I’ve been relying on time-tracking tools to bill my clients for a decade now. Out of all the solutions I’ve used and tested, the self-hosted version of Kimai is my favorite, by far. This article shares why I believe self-hosted Kimai is the best time tracker for everyone, from freelancers like myself, to businesses, to regular home users who want to gain more insight into how they spend their time.
Content
- Meet Kimai, My Favorite Time Tracker
- The Benefits of Self-Hosting Kimai
- My Preferred Way to Self-Host Kimai
Meet Kimai, My Favorite Time Tracker
I stumbled upon Kimai a few years ago while searching for an open-source solution that I could customize to fit my unique needs. Initially, I was skeptical. An open-source project that’s been around since 2006? I wondered if it could keep up with modern tools. But after giving it a try, I was pleasantly surprised.
From the moment I started using Kimai, it felt like it was designed specifically for me. The interface was intuitive, allowing me to start and stop timers on the fly.
One feature that stood out was the ability to handle overlapping projects. There have been days when I’ve juggled multiple tasks simultaneously – like coordinating with a client while finalizing a project for another. With Kimai, tracking these overlapping times has always been easy.
Generating detailed reports and professional invoices directly from my time entries has streamlined my billing process. Clients have commented on the clarity and professionalism of my invoices (I was relying on customizable templates before), which has positively impacted my business relationships.
I should also mention Kimai’s extensive plugin and integration ecosystem, which significantly expands what the time tracker can do. For example, I use the free Easy Backup plugin to generate full backups of my entire Kimai environment with a single click, and I’ve also installed the KimaiBar macOS menubar app to track work time directly from my desktop. Many plugins are completely free, but some of the most capable ones, like this expense management plugin, cost money.
But what truly sets Kimai apart in my eyes is the ability to self-host the time-tracking solution on your own server.
The Benefits of Self-Hosting Kimai
While Kimai is an excellent time tracker in its own right, self-hosting takes it to a whole new level. Let me break down the three key reasons why I swear by it.
Saving Money Without Sacrificing Quality
As a freelancer, managing expenses is always top of mind. Previously, I spent a significant amount on subscription-based time-tracking tools. These recurring costs added up, especially when I needed advanced features locked behind premium tiers.
Kimai’s hosted plans start at €2.99 ($3.32) per user per month for the Standard plan and €3.99 ($4.43) for the Professional plan. While these prices are competitive, they are no match for self-hosting.
With self-hosted Kimai, I eliminated these ongoing expenses. Since I already had a server for my personal website, installing Kimai didn’t cost me anything extra. Over the years, this has saved me hundreds of dollars – funds I could reinvest into my business or use for other essential expenses.
Complete Control Over My Data
Data privacy is essential, not just for me but for my clients as well. Hosting sensitive information on third-party servers always made me a bit uneasy. Self-hosting Kimai gave me unparalleled peace of mind.
When I delete past records, I know they’re gone for good – there’s no lingering uncertainty about whether some cloud service still has copies floating around somewhere.
Moreover, self-hosting has allowed me to implement my own backup strategies. I’ve set up automated daily backups to an encrypted external drive, ensuring that even if something were to happen to my main server, my time-tracking data (and by extension, my billing history) is safe and recoverable.
For maximum security, I recommend hosting Kimai locally on a device like a Raspberry Pi and accessing it remotely using a secure VPN solution like Tailscale.
Customizing Kimai to Fit My Workflow
One of the standout benefits of Kimai is its flexibility. Being open-source, it allows for a high degree of customization. I’m not a developer by trade, but even with my limited coding knowledge, I was able to tweak Kimai to better suit my workflow.
I’ve already mentioned some of the plugins I use, but the customization doesn’t stop at plugins. I’ve gone a step further and developed my own custom invoice template. Following the official instructions from the Kimai documentation and with a little help from ChatGPT, I created a template that perfectly matches my brand and includes all the specific details my clients expect to see.
The process was surprisingly straightforward. Kimai stores invoice templates in the “extensions/ki_invoice/invoices/” directory, and you can create them using either Open Office documents or HTML. I opted for HTML, which gave me more control over the design.
My Preferred Way to Self-Host Kimai
If you’re not particularly tech-savvy or, like me, don’t want to deal with server management, the easiest way to self-host Kimai is to use a web hosting service that offers a Softaculous installer, such as Namecheap.
Softaculous is a great tool that simplifies the installation process for many web applications, including Kimai. Use it by logging in to your cPanel account provided by your web hosting service, and looking for the “Softaculous Apps Installer or a similar option in your cPanel dashboard.
In the Softaculous interface, search for “Kimai” in the search bar, or browse through the available applications. Once you find Kimai, click it to open the installation page, then click the Install button to start the installation process.
With a self-hosted Kimai installation up and running, remember to keep your login information safe and to regularly update your Kimai installation for security and new features.
Self-hosted Kimai offers a powerful, customizable, and cost-effective solution for time tracking that puts you in control of your data. Whether you’re a freelancer like me, a small business owner, or part of a larger team, Kimai can adapt to your needs while providing the security and flexibility of self-hosting.
If you’re interested in exploring more tools to enhance your team’s productivity, check out these project management tools.
All images and screenshots by David Morelo.
David Morelo –
Staff Writer
David Morelo is a professional content writer in the technology niche, covering everything from consumer products to emerging technologies and their cross-industry application. His interest in technology started at an early age and has only grown stronger over the years.
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