The best invoicing software for small business is the one that gets you paid fastest with the least admin. The big roundups mostly rank paid apps, and free plans that change over time. If you would rather own your invoicing tool, these self-hosted options are free to run.
What your invoices must contain
Rules differ by country, so confirm with your accountant. As a general checklist, a proper invoice shows:
- Your business name, address and tax or registration number
- The customer's name and address
- A unique, sequential invoice number
- Invoice date, due date and payment terms
- Itemized description, quantity, price, tax and total
- How to pay: bank details or a payment link
Pick by the way you work
| If you are… | Look for | Try |
|---|---|---|
| A freelancer or consultant | Quick invoices, client list, quotes | InvoicePlane or InvoiceShelf |
| A small agency billing hours | Time tracking that becomes invoices | Kimai with an invoicing tool, see time tracking |
| A shop with stock | Invoices tied to inventory | Dolibarr or ERPNext |
| Anyone who wants books too | Invoices that post to the ledger | Bigcapital or ERPNext |
| Minimalist | Small, simple, no bloat | Invio |
Self-hosted invoicing tools compared
| Tool | Best for | License | Stack | Stars | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| InvoicePlane | Simple self-hosted invoicing and quotes | MIT | PHP | 3,208 | Oct 2026 |
| InvoiceShelf | Modern invoicing with estimates and expenses | AGPL-3.0 | PHP (Laravel), Vue | 1,857 | Oct 2026 |
| Invio | Minimal, no-frills invoicing | Unlicense | TypeScript | 1,193 | Oct 2026 |
| Bigcapital | Invoices connected to real accounting | AGPL-3.0 | TypeScript (Node.js, React) | 3,939 | Oct 2026 |
| Dolibarr ERP CRM | Invoices, proposals and stock together | GPL-3.0 | PHP, MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL | 7,732 | Oct 2026 |
| ERPNext | Invoicing inside a full ERP | GPL-3.0 | Python (Frappe), MariaDB | 40,232 | Oct 2026 |
| IDURAR ERP CRM | Invoices, quotes and payments on Node.js | AGPL-3.0 | Node.js, React, MongoDB | 8,878 | Aug 2026 |
Stars and dates are a snapshot from 16 October 2026. They show project activity, not quality.
InvoicePlane
Simple self-hosted invoicing and quotes. A long-running, MIT-licensed PHP application for managing invoices, quotes and clients. Easy to host on standard PHP hosting.
3,208 stars · MIT · repo updated Oct 2026
GitHub · Website
InvoiceShelf
Modern invoicing with estimates and expenses. Open source invoicing with estimates and expense tracking. AGPL-licensed and actively maintained.
1,857 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
GitHub · Website
Invio
Minimal, no-frills invoicing. A lightweight self-hosted invoicing app released under the Unlicense. Good when you want something small and simple.
1,193 stars · Unlicense · repo updated Oct 2026
GitHub · Website
Bigcapital
Invoices connected to real accounting. Invoicing inside a full accounting app, so invoices feed your financial reports automatically.
3,939 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
GitHub · Website
Dolibarr ERP CRM
Invoices, proposals and stock together. Covers customer invoices, commercial proposals and stock in one application that runs on ordinary hosting.
7,732 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Our guide to Dolibarr ERP CRM · GitHub · Website
ERPNext
Invoicing inside a full ERP. Sales invoices linked to orders, delivery and accounting. Best when invoicing is only one part of your operations.
40,232 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Our guide to ERPNext · GitHub · Website
IDURAR ERP CRM
Invoices, quotes and payments on Node.js. A JavaScript ERP/CRM with invoices and quotes, handy if your team already works in Node and React.
8,878 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Aug 2026
Our guide to IDURAR ERP CRM · GitHub · Website
Names that appear in “free” lists but are not open source
Check the license before you commit. These show up often in roundups:
- Invoice Ninja: Licensed under the Elastic License 2.0, which is source-available but not open source. Repository
- Akaunting: Licensed under the Business Source License (BSL), a source-available license, not an open source license. Repository
- Crater: No repository update since August 2024. InvoiceShelf is a maintained alternative. Repository
Checked from LICENSE files and GitHub status on 16 October 2026. Licenses can change.
Features that save you the most money
- Automatic reminders for overdue invoices.
- Recurring invoices for retainers and subscriptions.
- Online payment links, which usually shorten the time to get paid. These need a payment gateway account.
- Quote to invoice conversion, so you never retype line items.
Example: a freelance photographer
An illustrative example, not a real company.
A photographer sends about ten invoices a month, often with a deposit and a balance. Clients sometimes pay late, and she wants reminders to go out without her having to remember.
She installs InvoicePlane on ordinary web hosting, sets up a template with her logo and bank details, and turns on payment reminders. Quotes become invoices with one click, so she never retypes line items. At year end she exports the invoices to her accountant.
Because her volume is small, she does not need accounting software yet. If it grows, she can move to a tool that posts invoices straight to a ledger.
Pitfalls to watch for
- Skipping invoice numbering rules, which causes problems at audit time.
- Forgetting to put payment terms on the invoice.
- Not following up overdue invoices until they are months old.
- Hosting the invoicing tool without backups.
- Switching tools midyear and losing sequence continuity.
Should you pay for this instead?
Paid invoicing apps are polished, with built-in payment links and mobile apps. Self-hosted tools cost nothing in licenses and keep client data on your server, but you handle updates and backups. For a freelancer who just needs good invoices, both work. The deciding factor is whether you enjoy maintaining a server.
You can run most of these on a small server. A web hosting plan from Hostinger is typically enough for the PHP-based ones, as long as it meets the project requirements.
Need a server to host it?
Self-hosting a CRM needs a server. PHP and MySQL apps can often run on ordinary web hosting, while Docker, Node, Python or Java apps usually need a VPS. Check each project's requirements first. Hostinger offers both shared web hosting and VPS plans.
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