Frappe Books vs InvoiceShelf
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Frappe Books
Free desktop accounting for small businesses
VS
InvoiceShelf
Open-source invoicing app for freelancers and small businesses
| Feature | Frappe Books | InvoiceShelf |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 85 · Excellent |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,981 | ★ 1,834 |
| First released | 2020 | 2023 |
| Replaces | QuickBooks, Wave | FreshBooks, Wave |
What are Frappe Books and InvoiceShelf?
Frappe Books
Frappe Books is a free, open-source accounting application for small businesses and freelancers. It is a desktop app offering invoicing, double-entry bookkeeping, and inventory management.
- Double-entry accounting
- Invoicing and billing
- Inventory tracking
- Offline desktop app
InvoiceShelf
InvoiceShelf is an open-source invoicing application, forked from Crater, for creating invoices and estimates and tracking payments. Built with PHP (Laravel), it supports multiple companies, taxes, and customer management.
- Invoices and estimates
- Payment tracking
- Multi-company support
- Tax configuration
Frappe Books vs InvoiceShelf: key differences
Frappe Books is written in TypeScript, while InvoiceShelf is built with PHP. Frappe Books is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for InvoiceShelf. Frappe Books is the more established project (first released 2020), while InvoiceShelf arrived in 2023. Frappe Books has the considerably larger community, at 4,981 GitHub stars versus 1,834. InvoiceShelf lists first-class Docker deployment; Frappe Books does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Frappe Books if…
- No subscription needed
- Simple and clean
Watch out for
- Desktop only
- Limited multi-user support
Choose InvoiceShelf if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Frappe Books or InvoiceShelf better?
Frappe Books is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider InvoiceShelf if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Frappe Books and InvoiceShelf free and open-source?
Yes. Frappe Books is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and InvoiceShelf under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Frappe Books and InvoiceShelf with Docker?
Frappe Books: check the project docs for container support. InvoiceShelf: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Frappe Books or InvoiceShelf?
Frappe Books has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for InvoiceShelf. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.