Air-gap supported
Offline licence file, images from a tarball, no outbound connectivity required at all.
Comparison · Self-hosted
A self-hosted Time Doctor alternative
Time Doctor does not offer an on-premise edition, so if your blocker is that employee activity data would sit on a vendor platform, no configuration of it will solve that. Employee Desk ships as a Docker Compose stack you install 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
Time Doctor
A cloud platform with no on-premise edition
Time Doctor is a capable cloud product. Cloud is its entire architecture: there is no self-hosted licence, no on-premise installer and no option that places the application inside your own network.
For most buyers that is fine. For buyers whose client contract, internal policy or regulator says employee data does not leave controlled infrastructure, it is disqualifying regardless of how good the product is.
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 | Time Doctor | |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted on your own server | Yes | No |
| Private cloud, single tenant | Yes | No |
| Air-gapped installation | Yes | No |
| Screenshots on your own disk | Yes | No |
| No sub-processor to declare | Yes | No |
| Docker Compose install | Yes | — |
| Attendance and leave included | Yes | Limited |
| Your own retention policy | Yes | Vendor-managed |
| Upgrade timing under your control | Yes | No |
| Productivity ratings per application | No | Yes |
Check Time Doctor’s own site before you decide. Software changes. Everything on this page is written from Time Doctor’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
It runs on your host
Application, database and screenshots on your server. Only a licence check, or nothing at all with an offline licence file leaves.
Self-hosted →Attendance and leave come with it
A self-hosted deployment that also replaces your attendance register, rather than adding a second system.
Attendance → 04One compose file
Docker Compose, single host on 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 200 GB disk, 443 inbound only.
Install guide → 05Retention you control
Seven-day screenshot retention, or no screenshots at all. Both supported.
Retention →Where Time Doctor may be stronger
Written plainly, because a comparison page that finds no fault with itself is not worth reading.
Nothing to run
Cloud means no server and no patching. If nobody owns that, cloud is genuinely the better answer.
Productivity analytics
Per-application classification and detailed web analytics that we do not offer.
Integrations
A broader native integration catalogue.
Which should you choose?
If self-hosting is a hard requirement, the comparison ends there: Time Doctor cannot do it and Employee Desk can. Read the self-hosted page for the server requirements and the licence bands.
If it is a preference rather than a requirement, weigh it honestly against the operational cost. A server nobody patches is a worse outcome than a cloud subscription. Private cloud is the middle option: single-tenant, in your region, operated by us.
If productivity scoring is what you actually want, Time Doctor does that and we deliberately do not. Buy the product that matches the requirement.
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. See the self-hosted page for requirements and the install guide for the procedure.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an on-premise version of Time Doctor?
No. Time Doctor is cloud only and does not publish a self-hosted or on-premise edition.
What do we need to run Employee Desk ourselves?
A Linux host with Docker, 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 200 GB disk, a DNS record and a TLS certificate. The installation guide has the full sizing table.
Does self-hosting cost more than a subscription?
The licence starts at ₹40,000 per year plus ₹25,000 setup. Above roughly 60 employees it is usually the cheaper option; below 25 it usually is not.
Can we self-host and still get support?
Yes. Email support and updates are included in every licence band, and priority support with a named contact comes with the larger bands.
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