InvoiceShelf
Finance & AccountingA self-hosted web app for creating invoices and estimates, recording payments and expenses, and managing customers.
Open-source alternative to:
What the free edition leaves out
The free edition covers the features teams usually need; we found nothing important held back. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Not confirmed | Not mentioned on the homepage, README or docs pages read. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Free | The README says you can invite team members with scoped roles. This is the README of the 3.x alpha branch; the docs settings page does not describe roles. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Not confirmed | Not mentioned on the pages read. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Free | The README lists multiple companies and inviting team members. The homepage says there are no seats or subscriptions. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Not confirmed | The docs describe backups of files and database created and downloaded from Settings > Backups. The page does not mention restoring. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Free | The docs link to a public API reference. The homepage says all features are included with no upsells. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Not confirmed | Only community support on Discord is described; no paid support or SLA was found. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Freelancers and small businesses that want to send invoices and estimates from an app they host themselves.
Why choose it over FreshBooks
The code is AGPL-3.0 and the homepage says there are no seats, subscriptions or upsells. It covers invoices, estimates, recurring invoices, payments, expenses, reports, a customer portal and multiple companies. Data stays in your own SQLite, MariaDB or PostgreSQL database. The docs include a guide for moving over from Crater.
Where it falls short
The default 3.x branch is labelled an alpha preview that is not for production data, so production use means the older 2.x release. This is an invoicing tool, not a full accounting system; no ledger or bank reconciliation was found on the pages read. No official hosted plan is described, so you handle hosting, email setup, backups and upgrades. Community support only, via Discord. SSO and audit logs were not found. The only online payment option named on the homepage is Stripe.
Open-source alternative to
- FreshBooks — Replacement use, not an official claim: InvoiceShelf is a self-hosted invoicing app, so it can stand in for a hosted invoicing service such as FreshBooks.
Category
Finance & AccountingTech stack
PHP
Vue
TypeScript
DockerLanguages as reported by GitHub for the repository.
