Spendesk vs Frappe HR

Fit:

Migration notes

Fits employee out-of-pocket claims, conditional approvals and settlement tracking. Deploy Frappe HR with ERPNext and rebuild policies/approvers. Spendesk cards, procurement, payment rails and integrations are broader; no direct migration or service parity established.

Sources: frappe.io, docs.frappe.io, www.spendesk.com · checked 2026-10-21

SpendeskPaid incumbent

Entry priceNot established

Pricing modelmixed, billed quote

OwnerSpendesk

Quote required: fixed monthly platform subscription plus transaction fees including expense claims; unlimited users. No public entry amount. Source

Spendesk plans reviewed
Foundations	entry	Quote only
Foundations with selected add-ons	business	Quote only

Frappe HROpen-source alternative

Fit for Spendesk

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 Permissions of this strong copyleft license are conditioned on making available complete source code of licensed works and modifications, which include larger works using a licensed work, under the same license. Copyright and license notices must be preserved. Contributors provide an express grant of patent rights. May Commercial useModificationDistributionPatent usePrivate use Must License and copyright noticeState changesDisclose sourceSame license No LiabilityWarranty Summary from GitHub's choosealicense.com

Paid-feature tier A

Self-host

Paid-feature limitsNone established

Frappe HR plans reviewed
Self-hosted core	free self-hosted software	Free
Frappe Cloud Servers	vendor commercial cloud hosting	USD 20 / server / mo
Enterprise	vendor enterprise hosting/support services	Quote only

What you may give up

No paid-feature limits established for this edition.

Self-operated deployment requires Frappe Framework and ERPNext; setup, email, backups and maintenance are operator responsibilities.
Payment Entry records settlement; bank payout rails, corporate cards, receipt OCR and travel booking parity with incumbents not verified.

Tier A: GPLv3 core with no separate paid feature edition identified: official pricing charges hosting and implementation. Claims, receipts, conditional multi-level approvals, advances and reimbursement payment records documented. Separate Frappe HR app requires ERPNext; this is one combined deployment, not two independent expense choices. Pinned GPL license takes precedence over pricing page AGPL label. hr scope: Published product is free open-source; pricing charges hosting and optional implementation, not a separate HR feature edition. Documentation covers payroll, onboarding, attendance, goals and appraisals. GPLv3 from pinned repository LICENSE takes precedence over conflicting AGPL label on pricing page. No paid product feature gate identified. recruiting scope: Published product is free open-source; pricing charges hosting and optional implementation, not a separate HR feature edition. Documentation covers payroll, onboarding, attendance, goals and appraisals. GPLv3 from pinned repository LICENSE takes precedence over conflicting AGPL label on pricing page. No paid product feature gate identified. Recruiting is the documented module within this same product, not a separate module edition or product ID. Applicant records, email intake, interviews and offers are documented; no module feature gate identified. License source

What running it takes

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Valkey

Hover or focus an icon for its name. Dashed means not established; struck through means no; grouped icons are alternatives.

Use native Bench or official Docker production setup. MariaDB is the verified default for these applications. Framework installation mentions PostgreSQL, but this is not asserted as a supported ERPNext/HR application backend. No separate object store required by default; local site volumes used. Branch-specific version table preserved. Infrastructure and staff time are not priced here; this page does not compare total cost.