Crater vs Frappe Books
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Crater
Free invoicing and expense tracking app
VS
Frappe Books
Free desktop accounting for small businesses
| Feature | Crater | Frappe Books |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | AAL | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,338 | ★ 4,874 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | FreshBooks, Invoicely | QuickBooks, Wave |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Crater or Frappe Books better?
Neither is universally better. Crater has the larger community, while Frappe Books is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Crater and Frappe Books free and open-source?
Yes. Crater is licensed under AAL and Frappe Books under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Crater and Frappe Books with Docker?
Crater: yes. Frappe Books: check the project docs for container support.