bigcapital
by bigcapitalhq
Bigcapital is open-source accounting and inventory software for small and medium businesses. It records transactions using double-entry bookkeeping and produces financial statements and reports.
- Stars
- 4k
- Licence
- AGPL-3.0
- Runs on
- A small server
- Setup
- Moderate
- Language
- TypeScript
- Age
- 1865 days
What you can do with it
- Create invoices, record bills and track expenses and payments
- Manage stock levels alongside your accounts
- Generate financial reports, or connect your own system through the API to keep double-entry books
Could replace
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Wave
Our suggestion based on what it does, not a feature-by-feature comparison.
Make money with it
An individual could offer bookkeeping services to small clients, running their accounts on a self-hosted Bigcapital instance.
An idea, not financial advice. Check the licence before charging for anything built on it.
Ways a business could use it
- Replace a paid monthly accounting subscription by hosting your own books and invoicing
- Track stock and expenses in one place to see profit and spot overspending
Can you use it commercially?
Free to use. Anything you distribute that includes it must be open-sourced under the same licence. Running it as an online service also counts, so a hosted version must offer its source.
Not legal advice. Read the project's licence file before building a product on it.
Getting it running
Self-host it on your own server using Docker and Docker Compose, following the Docker guide in the documentation; a hosted cloud version also exists.
Follow the official instructions in the project README.
Things to check
- AGPL-3.0 licence has obligations if you offer a modified version as a service
- You are responsible for hosting, backups and security of financial data
- Not a substitute for tax or regulatory compliance features in your country, which should be checked
Who's talking about it
- OpenSourceCRMs team: Best Invoicing Software for Small Business (published 18 Oct 2026) Featured in a roundup
Checked 30 Oct 2026. Summary drafted by AI from the project's README.
