BillManager vs Lago

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?
FeatureBillManagerLago
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePHPGo
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, kubernetes, source
GitHub stars★ 321★ 10,308
First released20192022
ReplacesSplitwise, TricountStripe Billing, Chargebee

Why pick each one

Choose BillManager if…

  • Leverages Nextcloud auth
  • Good for households
BillManager details

Choose Lago if…

  • Powerful for SaaS billing
  • Developer-friendly
Lago details

Frequently asked questions

Is BillManager or Lago better?

Neither is universally better. Lago 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 Lago free and open-source?

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

Can I run BillManager and Lago with Docker?

BillManager: check the project docs for container support. Lago: yes.

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