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4 jobs · 15 apps

Best open source software for manufacturing

For a manufacturer, a self-hosted stack starts with Carbon for production planning, Inventree for parts and stock and Octoprint for machine control. Each pick was chosen by hand for its job and is shown with GitHub data from October 2026.

Manufacturing software from the catalog: manufacturing ERP and MES, parts and inventory, 3D printer and CNC control, IoT and monitoring.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Carbon

    crbnos/carbon

    Manufacturing ERP, MES and QMS: quoting, MRP, inventory, shop floor and quality tracking on one Postgres schema.

    ERP & InventoryTypeScriptDocker

    Carbon has 2,686 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,990 commits in the last year; it replaces SAP Business One.

  2. Rank 2:

    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.

  3. Rank 3:

    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 4 · 4 picks

Manufacturing ERP

  1. 1

    Carbon

    Manufacturing ERP, MES and QMS: quoting, MRP, inventory, shop floor and quality tracking on one Postgres schema.

    Carbon has 2,686 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,990 commits in the last year; it replaces SAP Business One.

  2. 2

    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.

  3. 3

    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.

  4. 4

    metasfresh

    Java ERP for companies in industry and trade, with a React web UI, a REST API and weekly stable releases.

    metasfresh has 2,442 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 / GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 4,856 commits in the last year; it replaces NetSuite and SAP Business One.

2 of 4 · 3 picks

Parts and inventory

  1. 1

    Inventree

    Inventory management system which provides intuitive parts management and stock control.

    Inventree has 7,671 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,172 commits in the last year.

  2. 2

    Part-DB

    Inventory management system for your electronic components.

    Part-DB has 1,787 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 977 commits in the last year.

  3. 3

    Spoolman

    Keep track of your inventory of 3D-printer filament spools.

    Spoolman has 2,883 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 649 commits in the last year.

3 of 4 · 5 picks

3D printing and CNC

  1. 1

    Octoprint

    Snappy web interface for controlling consumer 3D printers.

    Octoprint has 9,120 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 641 commits in the last year.

  2. 2

    Mainsail

    Modern and responsive user interface for the Klipper 3D printer firmware. Control and monitor your printer from everywhere, from any device.

    Mainsail has 2,220 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 311 commits in the last year.

  3. 3

    Fluidd

    Lightweight & responsive user interface for Klipper, the 3D printer firmware.

    Fluidd has 1,838 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 348 commits in the last year.

  4. 4

    CNCjs

    Web interface for CNC milling controllers running Grbl, Smoothieware, or TinyG.

    CNCjs has 2,647 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 49 commits in the last year.

  5. 5

    LinuxCNC

    Linux based CNC machine controller. It can drive milling machines, lathes, 3D printers, laser cutters, plasma cutters, robot arms, hexapods, and more.

    LinuxCNC has 2,480 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 license and had 1,428 commits in the last year.

4 of 4 · 3 picks

IoT and monitoring

  1. 1

    Node RED

    Browser-based flow editor that helps you wiring hardware devices, APIs and online services to create IoT solutions.

    Node RED has 23,716 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 684 commits in the last year; it replaces Zapier and IFTTT.

  2. 2

    Thingsboard

    IoT Platform - Device management, data collection, processing and visualization.

    Thingsboard has 22,512 GitHub stars, is source-available under the BSL 1.1 (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 3,539 commits in the last year.

  3. 3

    Grafana

    Dashboards and visualization for metrics, logs and traces from Prometheus, Loki and dozens of other sources.

    Grafana has 77,096 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 11,362 commits in the last year; it replaces Datadog and Grafana Cloud.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is the best open source software for manufacturing?

For a manufacturer, a self-hosted stack starts with Carbon for production planning, Inventree for parts and stock and Octoprint for machine control. Each pick was chosen by hand for its job and is shown with GitHub data from October 2026.

Is there an open source MES?

Carbon describes itself as a manufacturing ERP, MES and QMS covering quoting, MRP, inventory, shop floor and quality tracking. Odoo and ERPNext also cover manufacturing as part of a wider ERP.

Is Carbon free?

Yes. Carbon is open-source software released under the AGPL-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?

12 of the 15 apps here publish Docker images, including Carbon, Odoo and ERPNext, 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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