Frappe Books vs Bigcapital
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Frappe Books
Free desktop accounting for small businesses
VS
Bigcapital
Open-source accounting and financial management
| Feature | Frappe Books | Bigcapital |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | CRM & Business Apps |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,874 | ★ 3,821 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | QuickBooks, Wave | QuickBooks, Xero |
Why pick each one
Choose Bigcapital if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Frappe Books or Bigcapital better?
Frappe Books is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Bigcapital if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Frappe Books and Bigcapital free and open-source?
Yes. Frappe Books is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Bigcapital under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Frappe Books and Bigcapital with Docker?
Frappe Books: check the project docs for container support. Bigcapital: yes.