FreshBooks charges $19/month, forever, to store your client list and send your invoices from their servers. Billcraft is the same core workflow — clients, invoices, PDFs, shareable payment links, recurring billing — running entirely on your machine (or your $5 VPS).
If you've searched for a FreshBooks alternative, Billcraft is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Billcraft is $39, one time, and covers the same core job FreshBooks charges $19/mo for.
What makes Billcraft the pick for 2026
- 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/
, see a polished invoice page, download the PDF — no login.
Billcraft vs FreshBooks, at a glance
| Billcraft | FreshBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $39 once | $19/month ($228/yr) |
| Clients | Unlimited | 5 billable clients (Lite) |
| Your data | On your machine/server | Their cloud |
| Invoices + PDF + share links | Yes | Yes |
| Recurring invoices | Yes | Yes |
| Email via your own SMTP | Yes | No (their sender) |
| Works offline (desktop mode) | Yes | No |
| Source code | MIT, yours | Closed |
Two months of FreshBooks pays for Billcraft outright. Everything after that is free, forever.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/invoice-generator-mvp. $39 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.
The bottom line
Billcraft won't out-feature FreshBooks on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $39 once against $19/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Billcraft is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Billcraft — $39, once
Clients, invoices, PDFs, share links & recurring billing — on hardware you control.