Firefly III vs YAFFA

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 IIIYAFFA
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 24,254★ 108
First released20162026
ReplacesMint, YNAB

Why pick each one

Choose Firefly III if…

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

Choose YAFFA if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Written in PHP
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
YAFFA details

Frequently asked questions

Is Firefly III or YAFFA 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 YAFFA free and open-source?

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

Can I run Firefly III and YAFFA with Docker?

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

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