🧾 Billcraft
Self-hosted invoicing for freelancers and small businesses.
Billcraft at a glance
| Price | $99, once — no renewal |
| Replaces | FreshBooks at $19/mo — roughly $228 a year, every year |
| Type | Web app — self-hosted |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Category | Finance & Admin |
Billcraft features
🏢 Business profile
Name, logo, address, tax ID, currency and payment/bank instructions printed on every invoice.
👥 Unlimited clients
Full CRUD with company, email, address, notes. FreshBooks Lite caps you at 5 billable clients.
🧾 Real invoices
Line items (qty × rate), tax %, discount %, notes, due dates, configurable numbering.
📄 Professional PDFs
Clean server-side template (pdfkit — no headless browser) with your logo and status pill.
🔗 Public share links
Clients open /inv/
📊 Dashboard
Outstanding total, paid this month, overdue list at a glance — overdue computed automatically.
🔁 Recurring invoices
Monthly templates auto-create drafts; optionally auto-email them via your SMTP.
🔒 100% local
SQLite database, no telemetry, no external services. Your client data stays yours.
$99 once — that's the whole pricing page
FreshBooks charges $19/mo — roughly $228 a year, every year. Billcraft is a single payment, and it keeps working whether or not we ever sell another copy.
Or get Billcraft inside the full suite — every app in the catalog, currently $97 for the bundle. See the bundle →
Billcraft guides & pages
Honest answers
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/invoice-generator-mvp. $99 gets you the signed installer, 1-click setup and updates.
Does it do accounting / bookkeeping?
No — and that matters. Billcraft is invoicing: clients, invoices, PDFs, recurring billing. FreshBooks also does expenses, time tracking and accounting reports. If you need double-entry books, keep an accounting tool.
Can clients pay online through it?
Invoices carry your payment/bank instructions and share links, but there's no built-in card processing. Add your Stripe/PayPal link in the payment instructions.