GnuCash 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.
Not the right match-up?
GnuCash
Free desktop accounting for individuals and businesses
VS
hledger-web
Web interface for hledger plain-text accounting
| Feature | GnuCash | hledger-web |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,317 | ★ 4,620 |
| First released | 1998 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Quicken, QuickBooks | QuickBooks, Quicken |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is GnuCash or hledger-web better?
Neither is universally better. hledger-web has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are GnuCash and hledger-web free and open-source?
Yes. GnuCash is licensed under GPL-2.0 and hledger-web under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GnuCash and hledger-web with Docker?
GnuCash: check the project docs for container support. hledger-web: check the project docs for container support.