You want a self hosted time tracker because you want your hours on hardware you control, not in a vendor's account. Kimai, solidtime, TimeTagger and Traggo give you that by handing you a server to run. ActivityWatch and TimePrivate give it to you by keeping the record on the computer you already work on, with no server in the picture. This page sorts the self hosted time trackers that rank for this search by what each one asks you to run, quotes every price and license from the project's own page as read on 1 October 2026, and says plainly where TimePrivate, a Mac app that is not released yet, is the wrong pick.
TimePrivate is not released. There is no download, no trial and no purchase today. Apple Silicon Macs first, Windows on the roadmap.
The best self hosted time tracker depends on whether you are tracking a team or just yourself. For a team that needs invoicing on its own server, Kimai and solidtime are the two mature open source choices, both licensed AGPL 3.0 and both installable with Docker. solidtime requires a paid on-premise Business license for invoicing; its free self hosted Open Source tier excludes it. For one person, TimeTagger and Traggo are lighter servers, and ActivityWatch skips the server entirely by keeping its data on your device. TimePrivate is a Mac time tracker that also skips the server: no account, a local database, and an app that makes no network requests, but it is not released yet.
TimePrivate is not open source and is not self hosted software in the server sense. It is on this page because a lot of people who search "self hosted time tracker" want the outcome, hours nobody else holds, more than they want a server to look after.
The awesome-selfhosted list for time tracking, one of the top results for this search, sorts projects alphabetically. This TimePrivate table sorts the same self hosted time trackers by the question that decides your weekend: what do you have to keep running. Every quote below was read on the project's own page on 1 October 2026. Where a page gave no figure, the cell says so.
| Time tracker | What you run | License and price, from its own page | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| A server you host, with a web app for a team | |||
| Kimai | A PHP web app. Kimai's page says "Deploy on your own server with Docker or manually" | "100% open source" under AGPL 3. Kimai Cloud Standard "€ 2.99" per user and month billed annually, "€ 3.99" monthly. No price is listed for self hosting | Your team needs timesheets and invoicing on hardware you control, and someone will keep the server updated |
| solidtime | A web app deployed with Docker or Docker Compose, following solidtime's self hosting guide | AGPL v3 Open Source tier: free to self host, without invoicing. On-premise Business with invoicing: from €49 per year, excluding VAT. Cloud Solo free for one user; Professional "€8 / user / month" billed annually, €9 monthly, excluding VAT | You want a modern team tracker with billable rates and imports from Toggl and Clockify, hosted by you or by solidtime. For self hosted invoicing, budget for Business |
| TimeTracker | A Docker web app, per its awesome-selfhosted entry | GPL-3.0. No hosted price checked for this page | You want invoicing, expenses, kanban tasks and OIDC or SSO in one self hosted package |
| Ever Gauzy | A Docker or Node.js platform | AGPL-3.0. No price checked for this page | Time tracking is one module of a wider ERP, CRM and HR system you also want to host |
| A small server you host, mostly for one person | |||
| TimeTagger | A Python web app you can "run TimeTagger yourself", or a hosted account | "Open source (GPLv3)". Hosted Basic "€3 per month" or Lifetime "€144 once" | You track your own time on an interactive timeline with tags, and you are happy to run a small server or pay for theirs |
| Traggo | A Go server, also shipped for Docker. Super Productivity's roundup lists its trade off as "You must run the server" | GPL-3.0. Free to self host | You think in tags rather than projects. Traggo's own line: "there are no tasks, only tagged time spans" |
| Wakapi and Ziit | Go or Docker servers for coding statistics, listed as compatible with WakaTime | Wakapi GPL-3.0, Ziit AGPL-3.0 | You only want coding statistics, as a self hosted WakaTime alternative, not client hours |
| No server: the record stays on the computer you work on | |||
| TimePrivate | Nothing. A Mac app with a local database, no account, and no network requests. Optional sync writes end to end encrypted files to a folder you choose | Not open source. Planned at $9 a month or $79 a year, subscription only. Not released: no download, no trial, no purchase today | You track only your own hours on a Mac, you want automatic tracking, approval and invoices, and you do not want to run a server |
| ActivityWatch | A desktop app. "All your time tracking data is stored on your own device and is never sent to any server" | "completely free and open-source software, licensed under the MPL-2.0 license" | You want free, automatic activity tracking on Windows, macOS, Linux or Android today, and can live without invoicing |
| Self hosted for enterprises, through sales | |||
| TimeCamp self hosted | A self hosted or private cloud implementation, set up with TimeCamp | No price published. The page asks you to "Contact sales" and calls it "perfect even for the biggest enterprises" | You are a large company that needs SSO through SAML 2.0, an SLA and a vendor to call |
Sources for this self hosted time tracker table, all read on 1 October 2026: awesome-selfhosted.net time tracking tag, kimai.org/en and kimai.org/en/pricing, github.com/solidtime-io/solidtime, solidtime.io/pricing and solidtime.io/pricing/on-premise, docs.solidtime.io, timetagger.app, github.com/traggo/server, activitywatch.net, timecamp.com/self-hosted-time-tracker and super-productivity.com's 2026 open source roundup. TimePrivate has not installed any of these for this page, so nothing beyond the quoted text is claimed. If you are leaving a hosted tracker rather than choosing a first one, TimePrivate's shortlist of Clockify alternatives with Kimai and solidtime prices covers the move out of Clockify.
Pages ranking for "self hosted time tracker" use the phrase for two different things, and TimePrivate thinks the difference matters more than any feature list.
Kimai, solidtime, TimeTagger and Traggo are web apps. You run the server, and your browser or a desktop client talks to it. Your hours leave the laptop, but they land on hardware you control instead of a vendor's. That is the right model when several people need to see the same timesheets. TimePrivate does not work this way.
ActivityWatch and TimePrivate keep the record on the device where the work happens. Memtime's offline tracking article, also ranking for this search, describes self hosted apps as "recording all work activity locally without uploading any data to the cloud", which is really a description of this second model. TimePrivate's version: a local database on your Mac and an app that makes no network requests.
Toggl Track, Clockify, Harvest and the hosted plans of Kimai, solidtime and TimeTagger keep your entries on the vendor's servers under an account. Nothing wrong with that, and it is the least work. It is also the thing most people searching for a self hosted time tracker are trying to get away from, and the reason TimePrivate exists.
Super Productivity's 2026 roundup of open source time trackers puts the privacy point well: self hosting can be more private, "but only if the deployment model matches your privacy goal". A self hosted Kimai on a shared company server is private from Kimai, not from whoever runs that server. TimePrivate's answer to the same question is written out in TimePrivate's offline time tracking and privacy page, app and website separately.
The self hosted time tracker project pages describe the install. They say less about the years after it. None of this is a reason not to self host; it is the list TimePrivate would want in front of it before choosing.
A web tracker needs a server, a home lab box or a VPS that is up whenever anyone tracks. If you start a timer from a laptop on a train, that server also has to be reachable from outside your network, which means a domain, a TLS certificate and a login page exposed to the internet, or a VPN. TimePrivate needs none of that because the Mac is the whole system.
Kimai's self hosting option is "100% open source" with installs "with Docker or manually", and Kimai Cloud is described as "Fully managed, always up-to-date". The second phrase is the work you take on with the first. A self hosted time tracker holding client names is worth patching promptly. A TimePrivate update is an app update on your Mac.
Hosting your own hours means the backup is yours too: the database, uploaded files and the config, restored at least once so you know it works. With TimePrivate the database is a single file on your Mac, so whatever backup already covers that Mac covers your hours, and CSV export is always there as a second copy.
Kimai lists community support for self hosting and priority support for Kimai Cloud. solidtime's self hosting docs say "If you are interested in a support plan, please contact us". TimeCamp's self hosted edition goes through "Contact sales". TimePrivate has no server to support, which removes this whole category rather than solving it.
Six common reasons people search for a self hosted time tracker, and the tool each one points to. TimePrivate wins one of them.
Kimai or solidtime. Both run on your server and handle clients, projects and billable rates. solidtime imports from Toggl and Clockify, but its self hosted invoicing requires a paid on-premise Business license. TimePrivate has no team features at all and none are planned, so it is not in this race.
This is the case TimePrivate is built for. It tracks the frontmost app and browser domain, drafts your day for you to approve, and turns approved hours into PDF invoices, all on the Mac. There is a walk through of how TimePrivate tracks automatically if you want to see what it records. The billing side for one person, with a free billable hours calculator, is on TimePrivate's freelance time tracking app page. It is not released yet.
TimeTagger or Traggo. Both are small, GPL licensed and suited to one person's timeline or tags. If running the server is part of the fun, a self hosted time tracker is the right call and TimePrivate would be taking that away from you.
ActivityWatch. It is MPL-2.0, runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, and keeps data on your device. Its sync between devices is listed as "We're working on it". TimePrivate is paid and adds approval and invoicing on top; ActivityWatch is the free answer.
Wakapi or Ziit, both listed on awesome-selfhosted as self hosted coding statistics trackers in the WakaTime mould. TimePrivate tracks apps and domains, not files or languages, so it will not give you per repository coding statistics.
A vendor self hosted edition such as TimeCamp's, which lists SSO through SAML 2.0 and an SLA on its Enterprise plan, or Kimai with a support arrangement. TimePrivate is a single person's Mac app and should not be on an enterprise shortlist.
Most self hosted time trackers are web apps, so on a Mac you use them in a browser tab or a companion app pointed at your server. That works, and it has two consequences worth knowing.
A browser tab cannot see what you work on. A self hosted web tracker on a Mac is usually a manual timer: you press start, you press stop. Automatic tracking needs a desktop app that macOS has given permission to see the frontmost app. ActivityWatch does that and stores the result on your device. TimePrivate does it too, asks for that permission in System Settings under Privacy and Security, and records only the app name and the browser domain, never the page or the document.
Offline means the server has to be reachable. A self hosted time tracker on a server at home is offline the moment your Mac is away from that network and has no route back. The TimePrivate Mac app has no online mode to lose, because it never talks to a server. Optional sync between your two Macs writes end to end encrypted files into a folder you choose, such as iCloud Drive, so your cloud provider holds only ciphertext.
TimePrivate ships on Apple Silicon Macs first, with Windows on the roadmap and no phone app. Everything else TimePrivate does on a Mac is on the TimePrivate time tracking app for Mac page, including the planned pricing.
For a team, usually yes. For one person, TimePrivate's honest view is that it depends on whether you want the server or only the privacy.
If you have a homelab with backups, monitoring and a reverse proxy, adding Kimai, solidtime or TimeTagger is a modest step and you get a free, open source self hosted time tracker reachable from every device you own. TimePrivate cannot match that reach: it is a Mac app with no web or phone access.
If the reason is "I do not want a company holding my hours", a server you now have to secure is a heavy way to get there. A local first tracker gets the same result with nothing exposed: ActivityWatch for free, or TimePrivate, planned at $9 a month or $79 a year, once it is released.
Whichever you pick, export on the first day. solidtime lists imports from Toggl, Clockify and time entry CSV. TimePrivate imports Toggl, Clockify and Harvest CSV exports and calendar .ics files, keeps tags and billable flags, and exports everything to CSV, so a move in either direction does not start from zero.
One boundary TimePrivate always states: it cannot stop other software on your Mac, including an employer's monitoring agent, from watching you. It simply has no screenshot capture, no keystroke logging and no manager view of its own. This website is separate from the app and does run Google Analytics, PostHog and Microsoft Clarity, as the privacy page says.
Each self hosted time tracker figure TimePrivate quotes above was read on the project's own page on 1 October 2026. Prices and licenses change, so check the source before you deploy.
| Claim | Quote or summary | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kimai self hosting and license | "Deploy on your own server with Docker or manually", "100% open source" under AGPL 3. Kimai Cloud: "Fully managed, always up-to-date" | kimai.org/en | 1 October 2026 |
| Kimai Cloud prices | Standard "€ 2.99" annual or "€ 3.99" monthly, Professional "€ 3.99" annual or "€ 4.99" monthly, per user and month. No self hosting price listed | kimai.org/en/pricing | 1 October 2026 |
| solidtime license and features | "GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL v3)". Imports from "Toggl, Clockify, Timeentry CSV" | github.com/solidtime-io/solidtime | 1 October 2026 |
| solidtime self hosting | A guide "to deploy solidtime using Docker/Docker Compose" and "If you are interested in a support plan, please contact us" | docs.solidtime.io/self-hosting/intro | 1 October 2026 |
| solidtime prices | Solo free. Professional €8 per user per month billed annually or €9 monthly, excluding VAT | solidtime.io/pricing | 1 October 2026 |
| solidtime on-premise prices and invoicing | Open Source is free and excludes invoicing. Business includes invoicing from €49 per year, excluding VAT | solidtime.io/pricing/on-premise | 1 October 2026 |
| TimeTagger | "Open source (GPLv3)", "run TimeTagger yourself". Hosted Basic "€3 per month", Lifetime "€144 once" | timetagger.app | 1 October 2026 |
| Traggo | "tag-based time tracking", GPL-3.0. "In Traggo there are no tasks, only tagged time spans" | github.com/traggo/server and awesome-selfhosted.net | 1 October 2026 |
| TimeTracker, Ever Gauzy, Wakapi, Ziit | Licenses and platforms as listed: GPL-3.0 Docker, AGPL-3.0 Docker and Node.js, GPL-3.0 Go and Docker, AGPL-3.0 Docker | awesome-selfhosted.net/tags/time-tracking.html | 1 October 2026 |
| ActivityWatch | "never sent to any server", "Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android", MPL-2.0, sync "We're working on it" | activitywatch.net | 1 October 2026 |
| TimeCamp self hosted | "perfect even for the biggest enterprises", SSO "through SAML 2.0", "Contact sales", no price published | timecamp.com/self-hosted-time-tracker | 1 October 2026 |
| Self hosting and privacy | "but only if the deployment model matches your privacy goal". Traggo trade off: "You must run the server" | super-productivity.com/blog/best-open-source-time-tracking-apps-2026 | 1 October 2026 |
| Self hosted described as local | "recording all work activity locally without uploading any data to the cloud" | memtime.com/blog/offline-time-tracking | 1 October 2026 |
TimePrivate has not installed or benchmarked any self hosted time tracker named here. If a quote is out of date when you read it, the project's own page is the one to trust.
What people ask while choosing a self hosted time tracker, answered with TimePrivate's own position stated in each one.
A self hosted time tracker is time tracking software you install on a server you control, such as Kimai, solidtime, TimeTagger or Traggo, instead of using an account on the vendor's servers. Your hours leave your laptop but land on your own hardware. TimePrivate takes a different route to the same goal: it is a Mac app with a local database and no server at all.
For teams, Kimai and solidtime are the two most established open source options, both AGPL licensed and both deployable with Docker. solidtime's free self hosted tier excludes invoicing; its paid on-premise Business license includes it. For one person, TimeTagger and Traggo are lighter. If you want no server at all, ActivityWatch keeps data on your device for free, and TimePrivate does the same on a Mac with approval and invoicing, planned at $9 a month or $79 a year and not released yet.
Yes. Kimai, solidtime, TimeTagger, Traggo, Wakapi and Ziit are all free to self host under open source licenses, as listed on awesome-selfhosted.net on 1 October 2026. Free means no license fee for the open source tier; you still pay for the server and the time to run it. solidtime's free tier excludes invoicing, which requires its paid on-premise Business license. ActivityWatch is free with no server. TimePrivate is not free: planned pricing is $9 a month or $79 a year.
Yes. Kimai describes its self hosting option as "100% open source" under AGPL 3, deployed "on your own server with Docker or manually", and its pricing page lists no self hosting price. Kimai Cloud costs "€ 2.99" per user and month billed annually for Standard, as read on 1 October 2026. TimePrivate is a different kind of product: a single user Mac app with no server.
Yes. solidtime is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 and publishes a guide to deploy it with Docker or Docker Compose. Its free Open Source on-premise tier excludes invoicing; the Business license includes it from €49 per year, excluding VAT. If you would rather not host it, solidtime Cloud has a free Solo plan for one user and a Professional plan at €8 per user per month billed annually. TimePrivate imports Toggl and Clockify CSV exports too, but keeps them on your Mac.
Yes. Kimai and solidtime are open source and free to self host, though solidtime's free self hosted tier excludes invoicing. solidtime Cloud has a free plan for one person, and ActivityWatch is free with data kept on your device. Clockify itself still has a free plan. TimePrivate is not a free alternative: it is planned at $9 a month or $79 a year. The TimePrivate page on switching away from Clockify compares eight Clockify alternatives with prices.
It ranges from nothing to a monthly subscription. ActivityWatch tracks automatically and is free and open source. Kimai, the best known self hosted time tracker, is listed in Super Productivity's 2026 roundup as web timesheets rather than automatic tracking. TimePrivate tracks automatically by app and browser domain and is planned at $9 a month or $79 a year, subscription only, with one license covering two Macs.
Write down a start, an end and unpaid breaks for each day, then total the week. The free TimePrivate work hours calculator does that in a browser with no account. If you want it done for you, a tracker that records time automatically and lets you approve each day keeps the record honest. TimePrivate is built to do that on a Mac, with the hours kept in a local database.
It is worth it if you already run a server with backups and want your tracker reachable from every device. It is a lot of work if privacy is the only goal, because you now secure a login page and a database yourself. A local first tracker such as ActivityWatch, or TimePrivate once released, gives the same privacy with nothing to host.
Kimai, solidtime, TimeTagger and Traggo all work from a Mac browser once your server is running. ActivityWatch runs on macOS and stores data on the device. TimePrivate is built for Apple Silicon Macs first, with automatic tracking, a local database and no server, but it is not released, so there is nothing to install today.
Only while your device can still reach the server. A web tracker hosted at home stops being available when your laptop is away from that network with no VPN or public URL. The TimePrivate Mac app makes no network requests at all, so tracking on a plane behaves exactly like tracking at your desk.
Neither. TimePrivate is not open source and has no server for you to host. It is a paid Mac app whose database stays on your Mac, with no account, no telemetry, no analytics and no crash reporting. If an open source license is a requirement, Kimai, solidtime, TimeTagger, Traggo and ActivityWatch are the places to look.
No. TimePrivate is not released, so there is nothing to download and nothing to pay for today, and no launch date is being promised. The waitlist is the whole offer: one email the day it opens. Planned pricing is $9 a month or $79 a year, subscription only, on Apple Silicon Macs first with Windows on the roadmap.
If you were searching for a self hosted time tracker because you want your hours on hardware you control, TimePrivate is being built so that hardware is just your Mac. It is not ready. The waitlist is one email the day it opens, and nothing else.
Not released yet. Leave your email and we will write to you the day it opens.