head to head · open source
Kimai vs Freeter
Kimai has 5,129 GitHub stars, 878 forks, 350 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Freeter has 1,029 stars, 67 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. Kimai leads on adoption by 398% (5,129 vs 1,029 stars). Kimai is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; Freeter is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. Kimai has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, Freeter 7%. Kimai was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Kimai | Freeter | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.1K | ★ 1.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 878 | ⑂ 67 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kimai if
- You weight community size — 5.1K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Freeter if
- You want the Freeter feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Freeter fits your workflow better
About Kimai
Kimai 1 Open Source Time Tracker Kimai is a professional grade time tracking application, free and open source. It handles use cases of freelancers as well as companies with dozens or hundreds of users. Kimai was build to track your project times and ships with many advanced features, including but not limited to: JSON API, invoicing, data exports, multi timer and punch in punch out mode, tagging, multi user multi timezones multi language (over 30 translations existing!), authentication via SAML/LDAP/Database, two factor authentication (2FA) with TOTP, customizable role and team permissions, responsive design…
read the full Kimai overview →
About Freeter
Freeter is a free and open source organizer for people who work on their computer. It lets you gather everything you need for work — in one place, organized by projects and workflows. Quickly access your setup via Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + F or from the tray icon. Switch effortlessly between workflows, stay focused on what matters now, and reduce context switching. Curious about what the app does and how to get started? [ Read the full post here ][post intro]. [ Homepage ][home] [ Download ][download] [ Community ][community] [ Donate ][donate] [ Roadmap ][roadmap] [ Feature Requests ][featurerequests] [ Bug Reports…
read the full Freeter overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kimai or Freeter more popular?
Kimai has 5,129 GitHub stars and Freeter has 1,029. Kimai has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kimai and Freeter free?
Both are open source. Kimai is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Freeter under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kimai and Freeter?
Kimai is written in PHP and Freeter in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Kimai or Freeter?
Choose Kimai if you want the larger community (5,129 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Freeter if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.