How to install ERPNext (self-hosted) in 2026

Hello — today we're installing ERPNext, a complete, open source ERP system. Accounting, inventory, manufacturing, HR — all of it, in one system. By the end of this video, you'll have this running on your own server. With your own domain. With backups scheduled. And with a real invoice created. The software itself is free. Not a trial — the whole product. We'll use the current official install method, verified in August 2026. Most older tutorials describe a method that no longer exists — I'll show you the one that does. I run ERPNext for real organisations, including my own systems. So at the end, I'll also tell you honestly when you should not self-host. Let's get started.

You'll need four things. First, a fresh server running Ubuntu — version 22 or 24. Any VPS provider works, and it costs somewhere between five and twenty dollars a month. Second, memory. Two gigabytes is the absolute floor. Four gigabytes is comfortable, and worth the extra couple of dollars. Trust me on this one — most failed installs I see are simply servers running out of memory. Third, a domain — or a subdomain, like erp.yourcompany.com. Point it at your server's IP address before you start. The installer requests a free HTTPS certificate during the install, and that fails if the domain isn't ready. And fourth, make sure ports 80 and 443 are open in your provider's firewall. That's it. No database setup, no web server configuration — the installer handles all of it.

Connect to your server over SSH. First, a quick sanity check. Run free -h, and confirm how much memory you actually have — providers occasionally surprise you. Then bring the system up to date. sudo apt update, and upgrade. While that runs, one note from me. This should be a clean server. If something else is already running a website on this machine, it owns the ports ERPNext needs, and the install will fail. A fresh five dollar VPS saves you an evening of debugging.

Now the actual install — and I promise, it really is just two commands. First, download the official easy-install script. One important detail for 2026: this script now lives in the frappe/bench repository. Older tutorials point somewhere else, and that location is out of date. The exact command is on screen, and in the description. Second, run the deploy command. Four flags matter here. Project is a short name for the deployment — I'm using erp. Email is required — it registers your HTTPS certificate. Sitename is your domain. It must match the DNS record you created earlier. And app equals erpnext. That installs ERPNext itself on top of the Frappe framework. Hit enter, and let it work. The script installs Docker if you don't have it. It downloads the official images. It sets up the database, the cache, the web proxy, and your HTTPS certificate. It even schedules automatic backups every six hours. This takes five to ten minutes depending on your server — I've sped it up for you.

When the script finishes, it leaves two files in your home directory: the passwords file, and the environment file. Open the passwords file now, and store both passwords in your password manager. This is the administrator login and the database password. Please don't skip this — the file sitting on the server is not a safe place for it. Now, the moment of truth. Open your domain in a browser. Notice two things. It loads. And the connection is already secure — the certificate was issued during the install. Log in as Administrator, with the password from that file.

Your first login starts a one-time setup wizard. Most of it is easy, but three answers deserve real thought, because they're hard to change later. Country. This sets your currency, your tax templates, and your chart of accounts. The chart of accounts itself. Accept the standard one for your country, unless your accountant tells you otherwise. If you have an accountant, this is the moment to ask them. And your fiscal year dates. Then name your company, and give it a short abbreviation — three or four letters. That abbreviation gets stamped on every account and warehouse name, so keep it short. Everything else in this wizard, you can change later. Click through, and let it finish building your workspace.

Let's prove this is a real system, and not just a login page. We'll create an invoice, end to end. First, a customer. New customer, name, save. Done. Next, something to sell. A new item. I'm adding a service — one advisory day, with a standard rate. Now the invoice. New sales invoice. Choose the customer. Add the item. ERPNext pulls the rate and the tax setup from what we just configured. Save. And submit. That submit just posted a real double-entry transaction to your general ledger — you can see the accounting entries right here. And there's your print-ready invoice. Accounting, inventory, HR, manufacturing — they all work like this, and they're all already installed. You've just walked through the pattern once.

Now for the part most tutorials skip. The licence is free. The responsibility is not. Self-hosting means you own three jobs. Updates. It's one command — the same script, with the upgrade option. But major version upgrades deserve respect. Read the release notes. Back up first. And if the system matters to your business, test the upgrade on a copy before production. Backups. The installer schedules them every six hours, but a backup on the same server is only half a backup. This command takes a manual one, with files. Copy backups off the server, on a schedule. And rehearse a restore once — a backup you've never restored is a hope, not a backup. And monitoring. Somebody has to notice when a disk fills up. Here's my honest rule, from running ERPNext myself. Self-host when someone on your team will genuinely own those jobs. If nobody will, use Frappe Cloud instead. Same product, hosted by the vendor, from five dollars a month. That's cheaper than the first weekend you lose to a failed upgrade.

Everything you've just watched is written up as a step-by-step article — every command, the common install failures and their fixes, and the questions I get most. The link is in the description, along with the exact command file. One last thing. Installing ERPNext takes an afternoon. Implementing it — chart of accounts, opening balances, stock, permissions, training — that's the real project. If you're still deciding between ERPNext, Business Central, or something bigger — or you'd like an honest second opinion before you commit implementation time — that assessment is exactly what we do at Digital4All. The link is in the description. If this saved you an evening, a like helps more people find it. Thanks for watching — see you in the next one.