Money Manager Ex vs MyFin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Money Manager Ex | MyFin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 77 · Good |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,265 | ★ 312 |
| First released | 2005 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Quicken, Mint | YNAB, Mint |
What are Money Manager Ex and MyFin?
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
MyFin
MyFin is a self-hosted personal finance platform for tracking accounts, budgets, and transactions. It provides reports and forecasting to help understand spending patterns over time.
- Account and budget tracking
- Spending forecasts
- Transaction categorization
- Self-hosted finance reports
Money Manager Ex vs MyFin: key differences
Money Manager Ex is written in C++, while MyFin is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Money Manager Ex versus GPL-3.0 for MyFin. Money Manager Ex is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for MyFin. Money Manager Ex is the more established project (first released 2005), while MyFin arrived in 2022. Money Manager Ex has the considerably larger community, at 2,265 GitHub stars versus 312. MyFin lists first-class Docker deployment; Money Manager Ex does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Money Manager Ex if…
- Simple and approachable
- Portable data file
Watch out for
- Desktop only
- No multi-user support
Choose MyFin if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Money Manager Ex or MyFin better?
Money Manager Ex is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider MyFin if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Money Manager Ex and MyFin free and open-source?
Yes. Money Manager Ex is licensed under GPL-2.0 and MyFin under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Money Manager Ex and MyFin with Docker?
Money Manager Ex: check the project docs for container support. MyFin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Money Manager Ex or MyFin?
Money Manager Ex has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for MyFin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.