Self-hosted alternatives to FreshBooks
Want invoicing and accounting without handing your data to FreshBooks? These 10 self-hosted apps run on your own server (most are open source; licenses are listed below). Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $5/month.
About FreshBooks: Cloud invoicing and accounting for small businesses.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice Ninja | Active | 10.5k | Elastic-2.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Akaunting | Active | 10.3k | BUSL-1.1 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Bigcapital | Active | 4.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| InvoicePlane | Active | 3.3k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Fava | Active | 2.6k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| InvoiceShelf | Active | 1.9k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| FOSSBilling | Active | 1.7k | Apache-2.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| SolidInvoice | Active | 981 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Family Accounting Tool | Active | 374 | Apache-2.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Pancake | Unknown | – | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
The options in detail
1. Invoice Ninja
Powerful tool to invoice clients online.
Active Last commit 2026-10-18. Latest release v5.13.53 (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. Akaunting
Accounting software designed for small businesses and freelancers.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 8 releases in the past year. Latest release 3.3.0 (2026-10-27). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Bigcapital
Financial accounting and inventory management software for small to medium businesses.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v0.25.45 (2026-10-23). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. InvoicePlane
Manage quotes, invoices, payments and customers for your small business.
Active Last commit 2026-10-31. Latest release v1.7.2 (2026-08-28). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
5. Fava
Web frontend of Beancount, a text based double-entry accounting system.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release nightly (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
6. InvoiceShelf
Track expenses, payments & create professional invoices & estimates (fork of Crater).
Active Last commit 2026-10-27. Latest release 3.0.0-alpha.15 (2026-10-26). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
7. FOSSBilling
Hosting and billing automation. Integrates with WHM, CWP, cPanel and HestiaCP. Full API and easily extensible.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 0.8.9 (2026-10-23). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
8. SolidInvoice
Invoicing and quote application.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release 3.1.2 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
9. Family Accounting Tool
Web-based finance management tool for partners with partially shared expenses.
Active Last commit 2026-11-01. Latest release v4.32 (2026-10-26). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
10. Pancake
Online invoicing, project management, time tracking and proposal software.
Unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of FreshBooks?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
FreshBooks is a trademark of its owner; this site is not affiliated with it. Listings come from the community-maintained awesome-selfhosted list.