BillManager vs Firefly III

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureBillManagerFirefly III
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 321★ 24,254
First released20192016
ReplacesSplitwise, TricountMint, YNAB

Why pick each one

Choose BillManager if…

  • Leverages Nextcloud auth
  • Good for households
BillManager details

Choose Firefly III if…

  • Powerful budgeting features
  • Strong API for automation
Firefly III details

Frequently asked questions

Is BillManager or Firefly III better?

Neither is universally better. Firefly III has the larger community, while BillManager is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are BillManager and Firefly III free and open-source?

Yes. BillManager is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Firefly III under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run BillManager and Firefly III with Docker?

BillManager: check the project docs for container support. Firefly III: yes.

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