Miru

Miru brings billable time, invoicing, expense billing, and revenue reporting into one open-source tool for agencies, consultants, and service teams. Its appeal is the connected billing workflow and choice of hosted or self-managed deployment; teams should weigh beta mobile apps and the operational work of running it themselves.

Overview

Timers and manual entries feed weekly approvals, member-specific rates, invoices, and revenue reports. That makes Miru more useful than a standalone timer when a team needs to turn recorded work into client bills and track what has been paid or remains outstanding. Reports cover paid, pending, overdue, and projected revenue, alongside project and team analytics.

The MIT-licensed Rails app can be self-hosted, a meaningful option for teams that want to run the software on their own infrastructure. The tradeoff is substantial: self-hosting customers own operations, backups, upgrades, and security maintenance. Miru Cloud or Managed Miru better fits teams that would rather not take on that responsibility.

Key features

Time to invoice

Users can capture time with timers or manual entries, then route it through weekly approvals before billing. Member-specific rates help reflect different billing arrangements across a team. Invoices can be generated from approved or tracked work and include expenses, taxes, and discounts, with invoice sending supported. Miru does not offer recurring invoices, so businesses with repeat billing cycles will need another way to handle that workflow.

Reporting and integrations

Revenue views distinguish paid, pending, overdue, and projected amounts, while project and team analytics give managers context beyond a single timesheet. Integrations include Stripe, Google Calendar, SMTP email, CSV and PDF export, CSV import, REST API, CLI, Zapier, Make, and n8n. QuickBooks Online support is a one-way export of clients, invoices, and recorded payments, not a two-way accounting sync.

Deployment and security

The local-first desktop timer is offered for macOS Apple Silicon and Intel, Linux x64, and Windows x64, and syncs with Miru. Hosted data is encrypted in transit and at rest, using TLS 1.3 connections and AES-256 for stored data. Miru says it is GDPR compliant and that SOC 2 Type II is in progress; enterprise customers can request a data processing addendum. Those assurances may matter to buyers, but teams considering self-hosting must also maintain their own security.

Pricing

Self-hosted costs nothing and includes every feature, unlimited members, Docker deployment, and community support on Discord. It is the strongest fit for teams with the technical capacity to operate the Rails app; the zero price does not remove the cost of staff time for maintenance.

Miru Cloud costs $1 a month, billed Or $10/member/year. Every feature is included, with unlimited members, a 14-day Pro trial, no credit card required, and priority email support. The unusual per-month and per-member annual terms deserve attention when budgeting for a team; the free self-hosted option gives up hosted operations and priority support.

Managed Miru costs $1 a month, billed Base service plus usage; scope agreed before you commit. It includes a dedicated deployment, upgrades, backups, monitoring, integration help, security review support, and SLA options. This is the option for organizations that need operational help, though the agreed scope and usage mean the headline amount alone does not establish the full cost.

Platforms

Miru supports web, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, API access, and self-hosting. Its desktop timer runs on the listed macOS, Linux, and Windows architectures. The iOS and Android apps remain in beta, with early access through TestFlight and Google Play internal testing, so mobile-dependent teams should treat those apps as a less mature part of the product.

Who it's for

Miru is a strong match for agencies, consultants, freelancers, startups, and service teams that bill by the hour and want time approvals, expense billing, invoicing, and revenue visibility together. Its unlimited-member plans suit teams that do not want a published seat cap, while self-hosting gives technically equipped organizations a no-cost software option. It is less compelling for businesses that require recurring invoices, mature mobile apps, or a fully hands-off deployment without clarifying managed-service scope.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Timers and manual entries connect to weekly approvals, rates, and invoice generation, reducing gaps between tracked work and billing.
• Pro: Both free self-hosting and hosted plans include every feature and unlimited members, giving teams deployment and support choices rather than feature-tier restrictions.
• Pro: Revenue reports separate paid, pending, overdue, and projected amounts, useful for monitoring billing status as well as billable activity.
• Con: Self-hosted users must handle operations, backups, upgrades, and security maintenance, making the free plan a poor fit without technical ownership.
• Con: Mobile apps are in beta, and recurring invoices are not supported, limiting confidence for mobile-first or repeat-billing workflows.
• Con: QuickBooks Online sync only exports data one way, so it does not keep both systems synchronized.

Alternatives

Choose Harvest if an individual freelancer needs a free plan capped at one seat and two projects. TimeCamp is worth considering when unlimited users and projects on a free plan are the priority. Avaza offers a free tier with unlimited project collaborators, though its listed timesheet/expense, admin/finance, and resource-scheduling users are each capped at one.

Invoice Ninja suits a reader focused on invoicing who can work within its free cap of five clients, despite unlimited invoicing. Paymo is another option, with its free plan limited to one user, one client, two projects, and 1 GB of storage. TMetric has a free plan for up to two seats; its Professional plan includes billable rates and expenses.

Zoho Invoice is a free option for Indian businesses, capped at two users, three projects, and 500 invoices a year. solidtime offers a solo plan for one user and a Professional plan at €8 a month, billed annually, excluding VAT. For more options, see Time Billing Software.

Verdict

Miru is a sensible choice for service teams that need billable-time tracking tied directly to approvals, expense-aware invoices, and revenue reporting, especially if unlimited-member pricing or self-hosting matters. Its main reason to look elsewhere is operational or workflow fit: self-hosting requires ongoing technical care, mobile apps are still beta, and recurring invoices are absent.