Kimai alternative
Let's start with the honest part: Kimai is very good, and it's free. If SSH, Git and Composer are part of your normal week, stop reading and go install Kimai — you'll be happy with it. This page is for everyone else.
The real difference
Both track time by project and client, on your own server, with your data staying there. Where they part ways is the day you install them — and every day you maintain them.
You clone the repository with Git, run Composer to pull the dependencies, edit environment variables, run the installer from the console and set file permissions. Kimai's own documentation says “FTP installation is not supported, because most of Kimai's management tasks rely on the console”, and it needs a dedicated subdomain — a subfolder won't do.
You upload a folder to your hosting by FTP or from your panel's file manager, open a page in your browser and answer three questions. The installer checks your server, creates the tables and your admin user. Subdomain or subfolder, whichever you prefer.
Kimai's support is the community forum — generous people, answering when they can. With Hourexa you bought a product, so there's someone whose job is to answer you, for the support period included with your licence.
Side by side
| Kimai | Hourexa | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | €149, one-time |
| Source code | Open (GPL/AGPL) | Closed |
| Users | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| How you install it | Git + Composer, from the console. FTP not supported | Upload by FTP, install from the browser |
| Where it can live | Its own subdomain | Subdomain or subfolder |
| Support | Community forum | Included with your licence, by email |
| Updates | Console commands | Upload the new files, then one command |
| Managed option | kimai.cloud, paid | None — self-hosted only |
| Your data | On your server | On your server |
Yes, we left “updates need one command” in our own column. It's true: you upload the new files and run a single line to bring the database up to date. We'd rather you read that here than discover it later.
Which one
If a console is a normal tool for you, or you have someone technical around. It's free, it's mature, it has a plugin marketplace and a real community. Paying for something you can run yourself makes no sense.
If “clone the repo and run Composer” is where you'd stop. If you've installed WordPress and that's your ceiling. If you want the setup solved and a person to ask when it isn't.
If you don't care where your data lives, a cloud tool will be simpler and cheaper to start. Self-hosting is worth the trouble when the data staying on your server actually matters to you.