ExpenseOwl vs Invoice Ninja

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?
FeatureExpenseOwlInvoice Ninja
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITElastic-2.0
LanguageHTMLPHP
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 1,475★ 9,979
First released20242014
ReplacesMint, SpendeeFreshBooks, QuickBooks

Why pick each one

Choose ExpenseOwl if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Fast and simple
ExpenseOwl details

Choose Invoice Ninja if…

  • Comprehensive billing features
  • Many payment gateway integrations
Invoice Ninja details

Frequently asked questions

Is ExpenseOwl or Invoice Ninja better?

Neither is universally better. Invoice Ninja 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 Invoice Ninja free and open-source?

Yes. ExpenseOwl is licensed under MIT and Invoice Ninja under Elastic-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ExpenseOwl and Invoice Ninja with Docker?

ExpenseOwl: yes. Invoice Ninja: yes.

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