Frappe Books 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.
Frappe Books
Free desktop accounting for small businesses
VS
hledger-web
Web interface for hledger plain-text accounting
| Feature | Frappe Books | hledger-web |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,981 | ★ 4,730 |
| First released | 2020 | 2010 |
| Replaces | QuickBooks, Wave | QuickBooks, Quicken |
What are Frappe Books and hledger-web?
Frappe Books
Frappe Books is a free, open-source accounting application for small businesses and freelancers. It is a desktop app offering invoicing, double-entry bookkeeping, and inventory management.
- Double-entry accounting
- Invoicing and billing
- Inventory tracking
- Offline desktop app
hledger-web
hledger-web is the web interface for hledger, a robust plain-text, double-entry accounting tool. It allows browsing, adding, and reporting on transactions stored in plain-text journal files.
- Plain-text journal files
- Add and edit transactions in browser
- Balance and register reports
- Fast Haskell core
Frappe Books vs hledger-web: key differences
Frappe Books is written in TypeScript, while hledger-web is built with Haskell. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Frappe Books versus GPL-3.0 for hledger-web. Hledger-web is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Frappe Books. Hledger-web is the more established project (first released 2010), while Frappe Books arrived in 2020.
Why pick each one
Choose Frappe Books if…
- No subscription needed
- Simple and clean
Watch out for
- Desktop only
- Limited multi-user support
Choose hledger-web if…
- No database needed
- Data is plain text and portable
Watch out for
- CLI knowledge helps
- Minimal UI
Frequently asked questions
Is Frappe Books or hledger-web better?
Frappe Books is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider hledger-web if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Frappe Books and hledger-web free and open-source?
Yes. Frappe Books 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 Frappe Books and hledger-web with Docker?
Frappe Books: check the project docs for container support. hledger-web: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Frappe Books or hledger-web?
hledger-web has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Frappe Books. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.