Budgetwarrior vs Kresus
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Budgetwarrior | Kresus |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 119 | ★ 800 |
| First released | 2013 | 2015 |
| Replaces | YNAB, Mint | Mint, Bankin |
What are Budgetwarrior and Kresus?
Budgetwarrior
Budgetwarrior is a command-line personal finance tool for tracking accounts, expenses, and budgets directly from the terminal. It stores data in plain text files and gives quick summaries and reports for people who prefer the CLI.
- Terminal interface
- Plain-text data storage
- Budget and expense tracking
- Quick reports
Kresus
Kresus is a free, open-source personal finance manager that aggregates your bank accounts and helps you track expenses and budgets. It uses the Woob library to import banking data automatically.
- Automatic bank data import
- Expense categorization
- Budget and chart views
- Alerts on balances
Budgetwarrior vs Kresus: key differences
Budgetwarrior is written in C++, while Kresus is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Budgetwarrior versus AGPL-3.0 for Kresus. Budgetwarrior is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Kresus. Budgetwarrior is the more established project (first released 2013), while Kresus arrived in 2015. Kresus has the considerably larger community, at 800 GitHub stars versus 119. Kresus lists first-class Docker deployment; Budgetwarrior does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Budgetwarrior if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- No mobile access
Choose Kresus if…
- Hands-off bank syncing in supported regions
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Bank support varies by country
- Sparse documentation
Frequently asked questions
Is Budgetwarrior or Kresus better?
Neither is universally better. Kresus has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Budgetwarrior and Kresus free and open-source?
Yes. Budgetwarrior is licensed under MIT and Kresus under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Budgetwarrior and Kresus with Docker?
Budgetwarrior: check the project docs for container support. Kresus: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Budgetwarrior or Kresus?
Budgetwarrior has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Kresus. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.