Kimai
Kimai is an Austria-based, bootstrapped open-source time-tracking platform offering a managed SaaS edition and an AGPL 3 self-hosted build, serving SMBs, freelancers, consultants, NGOs, and universities worldwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2006
- HeadquartersVienna, Austria
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Kimai does
Kimai (operated as a sole proprietorship by Kevin Papst, headquartered in Vienna, Austria) is an open-source time-tracking platform that has been under continuous development since 2006 and reports a customer base of more than 7,000 companies across over 100 countries. The product is delivered through two co-equal editions: a fully managed SaaS ("Kimai Cloud") hosted on Hetzner infrastructure in Falkenstein, Germany with a free tier and 30-day trial, and an AGPL 3-licensed self-hosted release deployable via Docker. Core functionality covers project, customer, activity, and tag-based timesheets; configurable invoicing with e-invoice compliance under EN 16931, XRechnung 3.0, and Zugferd/Factur-X; a JSON API for external integrations; SAML/LDAP/TOTP-based authentication; reporting dashboards; and a kiosk mode with barcode/RFID support.
The platform is built on a PHP stack with an extensible plugin architecture, more than 30 language localizations, and Docker deployment tooling. A monetization layer sits atop the free codebase: eight paid plugins (Controlling €299/year, Custom Fields €99/year, Expenses €99/year, Task Management €79/year, Audit Trail €49/year, Kiosk Barcode €199/year, Translation €29/year) sold through Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy, a non-profit Cloud tier at €0.99/user/month, and bespoke enterprise customization services. Go-to-market is product-led and community-led: SEO-optimized website content, comparison pages against Clockify/Harvest/Toggl, GitHub-hosted source and discussions forum, and customer testimonial-driven referral. The company has relocated its legal domicile from Munich to Vienna in 2021 and restructured its billing model in 2024, but remains bootstrapped with no external funding, no subsidiaries, and a sole-developer operating model that caps addressable growth velocity.
Kimai firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kimai
- Legal name
- Kevin Papst
- Website
- https://kimai.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2006
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Kimai is an Austria-based, bootstrapped open-source time-tracking platform offering a managed SaaS edition and an AGPL 3 self-hosted build, serving SMBs, freelancers, consultants, NGOs, and universities worldwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kimai industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Time Tracking Software
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Computer Facilities Management Services (541513)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- iBPMS (Intelligent BPM Suites) & Process Automation Suites (HDAEAHAG)
Keywords
Where Kimai is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Vienna
- HQ country
- Austria
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Kimai business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Cloud Subscriptions: Monthly or annual subscription for managed Kimai Cloud service. Includes automatic updates, backups, GDPR-compliant EU hosting, and priority support. All plugins included. Free forever tier available.
- Plugin Sales (Self-hosted): Paid plugins for self-hosted installations including Working hours/vacation/sickness (299 EUR/year), Audit trail (49 EUR/year), Custom fields (99 EUR/year), Expenses (99 EUR/year), Task planning (79 EUR/year), Translations (29 EUR/year), Kiosk barcode/RFID (199 EUR/year). Annual update subscription required.
- Professional Services: Paid support and customization services for organizations needing dedicated assistance. Email support with additional costs for self-hosted users.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free Forever Cloud tier |
| Subscription | Annual | Non-Profit Organization pricing |
| Subscription | Annual | Self-hosted Working Hours Bundle |
| Subscription | Annual | Self-hosted Plugin Pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Kimai product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kimai is an open-source time-tracking platform that records, analyzes, and invoices project time across customers, projects, activities, and tags. It is delivered either as a fully managed Kimai Cloud SaaS (hosted on Hetzner in Germany) or as a self-hosted AGPL 3 deployment, with a paid plugin marketplace expanding functionality for invoicing, expenses, audit trails, kiosks, custom fields, task planning, translations, and working-hours/vacation/sickness management.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Kimai Cloud Fully managed SaaS deployment of Kimai with instant setup, automatic updates, backups, GDPR-compliant EU hosting, priority support, and all plugins included. Targeted at businesses and freelancers who want Kimai without managing their own server, available with a free forever tier and paid upgrades.
- Kimai Self-hosted (On-Premise) Open-source (AGPL 3) self-deployed version of Kimai for full data ownership and control, with Docker deployment and manual installation. Customers run the software on their own infrastructure, with premium plugins purchased separately.
- Controlling Bundle Premium self-hosted plugin covering working hours tracking, vacation management, sick leave, and public holidays management. Priced at EUR 299 per year for self-hosted deployments, aimed at SMBs needing workforce administration.
- Audit Trail Bundle Change-logging plugin that records and tracks modifications to Kimai data, providing an audit trail for compliance and accountability. Priced at EUR 49 per year for self-hosted.
- Custom Fields Bundle Plugin enabling custom field definitions across customers, projects, activities, and timesheets for tailored data capture. Priced at EUR 99 per year for self-hosted.
- Expenses Bundle Expense tracking plugin that records expenses by customer, project, and activity for categorization and inclusion in invoices. Priced at EUR 99 per year for self-hosted.
- Task Management Bundle Task planning and management plugin for organizing and tracking tasks within Kimai's time-tracking workflows. Priced at EUR 79 per year for self-hosted.
- Translation Bundle Plugin for managing and applying translations and localization within the Kimai interface. Priced at EUR 29 per year for self-hosted.
- Kiosk Barcode Bundle Kiosk-mode plugin with barcode, RFID, and Web NFC support for physical time-clock/check-in stations in workplace environments. Priced at EUR 199 per year for self-hosted.
- Customer Portal Plugin enabling sharing of client and project statistics and timesheets with anyone via a secret, optionally password-protected URL. Available as a paid self-hosted plugin.
- Professional Customization Services Paid support, customization, and implementation services delivered by the Kimai team (Kevin Papst) for organizations needing tailored solutions, code customizations, or dedicated support beyond the standard community and cloud support tiers.
Quantifiable outcome
- Time spent processing timesheets reduced from 10 hours per week to 2 hours for 20-employee company
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Kimai
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments8 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Kimai technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration10 records
Feature9 records
Kimai partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Hetzner Online GmbHcoreCloud server hosting provider for Kimai Cloud service. Server location is Falkenstein, Germany. Hetzner provides the infrastructure for the SaaS offering.
- StripecorePayment processing and invoice management for Kimai Cloud paid subscriptions. Stripe Payments Europe Limited handles payment processing.
- Brevo (Sendinblue)coreEmail service provider for transactional emails, newsletters, and marketing communications. Sendinblue GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
- GitHubcoreOAuth login provider for Kimai Cloud. Also hosts the main Kimai source code repository and community discussions forum.
- GumroadcoreSoftware marketplace for selling self-hosted plugins. Customers redirected to Gumroad for plugin purchases.
- Lemon SqueezycoreSoftware marketplace for selling self-hosted plugins. Alternative to Gumroad for plugin distribution.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Kimai competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Paymo: Paymo combines time tracking with project management, invoicing, and team collaboration for SMBs and creative agencies. It addresses similar workflows (project billing, profitability analysis) and competes for the same agency/consultant segment as Kimai.
- TimeCamp: TimeCamp is a time tracking and productivity monitoring tool with project budgeting, invoicing, and reporting. It targets similar SMB and agency/freelancer customer segments and competes on feature parity around reporting and billing.
- Clockify: Clockify (by COING) is a freemium time tracker and timesheet app for teams, offering project tracking, reporting, and integrations. It is Kimai's most directly comparable peer — Kimai's comparison pages explicitly position against Clockify — and competes for the same SMB/agency/freelancer segments.
- Everhour: Everhour is a time tracking and team management tool that integrates natively with project management platforms like Asana, Trello, and ClickUp. It serves the same SMB and developer/agency segments and competes on integrated workflow ergonomics.
- Toggl Track: Toggl Track is a leading cross-platform time tracking tool with project management, reporting, and team collaboration features. Serves the same horizontal segments (freelancers, agencies, SMBs) and is named as a direct competitor in Kimai's own comparison pages.
- TrackingTime: TrackingTime is a time tracking and employee attendance platform with project management and reporting. It targets similar horizontal SMB segments (agencies, freelancers, consulting firms) and offers comparable online timesheet functionality.
- Hubstaff: Hubstaff is a time tracking platform with workforce management, GPS tracking, and productivity monitoring features. It targets remote teams and agencies — overlapping with Kimai's customer base — though it leans more enterprise and surveillance-oriented.
- Harvest: Harvest is a time tracking and invoicing tool for businesses, with strong integrations into project management and accounting platforms. It is one of the named comparison competitors on Kimai's website and targets the same consulting/agency SMB segment.
- Clockodo: Clockodo is a German-based time tracking, project, and invoicing SaaS targeted at SMBs and agencies. It is a DACH-region direct competitor that also emphasizes GDPR compliance and invoicing workflows, making it one of the closest peers to Kimai.
Regional players
- Timetastic: Timetastic is a UK-based leave management and employee time tracking platform. It overlaps with Kimai's controlling/leave-management plugins and SMB segment but is primarily focused on the UK and English-speaking markets rather than DACH.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Kimai social profiles
Digital presenceKimai financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kimai leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Kimai funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kimai M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Kimai
What does Kimai do?
Kimai is an open-source time-tracking platform that records, analyzes, and invoices project time across customers, projects, activities, and tags. It is delivered either as a fully managed Kimai Cloud SaaS (hosted on Hetzner in Germany) or as a self-hosted AGPL 3 deployment, with a paid plugin marketplace expanding functionality for invoicing, expenses, audit trails, kiosks, custom fields, task planning, translations, and working-hours/vacation/sickness management.
Is Kimai a public or private company?
Kimai is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Kimai founded?
Kimai was founded in 2006. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Kimai based?
Kimai is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, in the Europe region.
How does Kimai make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. SaaS Cloud Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are plugin Sales (Self-hosted) and professional Services.
Who are Kimai's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Paymo, TimeCamp, Clockify, Everhour, Toggl Track, TrackingTime, Hubstaff, Harvest and Clockodo. Timetastic is listed as a regional player.
Does Kimai have an API?
Yes. Kimai provides an extensive JSON API for reading and writing data, enabling external applications and custom tools to communicate with Kimai for purposes such as integrations, data synchronization, and custom tool building. Developer documentation is at www.kimai.org/documentation/rest-api.html.
What industry is Kimai in?
Kimai's product category is Time Tracking Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAHAG, iBPMS (Intelligent BPM Suites) & Process Automation Suites. Its NAICS code is 5182 and its SIC code is 7370.