ExpenseOwl vs Ghostfolio

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?
FeatureExpenseOwlGhostfolio
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageHTMLTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 1,475★ 9,090
First released20242021
ReplacesMint, SpendeePersonal Capital, Sharesight

Why pick each one

Choose ExpenseOwl if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Fast and simple
ExpenseOwl details

Choose Ghostfolio if…

  • Clean, focused dashboard
  • Supports many asset classes
Ghostfolio details

Frequently asked questions

Is ExpenseOwl or Ghostfolio better?

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

Are ExpenseOwl and Ghostfolio free and open-source?

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

Can I run ExpenseOwl and Ghostfolio with Docker?

ExpenseOwl: yes. Ghostfolio: yes.

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