Open Source Point of Sale vs Spoolman
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted crm & business apps options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Open Source Point of Sale
Web-based point of sale and inventory management system
VS
Spoolman
Keep track of your inventory of 3D-printer filament spools
| Feature | Open Source Point of Sale | Spoolman |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CRM & Business Apps | CRM & Business Apps |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,336 | ★ 2,686 |
| First released | 2010 | 2026 |
| Replaces | Square, Lightspeed | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Open Source Point of Sale if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Choose Spoolman if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Open Source Point of Sale or Spoolman better?
Neither is universally better. Open Source Point of Sale has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Open Source Point of Sale and Spoolman free and open-source?
Yes. Open Source Point of Sale is licensed under MIT and Spoolman under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Open Source Point of Sale and Spoolman with Docker?
Open Source Point of Sale: yes. Spoolman: yes.