Money Manager Ex vs Sure

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?
FeatureMoney Manager ExSure
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseGPL-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageC++Ruby
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, source
GitHub stars★ 2,243★ 9,323
First released20052025
ReplacesQuicken, MintMint, Quicken

Why pick each one

Choose Money Manager Ex if…

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

Choose Sure if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 9.3k GitHub stars
  • Written in Ruby
Sure details

Frequently asked questions

Is Money Manager Ex or Sure better?

Neither is universally better. Sure 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 Sure free and open-source?

Yes. Money Manager Ex is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Sure under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Money Manager Ex and Sure with Docker?

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

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