Grisbi vs Skrooge
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Grisbi | Skrooge |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 157 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2000 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Quicken | Quicken |
What are Grisbi and Skrooge?
Grisbi
Grisbi is a free, lightweight personal accounting application aimed at individuals and small associations. It tracks accounts, third parties, categories, and budgets, and can import statements in standard formats.
- Personal accounting
- Budget tracking
- Statement import
- Multi-currency support
Skrooge
Skrooge is an open-source personal finance manager built on the KDE platform for tracking accounts, transactions, and budgets. It supports importing common file formats, scheduled operations, and detailed reporting.
- Account and transaction tracking
- Budget management
- OFX and QIF import
- Reporting and graphs
Grisbi vs Skrooge: key differences
Grisbi is written in C, while Skrooge is built with C++. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Grisbi versus GPL-3.0 for Skrooge. Grisbi is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Skrooge. Grisbi is the more established project (first released 2000), while Skrooge arrived in 2009.
Why pick each one
Choose Grisbi if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Slow development
Choose Skrooge if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Desktop only
- KDE dependencies
Frequently asked questions
Is Grisbi or Skrooge better?
Neither is universally better. Skrooge has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Grisbi and Skrooge free and open-source?
Yes. Grisbi is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Skrooge under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Grisbi and Skrooge with Docker?
Grisbi: check the project docs for container support. Skrooge: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Grisbi or Skrooge?
Grisbi has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Skrooge. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.