Cospend vs I Hate Money
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Cospend | I Hate Money |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 77 · Good | 82 · Excellent |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 327 | ★ 1,390 |
| First released | 2019 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Splitwise, Tricount | Splitwise, Tricount |
What are Cospend and I Hate Money?
Cospend
Cospend is a group budget manager app for Nextcloud. Members record shared expenses in projects and it computes balances and settlement plans, with statistics, exports, and compatibility with the MoneyBuster mobile app.
- Shared budget projects
- Expense splitting and settlement
- Integrates with Nextcloud
- Statistics and exports
I Hate Money
I Hate Money is a free, open-source web application for managing shared expenses among groups, such as roommates or trips. It tracks who paid what and computes who owes whom.
- Split expenses among a group
- Automatic balance calculation
- Email reminders
- Simple REST API
Cospend vs I Hate Money: key differences
Cospend is written in PHP, while I Hate Money is built with Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Cospend versus BSD-3-Clause for I Hate Money. I Hate Money is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Cospend. I Hate Money is the more established project (first released 2011), while Cospend arrived in 2019. I Hate Money has the considerably larger community, at 1,390 GitHub stars versus 327. I Hate Money lists first-class Docker deployment; Cospend does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Cospend if…
- Leverages Nextcloud auth
- Good for households
Watch out for
- Requires Nextcloud
- Limited standalone use
Choose I Hate Money if…
- Lightweight and easy
- Great for trips and shared homes
Watch out for
- Narrow feature scope
- Basic UI
Frequently asked questions
Is Cospend or I Hate Money better?
Neither is universally better. I Hate Money has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Cospend and I Hate Money free and open-source?
Yes. Cospend is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and I Hate Money under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cospend and I Hate Money with Docker?
Cospend: check the project docs for container support. I Hate Money: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Cospend or I Hate Money?
I Hate Money has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Cospend. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.