Own your bookkeeping.

It doesn't have to be this way

ShopBooks started as one luthier's quiet revenge on a bill that went up every year while the software got worse. If you've ever run a one-person shop on QuickBooks Online, you know the drill: another redesign nobody asked for, another button that moved, another basic feature shoved behind a higher tier, ads stacked on top of ads — and a monthly price that climbs like it's got somewhere to be. You didn't get into your craft to spend the rest of your working life renting your own numbers back from Intuit.

Here's what a maker knows in their bones: you build things meant to last — a mandolin, a guitar, a commission someone will still be playing in forty years. Durable work deserves durable books. You already buy your materials local and sell your work local; there's no reason your software can't be local too. ShopBooks is a single file on your own machine — yours to keep, back up, and hand to your accountant. There is no subscription to cancel, because there was never one to begin with. To the makers, freelancers, and one-person shops of every discipline: it simply does not have to be this way.

A subscription-free QuickBooks alternative for makers and freelancers

ShopBooks is a local, private bookkeeping app for one-person businesses — instrument makers, woodworkers, artists, builders, freelancers, and independent contractors who are done paying a forever-climbing monthly bill 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