Best Time Tracking Software for Linux (2026)
Time tracking software for Linux is a shorter list than it looks. Plenty of well-known trackers advertise themselves as cross-platform, but when you reach for a native Linux desktop app — or automatic active-window tracking on Ubuntu — several of the biggest names quietly drop off. This guide sorts the field honestly: which tools run natively on Linux, which only work through a browser, and which combine automatic tracking with invoicing.
The short version: if you want a native Linux desktop tracker that records your work automatically, the options narrow fast. ActivityWatch does automatic capture on Linux but has no invoicing. Kimai runs in the browser and generates invoices, but tracks manually. And most commercial auto-trackers — Toggl, Timely, Rize — don't ship a supported native Linux app at all. Below is the full breakdown, plus where the genuine gap sits.
What counts as time tracking software for Linux
"Linux support" is doing a lot of work in marketing copy, so it helps to separate three different claims:
- Native desktop app. A real installer (
.deb,.rpm,.AppImage) that runs as a Linux application, not a browser tab. - Automatic capture. The app records which application and window you're in on its own — active-window tracking — rather than waiting for you to start a timer.
- Web access only. The tool "works on Linux" in the sense that any website does: you open it in Chrome or Firefox. Useful, but it's not a Linux app, and it usually can't see your active window.
Most tools that claim Linux support mean the third thing. That's fine for manual timers, but it rules out the always-on, no-timer experience that makes passive tracking worth using in the first place. Keep those three columns in mind as you read — they're where the real differences live.
The commercial trackers that skip native Linux
Four popular paid trackers are worth naming because people assume they cover Linux and they don't — at least not as a native desktop app. None of these is a bad tool; they're just built for Windows and macOS first.
Details below are as of June 2026 — platforms and plans change, so confirm on each vendor's own site before you commit: Clockify, Rize, Kimai, Solidtime.
| Tool | Native Linux desktop | Automatic tracking | Invoicing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toggl Track | Deprecated — web app only | Windows & macOS desktop only | On paid plans |
| Harvest | None — web app on Linux | No (manual timer only) | Built in |
| Timely | None — web & mobile only | Windows & macOS only | Native |
| Rize | None — "coming soon" | Yes, but not on Linux | None |
A few specifics behind the grid:
Toggl Track publishes a support article literally titled "Toggl Track desktop app for Linux (deprecated)." It once had a Linux desktop app; it no longer supports one. Linux users get the web app and browser extensions, and Toggl's own plan copy says automatic desktop activity tracking runs only on its Windows and macOS apps — so on Linux you're back to manual entry. The reporting is excellent, to be clear; it's the platform coverage that's the catch. See BillNotch vs Toggl for the side-by-side.
Harvest is a strong invoicing tool with a clean manual timer, and its apps page lists Mac and Windows desktop apps plus browser extensions and mobile — no native Linux desktop download. On Linux you run Harvest in the browser. It's also worth being precise: Harvest is a start/stop timer and doesn't do automatic active-window capture on any operating system, so the Linux gap is really a "no native app" gap, not a missing feature you'd otherwise get. Here's BillNotch vs Harvest.
Timely runs an automatic, memory-based tracking engine — but only on Windows and macOS. Its official downloads page lists macOS, Windows, and mobile, with no native Linux build. Linux users once leaned on a browser-extension route that's no longer maintained, so there's no current native automatic tracking on Linux.
Rize is candid about it. Its own pricing FAQ says Rize "is currently available for macOS and Windows" and that "support for Linux will be coming soon." It's an automatic tracker at heart, with paid plans starting around $9.99/month billed annually on a 7-day trial and no permanently free tier — but none of that reaches Linux yet (confirm the current tiers on Rize's site). BillNotch vs Rize covers the difference, and Rize alternatives covers the wider field.
The pattern: the tools that track automatically tend to skip Linux, and the one with great invoicing (Harvest) doesn't track automatically anywhere.
The open-source Linux options that do exist
Linux has a genuinely good open-source tracking ecosystem — better than the commercial picture suggests. The catch is that each tool covers part of the job, not all of it.
| Tool | Runs on Linux | Tracking model | Invoicing |
|---|---|---|---|
| ActivityWatch | Native desktop app | Automatic active-window | None |
| Kimai | Browser (self-hosted/cloud) | Manual entry | Full — PDF & DOCX |
| Solidtime | Browser (self-hosted/cloud) | Manual entry | PDF invoices (cloud premium) |
ActivityWatch is the standout for automatic tracking on Linux. It's free, open source, and runs natively on Linux (plus Windows, macOS, and Android), recording the active application and window title out of the box, with all data stored locally. If you want to see where your time goes on Linux, it's excellent. What it isn't is a billing tool: there's no invoicing, no billable rates, and no client-billing workflow. It's a personal time-analytics dashboard, and a good one — just not the thing you send a client.
Kimai is the open-source answer for invoicing. It's AGPL-licensed, runs on Linux via the browser (self-hosted or cloud), and it genuinely generates invoices from timesheet data — configurable templates, PDF and DOCX output, billable-item filtering. So the common claim that "open-source Linux tools can't invoice" is simply false; Kimai can. The trade-off is that Kimai's tracking is manual. There's no automatic active-window capture, so accuracy still depends on you remembering to log.
Solidtime is a newer, modern open-source tracker for freelancers and agencies, self-hosted or cloud, with billable rates and import from Toggl, Clockify, and CSV. In mid-2026 it also added invoice generation — PDF invoices (plus EU e-invoices) built straight from tracked time, billed as a premium feature on its cloud and an extension for self-hosted installs — so confirm the current details on solidtime.io. The remaining catch is the same as Kimai's: tracking is manual web-based entry, not a native desktop tracker with automatic active-window capture.
It's also worth noting that not every commercial tracker skips Linux — Clockify, for instance, ships a native Linux desktop app. The specific scarcity is the combination below, not Linux support in general.
The real gap: automatic tracking plus invoicing on Linux
Line the options up and a clear hole appears. On Linux you can get automatic tracking or invoicing, but rarely both in one tool:
- Automatic + Linux, no invoicing: ActivityWatch.
- Invoicing + Linux, but manual and web-only: Kimai and Solidtime.
- Automatic + invoicing, but not on Linux: Toggl and Timely. (Rize is automatic too, but skips both Linux and invoicing.)
If you're a Linux-based freelancer or consultant who bills by the hour, that's the frustrating part. The tools that capture your time without a timer don't bill, and the tools that bill make you track by hand. You end up stitching two apps together — which is its own quiet tax on your week. For more on why that matters, see automatic time tracking software and freelance billing software.
This is the specific gap worth solving, and it's narrower than "Linux needs a tracker." Linux has trackers. What it's short on is one product that does native automatic capture and invoicing together.
Where BillNotch fits
BillNotch is built around that exact combination. It ships native Linux installers — .deb, .rpm, and .AppImage — so it runs as a real Linux desktop app, not a browser tab; the help pages cover which package to take and how to connect it to an account. The desktop app records your active window automatically; there's no timer to start. Keyword rules and optional AI sort that activity into client projects, billable status is inherited per project, and the running billable total becomes a PDF invoice or a CSV export. A Revenue Leak Finder flags billable time you tracked but never put on an invoice — the kind of gap that otherwise only surfaces when you reconcile by hand, if at all.
One honest architecture note: the native desktop app does the automatic tracking on Linux, while invoicing lives in the BillNotch dashboard. So it's a platform that tracks automatically on Linux and invoices, rather than a desktop app that itself emits PDFs. The pieces are connected, but they're not the same window.
Two caveats worth stating plainly. First, automatic active-window capture is reliable on X11; Wayland's locked-down active-window access is a known limitation across every Linux tracker, BillNotch included — so it's worth testing on your setup rather than assuming flawless Wayland support. Second, BillNotch's flat plans (Pro at $9/mo for one seat, Team at $12/seat/mo, 14-day trial, no card) aren't the cheapest per seat in this category — Clockify and the open-source tools win on price. The case for BillNotch isn't "cheapest." It's that, on Linux specifically, it combines native automatic capture with invoicing in a way the established tools split apart.
So the honest shortlist looks like this. If you only want to see your time on Linux and don't bill, ActivityWatch is hard to beat and free. If you want open-source invoicing and don't mind logging manually, Kimai is solid. If you want automatic, no-timer tracking that flows straight into client invoices on Linux, that narrower job is what BillNotch is built for. You can compare the full plans on the pricing page, and the workflow rundown lives in how to invoice from time tracking. Whichever you pick, decide first whether you need automatic capture, invoicing, or both — on Linux, that one choice does most of the narrowing for you.