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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.

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 daily

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.

    Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026

    ERP & InventoryTypeScriptDocker

    Stands out for its TypeScript codebase. Carbon has 2,770 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,357 commits in the last year; it replaces SAP Business One.

  2. Rank 2:

    Odoo

    odoo/odoo

    Free open source ERP system.

    Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026

    ERP & InventoryPythonDocker

    Stands out for the most GitHub stars. Odoo has 55,380 GitHub stars, uses the LGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 17,454 commits in the last year; it replaces NetSuite and SAP Business One.

  3. Rank 3:

    ERPNext

    frappe/erpnext

    ERP system to help you run your business.

    Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026

    ERP & InventoryPythonDocker

    Stands out for the longest track record (since 2011). ERPNext has 40,687 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 10,424 commits in the last year; it replaces NetSuite and SAP Business One.

At a glance

Open source software for manufacturing compared

Picked by hand for each job from apps whose own description or topics match it, in curated order inside each section, with GitHub data from October 2026; an app appears only once.

Top 10 picks compared, data as of Oct 28, 2026
AppStands out forLicenseGitHub starsCommits (12 mo)Last commitDocker image
Carbonits TypeScript codebaseAGPL-3.02,7703,357Oct 28, 2026Yes
Odoothe most GitHub starsLGPL-3.055,38017,454Oct 28, 2026Yes
ERPNextthe longest track record (since 2011)GPL-3.040,68710,424Oct 28, 2026Yes
metasfreshits Java codebaseGPL-2.0 / GPL-3.02,4595,523Oct 28, 2026Yes
Inventreea permissive MIT licenseMIT7,7681,294Oct 28, 2026No
Part-DB–AGPL-3.01,8171,092Oct 26, 2026Yes
Spoolman–MIT2,953744Oct 27, 2026Yes
Octoprint–AGPL-3.09,167763Oct 27, 2026Yes
Mainsail–GPL-3.02,234328Oct 28, 2026Yes
Fluidd–GPL-3.01,842383Oct 25, 2026Yes

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.

    Stands out for its TypeScript codebase. Carbon has 2,770 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,357 commits in the last year; it replaces SAP Business One.

  2. 2

    Odoo

    Free open source ERP system.

    Stands out for the most GitHub stars. Odoo has 55,380 GitHub stars, uses the LGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 17,454 commits in the last year; it replaces NetSuite and SAP Business One.

  3. 3

    ERPNext

    ERP system to help you run your business.

    Stands out for the longest track record (since 2011). ERPNext has 40,687 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 10,424 commits in the last year; it replaces NetSuite and SAP Business One.

  4. 4

    metasfresh

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

    Stands out for its Java codebase. metasfresh has 2,459 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 / GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 5,523 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.

    Stands out for a permissive MIT license. Inventree has 7,768 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,294 commits in the last year.

  2. 2

    Part-DB

    Inventory management system for your electronic components.

    Part-DB has 1,817 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,092 commits in the last year.

  3. 3

    Spoolman

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

    Spoolman has 2,953 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 744 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 9,167 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 763 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 2,234 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 328 commits in the last year.

  3. 3

    Fluidd

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

    Fluidd has 1,842 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 383 commits in the last year.

  4. 4

    CNCjs

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

    CNCjs has 2,660 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 2,512 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 license and had 2,717 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 23,789 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 985 commits in the last year; it replaces Nest / SmartThings and Google Home.

  2. 2

    Thingsboard

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

    Thingsboard has 22,615 GitHub stars, is source-available under the BSL 1.1 (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 4,239 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 77,561 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 11,934 commits in the last year; it replaces Datadog and Grafana Cloud.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

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.

How is this list ranked?

Picked by hand for each job from apps whose own description or topics match it, in curated order inside each section, with GitHub data from October 2026; an app appears only once.

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