Crater — Open Source Invoicing for Freelancers and Small Businesses

Introduction

Crater is a free, open-source invoicing application designed for freelancers and small businesses. Built with Laravel and Vue.js, it provides a modern web interface for managing invoices, estimates, expenses, and payment tracking without relying on a SaaS subscription.

What Crater Does

• Creates and sends professional invoices and estimates with PDF export
• Tracks expenses and categorizes them for reporting
• Records payments and maps them to outstanding invoices
• Supports multiple currencies and tax configurations
• Provides a dashboard with revenue and expense analytics

Architecture Overview

Crater follows a standard Laravel monolith architecture with a Vue.js single-page application on the frontend. The backend exposes a RESTful API that the Vue frontend consumes. PDF generation is handled server-side via a rendering engine. Data is stored in MySQL or MariaDB, and the application supports queue workers for background jobs like email delivery.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Requires PHP 8.0+, MySQL 5.7+, and Composer for the backend
• Run composer install and npm install && npm run build to set up dependencies
• Configure database credentials and mail settings in the .env file
• Deploy with Docker using the community Docker Compose setup
• Set up a cron job for php artisan schedule:run to handle recurring invoices

Key Features

• Professional invoice templates with customizable branding
• Recurring invoices that auto-generate on a set schedule
• Multi-currency support with configurable exchange rates
• Tax management with compound and group tax options
• RESTful API for integrating with external accounting or CRM tools

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Invoice Ninja — more features and integrations but heavier and more complex to self-host
• Akaunting — broader accounting scope but less focused invoicing experience
• FreshBooks — polished SaaS invoicing but requires a monthly subscription
• Wave — free cloud invoicing but not self-hostable and ad-supported
• SolidInvoice — Symfony-based alternative with fewer active contributors

FAQ

Q: Is Crater free for commercial use? A: Yes. Crater is released under the AGPLv3 license, which allows commercial use with the requirement to share modifications.

Q: Does Crater support recurring invoices? A: Yes. You can configure invoices to recur on daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly schedules.

Q: Can I customize the invoice template? A: Yes. Crater includes several built-in templates, and you can add your company logo, colors, and custom fields.

Q: Does Crater have a mobile app? A: Yes. Crater provides companion mobile apps for iOS and Android for on-the-go invoice management.

Sources

• https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater
• https://craterapp.com/docs