Bigcapital

Double-entry accounting and inventory software for small and medium businesses, as a self-hosted alternative to QuickBooks, Xero or Wave.

4.1k stars, 579 forks TypeScript On GitHub since September 2021

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

Bigcapital at a glance

Open sourceYes, AGPL-3.0Some paid parts in the repository
Health63 of 100Actively developed
Self-hostingDockerCompose file, 5 services
Interface4 languagesIncluding English, Spanish and Arabic
Issue repliesWithin ~14 daysMedian first reply; 20% of recent issues answered

What is Bigcapital?

Bigcapital keeps a company's books in a double-entry ledger and produces financial statements and reports from them. It also tracks inventory, and its API lets other systems post transactions into it, which the project calls headless accounting. There is a hosted cloud, and you can run it on your own server with Docker Compose.

Good fit if

  • You run a small business and want accounting software you host yourself rather than a monthly subscription.
  • You need an accounting API to connect a store or internal tool.

Look elsewhere if

Before you adopt it

Bigcapital moved from GPL-2.0 to AGPL-3.0 in April 2023. The ee and EE folders in the server and web app hold paid enterprise modules. One developer writes almost all of the code. The Compose stack includes MySQL, Redis, ClickHouse and MinIO, so give it a reasonably sized server.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 31 October 2026. Report a correction

How to run Bigcapital yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
docker-compose.yml: 5 services (mysql, redis, clickhouse, minio)
Setup effort
4 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
4 languages: Arabic, English, Spanish and Swedish

Install instructions: bigcapital.app or the README on GitHub.

Bigcapital health: is it still maintained?

63 of 100, actively developed

Release rhythmEvery ~4 daysLatest: v0.25.45, 23 October 2026
Issue repliesWithin ~14 daysMedian first reply; 20% of recent issues answered
Bus factorHigh riskThe most active of 2 authors wrote 93% of recent commits
  • Activity
    554 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 4 November 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    2 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 93% of them.
    4 / 20
  • Releases
    15+ releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v0.25.45, on 23 October 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 20% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 14 days.
    5 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 5 November 2026. How the score works

Bigcapital license: is it open source?

Bigcapital uses AGPL-3.0, an open-source license approved by the OSI. Some features sit under a separate paid license inside the same repository.

  1. September 2021First published on GitHub under GPL-2.0.
  2. 5 April 2023Changed to AGPL-3.0. Commit: chore: switch to AGPL to protect networks
  3. TodayAGPL-3.0, with paid parts: directory packages/server/src/modules/EE/; directory packages/server/src/modules/ee/; directory packages/webapp/src/ee/.

Bigcapital for developers

Written in

  • TypeScript 97%
  • SCSS 2%
  • Shell <1%
  • JavaScript <1%
  • HTML <1%
  • Other <1%

Getting involved

Contributing guideYesCONTRIBUTING.mdOpen issues192On GitHub
Authors, 90 days2Of the latest 100 commits
DonationsPatreonListed on GitHub

Language shares are GitHub’s count of the code in the repository.

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Questions about Bigcapital

Is Bigcapital open source?

Yes. Bigcapital is published under AGPL-3.0, an OSI-approved open-source license. Some features are kept under a separate paid license in the same repository.

Is Bigcapital still maintained?

Its health score is 63 of 100 (actively developed). It had 554 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 4 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 23 October 2026.

Did Bigcapital change its license?

Yes. It moved from GPL-2.0 to AGPL-3.0 on 5 April 2023.

How do I run Bigcapital?

You can run it with Docker. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What is Bigcapital written in?

Bigcapital is written mainly in TypeScript (97% of the code), by GitHub’s count of the repository.

What languages is Bigcapital available in?

The repository has interface translations for 4 languages, including English, Spanish and Arabic.

What are the alternatives to Bigcapital?

Close alternatives in the Money & budgeting category include Akaunting, ezbookkeeping, Firefly III.