Is there an open-source Hubstaff alternative?
The honest answer first: Employee Desk is not open source. It is commercial software. If open source is a hard requirement, this page names the projects worth looking at and what you will have to build around them.
- Not open source — said plainly
What usually sits behind the search
When a team searches for an open-source Hubstaff alternative, the underlying requirement is almost always one of three things:
- The data must be on our own server. That is self-hosting, which some open-source and commercial products offer.
- We do not want to depend on a vendor. Open source answers this directly.
- We want it free. Open source is free to licence, not free to run: someone still installs, patches, backs up and integrates it.
Working out which of the three you actually have decides the answer faster than any feature list.
Open-source options, honestly
Good projects, each built for a narrower job than a Hubstaff replacement. Check each project’s own site for its current licence and features.
| Project | What it is good at | What a team would add |
|---|---|---|
| Kimai | Web-based timesheets and project time for teams and freelancers | Desktop activity tracking, screenshots, attendance, shifts |
| ActivityWatch | Automatic tracking of an individual’s own app and window usage, privacy-first | A central server for a whole team, reporting, attendance |
| Self-built on top of either | Exactly the features you need | Ongoing developer time to build and maintain it |
We list these because they are genuinely useful. If one of them covers your need, use it.
Where Employee Desk fits
| Employee Desk (cloud) | Open-source stack | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Per active user per month; admins free | Free to licence |
| Desktop tracker for a whole team | Windows · macOS · Ubuntu | Assemble or build |
| Attendance, shifts and leave | Yes | Separate tool |
| Support and updates | Included | Community or your own team |
| Read and modify the source | No | Yes |
Frequently asked questions
Is Employee Desk open source?
No. It is commercial cloud software. Need an on-premise deployment? Contact sales.
Is there an open-source alternative to Hubstaff?
There are good open-source time trackers, such as Kimai for timesheets and ActivityWatch for personal activity tracking. None of them combines team-wide desktop tracking, screenshots, attendance and leave the way Hubstaff or Employee Desk does, so teams usually assemble several tools or choose a commercial product.
Try it on your own team this week
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