Open-source software stack for accounting firms
For bookkeeping and accounting practices that handle sensitive client financials and want to keep them on infrastructure they control.
14 tools · picks reviewed Oct 2026
Your savings
$17,592
per year for a team of 10
$22,812 paid tools today − $5,220 to run it
The stack
Tap a tool for detailsSelf-hosting does not by itself make a practice compliant with client-confidentiality, data-protection or professional rules; that remains the firm's responsibility.
All 14 tools
Switch off anything you don't pay for today and the savings update.
- Why
- Clients, engagements and recurring deadlines as custom objects with workflows; EspoCRM is a more traditional option.
- Licence
- AGPL-3.0-only60.2K stars
- Replaces
- Karbon · Team (billed yearly) · $59/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $7,080/yr
- Also good
- EspoCRM
- Why
- OCRs, tags and files every receipt, statement and letter clients send, with full-text search.
- Licence
- GPL-3.047.4K stars
- Replaces
- Dext · Dext Prepare Direct, 250 docs/month (billed yearly) · $25.21/mo · checked Oct 2026 · $303/yr
- Why
- A client portal with upload links, shared folders and expiring shares.
- Licence
- AGPL-3.037.4K stars
- Replaces
- Dropbox · Business Standard · $18/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $2,160/yr
- Why
- Engagement letters and authorisations signed online with an audit trail.
- Licence
- AGPL-3.019K stars
- Replaces
- DocuSign · Standard (billed yearly) · $25/user/mo · 5 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $1,500/yr
- Also good
- Documenso
- Why
- Merges, splits, OCRs and redacts statements and returns on your own server.
- Licence
- MIT95.4K stars
- Replaces
- Adobe Acrobat · Acrobat Pro for teams (billed yearly) · $23.99/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $2,879/yr
- Why
- Onboarding questionnaires and year-end checklists sent as links.
- Licence
- AGPL-3.013.2K stars
- Replaces
- Typeform · Basic (billed yearly) · $28/mo · checked Oct 2026 · $336/yr
- Why
- Clients book review meetings and busy-season slots into each accountant's calendar.
- Licence
- GPL-3.04.5K stars
- Replaces
- Calendly · Standard (billed yearly) · $10/user/mo · 5 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $600/yr
- Why
- Hours per client and engagement, for fixed-fee checks and hourly billing.
- Licence
- AGPL-3.0-only5.1K stars
- Replaces
- Harvest · Teams (billed yearly) · $9/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $1,080/yr
- Why
- Source-available. Recurring fees and one-off invoices, with client payment links.
- Licence
- Elastic-2.010.4K stars
- Replaces
- QuickBooks · Online Simple Start · $38/mo · checked Oct 2026 · $456/yr
- Why
- Client portal and software logins shared safely within the firm.
- Licence
- AGPL-3.070K stars
- Replaces
- 1Password · Business (billed yearly) · $7.99/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $959/yr
- Also good
- Bitwarden
- Why
- Encrypted backups of every workstation and the file server to storage you choose.
- Licence
- Apache-2.014.5K stars
- Replaces
- Backblaze Computer Backup · Business, per computer (billed yearly) · $8.25/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $990/yr
- Also good
- restic
- Why
- Records and summarises client calls on your own computer, so nothing leaves the firm.
- Licence
- MIT32.3K stars
- Replaces
- Otter.ai · Business (billed yearly) · $19.99/user/mo · 5 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $1,199/yr
- Why
- Ask questions of client files with answers kept in-house; RAGFlow handles larger document sets with citations.
- Licence
- MIT67.8K stars
- Replaces
- ChatGPT Business · Standard seat (billed yearly) · $20/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $2,400/yr
- Also good
- RAGFlow
- Extra running
- GPU server, $250/mo (counted in running cost)
- Why
- Internal chat that keeps client discussions off third-party servers.
- Licence
- AGPL-3.039.5K stars
- Replaces
- Slack · Pro (billed yearly) · $7.25/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026 · $870/yr
- Also good
- Zulip
How we calculate
For each paid tool you keep switched on, we take its public list price for the plan shown and multiply it by the seats your team would need. Some tools are only used by part of a team, so a row may count a share of your team or a fixed number of seats; the row says how many. Prices that depend on sales or usage are shown but not counted.
From that we subtract an estimate for running the open-source stack yourself: $165/month plus $2 per person per month (Two 8 vCPU / 16 GB cloud servers, plus storage per person), and any extra running cost a row lists, such as a GPU. The time it takes to set up and maintain the tools is not included.