DefInvoice

Hey everyone, I’m Koushith, and I’m really excited to share something I’ve been building for a while. This started very simply. I needed an invoicing tool that wasn’t overpriced, wasn’t locked down. I tried a bunch of tools and every single one had some deal-breaker: either the subscription fees were too high for basic features, or the UI felt outdated, or I didn’t have any real control over my own data. And the moment you wanted to export or self-host anything, the whole thing would fall apart. So I built DefInvoice for myself. Then I realized a lot of freelancers, indie hackers, and small teams probably deal with the same pain. DefInvoice is open source under the MIT license, self-hostable, and built with a clean, modern UI. It gives you proper invoicing features without locking anything behind paywalls. You can create professional invoices with multiple templates, handle automatic numbering, manage different currencies including crypto, export to PDF, send invoices by email, and even share public invoice links. All your customer data, payments, and notes stay with you if you self host. There’s a full customer management flow, something like a small CRM, plus payment tracking so you always know what’s pending and what’s been cleared. On top of that, there’s an analytics dashboard, revenue insights, basic expense management, and support for running multiple businesses under the same setup. It’s built with a modern React and Node stack, the codebase is clean and well documented, and it comes with Docker and a simple REST API. If you’re a developer, you can fork it, extend it, or self-host it however you want. Who is this really for? Freelancers who don’t want to pay subscriptions for basic invoicing. Small businesses that need a proper billing workflow. Developers who prefer self-hosted tools. And honestly anyone who’s tired of paying for expensive SaaS just to send invoices. Invoices are only the starting point. My goal is to turn DefInvoice into a complete financial operations toolkit for small businesses and independent creators, something that replaces the five different apps people juggle today. In the coming months, I’m adding payment processing integrations, payment links, recurring billing, automated reminders, crypto payment support, and multi-currency settlements. The longer-term roadmap includes batch payouts, payroll, automated tax reporting, bank reconciliation, mobile apps, advanced expense management, GST and country-specific tax workflows, and eventually APIs and webhooks so others can build on top of it. If any of this sounds useful, I’d love for you to try it, self-host it, contribute, or just share feedback. DefInvoice is something I’m building for long term, and I hope it becomes genuinely useful for anyone who wants more control over their billing and financial workflows.