ExpenseOwl 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 | ExpenseOwl | Kresus |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | HTML | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,514 | ★ 800 |
| First released | 2024 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Mint, Spendee | Mint, Bankin |
What are ExpenseOwl and Kresus?
ExpenseOwl
ExpenseOwl is a simple, lightweight self-hosted expense tracking application written in Go. It focuses on quick expense entry, category breakdowns, and clean visual reports.
- Minimal expense logging
- Category pie charts
- JSON-backed storage
- Single-binary deployment
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
ExpenseOwl vs Kresus: key differences
ExpenseOwl is written in HTML, while Kresus is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for ExpenseOwl versus AGPL-3.0 for Kresus. ExpenseOwl is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Kresus. Kresus is the more established project (first released 2015), while ExpenseOwl arrived in 2024.
Why pick each one
Choose ExpenseOwl if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Fast and simple
Watch out for
- Very minimal feature set
- Single-user only
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 ExpenseOwl or Kresus better?
ExpenseOwl is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Kresus if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are ExpenseOwl and Kresus free and open-source?
Yes. ExpenseOwl is licensed under MIT and Kresus under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ExpenseOwl and Kresus with Docker?
ExpenseOwl: yes. Kresus: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, ExpenseOwl or Kresus?
ExpenseOwl 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.