Beancount vs Spliit
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?
Beancount
Double-entry bookkeeping in plain text with a query language
VS
Spliit
Open-source group expense sharing app
| Feature | Beancount | Spliit |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,881 | ★ 2,837 |
| First released | 2008 | 2023 |
| Replaces | QuickBooks, Xero | Splitwise, Tricount |
Why pick each one
Choose Beancount if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Mature project with 5.9k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Beancount or Spliit better?
Neither is universally better. Beancount has the larger community, while Spliit is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Beancount and Spliit free and open-source?
Yes. Beancount is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Spliit under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Beancount and Spliit with Docker?
Beancount: check the project docs for container support. Spliit: yes.