Closest to DeskTime
Kimai is a time tracker for businesses and freelancers with projects, reports, invoicing, an API, and 30+ languages. SolidTime offers multi-project tracking, reports, offline support, and self-hosting.
Alternatives / DeskTime
6 open-source alternatives
6 Best Open Source DeskTime Alternatives in 2026
Looking for an open source DeskTime alternative? We compared 6 open source time tracking tools by license, features, and maintenance. Kimai and SolidTime are the closest for teams, Midday has a non-commercial license, and Wakapi and TimeScribe track coding or sessions automatically.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
Best DeskTime alternatives at a glance
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Midday | Finances and time for freelancers (non-commercial) | AGPL-3.0 (non-commercial) |
| solidtime | Time tracker with reports | AGPL-3.0 |
| Kimai | Business time tracking with invoicing | AGPL-3.0 |
| Wakapi | Automatic coding time | MIT |
| TimeScribe | Automatic session detection | GPL-3.0 |
| Ever Teams | Work management with time tracking | AGPL-3.0 |
How we chose these DeskTime alternatives
We looked for open-source tools that track time for projects and clients like DeskTime. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Personal and developer
Wakapi tracks coding time automatically, and TimeScribe detects sessions automatically with local storage. Ever Teams combines work management with time tracking.
Freelancer suite
Midday covers finances, time tracking, files, and invoices for freelancers, but invoicing is listed as coming soon and its AGPL-3.0 license is non-commercial.
License details
Kimai, SolidTime, Ever Teams, and Midday are AGPL-3.0. Wakapi is MIT. TimeScribe is GPL-3.0.
Maintenance status
Most had commits within weeks of this update. Midday's last commit was in June 2026.
Why look for a DeskTime alternative?
DeskTime is a proprietary service that tracks employee activity and is priced per user, with monitoring data stored on its servers. Open-source trackers keep timesheets on your server, but automatic monitoring of apps and screens is limited.
midday.ai
Midday is an all-in-one platform for freelancers and small businesses with a financial overview, time tracking, invoicing, file reconciliation, storage, and an AI assistant. The repository is AGPL-3.0 for non-commercial use, and commercial use or deployments with a setup fee need a commercial license.
15.1K1.9KAGPL-3.0 (non-commercial)Self-hosted
Pricing: Free for non-commercial self-hosting; a commercial license is required for commercial use; hosted plans may be paid.
- Invoicing, time tracking, and financial overview in one
- Bank connections and an AI assistant
- Large community
- Commercial use needs a commercial license
- Aimed at freelancers rather than household budgeting
- Last commit in June 2026
solidtime.io
solidtime is an open-source time tracking application with projects, clients, tags, billable rates, detailed reports, and a clean interface, available as a self-hosted AGPL-3.0 app or through solidtime cloud, with guides and examples for self-hosting.
9K516AGPL-3.0Self-hosted
Pricing: Free to self-host; solidtime cloud has paid plans.
- Modern interface with projects, clients, and billable rates
- Detailed reports
- Self-hosting guides and a cloud option
- AGPL-3.0 license
- Fewer integrations than Clockify
kimai.org
Kimai is a mature open-source time tracking application with customer, project, and activity management, user-specific and project-specific rates, money and time budgets, advanced reporting, invoicing, a REST API, and a plugin store with both free and paid plugins. It is AGPL-3.0 and available in 30+ languages, self-hosted or as a Kimai Cloud service.
5.1K862AGPL-3.0Self-hosted
Pricing: Free to self-host; some plugins and Kimai Cloud are paid.
- Mature with budgets, rates, and reporting
- Plugin marketplace and a REST API
- 30+ languages
- Some plugins are paid
- Needs a PHP and MySQL or MariaDB stack to self-host
wakapi.dev
Wakapi is a self-hosted, WakaTime-compatible coding time tracker that records coding activity automatically through editor plugins and shows it in analytics dashboards, with data kept on your own server. It is MIT-licensed and tracks coding time rather than general client work.
4.5K309MITSelf-hosted
Pricing: Free and open source.
- Automatic tracking through WakaTime-compatible editor plugins
- Self-hosted privacy and MIT license
- Dashboards and public stats
- Aimed at developers, not general time tracking or billing
- Needs editor plugins to track automatically
timescribe.app
TimeScribe is a local desktop time tracker for macOS and Windows with automatic activity detection, productivity analytics, and project tracking, storing everything offline with no cloud, no registration, and no paywall. It is GPL-3.0.
92090GPL-3.0
Pricing: Free and open source.
- 100% local with no account or cloud
- Automatic activity detection and analytics
- GPL-3.0 license
- Desktop only, with no Linux or mobile version
- No team features or server sync
github.com
AGPL-3.0 work-management project connected to the Ever Gauzy ecosystem, combining projects, tasks, time tracking, workforce management, productivity metrics, and integrations. The project is marked as work in progress.
591111AGPL-3.0Self-hosted
Pricing: Open-source project; review current deployment and maturity before production use.
- Projects, tasks, and time tracking
- Workforce and productivity management features
- Jira and GitHub integrations with self-hosted backend option
- Project explicitly remains a work in progress
- Broader Ever Gauzy stack can add operational complexity
- Much smaller user base than established suites
Compare DeskTime alternatives
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midday | Business suite | AGPL-3.0 (non-commercial) | Yes | Freelancers |
| solidtime | Time tracker | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Teams and projects |
| Kimai | Time tracker | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Closest replacement |
| Wakapi | Coding tracker | MIT | Yes | Developers |
| TimeScribe | Time tracker | GPL-3.0 | Local | Professionals |
| Ever Teams | Work management | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Teams |
Which one should you choose?
Want business time tracking with invoices
Kimai has projects, reports, invoicing, and an API.
Want a modern team tracker
SolidTime has reports, offline support, and self-hosting.