6 self-hosted options
Open-source alternatives to Wave
The best self-hosted alternatives to Wave are Invoice Ninja, Bigcapital and InvoiceShelf.
About Wave: Accounting and invoicing software for small businesses, with paid add-ons for payments and payroll.
Every option below is free to self-host and ranked by GitHub stars, so you can move off Wave without giving up the features you rely on.
Top picks
- Rank 1:
Invoice Ninja
invoiceninja/invoiceninja
Powerful tool to invoice clients online.
Source-availableAccounting & InvoicingPHPDocker - Rank 2:
Bigcapital
bigcapitalhq/bigcapital
Financial accounting and inventory management software for small to medium businesses.
Accounting & InvoicingTypeScriptDocker - Rank 3:
InvoiceShelf
InvoiceShelf/InvoiceShelf
Track expenses, payments & create professional invoices & estimates (fork of Crater).
Accounting & InvoicingPHPDocker
Why switch
Why teams move off Wave
Self-hosting is not only about saving money. These are the reasons people make the switch.
Own your data
Your data lives on a server you control, not on Wave's infrastructure. No surprise policy changes and no lock-in.
No per-seat pricing
Most self-hosted alternatives to Wave are free to run for as many users as your server can handle; source-available ones may cap usage, so check each license. A small VPS often costs less than a single subscription.
Customize and extend
Read the code, add plugins, connect it to your own tools and automate it through open APIs. When you need a feature, you can build it or fund it.
Full ranking
All 6 Wave alternatives
Ranked by GitHub stars. Open any app for live stats, license details and a deploy option.
- 1
Invoice Ninja
Powerful tool to invoice clients online.
Source-availableAccounting & InvoicingDocker - 2
Bigcapital
Financial accounting and inventory management software for small to medium businesses.
Accounting & InvoicingDocker - 3
InvoiceShelf
Track expenses, payments & create professional invoices & estimates (fork of Crater).
Accounting & InvoicingDocker - 4
Akaunting
Accounting software designed for small businesses and freelancers.
Source-availableAccounting & Invoicing - 5
ERPSAAS
Laravel and Filament accounting platform with double-entry accrual accounting, invoicing, bank connections and financial reports.
Accounting & Invoicing - 6
InvoicePlane
Manage quotes, invoices, payments and customers for your small business.
Accounting & Invoicing
What is the best open-source alternative to Wave?
Bigcapital is the most popular open-source alternative to Wave, with 3,921 GitHub stars. InvoiceShelf and ERPSAAS are also strong choices. Compare features, license and recent activity to find the best fit for your team.
Is there a free alternative to Wave?
Yes. 4 of the 6 apps on this page are open source; 2 are source-available. The open-source ones are free to self-host without per-user fees; source-available licenses add conditions such as user caps, limits on hosted use or a paid license for production, so read them before you commit. You only pay for the server, and a small VPS is usually enough for personal use or a small team.
Can I self-host an alternative to Wave?
Yes. Invoice Ninja, Bigcapital and InvoiceShelf ship a Docker image, so you can run them on a home server or VPS with Docker Compose in a few minutes. Your data then stays on hardware you control.
How do I migrate from Wave?
Start by exporting your data from Wave, then check the import options of the app you pick, since many projects ship importers for popular formats. Run both side by side for a week before you switch so nothing is lost.