Firefly III vs Frappe Books

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?
FeatureFirefly IIIFrappe Books
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePHPTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 24,254★ 4,874
First released20162020
ReplacesMint, YNABQuickBooks, Wave

Why pick each one

Choose Firefly III if…

  • Powerful budgeting features
  • Strong API for automation
Firefly III details

Choose Frappe Books if…

  • No subscription needed
  • Simple and clean
Frappe Books details

Frequently asked questions

Is Firefly III or Frappe Books better?

Neither is universally better. Firefly III has the larger community, while Frappe Books is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Firefly III and Frappe Books free and open-source?

Yes. Firefly III is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Frappe Books under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Firefly III and Frappe Books with Docker?

Firefly III: yes. Frappe Books: check the project docs for container support.

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