ExpenseOwl vs MyFin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | ExpenseOwl | MyFin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 46 · Fair | 77 · Good |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | HTML | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,514 | ★ 312 |
| First released | 2024 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Mint, Spendee | YNAB, Mint |
What are ExpenseOwl and MyFin?
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
MyFin
MyFin is a self-hosted personal finance platform for tracking accounts, budgets, and transactions. It provides reports and forecasting to help understand spending patterns over time.
- Account and budget tracking
- Spending forecasts
- Transaction categorization
- Self-hosted finance reports
ExpenseOwl vs MyFin: key differences
ExpenseOwl is written in HTML, while MyFin is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for ExpenseOwl versus GPL-3.0 for MyFin. ExpenseOwl is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for MyFin. MyFin is the more established project (first released 2022), while ExpenseOwl arrived in 2024. ExpenseOwl has the considerably larger community, at 1,514 GitHub stars versus 312.
Why pick each one
Choose ExpenseOwl if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Fast and simple
Watch out for
- Very minimal feature set
- Single-user only
Choose MyFin if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is ExpenseOwl or MyFin better?
ExpenseOwl is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider MyFin if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are ExpenseOwl and MyFin free and open-source?
Yes. ExpenseOwl is licensed under MIT and MyFin under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ExpenseOwl and MyFin with Docker?
ExpenseOwl: yes. MyFin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, ExpenseOwl or MyFin?
ExpenseOwl has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for MyFin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.