BudgetBee 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?
FeatureBudgetBeeLago
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaScriptGo
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcedocker, kubernetes, source
GitHub stars★ 639★ 10,308
First released20242022
ReplacesYNAB, MintStripe Billing, Chargebee

Why pick each one

Choose BudgetBee if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in JavaScript
BudgetBee details

Choose Lago if…

  • Powerful for SaaS billing
  • Developer-friendly
Lago details

Frequently asked questions

Is BudgetBee or Lago better?

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

Are BudgetBee and Lago free and open-source?

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

Can I run BudgetBee and Lago with Docker?

BudgetBee: yes. Lago: yes.

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