Choose a Kimai replacement by how your team will record time every day, not by the longest feature list. If people forget to start timers, look for automatic capture or tracking inside the tools they already use. If hours feed invoices or payroll, make sure the exports match what your accountant or HR system expects.
Time tracking lives or dies on a wet Monday morning, when someone has to remember what they did on Friday afternoon. Kimai handles that for plenty of freelancers and agencies, but if you're looking elsewhere, here are eight options in no particular order, each with a note on who it's for.
Every option from A to Z
Listed alphabetically. Every description reflects the vendor's own account of its product.
Everhour
Best for: Teams who live in a project management tool and want timers, billable hours and project limit alerts inside it, rather than in a separate app.
Harvest
Best for: Agencies and consultants who bill clients by the hour and want simple reports and online invoicing sitting next to their timesheets.
Hubstaff
Best for: Managers of hybrid and remote teams who want time, productivity monitoring and payments from approved hours in one system; the vendor names a free trial.
My Hours
Best for: Small teams and freelancers who need shareable reports for clients or managers, plus invoices generated from tracked hours, without a heavy setup.
Paymo
Best for: People who log time across devices, with apps for phone, desktop and web; the vendor's page names a free plan for its time tracking apps.
TimeCamp
Best for: Project teams that want hours captured with AI automation and fed into invoices, reports and alerts, with native sync to tools like Jira and Asana.
Timeular
Best for: Project-based teams that need billable hours, leave and overtime in one record, which matters when time data has to reach HR or payroll.
Toggl
Best for: Growing teams that want time tracking joined to capacity planning, tasks and project profitability; the vendor says you can start for free.
How the eight trackers line up
| Tool | Main focus | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Everhour | Time tracking inside project tools | Tracking hours inside Asana, ClickUp, Monday or Jira |
| Harvest | Time tracking with invoicing | Turning tracked hours into client invoices |
| Hubstaff | Workforce time and activity tracking | Remote teams where approved hours become payments |
| My Hours | Project time tracking | Shareable client reports and invoices from hours |
| Paymo | Work management with time tracking | Logging time on a phone, at home or away |
| TimeCamp | Automatic time tracking | Hours that feed invoices and project reports |
| Timeular | Project time, leave and overtime | Billable hours alongside leave and overtime records |
| Toggl | Time tracking and capacity planning | Working out team capacity from tracked hours |
Where your hours end up matters more than the timer
Kimai's own homepage describes free, simple time tracking for freelancers, agencies and companies, with users and invoices handled in the same place. The timer itself is the easy part to replace. What's harder is everything that happens to those hours afterwards.
So test two things in any replacement. First, how people log time day to day: a timer they start, a weekly timesheet they fill in, tracking built into their project tool, or automatic capture. Second, where the hours go next: invoices, client reports, payroll exports or leave records.
Grouped that way, the list splits cleanly. Harvest and My Hours lean towards client invoicing. Everhour and TimeCamp live alongside project tools. Hubstaff and Timeular reach into workforce and HR records, while Toggl and Paymo add planning and mobile tracking around the timer.
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Tools in this category split by who they're built for and how much you set up yourself, so run the same real week of work through each before you decide.
Advice before you switch your team's timesheets
Don't roll a new tracker out to everyone at once. Choose two or three people who track time differently, ask them to use your shortlist for a week, and listen to who complains the least. A tool that nobody opens is worse than a basic one that everyone uses. Watch for one thing in particular: whether people log time as they go or reconstruct it on Friday. If they're reconstructing it, the tool isn't fitting into their day, however good its reports look.
If your hours feed payroll, check the export format with whoever runs payroll before you sign up, because rules on recording working time vary by country; check with your local regulator if you're unsure. For wider lists, see my guides to timesheet software and free time tracking software.
Taking your Kimai history with you
- Export your projects, customers and activities so you can recreate the same structure in the new tool.
- Export past timesheets as CSV files and keep a full copy somewhere safe, even if you don't plan to import them.
- Check whether the new tool imports CSV time entries, and test it on one month before you load everything.
- Recreate users and permissions, then ask each person to log one day in both tools so you can compare.
- Switch off new entries in the old system on a set date, so nobody ends up tracking time in two places.
Do you make time tracking software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
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Frequently asked questions
Can I import my Kimai timesheets into another tool?
Often, yes, through CSV. Export your entries, then check the new tool's import template and match the columns. Try one month first so you can spot problems before importing years of history.
What's the difference between a timer and a timesheet?
A timer runs while you work and records the time automatically. A timesheet is a grid you fill in, usually daily or weekly. Many teams use both, with timers feeding the timesheet.
Do I need time tracking with invoicing built in?
Only if you bill clients by the hour. If hours go to payroll or internal reports instead, a clean export matters more than built-in invoices.
Is it legal to monitor employees' activity while they track time?
Rules on monitoring staff vary by country and sometimes by contract. Tell your team what's recorded, and check with your local regulator or an employment adviser before you switch on activity tracking.
Can time tracking work inside project management tools?
Yes. Some trackers add timers directly inside project tools, so people log time against the task they're already looking at. That tends to raise the number of entries that get logged at all.
How long should a time tracking trial last?
Long enough to cover a full week of real work, including the day you'd normally run reports or invoices. Anything shorter hides the problems that show up at the end of the week.
