Fava 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.
Fava
Web interface for Beancount plain-text accounting
VS
Invoice Ninja
Open-source invoicing and billing platform
| Feature | Fava | Invoice Ninja |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 93 · Excellent |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | Elastic-2.0 |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,579 | ★ 10,106 |
| First released | 2016 | 2014 |
| Replaces | QuickBooks, GnuCash | FreshBooks, QuickBooks |
What are Fava and Invoice Ninja?
Fava
Fava is a web interface for the Beancount plain-text, double-entry accounting system. It provides charts, balance sheets, income statements, and queries on top of plain-text ledger files.
- Web UI for Beancount
- Interactive charts and reports
- Powerful query language
- Plain-text ledger backend
Invoice Ninja
Invoice Ninja is a free, open-source platform for invoicing, billing, payments, and time tracking. It serves freelancers and small businesses with quotes, recurring invoices, and client portals.
- Invoices, quotes, and payments
- Client self-service portal
- Time and expense tracking
- Recurring billing automation
Fava vs Invoice Ninja: key differences
Fava is written in Python, while Invoice Ninja is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Fava versus Elastic-2.0 for Invoice Ninja. Fava is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Invoice Ninja. Invoice Ninja is the more established project (first released 2014), while Fava arrived in 2016. Invoice Ninja has the considerably larger community, at 10,106 GitHub stars versus 2,579.
Why pick each one
Choose Fava if…
- Great for plain-text accounting fans
- Version-controllable data
Watch out for
- Requires learning Beancount syntax
- Not beginner-friendly
Choose Invoice Ninja if…
- Comprehensive billing features
- Many payment gateway integrations
Watch out for
- License not OSI-approved
- Setup can be involved
Frequently asked questions
Is Fava or Invoice Ninja better?
Neither is universally better. Invoice Ninja has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Fava and Invoice Ninja free and open-source?
Yes. Fava is licensed under MIT and Invoice Ninja under Elastic-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fava and Invoice Ninja with Docker?
Fava: yes. Invoice Ninja: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Fava or Invoice Ninja?
Fava has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Invoice Ninja. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.