Invoice Ninja vs SHKeeper

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?
FeatureInvoice NinjaSHKeeper
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseElastic-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePHPPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 9,979★ 606
First released20142026
ReplacesFreshBooks, QuickBooks

Why pick each one

Choose Invoice Ninja if…

  • Comprehensive billing features
  • Many payment gateway integrations
Invoice Ninja details

Choose SHKeeper if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Written in Python
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
SHKeeper details

Frequently asked questions

Is Invoice Ninja or SHKeeper better?

Neither is universally better. Invoice Ninja has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Invoice Ninja and SHKeeper free and open-source?

Yes. Invoice Ninja is licensed under Elastic-2.0 and SHKeeper under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Invoice Ninja and SHKeeper with Docker?

Invoice Ninja: yes. SHKeeper: check the project docs for container support.

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