Kresus vs Money Manager Ex
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Kresus | Money Manager Ex |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 800 | ★ 2,265 |
| First released | 2015 | 2005 |
| Replaces | Mint, Bankin | Quicken, Mint |
What are Kresus and Money Manager Ex?
Kresus
Kresus is a free, open-source personal finance manager that aggregates your bank accounts and helps you track expenses and budgets. It uses the Woob library to import banking data automatically.
- Automatic bank data import
- Expense categorization
- Budget and chart views
- Alerts on balances
Money Manager Ex
Money Manager Ex is a free, open-source personal finance application. It tracks accounts, transactions, budgets, and investments in a simple desktop interface backed by an SQLite database.
- Account and budget tracking
- Investment management
- Reports and charts
- SQLite-backed database
Kresus vs Money Manager Ex: key differences
Kresus is written in JavaScript, while Money Manager Ex is built with C++. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Kresus versus GPL-2.0 for Money Manager Ex. Money Manager Ex is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Kresus. Money Manager Ex is the more established project (first released 2005), while Kresus arrived in 2015. Money Manager Ex has the considerably larger community, at 2,265 GitHub stars versus 800. Kresus lists first-class Docker deployment; Money Manager Ex does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Kresus if…
- Hands-off bank syncing in supported regions
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Bank support varies by country
- Sparse documentation
Choose Money Manager Ex if…
- Simple and approachable
- Portable data file
Watch out for
- Desktop only
- No multi-user support
Frequently asked questions
Is Kresus or Money Manager Ex better?
Money Manager Ex is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Kresus if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Kresus and Money Manager Ex free and open-source?
Yes. Kresus is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Money Manager Ex under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kresus and Money Manager Ex with Docker?
Kresus: yes. Money Manager Ex: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Kresus or Money Manager Ex?
Money Manager Ex has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Kresus. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.