Firefly III vs hledger-flow
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?
Firefly III
Self-hosted personal finance manager
VS
hledger-flow
Automated import pipeline for hledger plain-text accounting
| Feature | Firefly III | hledger-flow |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 24,254 | ★ 218 |
| First released | 2016 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Mint, YNAB | QuickBooks import, Tiller |
Why pick each one
Choose hledger-flow if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Firefly III or hledger-flow better?
Firefly III is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider hledger-flow if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Firefly III and hledger-flow free and open-source?
Yes. Firefly III is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and hledger-flow under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Firefly III and hledger-flow with Docker?
Firefly III: yes. hledger-flow: check the project docs for container support.