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Comparison · Finance
Bigcapital vs Firefly III
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Bigcapital and Firefly III — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:self-hosted
Bigcapital vs Firefly III: at a glance
What is Bigcapital?
Bigcapital adds cash and accrual basis accounting to its open-source books.
Bigcapital is an open-source accounting product releasing every week or two. v0.25.45 (October 23) brings cash and accrual basis accounting across journals, bills, credit notes and vendor credits, with a basis switch on the journal and trial balance reports. The releases before it added bank rules that apply to all accounts, report date presets and Plaid sync fixes, alongside a long run of report-correctness fixes.
What is Firefly III?
Firefly III keeps tagging develop builds daily, still with no release notes.
Firefly III's feed remains automated develop pre-releases. November 12 and 13 added two more develop tags and another boilerplate development release, on top of four on November 12 alone. None includes a changelog.
Bigcapital vs Firefly III: editorial side-by-side
Bigcapital
5.0FINANCE
Bigcapital adds cash and accrual basis accounting to its open-source books.
◆ Current state
Bigcapital is an open-source accounting product releasing every week or two. v0.25.45 (October 23) brings cash and accrual basis accounting across journals, bills, credit notes and vendor credits, with a basis switch on the journal and trial balance reports. The releases before it added bank rules that apply to all accounts, report date presets and Plaid sync fixes, alongside a long run of report-correctness fixes.
◆ Where it's heading
The work is moving from features to accounting correctness: aging summaries, cash flow, ledger running balances and sales tax liability were all fixed in September, and the accounting-basis work extends that into how every transaction posts. Security fixes such as secure invite tokens show a codebase hardening for wider self-hosting.
◆ Prediction
Expect the accounting-basis switch to reach more reports and transaction types in the next releases. Version labels are inconsistent (v0.15.43 sits between v0.25.42 and v0.25.44), so tag numbers are not a reliable guide.
Firefly III
5.0FINANCE
Firefly III keeps tagging develop builds daily, still with no release notes.
◆ Current state
Firefly III's feed remains automated develop pre-releases. November 12 and 13 added two more develop tags and another boilerplate development release, on top of four on November 12 alone. None includes a changelog.
◆ Where it's heading
The project is in a pre-release stretch where builds ship several times a day without notes. The feed shows activity but not what is changing.
◆ Prediction
The feed does not show what the next stable release will contain; a tagged version with a changelog is the next thing worth watching.
Alternatives to Bigcapital and Firefly III
Other Finance products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Bigcapital or Firefly III.
Payhawk
Payhawk adds SWIFT payment tracking and a DualEntry ledger sync as ERP coverage widens
TaxDome
TaxDome Pipelines now remember your filters, and long task names stop getting cut off.
LNbits
LNbits 1.7.1 follows the urgent 1.7.0 fix by rotating auth keys.
Kolleno
Kolleno is stretching from collections software toward the whole cash cycle.
Zoho Billing
Zoho Billing turns its reports toward churn and line-item revenue.
See all Bigcapital alternatives → · See all Firefly III alternatives →
Recent activity from Bigcapital and Firefly III
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 14h agoFirefly IIIFirefly III develop build 2026-11-13 (22:20)
- 1d agoFirefly IIIFirefly III develop tag 2026-11-13
- 1d agoFirefly IIIFirefly III develop tag 2026-11-12 (5)
- 1d agoFirefly IIIFirefly III develop tag 2026-11-12 (4)
- 1d agoFirefly IIIFirefly III develop build 2026-11-12 (afternoon)
- 2d agoFirefly IIIFirefly III develop build 2026-11-12 (10:52)
- 22d agoBigcapitalv0.25.45: cash and accrual basis accounting
- 29d agoBigcapitalv0.25.44: bank rules for all accounts, payment link fix
- 1mo agoBigcapitalv0.15.43: mail label and report localization fixes
- 1mo agoBigcapitalv0.25.42: Plaid sync fixes and report date presets
- 1mo agoBigcapitalv0.25.41: aging, ledger and tax report fixes
- 2mo agoBigcapitalv0.25.40: editable inventory adjustments, secure invites
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Bigcapital and Firefly III?
Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Finance. Bigcapital and Firefly III are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Bigcapital better than Firefly III?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Bigcapital and Firefly III are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Finance products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Bigcapital?
Top Bigcapital alternatives in Finance are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Bigcapital alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/bigcapital for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Firefly III?
Top Firefly III alternatives in Finance are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Firefly III alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/firefly-iii for the full list with editorial commentary on each.