Air-gap supported
An offline licence file and images loaded from a tarball mean an installation with no outbound connectivity at all, which is what restricted networks actually require.
Comparison · Self-hosted
A self-hosted Hubstaff alternative
If you have searched for self-hosted Hubstaff, the answer is that it does not exist — Hubstaff is a cloud product with no on-premise edition. Employee Desk covers the same ground and ships as a Docker Compose stack you run on your own server.
- 7-day trial
- Self-hosting available
- No keystroke logging
- INR pricing published
What each product is
Employee Desk
Employee management with time tracking attached
Attendance, leave, holidays, employee records, projects, tasks and daily work reports, with an optional desktop time tracker on top. Available as a cloud subscription or as a licence you install on your own server. Built in India, priced in rupees.
- Attendance and leave are core, not an add-on
- Self-hosted and private cloud are first-class options
- No keystroke content is ever recorded
- Employees see everything recorded about them
Hubstaff
Cloud only, by design
Hubstaff is a strong cloud time tracking platform, and cloud is the whole of its architecture. There is no on-premise edition, no private-cloud licence and no data-residency option that puts the application inside your own network.
That is a reasonable product decision on their part. It is simply incompatible with a requirement that employee activity data never leaves infrastructure you control — and that requirement is usually not negotiable when it comes from a client contract or an internal policy.
Feature comparison
Compared on facts that can be checked from public documentation. Where something is genuinely unclear it is marked rather than guessed at.
| Employee Desk | Hubstaff | |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted on your own server | Yes | No |
| Private cloud, single tenant | Yes | No |
| Air-gapped installation | Yes | No |
| Screenshots stored on your disk | Yes | No |
| You are the data controller with no processor | Yes | No |
| Docker Compose install | Yes | — |
| Desktop tracker points at your own URL | Yes | — |
| Your own backup and retention schedule | Yes | Vendor-managed |
| Upgrade timing under your control | Yes | No |
| Cloud option also available | Yes | Yes |
Check Hubstaff’s own site before you decide. Software changes. Everything on this page is written from Hubstaff’s public documentation and pricing pages at the time of writing, we do not restate their prices here because they move, and we correct this page when we are told it is wrong. If you find something inaccurate, email contact@digitalgeniussolution.com and we will fix it.
Where Employee Desk is stronger
01
02
03
04
The data never leaves
Application, database, uploads and screenshots on your host. The only outbound connection is a licence check, or nothing at all with an offline licence file.
Self-hosted →No sub-processor to declare
Nothing to add to your privacy notice, nothing to negotiate a data processing agreement over, and nothing to disclose when a client asks where contractor hours are stored.
One host, one compose file
Docker Compose, single host on 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 200 GB disk. Under an hour once the VM exists, and 443 inbound only.
Install guide → 05You choose when to upgrade
Pin a version, test it on staging, deploy when it suits you. Nobody pushes a change into your environment on their schedule.
Upgrade guide → 06Retention is genuinely yours
Set screenshot retention to seven days, or disable captures entirely and keep only activity data. Both are supported configurations rather than degraded ones.
Retention →Where Hubstaff may be stronger
Written plainly, because a comparison page that finds no fault with itself is not worth reading.
Nothing to operate
Cloud means no server, no patching, no backup script and nobody on call. That is a real cost self-hosting adds, and if you have no one to own it, cloud is the correct choice.
GPS and mobile tracking
Hubstaff tracks field staff. Employee Desk does not, self-hosted or otherwise.
Integration catalogue
A broader set of native integrations than a REST API plus webhooks gives you out of the box.
Payroll and invoicing
Paying contractors and invoicing clients from tracked hours inside the same product.
Which should you choose?
Self-hosting is the right answer if
- A client contract prohibits employee or project data leaving controlled infrastructure.
- Screenshots of developer machines could contain client code or credentials.
- Your ISO scope or privacy notice would need amending to add a vendor.
- The network is air-gapped or behind a proxy that will not permit a new outbound destination.
- Headcount is high enough that a flat licence beats per-user billing.
Stay on cloud if
- Nobody on your team owns server patching. This does not go away.
- You need to be live this week rather than after provisioning.
- You want data separation without server operations — take private cloud instead.
- You need GPS, payroll or a wide integration catalogue more than you need data location.
Pricing
| Employees | What's included | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 25 | Full product, updates, email support | ₹40,000 |
| Up to 50 | Full product, updates, email support | ₹70,000 |
| Up to 100 | Adds SSO, directory sync, access audit log | ₹1,20,000 |
| Up to 250 | Adds priority support and upgrade assistance | ₹2,25,000 |
| 250+ | Adds source-code escrow and a named contact | ₹3,50,000+ |
Plus ₹25,000 one-time setup and handover. A perpetual licence is available at 2.5× the annual price. Full detail on the self-hosted page and the pricing page.
What "self-hosted" has to mean to be worth anything
The phrase gets used loosely, so it is worth being precise about the claim being made here.
- The application runs on your host. Not an agent that forwards to a vendor cloud.
- The database is yours. MongoDB on your server, or an instance you already run.
- Screenshots land on your disk or in your own S3 bucket, and are never transmitted to us under any configuration.
- The desktop tracker talks to your URL. No employee activity data reaches us at all.
- Only the licence check leaves, and an offline licence file removes even that.
If any one of those is not true of a product calling itself self-hosted, it is worth asking which one.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a self-hosted version of Hubstaff?
No. Hubstaff is a cloud-only product and does not publish an on-premise or self-hosted edition. Searches for self-hosted Hubstaff are usually looking for a different product that can be installed on your own server, which is what Employee Desk offers.
What server do we need?
4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 200 GB disk covers up to roughly 100 employees. Screenshot storage is the variable that grows; the sizing table is in the installation guide.
How long does the install take?
Under an hour once the VM, the DNS record and the certificate exist. Most of the elapsed time in a real project is procurement and provisioning rather than the software.
Can we migrate from Hubstaff to a self-hosted installation?
Yes. Employees, projects and historical time entries import from a Hubstaff CSV export. Screenshots do not migrate.
Does the self-hosted version have fewer features?
No. It is the same application. Self-hosted installations additionally get SSO and directory sync from the 100-employee band, which the lower cloud plans do not include.
What if we start on cloud and want to move later?
That is a supported path. Your data exports in full, imports into the self-hosted installation, and the desktop trackers are repointed at your own URL.
Run both for a week
A 7-day trial with your real team is a better comparison than any table. Install the tracker on two machines and look at what the reports actually say.
- 7-day trial
- No credit card
- Cancel anytime