Invoice Ninja vs Budget Zero

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?
FeatureInvoice NinjaBudget Zero
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseElastic-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePHPVue
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 9,979★ 654
First released20142019
ReplacesFreshBooks, QuickBooksYNAB, Mint

Why pick each one

Choose Invoice Ninja if…

  • Comprehensive billing features
  • Many payment gateway integrations
Invoice Ninja details

Choose Budget Zero if…

  • Works fully offline
  • Simple budgeting workflow
Budget Zero details

Frequently asked questions

Is Invoice Ninja or Budget Zero better?

Neither is universally better. Invoice Ninja has the larger community, while Budget Zero is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Invoice Ninja and Budget Zero free and open-source?

Yes. Invoice Ninja is licensed under Elastic-2.0 and Budget Zero under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Invoice Ninja and Budget Zero with Docker?

Invoice Ninja: yes. Budget Zero: check the project docs for container support.

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