head to head · open source
ERPNext vs Bigcapital
ERPNext has 40,868 GitHub stars, 13,377 forks, 1,822 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bigcapital has 4,040 stars, 569 forks, 214 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ERPNext leads on adoption by 912% (40,868 vs 4,040 stars). ERPNext is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Bigcapital is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. ERPNext has attracted 33% as many forks as stars, Bigcapital 14%. ERPNext was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (accounting), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| ERPNext | Bigcapital | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 4.0K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 569 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ERPNext if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Bigcapital if
- You want the Bigcapital feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Bigcapital fits your workflow better
About ERPNext
ERPNext Powerful, Intuitive and Open Source ERP Live Demo Website Documentation ERPNext 100% Open Source ERP System to help you run your business. Motivation Running a business is a complex task handling invoices, tracking stock, managing personnel, and other daily operations. In a market where software is sold separately to manage each of these tasks, ERPNext does all of the above and more, for free. Key Features Accounting : All the tools you need to manage cash flow in one place, right from recording transactions to summarizing and analyzing financial reports. Order Management : Track inventory levels…
read the full ERPNext overview →
About Bigcapital
Simple, smart online accounting software for small and medium businesses. Bigcapital Cloud What's Bigcapital? Bigcapital is a smart and open source accounting and inventory software, Bigcapital keeps all business finances in right place and automates accounting processes to give the business powerful and intelligent financial statements and reports to help in making decisions. Getting Started We've got serveral options on dev and prod depending on your need to get started quickly with Bigcapital. Self hosted Bigcapital is available open source under AGPL license. You can host it on your own servers using Docker…
read the full Bigcapital overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ERPNext or Bigcapital more popular?
ERPNext has 40,868 GitHub stars and Bigcapital has 4,040. ERPNext has the larger community by that measure.
Are ERPNext and Bigcapital free?
Both are open source. ERPNext is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Bigcapital under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ERPNext and Bigcapital?
ERPNext is written in Python and Bigcapital in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ERPNext or Bigcapital?
Choose ERPNext if you want the larger community (40,868 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Bigcapital if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.