FrontAccounting vs GNUKhata

FrontAccounting is free, self-hosted web accounting software for small companies, covering accounting tasks across a broader ERP chain. It includes purchasing, sales, accounts payable and receivable, inventory, manufacturing, fixed assets, and a general ledger with budget. Sales tools include quotations, orders, delivery notes, invoices, credit notes, batch invoicing, point-of-sale definitions, and payment allocation. Purchasing includes purchase orders, goods receival notes, supplier price lists and payments, and transaction attachments. Inventory supports stock items, locations, transfers, reorder levels, average material cost, and barcode scanner entry; manufacturing includes bills of materials and work orders. It supports multiple companies and users with different privileges, along with backup, restore, and simple audit trails. Reports can be printed, emailed, converted to PDF, or exported to Excel or OpenOffice Calc. Multi-currency and GST/VAT support are listed. Installation requires a web server, PHP, and MySQL with InnoDB enabled; other database systems are unsupported. The software is web-only, and support requests are directed to its forum. The listed plan is free.

GNUKhata is free, open-source financial accounting and inventory software for SMEs, traders, startups, and NGOs, with a focus on Indian GST requirements. It handles sales and purchase invoices, point-of-sale entries, delivery notes, debit and credit notes, payments, and receipts. Accounting tools include a customizable chart of accounts, journal and other vouchers, and year-end book closing and rollover. Inventory records cover products and services, tax details, HSN search, and stock across multiple godowns. Reports include Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and stock summaries. GNUKhata can prepare GSTR-1 reports as JSON for upload to the GST portal, and it has multiple user roles, including Admin, Manager, Operator, Internal Auditor, and Godown In charge. Version 8.0 is distributed as Docker images; Windows installation is possible, but the project says it is not well tested. The project reports fixed SQL injection issues, while also noting that the code has not had a security audit and recommending use in a private environment. It does not currently support online e-way billing or e-invoicing, or GST-2A/GSTR-2B reconciliation. The listed plan is GNUKhata at free.