Clerq review
A free open-source back-office tool with timers, invoicing and reporting.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Clerq is an open-source back-office application for freelancers and small development studios. It brings client, contact, project and task management together with time capture, invoicing, expenses, payment records and profit reporting. Users can run a live task-based timer or enter billable time manually, then turn unbilled entries into invoices. The product also supports recurring invoice schedules, receipt uploads, branded PDFs and signed invoice links, making it suited to service businesses that want time billing and basic financial administration in one application.
Pricing is straightforward. Clerq Cloud costs £0 per month during its open beta and includes managed hosting, automatic updates, backups and uptime, small-team support with roles, and full data export. The Self-host plan costs £0 forever and provides the same product on your own infrastructure under the AGPL-3.0 license, with community support on GitHub. The choice is therefore mainly operational: Cloud reduces infrastructure responsibilities, while Self-host gives teams control over deployment. Both options include the core application rather than splitting timers, invoices or reporting across paid tiers.
Clerq’s feature breadth is a central advantage for users who want more than a basic timer. It covers weekly timesheets, billable rates, multi-currency invoicing with VAT treatments, recurring invoices, expenses and cash reporting. Its documented MCP server includes 61 tools for automating time and invoicing workflows through connected AI assistants. The trade-off is ecosystem fit: there are no integrations, and access is centered on web, self-hosted deployment and API use. Choose Clerq if free ownership, open-source licensing and combined time-to-invoice workflows matter most. Choose an alternative if established integrations or broader client-platform coverage are essential.
Clerq pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free cloud and self-hosted options with full data export
- Combines timers, timesheets, invoicing, expenses and reporting
- Supports multi-currency invoices, VAT treatments and recurring schedules
- Where it doesn't
- No integrations beyond its documented API and MCP server
- Access centers on web, self-hosted deployment and API use
- Self-hosting requires managing your own infrastructure
Clerq fact sheet, pricing and score →
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