replacing Xero
Open Source Xero Alternatives
Cloud accounting software — Xero pricing: $15-$78/month. Below: 2 free,
self-hostable open source projects that cover the same ground, ranked by real GitHub adoption.
There are 2 open source Xero alternatives tracked on this registry, against Xero pricing of $15-$78/month. The most-adopted is Firefly III with 24,649 GitHub stars under AGPL-3.0, written in PHP. Together the set has 34,735 stars across 1 language and 1 licence. All 2 are free to self-host with no licence fee, and 2 of 2 received a commit in the last 90 days. 2 head-to-head Xero comparisons are available.
Xero's pricing scales with invoices and bills. Early plan at $15/month caps at 20 invoices. No offline mode.
Our top 2 Xero alternatives
Firefly III is a free and open source personal finance manager that runs on infrastructure the user controls. It lives in the PHP ecosystem, is distributed through Packagist and as a Docker image, and is published under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its core is a double-entry bookkeeping system, the same accounting principle commercial bookkeeping packages rely on, wrapped in an interface designed for personal rather than corporate finance. The project originates in the European Union and its README frames data sovereignty as a first-order concern rather than a marketing afterthought.
AGPL-3.0 · PHP · Xero vs Firefly III →
Invoice Ninja is a source-available invoice, quote, project, and time-tracking application built with Laravel and PHP. It lives in the Laravel ecosystem and is positioned as an open alternative to QuickBooks, Xero, and FreshBooks. The project provides a web application, API, desktop clients, and mobile clients for businesses that need to bill clients and manage payment-related work.
NOASSERTION · PHP · Xero vs Invoice Ninja →
last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked
Frequently asked questions
What is the best open source alternative to Xero?
Firefly III is the most-starred open source alternative to Xero in this registry, with 24,649 GitHub stars. 2 alternatives are compared here in total.
Are there free alternatives to Xero?
Yes. Every project listed on this page is open source and free to self-host — there is no licence fee. Some projects also sell a managed hosted version, but the self-hosted path costs nothing.
What should I look at when replacing Xero?
Compare licence terms, community size (stars), primary language and release activity. A fast-moving project with a compatible licence and an active maintainer base matters more than raw star count when you are committing to a migration.