4,947 stars · AGPL-3.0 · v0.36.0 (2025-11-06, ungh). GitHub's page read 'November 6, 2024' and was a year out · Track this in Scout
Free desktop accounting software with invoicing, ledgers and reports, from the makers of ERPNext.
▶Repo detailsthe review · specs · pros & cons · install
What it is
Frappe Books is a desktop application for macOS, Windows and Linux, built by the team behind the Frappe and ERPNext business software. It does double-entry bookkeeping, invoicing, stock, payments and the usual financial statements.
What it is good for. A freelancer or a small business that has outgrown a spreadsheet and does not want a subscription. It is also for anyone who wants the ledger on their own laptop rather than in a company's database. firefly-iii/firefly-iii, which Edition 28 covered, tracks personal money on a web server; this is the business counterpart, and it needs no server at all.
- Real double-entry accounting, not a spreadsheet with a nice front. The reports are the ones an accountant recognises.
- Installs like an ordinary application. No Docker, no database to set up, no web server.
- Multi-currency, stock and point-of-sale are included rather than sold separately.
- AGPL-3.0, which matters if you plan to build something on top of it and sell it.
- The newest release, v0.36.0, is dated 6 November 2025 — ten months ago — although code landed on 6 September 2026. You are choosing between an old build and building from source.
- No bank connection. Every transaction is typed or imported by hand, and for a busy month that is real work.
firefly-iii/firefly-iiiPersonal rather than business finance, and it runs as a web application you host instead of a desktop app.
Track this in Scout- GnuCash/gnucash
A much older desktop accounting program with far more features and a far older interface.
Track this in Scout - beancount/beancount
Accounting as a plain text file you edit yourself, for people who would rather type than click.
Track this in Scout
https://github.com/frappe/books/releases
