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manage invoices, estimates, payments, expenses, and customers in one self-hosted business application

OSS scale score 260.1OSS health 33Update pace 0 commits/30d
About these scores

OSS scale score is an unbounded metric that log-compresses and weights Stars, Watchers, Forks, and Contributors. Discovery score is the current OSS scale score minus the score at discovery. Update pace is commits in the last 30 days, growth momentum is the OSS scale score difference within the recent observation window, and OSS health is a 0–100 rating based on available recency, Community Health, and release data.

Stars
8,349
Primary language
PHP
License
AGPL-3.0
Repository last updated
Aug 10, 2024
On this page

Overview

Crater is a Laravel and Vue invoicing application that combines customers, estimates, invoices, payments, expenses, and reports. The repository also contains a Docker Compose stack around MariaDB/MySQL, making it possible for individuals and small businesses to host billing data themselves.

Features and best fit

Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:

Key features

Track the flow from customer to estimate, invoice, and payment

Customer records connect estimates, invoices, and payments so core billing workflows can be followed in one application.

Sources: [1]

Keep expenses and financial reports alongside billing records

Expense records and tax or profit-and-loss reporting complement the receivables side for basic small-business financial operations.

Sources: [1]

Self-host a Laravel/Vue stack with MariaDB

The repository includes PHP application, Vue frontend, MariaDB, nginx, and cron services in its Docker Compose setup.

Sources: [2][5]

Best fit

Fits small businesses that prefer to retain invoice data on their own server

It is relevant when customer, estimate, and invoice records should not depend on a third-party hosted invoicing SaaS.

Sources: [1]

Before adoption

Reassess dependency and security freshness before adoption

The latest GitHub release, 6.0.6, was published on 2022-03-06 and the repository was last pushed on 2024-08-10. In 2026, Laravel 8 and frontend dependencies warrant explicit CVE and runtime-compatibility review.

Sources: [6][5]

Do not reuse example environment and Compose credentials in production

The example environment enables APP_DEBUG and includes a fixed APP_KEY, while Compose uses crater/crater database credentials. Replace secrets, disable debug, configure TLS, and design backups before exposure.

Sources: [4][2]

Resolve license metadata differences in favor of the root AGPL-3.0 notice

GitHub license detection and the root LICENSE identify AGPL-3.0, while composer.json says MIT. This catalog entry follows the repository-root AGPL-3.0 notice; operators should still verify the notices shipped with their chosen version.

Sources: [7][5]

Official sources

  1. [1]crater-invoice-inc/crater repository(2026-10-01)
  2. [2]Crater Docker Compose(2026-10-01)
  3. [3]Crater Docker setup script(2026-10-01)
  4. [4]Crater environment example(2026-10-01)
  5. [5]Crater composer.json(2026-10-01)
  6. [6]Crater 6.0.6 release(2026-10-01)
  7. [7]Crater AGPL-3.0 root license(2026-10-01)
Supplemental curator note

Crater combines invoices, estimates, payments, expenses, and customer records for individuals and small businesses. Its newest GitHub release dates to March 2022 and the repository was last pushed in August 2024, so maintenance freshness should be treated as a primary adoption check in 2026.

Try it in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Fetch the 6.0.6 source

    Because maintenance is stale, evaluate the last published release tag rather than following the moving repository branch.

    git clone https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater.git && cd crater && git checkout 6.0.6
  2. 2

    Build and start the Compose stack

    Start the PHP application, MariaDB, nginx, and cron services. Treat the example secrets and database credentials as local-evaluation values only.

    cp .env.example .env && docker compose up -d --build
  3. 3

    Prepare PHP dependencies and the application key

    Run the equivalent of the repository setup script with modern Docker Compose syntax, then open http://localhost to inspect the installation flow.

    docker compose exec app composer install --no-interaction --prefer-dist --optimize-autoloader && (docker compose exec app php artisan storage:link || true) && docker compose exec app php artisan key:generate
Check the official README

Growth

Growth trends · Last 30 days

8,349 Stars

Trend data is still being collected.

Development activity

Last 90 days · weekly

Commits (last 30 days)
0
Open PRs
39

Development activity is still being collected.

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Categories and tags

Categories

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GitHub data

GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
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GitHub Topics

  • invoices
  • php
  • laravel
  • javascript
  • vue
  • payment
  • laravel-framework
Stars
8,349
Forks
1,711
Watchers
148
Open issues
386
Contributors
89
Owner type
Organization
Primary language
PHP
License
AGPL-3.0
Repository last updated
Aug 10, 2024
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