Crater vs hledger-web
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?
Crater
Free invoicing and expense tracking app
VS
hledger-web
Web interface for hledger plain-text accounting
| Feature | Crater | hledger-web |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | AAL | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,338 | ★ 4,620 |
| First released | 2020 | 2010 |
| Replaces | FreshBooks, Invoicely | QuickBooks, Quicken |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Crater or hledger-web better?
Neither is universally better. Crater has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Crater and hledger-web free and open-source?
Yes. Crater is licensed under AAL and hledger-web under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Crater and hledger-web with Docker?
Crater: yes. hledger-web: check the project docs for container support.