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5 jobs · 15 apps

Best open source HR and recruiting software

For an HR team, a self-hosted stack starts with Frappe HR for employee records, Kimai for time tracking and BookStack for the employee handbook. Each pick was chosen by hand for its job and is shown with GitHub data from October 2026.

HR software from the catalog: HR management systems (OrangeHRM and Horilla list recruitment among their features), time tracking, onboarding docs, e-signatures and accounts.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Frappe HR

    frappe/hrms

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

    HR & Time TrackingPythonDocker

    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. Rank 2:

    OrangeHRM

    orangehrm/orangehrm

    Long-running open-source HR management system covering employee records, leave, time and recruitment.

    HR & Time TrackingPHPDocker

    OrangeHRM has 1,148 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 38 commits in the last year; it replaces BambooHR and Workday.

  3. Rank 3:

    Horilla

    horilla/horilla-hr

    Django HRMS with employee management, recruitment, onboarding, attendance, leave, payroll and performance reviews.

    HR & Time TrackingHTMLDocker

    Horilla has 1,451 GitHub stars, uses the LGPL-2.1 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,014 commits in the last year; it replaces BambooHR and Workday.

1 of 5 · 5 picks

HR management (HRMS)

  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

    OrangeHRM

    Long-running open-source HR management system covering employee records, leave, time and recruitment.

    OrangeHRM has 1,148 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 38 commits in the last year; it replaces BambooHR and Workday.

  3. 3

    Horilla

    Django HRMS with employee management, recruitment, onboarding, attendance, leave, payroll and performance reviews.

    Horilla has 1,451 GitHub stars, uses the LGPL-2.1 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,014 commits in the last year; it replaces BambooHR and Workday.

  4. 4

    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.

  5. 5

    MintHCM

    Tool for Human Capital Management based on two popular, well-known business applications SugarCRM Community Edition and SuiteCRM.

    MintHCM has 438 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 43 commits in the last year; it replaces BambooHR and Workday.

2 of 5 · 2 picks

Time tracking

  1. 1

    Kimai

    Track work time and print out a summary of your activities on demand.

    Kimai has 5,057 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 223 commits in the last year.

  2. 2

    solidtime

    Modern time tracking application for freelancers and agencies.

    solidtime has 8,965 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 402 commits in the last year.

3 of 5 · 3 picks

Onboarding and handbook

  1. 1

    BookStack

    Simple, self-hosted, easy-to-use platform for organising and storing information.

    BookStack has 19,075 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 435 commits in the last year; it replaces Confluence.

  2. 2

    docmost Community Edition

    Collaborative wiki and documentation software (alternative to Confluence, Notion).

    docmost Community Edition has 21,876 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 431 commits in the last year; it replaces Notion and Confluence.

  3. 3

    Wiki.js

    Modern, lightweight and powerful wiki app using Git and Markdown.

    Wiki.js has 29,010 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 202 commits in the last year; it replaces Confluence.

4 of 5 · 2 picks

Contracts and e-signatures

  1. 1

    Docuseal

    Create, fill, and sign digital documents (alternative to DocuSign).

    Docuseal has 18,658 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 925 commits in the last year; it replaces DocuSign and Adobe Acrobat.

  2. 2

    Documenso

    Digital document signing platform (alternative to DocuSign).

    Documenso has 15,336 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 695 commits in the last year; it replaces DocuSign and Adobe Acrobat.

5 of 5 · 3 picks

Accounts

  1. 1

    Keycloak

    Open-source identity and access management with SSO, OIDC, SAML and user federation.

    Keycloak has 37,156 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,157 commits in the last year; it replaces Auth0 and Okta.

  2. 2

    authentik

    Flexible identity provider and SSO platform with OAuth2, SAML, LDAP and proxy outposts.

    authentik has 25,859 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 5,375 commits in the last year; it replaces Auth0 and Okta.

  3. 3

    LLDAP

    Light LDAP server for authentication, aimed at homelabs that need user management.

    LLDAP has 6,546 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 87 commits in the last year.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is the best open source HR and recruiting software?

For an HR team, a self-hosted stack starts with Frappe HR for employee records, Kimai for time tracking and BookStack for the employee handbook. Each pick was chosen by hand for its job and is shown with GitHub data from October 2026.

Is there an open source applicant tracking system?

The catalog has no standalone ATS. OrangeHRM and Horilla list recruitment in their own descriptions, alongside employee records, leave and other HR modules.

Is Frappe HR free?

Yes. Frappe HR is open-source software released under the GPL-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 15 apps here publish Docker images, including Frappe HR, OrangeHRM and Horilla, 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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