User licenses

Kimai uses a per-seat licensing model, where each active user account consumes one license. Deactivated accounts do not consume licenses, which keeps the model flexible and fair.

Licensing rules

• Active users each consume one license.
• Deactivated users do not consume a license, so the seat can be reassigned to another user.

Managing user accounts

• When a user leaves the company, deactivate their account to free up the license for someone else.
• Reactivating a deactivated user will consume a license again. Reactivation is only possible if a free license is available.
• New user accounts can only be created if at least one license is available.

Admin accounts require a license

Every user account in Kimai requires a license — there are no exceptions for admin or non-time-tracking accounts. If you need two employees to track time and one admin account to manage them, you need three licenses.

Admin accounts are actively used accounts: they generate reports and exports, create invoices, validate employee timesheets, approve vacation requests, and manage the system configuration. These are core functions that go well beyond occasional setup tasks.

On top of that, Kimai doesn’t have a restricted “admin-only” mode. Every account — including system administrators — has full permissions, which always includes time tracking. There’s no way to strip time-tracking capabilities from an account.

Before starting a subscription

When registering for a plan, the system shows the minimum number of licenses you need based on your current active users. If the count is higher than expected, deactivate any unused accounts and reload the page to update the displayed number.

Starting a subscription

• Open your My Cloud portal.
• Select the plan you want to activate.
• If you haven’t entered your company details yet, you will be prompted to add them first.
• Proceed to the checkout and enter your payment details.

Your subscription becomes active as soon as the payment is confirmed.

Purchasing additional licenses

If your subscription doesn’t include enough licenses, you can purchase additional ones at any time through the My Cloud portal.

Additional licenses are billed immediately, but only for the remaining time in your current billing period. New licenses are always aligned with your existing subscription period.

For example: if you add a license to an annual subscription that is already 6 months in, you’ll only be charged for the remaining 6 months.

Reducing licenses

To reduce the number of licenses, first deactivate the corresponding user accounts in your cloud. Then adjust the license count through the My Cloud portal.

The reduced count takes effect at the start of the next billing period.

Deprecated metered plans

For customers still on the deprecated Plus and Premium plans (no longer available to new customers), billing is usage-based:

• Active users incur charges.
• Deactivated users also incur charges if they were active within the last month — meaning they registered, logged in, or created a time entry within that period.