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7 jobs · 14 apps

Best open source software for freelancers

For a freelancer, a self-hosted stack starts with Odoo for invoicing, Frappe HR for time tracking and Twenty for clients. Each section takes the top-ranked apps in one catalog category, scored on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

A freelancer's toolkit of self-hostable apps for invoicing, time tracking, clients, scheduling and files, ranked with the freelancer profile.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Odoo

    odoo/odoo

    Free open source ERP system.

    ERP & InventoryPythonDocker

    Odoo has 54,848 GitHub stars, uses the LGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 10,679 commits in the last year; it replaces QuickBooks and Square POS.

  2. Rank 2:

    ERPNext

    frappe/erpnext

    ERP system to help you run your business.

    ERP & InventoryPythonDocker

    ERPNext has 39,821 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 6,664 commits in the last year; it replaces QuickBooks and Square POS.

1 of 7 · 2 picks

Invoicing and accounting

  1. 1

    Odoo

    Free open source ERP system.

    Odoo has 54,848 GitHub stars, uses the LGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 10,679 commits in the last year; it replaces QuickBooks and Square POS.

  2. 2

    ERPNext

    ERP system to help you run your business.

    ERPNext has 39,821 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 6,664 commits in the last year; it replaces QuickBooks and Square POS.

2 of 7 · 2 picks

Time tracking

  1. 1

    Frappe HR

    Complete HRMS solution with over 13 different modules right from employee management, onboarding, leaves, to payroll, taxation, and more.

    Frappe HR has 8,879 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,742 commits in the last year; it replaces BambooHR and Workday.

  2. 2

    Ever Gauzy

    Open business management platform for collaborative, on-demand and sharing economies (ERP/CRM/HRM/ATS/PM).

    Ever Gauzy has 8,194 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,967 commits in the last year; it replaces BambooHR and Workday.

3 of 7 · 2 picks

Clients (CRM)

  1. 1

    Twenty

    A modern CRM offering the flexibility of open source, advanced features, and a sleek design.

    Twenty has 57,949 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 7,656 commits in the last year; it replaces Salesforce and HubSpot.

  2. 2

    Krayin

    CRM solution for SMEs and Enterprises for complete customer lifecycle management.

    Krayin has 23,970 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 483 commits in the last year; it replaces Salesforce and HubSpot.

4 of 7 · 2 picks

Scheduling

  1. 1

    Cal.diy

    Online appointment scheduling system.

    Cal.diy has 48,880 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 1,893 commits in the last year; it replaces Calendly.

  2. 2

    Rallly

    Create polls to vote on dates and times (alternative to Doodle).

    Rallly has 5,285 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,513 commits in the last year; it replaces Calendly.

5 of 7 · 2 picks

Projects and tasks

  1. 1

    Gitea

    Git with a cup of tea! Painless self-hosted all-in-one software development service, including Git hosting, code review, team collaboration, package registry and CI/CD.

    Gitea has 58,319 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 1,696 commits in the last year; it replaces GitHub and GitLab.

  2. 2

    Plane

    Track issues, epics, and product roadmaps in the simplest way possible (alternative to JIRA, Linear and Height).

    Plane has 60,414 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 678 commits in the last year; it replaces Jira and Asana.

6 of 7 · 2 picks

File sharing

  1. 1

    qBittorrent

    Free cross-platform bittorrent client with a feature rich Web UI for remote access.

    qBittorrent has 40,592 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 license and had 460 commits in the last year.

  2. 2

    slskd

    A modern client-server application for the Soulseek file sharing network.

    slskd has 4,010 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,056 commits in the last year.

7 of 7 · 2 picks

Passwords

  1. 1

    Vaultwarden

    Lightweight Bitwarden server API implementation written in Rust.

    Vaultwarden has 68,572 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 181 commits in the last year; it replaces Bitwarden and 1Password.

  2. 2

    Bitwarden

    Password manager with a webapp, browser extension, and mobile app.

    Bitwarden has 20,244 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,544 commits in the last year; it replaces Bitwarden and 1Password.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What open source software should a freelancer use?

For a freelancer, a self-hosted stack starts with Odoo for invoicing, Frappe HR for time tracking and Twenty for clients. Each section takes the top-ranked apps in one catalog category, scored on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

Is it worth self-hosting as a freelancer?

If you already pay for several per-user tools, one small VPS can run invoicing, time tracking and file sharing for a few dollars a month. Keep backups off the server, since you are your own IT department.

Is Odoo free?

Yes. Odoo is open-source software released under the LGPL-3.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Can I run this stack with Docker?

13 of the 14 apps here publish Docker images, including Odoo, ERPNext and Frappe HR, so most of the stack can run side by side with Docker Compose on one server. Size the server for the heaviest app and add off-site backups.

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