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Hourbun vs Kimai

Looking for a Kimai alternative that sends your invoices and gets them paid? Hourbun tracks your time, invoices your clients and takes online payment, for a flat price per workspace.

By Fred Wu, maker of Hourbun · Checked · Report a mistake

The short answer

Hourbun sends your invoices and lets clients pay them online into your own Stripe account, with late-invoice reminders and a tax on each line, for a flat price per workspace. Kimai makes invoices as files from tracked time, with one tax rate for each invoice template, and has reminders only as a paid plugin for self-hosted Kimai. Kimai fits teams that want open-source software on their own server, or Kimai Cloud from €3.99 per user a month.

Why switch

Why teams pick Hourbun over Kimai

  • Invoices that clients pay online into your own Stripe account, with no fee from Hourbun: Kimai makes invoices as PDF, DOCX, XLSX, ODS or HTML files.
  • Email reminders of late invoices on every plan: in Kimai they are a paid plugin by another maker, for self-hosted Kimai only.
  • A tax on each invoice line, and a second tax: Kimai sets one tax rate for each invoice template.
  • Invoices in the language of each client: Kimai sets a language for each invoice template.
  • Expenses and the weekly capacity of each teammate on every plan: in Kimai Cloud, they start on the Professional plan.
  • No server to run and no licence to count: Kimai is free only on your own server, and Kimai Cloud needs a licence for every user.

Head to head

At a glance

Hourbun and Kimai at a glance
Hourbun Kimai
Duo, a month $15 Duo €7.98 (lower price) Standard · ≈ $8.93 USD, estimate
Free plan None None
Free trial 14 days, with no card 30 days with all functions; no free plan after it
Client invoices Yes Yes
Timesheet approvals Higher plan On the Team plan Higher plan Monthly approval of working times, on the Professional plan
Desktop or mobile apps No A web app with a layout for phones Partly Mobile and desktop apps by other makers, some of them paid

Same work, two prices

What you'd pay each month

Hourbun costs less in 1 of 5 examples below.

Hourbun

  • One flat price per workspace
  • Duo up to 2 seats · Team up to 30
  • 14-day free trial, no card

Kimai

  • A price per user a month on Standard and Professional
  • Less when billed yearly
  • Every user account needs a licence
  • Open-source version free to host on your own server
What each example pays a month, billed monthly
Hourbun Kimai
Solo freelancer 1 person · 5 clients $15 Duo €3.99 (lower price) Standard · ≈ $4.47 USD, estimate €2.99 billed yearly
Duo 2 people · 8 clients $15 Duo €7.98 (lower price) Standard · ≈ $8.93 USD, estimate €5.98 billed yearly
Small studio 5 people · 15 clients $99 Team €19.95 (lower price) Standard · ≈ $22.33 USD, estimate €14.95 billed yearly
Agency 10 people · 30 clients $99 Team €39.90 (lower price) Standard · ≈ $44.66 USD, estimate €29.90 billed yearly
Larger team 25 people · 60 clients $99 (lower price) Team Save ≈ $12.65 a month €99.75 Standard · ≈ $111.65 USD, estimate €74.75 billed yearly
  • USD list prices, billed monthly
  • Before tax and payment fees
  • Highlight = lower price
  • Checked 10 November 2026
Pricing details (10)
  • Kimai publishes its prices in EUR only. The USD amounts are estimates at 1 EUR = 1.1193 USD, the reference rate of European Central Bank euro reference rates on 9 November 2026.
  • Up to 5 invoice templates of your own.
  • Up to 10 invoice templates of your own.
  • Kimai Cloud publishes its prices in euros only, before tax.
  • Every user account needs a licence, admins included; a deactivated user frees a licence.
  • Licences are paid in advance for the month or the year; more licences cost the rest of the period.
  • Every plan has unlimited users, customers, projects and activities.
  • No payment details are needed for the trial.
  • The open-source version, under the AGPL-3.0, is free to host on your own server, with unlimited users; some of its plugins are paid.
  • The usage of each example: Solo freelancer: 1 person · 5 clients · 6 projects · 5 tasks · 6 invoices and $7.5k invoiced a month. Duo: 2 people · 8 clients · 10 projects · 8 tasks · 10 invoices and $16k invoiced a month. Small studio: 5 people · 15 clients · 20 projects · 10 tasks · 20 invoices and $40k invoiced a month. Agency: 10 people · 30 clients · 40 projects · 15 tasks · 40 invoices and $90k invoiced a month. Larger team: 25 people · 60 clients · 80 projects · 20 tasks · 80 invoices and $220k invoiced a month.

Feature by feature

Features

  • Yes
  • Partly
  • No
  • Only the rows that we could check on a page of Kimai
The features of Hourbun and Kimai
Hourbun Kimai
Time tracking
Timer Yes Yes
Weekly timesheet grid Yes Yes
Day view Yes Yes
Keyboard shortcuts Yes Yes
Billable and non-billable time Yes Yes
Hourly rates by client, project, task and person Yes Yes By customer, project, activity and user, hourly or fixed
Calendar view No Yes Month, week and day views
Desktop or mobile apps No A web app with a layout for phones Partly Mobile and desktop apps by other makers, some of them paid
Invoicing and payments
Invoices from tracked time Yes Yes
Expenses with receipts, billed with a markup Yes Higher plan Expenses by category, billed on invoices, on the Professional plan
A currency for each client or project Yes Yes A currency for each customer
A tax on each line, and a second tax Yes Partly One tax rate for each invoice template
Invoices in your client's language Yes Partly A language for each invoice template, in PDF and HTML invoices
Email reminders of late invoices Yes Partly A paid plugin by another maker, for self-hosted Kimai only
Projects and reports
Project budgets in hours or money Yes Yes Money and time budgets, for all time or for each month
Reports with a CSV export Yes Yes Exports as CSV, XLSX, PDF and HTML
Weekly capacity of each teammate Yes Higher plan Target hours for each day of the week, on the Professional plan
Team
Team roles Yes Member, manager, admin and owner Yes User, Teamlead, Administrator and System-Admin, and roles of your own
Timesheet approvals Higher plan On the Team plan Higher plan Monthly approval of working times, on the Professional plan
Integrations and data
A public API No Yes A JSON API on every plan
Project-tool integrations (Asana, Jira and others) No Partly Jira sync plugins by other makers, for self-hosted Kimai only
Import from any app by CSV, with past invoices and expenses Yes Time, clients and projects too; a format guide with a prompt for an AI agent Partly Customers, projects and timesheets, with the Importer plugin; Clockify and Toggl Track timesheets too
Data export and account deletion Yes A whole workspace as CSV files with receipts, for the owner and admins; your account as JSON Yes Exports on every plan, and deletion of the account by its owner

Which one fits

Hourbun or Kimai?

Choose Hourbun if

  • You want clients to pay invoices online, and late-invoice reminders with no plugin.
  • You want a tax on each invoice line, or invoices in the language of each client.
  • You want a hosted app at a flat price, with no server to run and no licence for each user.

Where Kimai is better

  • Open source under the AGPL-3.0: the self-hosted version is free, with unlimited users.
  • A low price per user on Kimai Cloud, from €3.99 a month on Standard, with unlimited customers, projects and activities.
  • Working times, overtime, vacation and public holidays with monthly approvals on Professional, a calendar view and a JSON API.

Switching

Switch from Kimai to Hourbun

Switching from Kimai takes one import. Export your Kimai timesheets as CSV, upload the file, check the columns and the people that Hourbun proposes, and see a preview of the clients, projects, tasks and time before anything is added. A later CSV adds only the new entries. Your clients, projects, expenses and past invoices can come too: give the Hourbun format guide and your Kimai exports to an AI agent, and upload the files that it makes. The 14-day trial of Hourbun needs no card.

Questions

Questions and answers

Is Kimai free?

The self-hosted version of Kimai is open source under the AGPL-3.0 and free to run on your own server. Kimai Cloud has a 30-day trial and then a price per user a month, with no free plan. Hourbun has a 14-day trial with no card, then a flat price per workspace with no server to run.

Is Hourbun cheaper than Kimai Cloud?

For small teams, no: Kimai Cloud Standard costs €19.95 a month for 5 users, and Hourbun $99. For a team of 25, Hourbun costs $99 a month and Kimai Cloud Standard €99.75, about $112. Hourbun includes online payment, reminders and expenses on every plan.

Does Kimai charge per user?

Kimai Cloud does: it charges in euros per user a month on Standard and Professional, less when billed yearly, and every user account, admins included, needs a licence. Hourbun charges a flat price per workspace: $15 a month for 2 people, $99 for up to 30.

Do Kimai and Hourbun make invoices from tracked time?

Yes. Hourbun makes invoices from tracked time with a tax on each line, sends them, and clients can pay them online into your own Stripe account. Kimai makes invoices from timesheets as PDF, DOCX, XLSX, ODS or HTML files, with one tax rate for each invoice template.

Can I move from Kimai to Hourbun?

Yes. Hourbun imports a CSV of time entries from any app: export your Kimai timesheets as CSV, upload the file, check the preview, and try Hourbun for 14 days with no card.

Sources

  • From the pages of Kimai, unless a source says otherwise
  • A feature that we could not check has no row
  • Prices change: check the pricing page of Kimai
All sources (26)

Kimai is a trademark of Kevin Papst, and Hourbun is not affiliated with it.

Try Hourbun for free.

14 days, no card. Add a client, track your first hour, and send the invoice.