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Project Management · head to head

Paymo vs Tilt

Paymo logo

Paymo

Project Management

Work & project management for teams

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit PaymoFull review
Tilt logo

Tilt

Developer Tools

Local Kubernetes development loop that rebuilds and live-updates containers on save

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit TiltFull review

The short version

  • Paymo is a work management solution.
  • Tilt is free; Paymo starts at $5.9/mo.
  • Only Paymo lists task management; only Tilt lists live update.
  • Where Paymo falls short: every advertised price rises after 3 months, with Plus going from $10.90 to $15.90 per user and Pro from $16.90 to $23.90.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Paymo and Tilt actually diverge.

Attributes where Paymo and Tilt differ
AttributePaymoTilt
Pricing modelFreemiumOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, Windows, macOSLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryProject ManagementDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

Not yet recorded: founded for Tilt.

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Paymo

  • Task management
  • Time tracking
  • Invoicing
  • Gantt charts
  • Resource scheduling
  • Slack
  • Google Workspace
  • Zapier

Only in Tilt

  • Live update
  • Tiltfile as code
  • Unified web UI
  • Selective rebuilds
  • Local and remote clusters
  • Resource dependencies
  • Extensions registry
  • Custom buttons and triggers

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Paymo

  • Time tracking for freelancersnot Tilt
  • Project management for small teamsnot Tilt
  • Invoice generation and client managementnot Tilt

Tilt

  • A team of ten or more engineers whose application is fifteen microservices on Kubernetes and who currently wait on CI to test a changenot Paymo
  • An organisation onboarding new developers who want a single command that stands up the whole stack from a committed Tiltfilenot Paymo
  • A platform team giving product engineers a consistent local environment against a shared remote development clusternot Paymo
  • A codebase where one repository contains several services and rebuilding all of them on every edit is the main source of lost timenot Paymo

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Paymo

  • Every advertised price rises after 3 months, with Plus going from $10.90 to $15.90 per user and Pro from $16.90 to $23.90
  • The free plan allows 1 user, 1 client and 2 projects
  • The Solo plan is still capped at 3 clients and 5 projects
  • Gantt charts, task dependencies and scheduling require the Plus plan
  • Integrations are excluded from both the free and Solo plans

Tilt

  • Docker acquired Tilt in 2022 and the team now splits its time across Compose and Docker Desktop, so feature velocity is modest and the product's long-term priority inside Docker is not guaranteed; treat it as a stable utility, not a growing platform
  • The Tiltfile is Starlark, a Python dialect, so non-trivial setups become real programs that need reviewing and maintaining, and the person who wrote yours becomes a single point of failure
  • Live update only works when the running container can accept synced files and restart the process; compiled languages, distroless images and read-only filesystems often force you back to a full image rebuild, which removes the main benefit
  • It assumes Kubernetes. If your development target is plain Docker Compose or serverless functions, Tilt adds a cluster you did not need and a layer of abstraction with no payoff
  • There is no commercial support contract, no SLA and no paid tier, so when a Kubernetes version upgrade breaks something you are dependent on GitHub issues and a Slack channel rather than a vendor you can escalate to

Pricing, plan by plan

Paymo

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1 user
    • unlimited time tracking
    • unlimited invoices
  • Solo$5.9/mo
    • 1 user
    • flat rate/retainer projects
    • 3 clients
  • Plus$10.9/mo
    • unlimited users
    • spreadsheet view
    • recurring tasks
  • Pro$16.9/mo
    • unlimited users
    • Gantt charts
    • task dependencies

Tilt

Free
  • TiltFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed
    • All features, no paid tier
    • Community support via the Kubernetes Slack #tilt channel

Which should you pick?

Choose Paymo if

  • You need task management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want time tracking.
Paymo review

Choose Tilt if

  • You need live update.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want tiltfile as code.
Tilt review

Questions people ask

Is Paymo or Tilt better?
Neither clearly leads. Paymo starts at Free and Tilt at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Paymo or Tilt?
Paymo starts at Free and Tilt at Free.
Does Paymo or Tilt run on more platforms?
Paymo runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS. Tilt runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Paymo for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Paymo best used for?
Paymo is most often used for time tracking for freelancers, project management for small teams, invoice generation and client management. Of those, time tracking for freelancers and project management for small teams are not what Tilt is typically brought in for.
What can Paymo do that Tilt cannot?
Paymo covers Task management, Time tracking, Invoicing, Gantt charts. Tilt covers Live update, Tiltfile as code, Unified web UI, Selective rebuilds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Paymo: What is the storage limit by plan?

Free: 1GB, Solo: 5GB, Plus: 50GB, Pro: 500GB.

Source
Tilt: Is Tilt free?

Yes, entirely. It is Apache 2.0 open source with no paid tier and no licence fee.

Paymo: Can I use Paymo with multiple users on the Free plan?

No, Free and Solo plans are limited to 1 user only. You need Plus or Pro for multiple users.

Source
Tilt: Who owns Tilt now?

Docker, which acquired it in May 2022. It remains open source and the repository is still actively maintained.

Paymo: What happens after the promotional pricing period ends?

Regular prices apply: Solo $9.90/month, Plus $15.90/user/month, Pro $23.90/user/month.

Source
Tilt: Do I need a remote cluster?

No. It works against a local cluster such as kind, minikube or Docker Desktop, and also against a shared remote development cluster if your services are too heavy to run locally.

Paymo: Is there a discount for annual billing?

Yes, annual payment offers up to 40% discount compared to monthly billing.

Source
Tilt: How is it different from Skaffold?

Both automate the build-deploy loop. Tilt puts more weight on the live-update path and a multi-service dashboard; Skaffold is more configuration-driven and closer to Google's tooling.

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