DocTypes
Metadata defines each record type: fields, naming, validation and links. Changes migrate the database and are versioned as JSON inside the app.
Home / Open frameworks / Frappe Framework
Open framework · Python · MIT
The framework behind ERPNext. Records, permissions and workflows first.
Frappe is a full-stack, metadata-driven framework. Define a DocType and you get the database table, forms, list views, REST API, permissions and reports. It is the base of ERPNext, Frappe HR, CRM, Helpdesk, Insights and a large ecosystem of open-source business applications.
Core concepts
How Frappe Framework is put together.
Our assessment
Strengths and trade-offs.
Our view as of November 2026, written for teams choosing a foundation for business software.
Strengths
- Ready business applications: start from ERPNext, HR or CRM instead of an empty project.
- Very fast for record-heavy back-office software: forms, lists, reports and permissions come with the schema.
- Customisation without code (custom fields, client and server scripts, print formats), with full Python when needed.
- Mature, MIT-licensed and widely deployed, with a large partner and developer community.
- Self-host anywhere or use Frappe Cloud; the data stays in a standard SQL database.
Trade-offs
- Opinionated: designs that work against the DocType and Desk model end up fighting the framework.
- MariaDB first; PostgreSQL support is less complete across the app ecosystem.
- Synchronous request model with request-global state; streaming and very high-concurrency work belongs in separate services.
- Major-version upgrades of heavily customised sites need planning and regression testing.
- Highly designed customer-facing interfaces usually need a separate front end.
Fit
What it suits. What it doesn't.
Well suited to
- ERP, accounting, inventory, manufacturing, HR and CRM
- Internal systems built around records, approvals and reports
- Extending ERPNext for an industry or a group of companies
- Replacing proprietary ERP with software you can own and host
Less suited to
- Real-time, high-throughput event processing
- Consumer-scale applications
- Products where a bespoke user experience is the main differentiator
How we work with it: Our primary delivery platform for more than a decade: ERPNext implementations, custom Frappe apps, integrations and migrations from proprietary ERP. Recognised as Frappe's Best Partner at Frappeverse 2025.
Compare
Full comparison →The other open frameworks.
See all three side by side, with our guidance on when to choose each.
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Ash Framework
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