Own your bookkeeping.
Local, double-entry accounting for independent craftsmen, makers, and freelancers. Zero cloud tracking. Zero recurring subscription fees. Running entirely on your own machine.
Local-First SQLite
Your books are one plain SQLite file. Back up the folder, and you've backed up the business.
Rigorous Bookkeeping
Correct double-entry accounting with a clean, jargon-free money in / money out interface.
AI-Powered OCR
Use local LLMs or Claude API keys to parse receipts and match bank statements on your own term.
A subscription-free QuickBooks alternative for makers and freelancers
ShopBooks is a local, private bookkeeping app for one-person businesses — woodworkers, artists, builders, and independent contractors who are tired of paying a monthly QuickBooks Online subscription for basic invoicing and bank matching. Instead of renting your accounting software, you run ShopBooks on your own machine and keep your books forever. It is open source under the MIT license, so you can build it from source, inspect exactly what it does, and never worry about a vendor raising prices or locking you out of your own history.
Own your data — no cloud, no lock-in
Your entire business ledger is a single SQLite file on your computer, and your receipts live in an ordinary folder. Back up that folder and you have backed up your business. Nothing is uploaded to a third-party server, there is no telemetry, and there is no risk of losing access to your financial records when you cancel a subscription. ShopBooks runs as a fast local web app on 127.0.0.1, so your financials are as private as the files on your laptop.
Real double-entry accounting, without the jargon
Under the hood ShopBooks keeps balanced double-entry journal entries and produces standard balance sheet and profit & loss reports your accountant will recognize. On the surface you get a simple money-in, money-out interface: import a PDF or CSV statement, confirm the suggested categories, drop in receipt photos, and let the app match them automatically. At tax time, one click produces a clean CSV export and an organized ZIP of every receipt — ready to hand to your accountant for your Schedule C.
Frequently asked questions
Is ShopBooks a free QuickBooks alternative?
Yes. ShopBooks is open source (MIT licensed) and free to build from source. It replaces QuickBooks Online's core bookkeeping for one-person businesses without any monthly subscription.
Where is my financial data stored?
Entirely on your own computer. Your books are a single local SQLite file and your receipts sit in a normal folder. Nothing is uploaded to a cloud server, and there is zero telemetry.
Does ShopBooks do proper double-entry accounting?
Yes. ShopBooks keeps balanced double-entry journal entries internally and outputs standard balance sheet and profit & loss reports, but presents a simple money-in / money-out interface with no accounting jargon.
Will my accountant accept ShopBooks reports at tax time?
Yes. ShopBooks exports clean CSV balance sheets and P&L statements and bundles every receipt image and transaction into one organized year-end ZIP that you can hand straight to your accountant.