Your whole business books, on software you own
Most freelancers run their finances on a patchwork of tools — a template invoice in a word processor, a spreadsheet for expenses, a separate timer app and a shoebox of receipts that becomes a panic every tax season. ChetsBooks replaces that patchwork with a single, self-hosted invoicing and accounting platform that covers your entire money workflow: from the first estimate, through the invoice, payment, expenses, the books and the year-end reports — all in one place you fully own.
It is built for independent professionals and small agencies who want proper, accountant-grade tools without enterprise complexity or endless monthly fees.
Why ChetsBooks
- You own it. Self-hosted on your own server, so your financial data and client records stay under your control — not locked inside someone else's cloud.
- One purchase, no subscriptions. A single license instead of a recurring per-month bill that grows as your invoicing does.
- Minimal setup. A 5-minute web installer and a clean, intuitive interface you can pick up in an afternoon, not a week.
Who it's for
ChetsBooks is designed for the people who actually do the work and send the invoices:
- Solo freelancers — designers, developers, writers and consultants
- Small agencies with staff who log time and submit timesheets
- International freelancers billing clients in multiple currencies
- Anyone who needs real bookkeeping, not just a pretty invoice
A complete tour of what's inside
Invoicing & estimates
Create multi-currency invoices with line-item taxation, discounts and shipping, rendered through four polished PDF templates — Modern, Classic, Minimal and Creative. Send estimates and quotes that convert into invoices in a click, and share a token-protected public proposal URL where clients can review and capture their signature.
Recurring billing
Set invoices to repeat on weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly cycles, so retainers and subscriptions bill themselves while you get on with the work.
Client portal
Each client gets a portal showing their full invoice and proposal history, so they can find what they owe and what they have paid without emailing you.
Projects & time tracking
Run projects as hourly, fixed-fee, retainer or non-billable, track them with a live timer in the header or manual entries, and roll hours up into invoices. Retainer hour blocks auto-decrement as time is logged, and a weekly timesheet workflow lets staff submit hours for approval.
Mileage tracking
Log mileage at configurable, IRS-friendly rates so travel becomes a billable line or a deductible expense instead of a forgotten cost.
Expenses & bills
Manage vendor bills with line-item amounts, capture receipts with OCR that pulls vendor, amount and category straight from a photo, and set up recurring expenses for hosting and subscriptions. Import a bank CSV with auto-matching, and let an expense rules engine categorise transactions for you. Vendor records track year-to-date paid totals for 1099 reporting.
Double-entry bookkeeping
Under the hood is a real general ledger: a fully customizable Chart of Accounts, automatic journal posting for every transaction, a manual journal entry screen and complete account transaction history — proper double-entry accounting, not a glorified list.
Reports & insights
Produce a Trial Balance, Income Statement and Balance Sheet on demand, alongside aged receivables, tax owed, revenue by client and expense-by-category reports. A dashboard surfaces outstanding, paid and overdue tiles with weekly bars, and insights track revenue, MRR, profit margin and top vendors. Year-end vendor totals export as a downloadable CSV.
Automation & integrations
Webhooks fire on events like invoice.paid and proposal.signed, Sanctum-backed API tokens connect scripts and Zapier, and optional AI (your own OpenAI or Anthropic key) powers smart assists. A ⌘K / Ctrl+K global search jumps you anywhere instantly.
Team, security & admin
Role-based access control via Spatie Permission gives each member exactly the access they need, an audit trail logs every create, update and delete with user and timestamp, multi-tenant isolation scopes data by organization, API keys are stored encrypted, and a one-click GDPR data export bundles everything into a ZIP.
A day with ChetsBooks
A prospect asks for a quote; you send an estimate, they sign it on the public proposal page, and it converts into an invoice. You start the live timer as you work, log a few miles for a site visit, and snap a photo of a lunch receipt that OCR files under the right category. The client pays by card through Stripe and the invoice marks itself paid — posting the journal entries automatically. At month end, you import your bank CSV, the rules engine sorts it, and your Income Statement and aged receivables are ready to review. At year end, vendor totals export to CSV for 1099s — no spreadsheet gymnastics, no shoebox.
Built on a modern, maintainable stack
ChetsBooks is built on Laravel 13 with Livewire 4, Tailwind CSS v4 and Alpine.js — a modern, well-supported stack that any Laravel developer can customise and extend. It runs on PHP 8.4+ with MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL or SQLite, authentication is secured by Fortify with two-factor (TOTP), payments run through Stripe, and PDFs are generated with DomPDF. The interface is fully responsive with light and dark modes, and ships with i18n-ready language files.
What you actually get
- Full source code — every controller, Livewire component and Blade view, with no obfuscation
- A 5-minute web installer with a guided setup wizard
- Commercial use rights under the Standard License
- Domain activation and deactivation you manage yourself
- Lifetime access to the version you buy, plus free updates
- Self-contained documentation — 9 pages of HTML that need no internet
Try it before you buy
A live demo is available with ready-made logins for Owner, Accountant and Staff, so you can see exactly what each role sees before committing.
Pricing, support & guarantee
ChetsBooks is available under the Standard License for $59, with 6 months of author support included. Need longer? Extend to 12 months for +$8.85 or 18 months for +$14.75 at checkout. Every purchase includes lifetime access to free updates and is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can buy with confidence. There is no kill-switch after support ends — the app keeps working indefinitely.
Frequently asked questions
Is ChetsBooks really self-hosted?
Yes — you install it on your own server with the 5-minute web installer and keep full control of your financial data and source code.
Are there monthly fees?
No. It is a one-time purchase under the Standard License, with optional paid support extensions and free updates for life.
Does it do real accounting, not just invoices?
Yes — a full double-entry general ledger with Chart of Accounts, automatic journal posting and Trial Balance, Income Statement and Balance Sheet reports.
What if it is not right for me?
Every purchase is covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can try the live demo first.