Firefly III vs hledger-web

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureFirefly IIIhledger-web
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePHPHaskell
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 24,254★ 4,620
First released20162010
ReplacesMint, YNABQuickBooks, Quicken

Why pick each one

Choose Firefly III if…

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

Choose hledger-web if…

  • No database needed
  • Data is plain text and portable
hledger-web details

Frequently asked questions

Is Firefly III or hledger-web better?

Neither is universally better. Firefly III has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Firefly III and hledger-web free and open-source?

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

Can I run Firefly III and hledger-web with Docker?

Firefly III: yes. hledger-web: check the project docs for container support.

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