# Bigcapital

> Bigcapital (3.9k stars, v0.25.44 Oct 2026; still 0.x) is a web accounting system with a double-entry ledger, sales invoices and estimates, Stripe payment links, expenses, bills, inventory and financial statements, plus a REST API. AGPL-3.0. Self-hosting is a Docker Compose stack with MariaDB; docs ask for 2 CPU cores and 4 GB RAM for up to 10 organizations. Automatic bank feeds need your own Plaid account. No time tracking or payroll.

- Repository: https://github.com/bigcapitalhq/bigcapital
- Official docs: https://docs.bigcapital.app/
- Checked: 2026-10-16

## What it replaces
- QuickBooks Online: Invoices, Online payment of invoices, Expense and receipt tracking, Bank feeds and reconciliation, Bookkeeping (partial). Covers core bookkeeping and invoicing; bank sync needs Plaid credentials; no payroll or time tracking.
- FreshBooks: Invoices, Online payment of invoices, Expense and receipt tracking, Bookkeeping (partial). No time tracking.

## Facts, with sources

| Question | Status | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Confirmed | Self-hosted with Docker Compose; Bigcapital Cloud also offered | https://github.com/bigcapitalhq/bigcapital#self-hosted | 2026-10-16 |
| Code licence | Partial | AGPL-3.0 (copyleft) | https://github.com/bigcapitalhq/bigcapital#self-hosted | 2026-10-16 |
| Model weights licence | Confirmed | No separate model weights | https://github.com/bigcapitalhq/bigcapital#readme | 2026-10-16 |
| Commercial use | Partial | Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms | https://github.com/bigcapitalhq/bigcapital/blob/develop/LICENSE | 2026-10-16 |
| Paid services needed? | Partial | Core needs nothing paid; automatic bank sync needs your own Plaid account; Stripe for card payments | https://docs.bigcapital.app/deployment/plaid_setup | 2026-10-16 |
| Hardware | Confirmed | 2 CPU cores and 4 GB RAM minimum for up to 10 organizations; 5-10 GB for MariaDB | https://docs.bigcapital.app/deployment/recommendation | 2026-10-16 |
| Operating systems | Partial | Any host with Docker and Docker Compose; ARM and host OS not documented | https://docs.bigcapital.app/deployment/docker | 2026-10-16 |
| Setup effort | Confirmed | Medium; clone the repo, edit .env and start docker-compose.prod.yml, or use the setup script | https://docs.bigcapital.app/deployment/docker | 2026-10-16 |

GitHub: 3939 stars, 542 forks, last push 2026-10-16, archived: no.
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Source: RepoQuarry (https://repoquarry.dev/projects/bigcapital). Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Quotes are from project documentation and belong to their authors.