99 a user a month billed annually, or €3.99 monthly, and invoicing, exports and the API are already in it. That puts it in the cheaper quarter of the category. Professional is €3.99. Prices are in euros and exclude taxes. | AFree, open source and downloadable, with no paid plans, against a time-tracking middle of $6.67 a month. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree only if you host it. The open-source edition costs nothing on your own server, with unlimited users, customers and projects, and one person can stay on it. Extras like expenses are paid plugins, and Kimai Cloud has no free plan, just a 30-day trial. | AFree outright with no paid plans and no caps. |
| Features | CTime goes against customers, projects and activities, with budgets, reports, exports and invoices from your own templates, plus teams, roles and SAML login. But nothing tracks by itself, and on the self-hosted edition expenses, custom fields and kiosk mode are plugins you buy, expenses at €99. | CStopwatch, tags, annotations, corrections, reports and extensions; it does that job fully, but a smaller one, with no team or syncing features. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. On the cloud it's a web app you sign in to, but it's one where you build the thing: customers, projects, activities and invoice templates before any of it reports. Hosting it yourself needs SSH access to a server. | DNo store rating on record, and it is a command-line tool you drive by typing commands. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA browser, and that's it from Kimai itself. There's a JSON API and a short list of links, GrandTotal, Bexio and VS Code, but every phone and desktop app on its integrations page is made by somebody else, and some of them cost money. | CLinux and Mac only, with no Windows package, phone apps or integrations on record. |
| Best for | open-source time tracking with invoices | tracking time from the command line |
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: Kimai and Timewarrior. How we grade
Price against what you get
Kimai starts at about $3.34 a month for each person and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Timewarrior has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Kimai scores higher, and starts $3.34 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other time tracking apps on the chart, 6 score higher than Kimai for less, and none scores higher than Timewarrior 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
- Kimai is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Kimai also covers invoicing.
At a glance
| Kimai | Timewarrior | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | €2.99 per user / month, billed annually (€3.99 billed monthly) | Free |
| Free plan | Self-hosted Kimai is free and open source (AGPL 3) with unlimited users, customers and projects. Extras such as expenses, custom fields and kiosk mode are paid plugins. The Kimai Cloud pricing page lists no free plan. | Free and open source, with no paid plans. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of Kimai Cloud | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Kevin Papst | Gothenburg Bit Factory |
| Price read from | kimai.org | timewarrior.net |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Kimai
- Cloud prices are in euros and exclude taxes; the pricing page lists no free cloud plan, only a 30-day trial.
- On Cloud Professional, kiosk mode, SAML single sign-on, a custom domain and IP access restriction are shown only with annual billing.
- Kimai runs in the browser; the mobile and desktop apps on its integrations page are made by third parties, and some are paid.
- Self-hosting needs SSH access to a server, and plugins such as expenses (99 €) are bought separately.
Timewarrior
- It is a command-line tool with no graphical interface.
- The install page lists packages for Linux distributions and macOS only; no Windows package is listed.
- Distribution packages are made by community maintainers, not the project.
- There is no team or syncing feature described on the site.
Key features
Kimai
- Project time tracking
- Time is recorded against customers, projects and activities, with budgets and order numbers on projects. Every installation supports unlimited users with roles.
- Invoicing
- Invoices are created from timesheets with configurable templates and invoice numbers, grouping options for entries, and output formats such as PDF and DOCX.
- Reports and exports
- Recorded time is analyzed by user, customer, project, activity, tag and period. Timesheets export as XLSX, PDF, CSV or HTML, and exported records can be locked.
- Teams and permissions
- Teams group users into units such as departments. Assigning customers and projects to a team limits who can see and record time on them.
- Login and security
- Supports LDAP and SAML login through providers such as Google Workspace, Azure AD or Authentik, plus optional two-factor authentication with TOTP tokens.
- JSON API and plugins
- A JSON API reads and writes data for external apps. Plugins add functions such as expenses, task planning and a kiosk mode with barcode or RFID scanning.
Timewarrior
- Simple stopwatch
- Start and stop tracking with single commands, or record backdated and already-closed intervals.
- Tags and annotations
- Label each interval with tags and notes, and change them later with tag, untag and retag commands.
- Corrections
- Commands to move, lengthen, shorten, split, join, fill and delete intervals, with an undo command.
- Reports and export
- Day, week, month and summary reports, plus an export command for use in other tools.
- Extensions
- An extension API lets scripts build custom reports, and a Taskwarrior on-modify hook ties tasks to tracked time.
- Work week and holidays
- Configuration for a work week, holidays and color themes.
Plans
Kimai
Self-hostedFree
The open-source edition on your own server, installed with Docker or over SSH. Community support; some features are paid plugins.
Cloud Standard€2.99
per user / month, billed annually (€3.99 billed monthly)
Hosted time tracking with billable hours, invoicing, data export, audit logs, the JSON API, 5 invoice templates and weekly backups.
Cloud Professional€3.99
per user / month, billed annually (€4.99 billed monthly)
Adds working hour accounts, vacation and sick leave, expenses, custom fields, task management, a customer portal and daily backups.
Timewarrior
Free$0
Free and open-source software, installed from distribution packages, Homebrew or built from source.
Ways to pay less
Kimai
- Annual discount
20 to 25% off Kimai Cloud with annual billing
Kimai's discount page says paid cloud plans cost 20 to 25% less when paid annually: Standard is €2.99 against €3.99 a month, and Professional €3.99 against €4.99.
- Nonprofit
Discounted annual cloud plan for nonprofits
Nonprofits, schools and clubs that register with an official email address and message support get a reduced annual cloud plan after a manual review.
Timewarrior
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Kimai or Timewarrior?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Timewarrior is cheaper to start with: it is free, against about $3.34 a month for each person for Kimai. Kimai starts at €2.99 per user / month, billed annually (€3.99 billed monthly), and Timewarrior is free.
Which has a free plan, Kimai or Timewarrior?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Kimai and Timewarrior have a free plan.
Which platforms do Kimai and Timewarrior run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Kimai lists a web app and only Timewarrior lists macOS and Linux 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.