7 self-hosted options
Open-source alternatives to QuickBooks
The best open-source alternatives to QuickBooks are Invoice Ninja, Akaunting and Bigcapital.
About QuickBooks: Intuit's accounting and invoicing software for small businesses.
Every option below is free to self-host and ranked by GitHub stars, so you can move off QuickBooks without giving up the features you rely on.
Top picks
- Rank 1:
Invoice Ninja
invoiceninja/invoiceninja
Powerful tool to invoice clients online.
Finance & BudgetingPHPDocker - Rank 2:
Akaunting
akaunting/akaunting
Accounting software designed for small businesses and freelancers.
Finance & BudgetingPHP - Rank 3:
Bigcapital
bigcapitalhq/bigcapital
Financial accounting and inventory management software for small to medium businesses.
Finance & BudgetingTypeScriptDocker
Why switch
Why teams move off QuickBooks
Self-hosting is not only about saving money. These are the reasons people make the switch.
Own your data
Your data lives on a server you control, not on QuickBooks's infrastructure. No surprise policy changes and no lock-in.
No per-seat pricing
Open-source alternatives to QuickBooks are free to run for as many users as your server can handle. A small VPS often costs less than a single subscription.
Customize and extend
Read the code, add plugins, connect it to your own tools and automate it through open APIs. When you need a feature, you can build it or fund it.
Full ranking
All 7 QuickBooks alternatives
Ranked by GitHub stars. Open any app for live stats, license details and a deploy option.
- 1
Invoice Ninja
Powerful tool to invoice clients online.
Finance & BudgetingDocker - 2
Akaunting
Accounting software designed for small businesses and freelancers.
Finance & Budgeting - 3
Bigcapital
Financial accounting and inventory management software for small to medium businesses.
Finance & BudgetingDocker - 4
ERPNext
ERP system to help you run your business.
ERP & InventoryDocker - 5
InvoicePlane
Manage quotes, invoices, payments and customers for your small business.
Finance & Budgeting - 6
InvoiceShelf
Track expenses, payments & create professional invoices & estimates (fork of Crater).
Finance & BudgetingDocker - 7
Fava
Web frontend of Beancount, a text based double-entry accounting system.
Finance & Budgeting
What is the best open-source alternative to QuickBooks?
Invoice Ninja is the most popular open-source alternative to QuickBooks, with 10,223 GitHub stars. Akaunting and Bigcapital are also strong choices. Compare features, license and recent activity to find the best fit for your team.
Is there a free alternative to QuickBooks?
Yes. All 7 apps on this page are open source and free to self-host, so you can run a QuickBooks replacement without per-user fees. You only pay for the server, and a small VPS is usually enough for personal use or a small team.
Can I self-host an alternative to QuickBooks?
Yes. Invoice Ninja, Bigcapital and ERPNext ship a Docker image, so you can run them on a home server or VPS with Docker Compose in a few minutes. Your data then stays on hardware you control.
How do I migrate from QuickBooks?
Start by exporting your data from QuickBooks, then check the import options of the app you pick, since many projects ship importers for popular formats. Run both side by side for a week before you switch so nothing is lost.