Invoice Ninja alternatives: 4 free & open-source picks
Curated, verified, and actually free. No trials, no crippled tiers. Star counts and last-activity dates checked by hand, not scraped and forgotten.
Quotes, invoices, payments, expenses and a portal inside a much larger ERP than anyone ordered.
Invoices, estimates, expenses, payments and a client portal; the bill arrives as Docker maintenance instead.
The same invoicing stack on your own server; billing is free, the license is source-available, and removing its branding costs extra.
Quotes, time, expenses, payments and a portal for free; Zoho still keeps an annual invoice ceiling.
last updated 2026-08-06 · no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
CraterStill widely recommended; last push August 2024 and the last release is four years old.
InvoicePlaneQuotes, invoices and payments are solid; expenses and a real client portal never show up.
SolidInvoiceQuotes, recurring invoices and payments are here; expense tracking and a client portal are not.
| tool | license | running it | platforms | stars | active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERPNext | open source | self-host, real ops | web, self-hosted | 37,700 | 2026-08 |
| InvoiceShelf | open source | docker to self-host | web, self-hosted | 1,800 | 2026-07 |
| Invoice Ninja self-hosted | free (closed) | docker to self-host | web, macos, windows, linux, ios, android, self-hosted | — | — |
| Zoho Invoice | free (closed) | they host it | web, ios, android | — | — |
They pay because billing software is boring and should not break on invoice day. If none of that applies to you, any pick above saves $168 a year.
Is there a free alternative to Invoice Ninja?
Yes: ERPNext, InvoiceShelf, Invoice Ninja self-hosted and 1 more. Every tool on this page is either open source or genuinely free to use long-term: no trials, no crippled tiers.
Should I just build my own Invoice Ninja?
Our verdict is YES. Invoice Ninja is open source, so the hosted subscription can be replaced by self-hosting if you can handle ops, updates, payment config, and backups. If you'd rather build, the exact one-shot prompt is free at canivibecodeit.com/invoice-ninja.
