The honest, open source alternative to Zoho Books.
Zoho Books splits its product across tiers with user seats and document caps. LineLedger has one build with everything on, free under the AGPLv3, with no seat count, no invoice cap, and no feature held back for a higher plan.
Comparison as of October 2026.
What you actually pay
Zoho’s sticker prices are billed-annually rates, and everything on top is metered — seats, invoices, scans. Here’s where the real cost lands.
LineLedger
One build, everything on, no meter.
- Unlimited invoices, bills, and users
- Full multi-currency included
- No per-user charge, ever
- Inventory, budgets, classes & locations
- Portable ZIP export — leave anytime
Zoho Books
£0–£199/mo across six tiers, excluding VAT
Billed-annually stickers; seats, scans, and expense claims are extra.
- Free: one user, 1,000 invoices a year
- Standard £12: three users; Professional £24 adds multi-currency
- Premium £30: ten users; Elite £99; Ultimate £199
- Extra users are £2.50 each per month
- Add-ons are billed separately, and the Free plan takes almost none
| Same books | LineLedger | Zoho Books |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing in euros and dollars | £0 | £24/mo multi-currency starts at Professional |
| Eight people in the books | £0 | £30/mo Professional includes five → Premium |
| Six users on Standard | £0 | £19.50/mo Standard £12 + three extra users at £2.50 |
Zoho Books figures are current UK list pricing from zoho.com, excluding VAT and promotional discounts as of October 2026. Source.
Feature for feature
Where each one is ahead — including the things Zoho Books does that we don’t yet.
| Capability | LineLedger | Zoho Books |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | £0 — you run it | £0–£199/mo across six tiers, ex-VAT |
| Users included | Unlimited | 1 / 3 / 5 / 10 / 10 / 15, then £2.50 each |
| Invoice caps | None | 1,000–100,000 a year by tier |
| Runs on your own server | Yes | No |
| Open source — audit, patch, or fork (AGPLv3) | Yes | No |
| Full multi-currency | Included | Professional and up |
| VAT return worked out from the books | All nine boxes | Yes |
| Submits the VAT return to HMRC LineLedger prepares the nine boxes; you file them through Making Tax Digital software. | No | Yes |
| UK payroll (PAYE & RTI) Zoho sells UK payroll as its own subscription. LineLedger does no UK payroll at all: post your provider’s pay run as a journal entry. | No | Separate product |
What it costs
Users included
Invoice caps
Runs on your own server
Open source — audit, patch, or fork (AGPLv3)
Full multi-currency
VAT return worked out from the books
Submits the VAT return to HMRC
LineLedger prepares the nine boxes; you file them through Making Tax Digital software.
UK payroll (PAYE & RTI)
Zoho sells UK payroll as its own subscription. LineLedger does no UK payroll at all: post your provider’s pay run as a journal entry.
A real double-entry core
Not a single-entry chequebook with a dashboard — a proper ledger that always ties out, with full multi-currency for cross-border work.
Read the code
LineLedger is open source under the AGPLv3. Audit exactly how your books are calculated — or run your own build.
No price at all
Every feature on, unlimited users, as many companies as you like. No tiers to climb, no seats to count, and no invoice from us — ever.
Common questions
- What do I give up by self-hosting?
- The hosting. You provide a small server and keep it updated; in exchange nothing is metered, nothing is held back for a higher tier, and your ledger never leaves your machine.
- Are there user or invoice limits?
- No. Unlimited users, unlimited invoices, unlimited companies — the limits are your server’s, not a plan’s.
- Will my price go up every year?
- There is no price to raise. LineLedger is free software you install on your own server, with every feature on and nothing metered as you add users. It is published under the AGPLv3, so the copy you are running stays yours.
- Can I get my data back out if I leave?
- Anytime. Export your whole company to a portable ZIP, plus CSV and XLSX from every report. No export tiers, no retrieval fees — your books are yours.
Weighing other options?
See how LineLedger stacks up elsewhere — or start from the full roundup.
See the difference on your own books.
Install it with Docker in about five minutes and every feature is on. No account, no subscription, no per-company charge — just your own server and the AGPLv3.
Zoho and Zoho Books are trademarks of Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd., used here for identification and comparison only. LineLedger is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Zoho Corporation. Comparison based on publicly available information as of October 2026; pricing and features may have changed — see the source.