Crater is a free, open-source, self-hosted invoicing app for freelancers and small businesses. See features, pricing, and how it compares to InvoiceShelf.
Crater is an open-source invoicing and billing web application that lets freelancers and small business owners create invoices, estimates, and recurring bills, track payments and expenses, and manage clients from a self-hosted dashboard. It was built on the Laravel PHP framework with a Vue.js frontend, and companion mobile apps were built in React Native for iOS and Android.
Because Crater is released under the AGPLv3 open-source license, anyone can download the source code from GitHub, install it on their own server, and use it indefinitely at no licensing cost. This makes it popular with developers, agencies, and cost-conscious small businesses that already have the technical know-how to run a self-hosted application, or who use one-click installers on platforms such as Cloudron.
The original Crater repository (crater-invoice-inc/crater) saw a substantial drop in maintenance activity after 2021. To keep the project alive, a group of contributors created InvoiceShelf, a direct fork of Crater's codebase that has continued to receive bug fixes, security updates, and new features.
For new installations in 2026, the open-source community generally recommends InvoiceShelf over the original Crater repository, since it shares the same core invoicing, estimate, expense, and client-management features but is actively maintained. Existing Crater installations can typically migrate to InvoiceShelf because the underlying data structures are closely related.
Crater (and its InvoiceShelf continuation) is best suited to freelancers, consultants, and small businesses that want full ownership of their invoicing data, are comfortable with basic server administration or a managed self-hosting platform, and want to avoid the recurring per-seat or per-invoice fees charged by cloud invoicing SaaS products.
It is less suited to non-technical users who need zero-setup, fully managed software, or to larger finance teams that require built-in payment gateway integrations, payroll, or advanced accounting features beyond invoicing, estimates, and basic expense tracking.
Yes. Crater is released under the AGPLv3 open-source license, so the software itself costs nothing; the only expense is the hosting infrastructure you run it on.
The original crater-invoice-inc repository has seen little activity since 2021. Active development now happens primarily through InvoiceShelf, a community fork built on the same codebase.
InvoiceShelf is a fork of Crater created to continue development after the original project slowed down. It shares the same core invoicing features but receives ongoing updates and bug fixes.
Some self-hosting platforms, such as Cloudron, offer one-click installers that simplify setup, but running Crater still requires basic server administration knowledge.
Yes, Crater supports recurring invoices for clients who are billed on a regular schedule, such as retainers or subscriptions.
Crater includes basic payment recording, though its built-in online payment gateway integrations are more limited than many commercial cloud invoicing platforms.
No. Crater Financial is a separate, unrelated commercial product focused on AI-powered accounts receivable and payable automation, distinct from the open-source Crater invoicing application.
Yes, Crater supports multi-currency invoicing and configurable tax rates.