SHSelfHostIndex

Kimai vs Ziit

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted time tracking options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
KI Kimai Professional time tracking for teams and freelancers VS ZI Ziit The Swiss army knife of code time tracking (alternative to WakaTime)
FeatureKimaiZiit
CategoryTime TrackingTime Tracking
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePHPTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker
GitHub stars★ 4,871★ 249
First released20062025
ReplacesToggl, Harvest, Clockify—

Why pick each one

Choose Kimai if…

  • Mature and actively maintained
  • Strong invoicing features
Kimai details

Choose Ziit if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in TypeScript
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Ziit details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kimai or Ziit better?

Neither is universally better. Kimai has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Kimai and Ziit free and open-source?

Yes. Kimai is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Ziit under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kimai and Ziit with Docker?

Kimai: yes. Ziit: yes.

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