Kimai vs Timewarrior
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted time tracking options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Kimai
Professional time tracking for teams and freelancers
VS
Timewarrior
Command-line time tracking with powerful reporting
| Feature | Kimai | Timewarrior |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 90 · Excellent | 85 · Excellent |
| Category | Time Tracking | Time Tracking |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,039 | ★ 1,663 |
| First released | 2006 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Toggl, Harvest, Clockify | Toggl |
What are Kimai and Timewarrior?
Kimai
Kimai is a free, web-based multi-user time tracking application. It tracks work time across projects and activities and generates invoices and exportable reports.
- Multi-user time tracking
- Invoice generation
- Detailed reporting and exports
- Plugin marketplace
Timewarrior
Timewarrior is a command-line time tracking utility that records start and stop times of tracked activities. It offers flexible tagging, reports, and analytics for personal productivity.
- Pure command-line workflow
- Tag-based tracking
- Flexible reports and charts
- Integrates with Taskwarrior
Kimai vs Timewarrior: key differences
Kimai is written in PHP, while Timewarrior is built with C++. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Kimai versus MIT for Timewarrior. Timewarrior is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kimai. Kimai is the more established project (first released 2006), while Timewarrior arrived in 2016. Kimai has the considerably larger community, at 5,039 GitHub stars versus 1,663. Kimai lists first-class Docker deployment; Timewarrior does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Kimai if…
- Mature and actively maintained
- Strong invoicing features
Watch out for
- Configuration can be involved
Choose Timewarrior if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is Kimai or Timewarrior better?
Neither is universally better. Kimai has the larger community, while Timewarrior is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kimai and Timewarrior free and open-source?
Yes. Kimai is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Timewarrior under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kimai and Timewarrior with Docker?
Kimai: yes. Timewarrior: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Kimai or Timewarrior?
Timewarrior has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Kimai. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.