CataleoSoftware
Get Your Software Listed Get Listed

Time Tracking Comparison

Kimai vs. Timely

At a glance

At a glance

Kimai

Best for

Best for teams that want to self-host their time tracking and keep the hours on their own server.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Timely

Best for

Best for people who forget to start timers and want work captured automatically.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion Kimai Timely
Starting price Free (self-hosted); Kimai Cloud from €2.99 / user / month Cloud Standard €2.99 per user / month billed annually, €3.99 billed monthly. Professional €3.99 annually, €4.99 monthly. Self-hosting is free under the AGPL 3.0 license. Starter from $9 / user / month Billed yearly; $11 billed monthly. Premium $16 and Unlimited $22 per user and month billed yearly ($20 and $28 monthly), Enterprise on request. Starter is capped at 5 users and 20 projects. A Tasks add-on starts at $5 per person.
Free trial 30 days on Kimai Cloud 14-day trial
API Yes, JSON API Not stated
Languages More than 30 Not stated
Hosting Kimai Cloud in the EU, or self-hosted via Docker Not stated
Made in Austria Norway
Time tracking Yes, time booked against customers, projects and activities with billable rates and role-based permissions Yes, automatic activity capture with AI-drafted timesheets, plus idle detection and an optional manual timer
Invoicing Yes, invoices generated from tracked time with configurable PDF and DOCX templates Yes, invoices raised in Timely and sent to QuickBooks Online; accounting integrations from the Premium plan
Reporting and controlling Yes, reporting and analysis with exports in several formats and audit logs Yes, project dashboards with budgets and billable rates, a people view for capacity and allocation, plus overtime and undertime reporting on the top plan
Integrations and API Yes, a JSON API, plus LDAP, SAML and two-factor authentication Yes, API access on every plan, plus around 90 integrations
AI features No stated Yes
Deployment more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support Email helpdesk Chat
Onboarding Documentation and knowledge base more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding
Company size Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations Not stated Asana, Trello, Jira, monday.com, ClickUp, Linear, Google Calendar, Outlook, GitHub, Slack, QuickBooks, Xero, Toggl, Zapier

Compare more tools

Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

  • Starting price Kimai Free (self-hosted); Kimai Cloud from €2.99 / user / month Timely Starter from $9 / user / month
  • Free trial Kimai 30 days on Kimai Cloud Timely 14-day trial
  • Deployment Kimai Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise Timely Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
  • Support Kimai Email helpdesk Timely Chat
  • Made in Kimai Austria Timely Norway

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Kimai

Strengths

  • Free and open source under AGPL 3.0, self-hosting keeps the data on your own server
  • Native invoicing with configurable PDF and DOCX templates
  • JSON API alongside LDAP, SAML and two-factor authentication

Limitations

  • Self-hosting means running the setup, updates and backups yourself
  • The cloud plans list email support only

Timely

Strengths

  • Automatic tracking, no forgotten timers
  • AI-drafted timesheets
  • Memory is private to each user until they submit it
  • Invoices can be raised and pushed to QuickBooks Online

Limitations

  • Pricier than simple trackers
  • Automatic approach is a different workflow
  • Starter is capped at five users and twenty projects
  • Capacity management, overtime and undertime only on the top plan
  • Tasks is a paid add-on rather than part of a plan

Plans

Pricing

Kimai

  • Self-hosted €0 Free and open source under AGPL 3.0. Docker or manual installation on your own server.
  • Cloud Standard €2.99 Per user / month billed annually, €3.99 billed monthly. Project tracking, billable hours, invoicing, exports, audit logs, translations and email support.
  • 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, customer portal, kiosk mode, daily backups, SAML single sign-on and a custom domain with SSL.
Visit site

Timely

  • Starter $9 Per user and month billed yearly, $11 monthly. Capped at 5 users and 20 projects. Automatic tracking, AI timesheets, billable-hour reporting, in-app support and API access.
  • Premium $16 Per user and month billed yearly, $20 monthly. Capped at 50 users. Adds project-management and accounting integrations, team management, budgets and costs, and planning.
  • Unlimited $22 Per user and month billed yearly, $28 monthly. Unlimited users. Adds capacity management and reporting, overtime and undertime, Azure user management and 50+ currencies.
  • Enterprise Not stated On request. Adds tailored onboarding and setup, team training, regular reviews, reporting support and priority support.
Visit site

What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Kimai

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Timely

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Where this comes from

Where this comes from

Kimai https://www.kimai.org · checked against the official source on 2026-09-06

Timely https://www.timely.com · no check date recorded yet

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.