Best open source

Harvest alternative

Kimai is the #1 open-source time-tracking alternative for Harvest. Learn how Kimai measures up to Harvest, so you can choose the right solution for your business.

Kimai vs Harvest: Which time tracking software fits your team best in 2026?

Kimai is the #1 open-source time-tracking solution designed for teams and businesses seeking flexibility and control over their time tracking infrastructure. Discover why more than 7000 companies worldwide trust Kimai for their time tracking needs and find out how it compares to Harvest’s offerings. Whether you’re evaluating a new time tracking app, analyzing Harvest pricing options, or planning a Harvest migration, Kimai provides a compelling alternative with superior features and cost savings.

Choosing the right time tracking software can make a huge difference in productivity, transparency, and billing accuracy of a freelancer, an agency, or a business owner managing a big team.

When selecting a time tracking tool, most users consider:

Features: Does it cover everything from tracking and reporting to invoicing and project management?
Price: Is it affordable (or even free) for the size of your team?
Flexibility: Can it adapt to your current workflow, integrations, and tech stack?
Accessibility: Does it support both desktop and mobile platforms, and can it be self-hosted or cloud-based?
Scalability: Will it still fit your needs as your business grows?

The year 2026 also brings focus on data privacy, automation, and team transparency in time management tools. At the same time the market offers a range of solutions for every use case, from solopreneurs to large enterprise teams, and you can always find the solution that best fits your needs.

Let’s explore the best time tracking tools for 2026 and see how Kimai compares with Toggl Track — two popular choices among professionals and successful teams worldwide.

Kimai features most used

Not all time tracking tools are created equal. The best solutions for agencies offer a specialized set of features to streamline your workflows.

Features

JSON API

Featuring an extensive JSON API for reading and writing data, so external apps and custom tools can communicate with Kimai.

Customer Portal

Share client and project statistics and timesheets with anyone using a secret URL, optionally password protected.

Teams

Teams connects users into logical groups, like departments. Limit access to data by assigning customers and projects to your teams.

SAML

Log in and register users with SAML via your existing SSO identity provider, like Google Workspace, Authentik or Azure Active Directory.

Invoicing

Configurable invoice templates, options for entry grouping, configurable invoice numbers, and multiple formats like PDF and DOCX.

Reports and analyses

Analysis of recorded times by users, customers, projects, activities, tags, time periods and more.

Why you should choose Kimai over Harvest

Harvest has become one of the most popular time-tracking and invoicing solutions in the market. It offers a user-friendly interface and robust features for freelancers and agencies. However, its subscription-based pricing model and cloud-only infrastructure can be expensive for growing teams and organizations concerned about data privacy.

Shortly after being purchased by the private equity firm Bending Spoons in 2025, changes were made to the pricing structure, causing many customers to migrate to Kimai — not only because of its stable pricing.

Open source alternative with focus on privacy

Kimai stands out as an affordable, open-source alternative that puts control back in your hands. Built by developer who value transparency and data privacy, Kimai offers comparable features to Harvest at a fraction of the cost. Whether you choose to self-host your instance or use Kimai Cloud with servers located in Germany, you get data protection and GDPR compliance by default.

With Kimai, you’re not locked into expensive subscription tiers. You get flexibility, transparency, and the freedom to customize the platform to match your specific workflow needs. For organizations that value their data and want to avoid vendor lock-in, Kimai is the perfect choice.

Cost efficiency at scale

Harvest’s subscription model can become expensive as your team grows, with costs multiplying by the number of team members. Kimai Cloud offers predictable, per-user pricing starting at just €1/month for some industries, while the self-hosted option requires just the costs of server maintenance. For growing teams and organizations, Kimai delivers significant cost savings without compromising on functionality.

Migrate from Harvest to Kimai

Switching from Harvest to Kimai is not a complex task anymore. We understand that your historical data matters, which is why we’ve built a robust CSV importer that lets you effortlessly transfer your time tracking records from Harvest to Kimai.

Export your data from Harvest in CSV format and use Kimai’s importer to load all your projects, clients, and time entries in minutes. You’ll retain complete control over your data while gaining access to a more flexible and affordable time-tracking platform.

For detailed instructions, please refer to our importer documentation.

Final thoughts

Choosing the right time-tracking solution is crucial for your team’s productivity and your company’s data security. Harvest has been a popular choice, but it comes with trade-offs: high costs, cloud-only limitations, and potential data privacy concerns for EU-based organizations.

Kimai offers a powerful, open-source alternative that doesn’t compromise on features while delivering superior data protection, flexibility, and affordability. Whether you need a self-hosted solution for maximum control or Kimai Cloud with EU-based servers, you get a modern time-tracking platform built for the modern workplace.

Make the switch today and experience open source time tracking.

What users say about Kimai

At Kimai, we've designed our time tracking platform to meet the needs of agencies, teams, and freelancers. Our intuitive interface and powerful features help companies like yours work smarter and more profitably. You can now “listen” to the reviews of the real users.

It is a great app, I will say I am not using it yet all its future, but to track my working hours it is working like magic. Customer service is also helpful and fast-responding, I recommend it to any new freelancer, because of its suitable price!. Thank you

Wafa

We have been using KIMAI for many years, previously self-hosted at an internet provider, and for some time now in the cloud. The data model fits our business field perfectly, in which we bill certain projects based on effort and others at a fixed price (budgeted). Both billing models are supported by KIMAI. For budgeted projects, we keep track of the respective consumption of time and costs in relation to the budget (burndown). For time-and-materials projects, we export all billable hours along with the stored hourly rates monthly or quarterly as a basis for the invoices, which we create with another invoicing/accounting software.

In addition to what I consider a very practical data model and the logical structure, the cloud solution is also very well designed in terms of look and feel, modern and intuitive to use. I find everything where I expect it to be. Numerous small features, such as hiding columns or the filter options, make work easier. In addition, a great deal is configurable, so I am not forced to adapt my processes to KIMAI; instead, I can adapt KIMAI to my needs.

Support responds very quickly. I have also been able to submit several suggestions that were actually implemented promptly. I have not yet experienced such implementation strength with any other provider of cloud solutions.

Out of conviction and free of charge, I have shown KIMAI to befriended business partners from completely different industries, recommended it to them, and supported them in setting it up.

From my point of view, an absolute recommendation, very professional and well thought out. You can tell from the software its maturity and from the manufacturer the experience in this field.

J. Setzer

bizzworxx data expert

We have been extremely satisfied users of Kimai for over a year now. Runs reliably and stably, sufficient range of features, easy to use and above all 1-A support - fast, friendly and above all technically competent 😎👍

Stefan Möhrle

corewire GmbH

All your time-tracking needs in one platform

Time is money, and tracking it effectively has become a necessity for project-based teams. Kimai is a powerful time-tracker that's been the favorite of many businesses worldwide. But how does it stack up against Harvest? Dive into this comprehensive comparison to find out why businesses are choosing Kimai over Harvest

See the difference

Compare Kimai vs. Harvest: choose the options that make the most sense for your business.

Kimai
On-Premise

Open source software :
Available on-premises :
Available in the cloud :
Server location : Your choice
Max. customers : Unlimited
Max. projects : Unlimited
Max. activities : Unlimited
JSON API :
Invoicing :
Data export :
SAML :
Support : Forum (GitHub)
Backups :
TLS Certificate : Additional costs
Custom domain : Additional costs
Automatic upgrades :
Server maintenance :
IP access restriction :
Custom content : Paid plugin
Audit trail logs : Paid plugin
Custom fields : Paid plugin
Expense management : Paid plugin
Task planning : Paid plugin
Translations : Paid plugin
Working hours, vacation, sickness, public holidays : Paid plugin

Install

Kimai
Cloud

Open source software :
Available on-premises :
Available in the cloud :
Server location : Hetzner Cloud
Germany (Falkenstein)
Max. customers : Unlimited
Max. projects : Unlimited
Max. activities : Unlimited
JSON API :
Invoicing :
Data export :
SAML :
Support : Email, Forum
Backups : Daily
TLS Certificate :
Custom domain :
Automatic upgrades :
Server maintenance :
IP access restriction :
Custom content :
Audit trail logs :
Custom fields :
Expense management :
Task planning :
Translations :
Working hours, vacation, sickness, public holidays :

Get started

Harvest

Open source software :
Available on-premises :
Available in the cloud :
Server location : USA
Max. customers : unlimited in Pro
Max. projects : unlimited in Pro
Max. activities : Unlimited
JSON API :
Invoicing :
Data export :
SAML : available in Premium
Support :
Backups :
TLS Certificate :
Custom domain :
Automatic upgrades :
Server maintenance :
IP access restriction :
Custom content :
Audit trail logs :
Custom fields :
Expense management :
Task planning :
Translations :
Working hours, vacation, sickness, public holidays :

Open source software

Available on-premises

Available in the cloud

Server location

Your choice

Hetzner Cloud
Germany (Falkenstein)

USA

Max. customers

Unlimited

unlimited in Pro

Max. projects

Unlimited

unlimited in Pro

Max. activities

Unlimited

JSON API

Invoicing

Data export

SAML

available in Premium

Support

Forum (GitHub)

Email, Forum

Backups

Daily

TLS Certificate

Additional costs

Custom domain

Additional costs

Automatic upgrades

Server maintenance

IP access restriction

Custom content

Paid plugin

Audit trail logs

Paid plugin

Custom fields

Paid plugin

Expense management

Paid plugin

Task planning

Paid plugin

Translations

Paid plugin

Working hours, vacation, sickness, public holidays

Paid plugin

Please note that the above information were manually compiled on 2025-10-19 from the Harvest website. For the comparison, the best matching plans were chosen. Prices are subject to change. For the most current pricing, please visit the respective websites.

Kimai is open source

Kimai is #1 open-source time-tracking software, providing unparalleled transparency and flexibility. By choosing Kimai, you’re investing in a secure, cost-efficient solution with complete control over your data and the ability to customize it exactly as your team needs.

Harvest is a proprietary software, which includes a platform risk. Relying solely on a software vendor for code tweaks and feature implementations can feel and often is limiting.

Self-host with complete control

Kimai offers a self-hosted edition that puts data privacy to the front. With on-premises deployment, you maintain complete control over your sensitive business information, ensure compliance with stringent data protection regulations, and achieve a level of security that's often challenging with cloud-only solutions. Plus, Kimai's API allows seamless integration with your existing tools and workflows.

Unlike Harvest, which only operates in the cloud, Kimai gives you the flexibility to choose your deployment model.

EU-based data protection

If you decide to go with the cloud edition, you can be sure that your data is safe. With the headquarters located in Austria (EU), it is GDPR-compliant by default and all data is stored in Germany (Hetzner Cloud, Falkenstein). Learn more about our privacy-first approach

Harvest is located in the USA. Due to U.S. regulations such as the CLOUD Act, data hosted with U.S.-based providers may be subject to access requests by U.S. authorities — which can pose privacy concerns for organizations operating under EU data protection standards.

Conclusion

In today's digital age, data security is paramount. Kimai promises secure data protection and state-of-the-art encryption, ensuring that your business's sensitive information remains confidential.

Kimai offers a well-rounded solution that caters to a variety of workflows and use-cases for most project-based teams and companies. Its ease of use, integration capabilities, and commitment to data security and privacy make it a top choice for businesses seeking an efficient time-tracking software.

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Harvest alternative

Kimai vs Harvest: Which time tracking software fits your team best in 2026?