Money Manager Ex vs Paisa
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 | Paisa |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,265 | ★ 3,217 |
| First released | 2005 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Quicken, Mint | Mint, Personal Capital |
What are Money Manager Ex and Paisa?
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
Paisa
Paisa is an open-source personal finance manager built on top of the Ledger plain-text accounting format. It provides budgeting, net worth tracking, retirement planning, and rich visualizations.
- Built on Ledger format
- Net worth and retirement planning
- Rich interactive charts
- Goal tracking
Money Manager Ex vs Paisa: key differences
Money Manager Ex is written in C++, while Paisa is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Money Manager Ex versus AGPL-3.0 for Paisa. Money Manager Ex is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Paisa. Money Manager Ex is the more established project (first released 2005), while Paisa arrived in 2022. Paisa 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 Paisa if…
- Beautiful visualizations
- Plain-text portable data
Watch out for
- Requires Ledger knowledge
- Single-user focused
Frequently asked questions
Is Money Manager Ex or Paisa better?
Neither is universally better. Paisa 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 Money Manager Ex and Paisa free and open-source?
Yes. Money Manager Ex is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Paisa under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Money Manager Ex and Paisa with Docker?
Money Manager Ex: check the project docs for container support. Paisa: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Money Manager Ex or Paisa?
Money Manager Ex has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Paisa. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.