ExpenseOwl vs Paisa
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?
ExpenseOwl
Minimal self-hosted expense tracker
VS
Paisa
Personal finance manager on plain-text accounting
| Feature | ExpenseOwl | Paisa |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | HTML | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,475 | ★ 3,190 |
| First released | 2024 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Mint, Spendee | Mint, Personal Capital |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is ExpenseOwl or Paisa better?
Neither is universally better. Paisa 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 Paisa free and open-source?
Yes. ExpenseOwl is licensed under MIT and Paisa under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ExpenseOwl and Paisa with Docker?
ExpenseOwl: yes. Paisa: yes.