Free & source-available

Freilancer

Track time. Invoice clients. Own your data.

View on GitHub Deploy with Docker

Your business. Your database.

Freilancer is free forever with fully open code (Elastic License 2.0) — self-hosted, so your clients, invoices, and hours never leave a server you control. Use it for your business, modify it as you like; the only thing the license forbids is repackaging Freilancer itself and selling it.

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No lock-in

Standard Postgres underneath. Export everything as CSV, Excel, or a zip whenever you like.

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No telemetry

No phone-home analytics, no usage tracking sent anywhere. It runs on your infrastructure, full stop.

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Migrate freely

Already on Harvest? Import everything with a single command. Leave whenever you want — nothing's held hostage.

Everything a freelancer's back office needs

Time tracking, invoicing, and reporting in one clean, self-hosted app.

Freilancer ◔ Track time PLATFORM DashboardTimeClientsProjectsInvoicesRecurringEstimatesExpensesReports ▢ Dashboard Time summary Hours today 0:47 Hours yesterday 4:15 Hours this week 24:17 Hours this month 54:17 Invoice summary Converted to EUR Amount outstanding €8,238.65 (2 invoices) Payments received year-to-date €96,470.20 Recently active projects Project Spent Remaining Bob's Waffle Shop Placemat & Menu Design €6,600.00 (55%) Bob's Waffle Shop Waffle Shop Website €9,720.00 (18%) Bob's Waffle Truck Waffle Truck Wrap & Signage −32.40 h (-18%)

A dashboard that shows what matters

Hours today, this week, this month — outstanding invoices, payments received, and your most active projects, all at a glance.

  • Time and invoice summaries side by side
  • Budget and hours burn-down per project
  • One click into any invoice or timesheet
Freilancer ◔ Track time PLATFORM DashboardTimeClientsProjectsInvoicesRecurringEstimatesExpensesReports ▢ Time Placemat & Me… 1:17 Timesheet Day Week + ‹ ▦ Aug 21, 2026 › Submit week for approval Mon7:00Tue6:15Wed6:00Thu4:15Fri4:21Sat0:00Sun0:00 Week total 27:51 Placemat & Menu Design · Design Bob's Waffle Shop — Menu grid + seasonal specials 1:17:121:17:131:17:141:17:15 Waffle Shop Website · Development Bob's Waffle Shop — Online ordering checkout 2:10 Brand & Identity · Design Bob's Waffle Shop — Waffle cone logo variants 1:30

Timesheets that don't get in the way

Day and week views, running timers, and one-click submission for approval. Track time the way you actually work.

  • Day / week timesheet views
  • Start and stop timers from anywhere
  • Submit weeks for approval
Freilancer ◔ Track time PLATFORM DashboardTimeClientsProjectsInvoicesRecurringEstimatesExpensesReports ▢ Invoices Invoices + New invoice Open Overdue Drafts Paid All Invoices issued in 2026 12 invoices · €51,572.16 issued · BOB0161–BOB0173 Paid Open €6,000 €12,000 Jan 1 invoice issued in Jan Open €0.00 Paid €4,635.00 Feb 1 invoice issued in Feb Open €0.00 Paid €3,980.00 Mar 1 invoice issued in Mar Open €0.00 Paid €3,120.00 Apr 1 invoice issued in Apr Open €0.00 Paid €3,310.00 May 2 invoices issued in May Open €1,120.00 Paid €9,740.00 Jun 1 invoice issued in Jun Open €0.00 Paid €6,080.00 Jul 3 invoices issued in Jul Open €2,000.00 Paid €13,280.00 Aug 2 invoices issued in Aug Open €2,880.00 Paid €7,950.00 Sep 1 invoice issued in Sep Open €1,540.00 Paid €6,640.00 OctNovDec

Invoicing that looks the part

Beautiful, Chrome-rendered PDFs. UBL/Peppol e-invoicing for the EU. Sequential, German-style numbering. Flexible tax rules, including reverse charge.

  • Public payment links with view tracking
  • Recurring retainer invoices
  • Multi-currency, ECB date-accurate FX
Freilancer ◔ Track time PLATFORM DashboardTimeClientsProjectsInvoicesRecurringEstimatesExpensesReports ▢ Reports › Insights Insights Overview Insights Growth by year Invoiced vs payments received, converted to EUR at transaction-date rates. Invoiced Received €35,000 €70,000 2017 Year 2017 Invoiced €10,340 Received €9,410 2018 Year 2018 Invoiced €16,750 Received €15,220 2019 Year 2019 Invoiced €24,720 Received €22,480 2020 Year 2020 Invoiced €32,700 Received €29,730 2021 Year 2021 Invoiced €42,800 Received €38,910 2022 Year 2022 Invoiced €49,800 Received €45,270 2023 Year 2023 Invoiced €57,400 Received €52,180 2024 Year 2024 Invoiced €68,130 Received €61,940 2025 Year 2025 Invoiced €76,250 Received €69,320 2026 Year 2026 Invoiced €67,200 Received €61,090

Reports that show the business, not just the numbers

Profitability and growth insights, accountant-ready export packages, and an activity log for full auditability.

  • Multi-currency reports, date-accurate FX conversion
  • Profitability and utilization analytics
  • CSV / Excel / PDF accountant export packages

Migrate from Harvest in one command

Clients, projects, tasks, time entries, and invoices — imported straight into your own database.

$ php artisan harvest:import
Freilancer Desktop

Track time from anywhere

Start and stop timers from your menubar without opening a browser tab, and see today's and this week's hours at a glance.

  • Tiny footprint
  • Free, with fully open code
  • Cross-platform — macOS, Windows, Linux

Quick start

One small VPS with Docker is all you need.

# 1. configure
cp .env.example .env

# 2. build & start
docker compose up -d --build

# 3. set up the database
docker compose exec app php artisan migrate --seed --force

FAQ

Is it really free?

Yes. Freilancer is free forever — no paid tiers, no seat limits, no feature gates. The code is open under the Elastic License 2.0: use and modify it freely for your own business; you just can’t resell Freilancer itself as a product or hosted service.

What do I need to host it?

A small VPS with Docker. Freilancer ships as a Docker Compose stack with Laravel and Postgres — a couple of dollars a month is plenty for most freelancers.

Can I leave?

Yes — your data was never trapped in the first place. Export everything as CSV, Excel, or a zip, and it's standard Postgres underneath the whole time.

Does it support e-invoicing?

Yes. Freilancer generates Peppol BIS 3.0 UBL e-invoices alongside beautiful Chrome-rendered PDFs, for freelancers who need EU e-invoicing compliance.