Open source tools give code-level control; Everhour adds managed budgeting when tracked hours must feed project limits.
Enter your time in and out for each day. Overtime and gross pay are calculated automatically.
| Day | Time In | Break Start | Break End | Break | Time Out | Total |
|---|
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
An open source employee time tracking app fits teams that want more control over hosting, code review, customization, or internal data handling. The practical job is still simple: record who worked, on which project or task, on which date, and for how long. For U.S. employers, the system also needs records that support wage-and-hour review for covered nonexempt employees.
Covered employers under the FLSA may use any complete and accurate timekeeping method, but records for employees covered by minimum wage or overtime provisions must include hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. Open source software does not reduce that recordkeeping duty. It only changes how the team owns, configures, and maintains the system used to capture the records.
A usable employee time record needs employee name, date, project or job, start and stop times or total hours, billable status when relevant, and a note field for corrections. Teams that bill clients also need client, task, hourly rate, and invoice status. U.S. rate and billing fields normally use U.S. dollars because U.S. currency is legal tender for debts, taxes, public charges, and dues.
FLSA overtime for covered nonexempt employees is based on the workweek, a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours. Covered employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay. Saturday, Sunday, holiday, or rest-day work does not create federal overtime premium pay by itself unless the weekly rule is triggered or another law or agreement applies.
Open source gives your team access to the code, but it also moves operating responsibility closer to your team. Someone needs to review permissions, backups, hosting, updates, audit history, and export formats. A time tracker that cannot preserve original entries, corrections, and approvals creates cleanup work when payroll, billing, or a client dispute needs a clear record.
Employee time data is personal information, so access control matters. U.S. privacy duties depend on sector and state law, while federal FTC Section 5 rules require businesses to avoid unfair or deceptive practices. FTC guidance also tells companies that keep sensitive customer or employee information to collect only what they need, protect it, and dispose of it securely. California covered businesses also need to account for CCPA employee-data obligations.
A free or self-hosted app is enough when one person or a small team needs weekly totals, basic exports, and a clear internal record. It also works when the team has technical ownership for hosting and maintenance. The limit appears when time data must drive budgets, approvals, payroll checks, invoices, and client reporting without repeated spreadsheet cleanup.
A managed workflow matters when tracked hours need to update project limits as work happens. Everhour Project Budgeting supports hour-based and money-based budgets, recurring budget periods, threshold email alerts, budget protection, expense inclusion controls, multiple billing methods, and client-level budgets. That setup turns employee time records into project control data instead of leaving managers to reconcile hours after the budget is already spent.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Yes, if the system keeps complete and accurate records. For employees covered by the FLSA minimum wage or overtime provisions, employer records must include hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. The FLSA does not require a specific timekeeping form, so an open source app can work when the records are complete, accurate, and preserved.
The system should preserve the employee, date, daily hours worked, weekly total, project or job, rate context, and correction history. Payroll records must be kept for at least three years, while basic time and earnings records, such as daily start and stop time cards or sheets, must be kept for at least two years.
Self-hosting does not change federal overtime rules. Unless exempt, covered employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay. Hours may not be averaged across two or more workweeks for FLSA overtime purposes.
The biggest risk is operational neglect. A self-hosted tracker needs maintained backups, access controls, updates, exports, and audit history. Source access does not help payroll if the database is incomplete, managers cannot approve corrections, or the team cannot produce daily and weekly records when a payroll review requires them.
No. Employee time tracking records work time against dates, projects, jobs, tasks, or clients. Employee monitoring often refers to broader activity surveillance. A time tracking system should collect only the information needed for payroll, billing, project control, or scheduling, and businesses handling personal information must avoid unfair or deceptive practices under FTC Section 5.
Everhour Project Budgeting connects tracked time to hour-based or money-based project budgets. Teams can set recurring budget periods, receive threshold email alerts, include or exclude expenses from fee budgets, and use budget protection to stop timers or prevent extra logging after a budget is exceeded.
Everhour embeds tracking controls inside tools such as Asana, ClickUp, GitHub, Linear, Jira, Monday, Notion, Trello, and Basecamp. Employees can track time from the task context, while the logged hours flow into Everhour for budgets, reports, timesheets, billing, and payroll review.
Use an open source tracker for basic ownership and weekly records. Move ongoing project work into Everhour when employee hours need live budget control, alerts, and billing-ready project data.
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