Buckets vs Paisa
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Buckets | Paisa |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 30 · At risk | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 198 | ★ 3,217 |
| First released | 2017 | 2022 |
| Replaces | YNAB, Mint | Mint, Personal Capital |
What are Buckets and Paisa?
Buckets
Buckets is an envelope-style budgeting application for Windows, macOS, and Linux built with Electron/TypeScript. Budgets are stored in a local file, bank statements can be imported, and it works fully offline. Its source code is published in the buckets/application repository.
- Bucket-based envelope budgeting
- Offline-first desktop app
- Bank statement import
- Self-hostable sync
Paisa
Paisa is an open-source personal finance manager built on top of the Ledger plain-text accounting format. It provides budgeting, net worth tracking, retirement planning, and rich visualizations.
- Built on Ledger format
- Net worth and retirement planning
- Rich interactive charts
- Goal tracking
Buckets vs Paisa: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Buckets versus AGPL-3.0 for Paisa. Buckets is the more established project (first released 2017), while Paisa arrived in 2022. Paisa has the considerably larger community, at 3,217 GitHub stars versus 198. Paisa lists first-class Docker deployment; Buckets does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Buckets if…
- Flexible budgeting model
- Privacy-focused
Watch out for
- Sync setup is manual
- Smaller community
Choose Paisa if…
- Beautiful visualizations
- Plain-text portable data
Watch out for
- Requires Ledger knowledge
- Single-user focused
Frequently asked questions
Is Buckets or Paisa better?
Neither is universally better. Paisa has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Buckets and Paisa free and open-source?
Yes. Buckets is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Paisa under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Buckets and Paisa with Docker?
Buckets: check the project docs for container support. Paisa: yes.