Lago 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.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureLagoMoney Manager Ex
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageGoC++
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, sourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 10,308★ 2,243
First released20222005
ReplacesStripe Billing, ChargebeeQuicken, Mint

Why pick each one

Choose Lago if…

  • Powerful for SaaS billing
  • Developer-friendly
Lago details

Choose Money Manager Ex if…

  • Simple and approachable
  • Portable data file
Money Manager Ex details

Frequently asked questions

Is Lago or Money Manager Ex better?

Neither is universally better. Lago has the larger community, while Money Manager Ex is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Lago and Money Manager Ex free and open-source?

Yes. Lago 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 Lago and Money Manager Ex with Docker?

Lago: yes. Money Manager Ex: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons