Budget Zero vs Paisa
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?
Budget Zero
Self-hosted zero-based budgeting tool
VS
Paisa
Personal finance manager on plain-text accounting
| Feature | Budget Zero | Paisa |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Vue | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 654 | ★ 3,190 |
| First released | 2019 | 2022 |
| Replaces | YNAB, Mint | Mint, Personal Capital |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Budget Zero or Paisa better?
Neither is universally better. Paisa has the larger community, while Budget Zero is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Budget Zero and Paisa free and open-source?
Yes. Budget Zero is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Paisa under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Budget Zero and Paisa with Docker?
Budget Zero: check the project docs for container support. Paisa: yes.