Calamari

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Calamari

A curated collection of the 2 best self hosted alternatives to Calamari.

Calamari is a cloud-based time and attendance platform for employee check-ins/outs, timesheets, leave and absence management, and reporting, with integrations for HR, payroll and collaboration workflows.

Alternatives List

#1
TimeTagger

TimeTagger

Open source web-based time tracker with an interactive timeline, tag-based workflow, targets, and CSV/PDF reporting for individuals and freelancers.

TimeTagger screenshot

TimeTagger is a web-based time-tracking application focused on tagging time entries and exploring them in an interactive timeline. It is designed for individuals and freelancers and can run locally or on a server, with optional multi-user authentication.

Key Features

  • Interactive timeline UI for quickly tagging and reviewing time spent
  • Tag-based workflow (instead of project-heavy structures)
  • Reporting and exports, including PDF reports and CSV export
  • Targets for daily/weekly/monthly goals and progress tracking
  • Responsive UI for mobile and desktop, with offline use and sync
  • Optional Pomodoro timer (experimental)
  • Multiple authentication options, including built-in credentials or reverse-proxy header auth

Use Cases

  • Personal productivity tracking and weekly review of time allocation
  • Freelancer time tracking and generating client-ready PDF reports
  • Lightweight team tracking when deployed with multi-user authentication

Limitations and Considerations

  • Pomodoro functionality is marked as experimental
  • Multi-user setups typically require explicit credential configuration or reverse-proxy integration

TimeTagger emphasizes a fast, focused tracking experience and practical reporting without heavy project management overhead. It is a strong fit for users who prefer tags, clear timelines, and straightforward exports for analysis or billing.

1.6kstars
153forks
#2
Traggo

Traggo

Open-source, tag-based time tracker that records time spans with tags and provides customizable dashboards, calendar/list views, themes, and Docker deployment.

Traggo screenshot

Traggo is a tag-based time tracking application that records time as tagged time spans rather than tasks. It provides a web UI with configurable dashboards, list and calendar views, and user management, and is distributed as open-source software for self-hosting.

Key Features

  • Tag-based time tracking where each tracked interval is annotated with flexible tags (e.g., project, type).
  • Customizable dashboards and diagrams for visualizing tracked time and tag-based statistics.
  • List and calendar views for browsing and managing tracked time spans.
  • The web UI includes multiple themes and simple user management.
  • Provides a GraphQL schema/API and is implemented in Go; official distribution includes multi-architecture Docker images and a default SQLite database file.

(traggo.net)

Use Cases

  • Freelancers or contractors who want flexible, tag-centric tracking across multiple projects and activity types.
  • Small teams needing lightweight time-tracking with visual dashboards and exportable data for reporting.
  • Privacy-conscious users or organizations that prefer to self-host an open-source time tracker and keep data under their control.

(traggo.net)

Traggo is focused on simplicity and flexibility for time recording via tags and suits users who want a lightweight, open-source, self-hosted tracking solution. It is implemented primarily in Go and is packaged for easy deployment with Docker and Docker Compose.

(github.com)

1.5kstars
86forks

Why choose an open source alternative?

  • Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running