hledger-flow vs Invoice Ninja
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?
hledger-flow
Automated import pipeline for hledger plain-text accounting
VS
Invoice Ninja
Open-source invoicing and billing platform
| Feature | hledger-flow | Invoice Ninja |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Elastic-2.0 |
| Language | Haskell | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 218 | ★ 9,979 |
| First released | 2018 | 2014 |
| Replaces | QuickBooks import, Tiller | FreshBooks, QuickBooks |
Why pick each one
Choose hledger-flow if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Invoice Ninja if…
- Comprehensive billing features
- Many payment gateway integrations
Frequently asked questions
Is hledger-flow or Invoice Ninja better?
Invoice Ninja is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider hledger-flow if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are hledger-flow and Invoice Ninja free and open-source?
Yes. hledger-flow is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Invoice Ninja under Elastic-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run hledger-flow and Invoice Ninja with Docker?
hledger-flow: check the project docs for container support. Invoice Ninja: yes.