Skrooge vs Sure
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Skrooge | Sure |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 200 | ★ 10,024 |
| First released | 2009 | 2025 |
| Replaces | Quicken | Mint, Quicken |
What are Skrooge and Sure?
Skrooge
Skrooge is an open-source personal finance manager built on the KDE platform for tracking accounts, transactions, and budgets. It supports importing common file formats, scheduled operations, and detailed reporting.
- Account and transaction tracking
- Budget management
- OFX and QIF import
- Reporting and graphs
Sure
Sure is a self-hosted personal finance application maintained by the community as a continuation of an archived finance project. It tracks accounts, transactions, budgets, and net worth in a single dashboard.
- Accounts and transaction tracking
- Budgets and net worth view
- Community-maintained
- Self-hosted with Docker
Skrooge vs Sure: key differences
Skrooge is written in C++, while Sure is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Skrooge versus AGPL-3.0 for Sure. Skrooge is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Sure. Skrooge is the more established project (first released 2009), while Sure arrived in 2025. Sure has the considerably larger community, at 10,024 GitHub stars versus 200. Sure lists first-class Docker deployment; Skrooge does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Skrooge if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Desktop only
- KDE dependencies
Choose Sure if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 10k GitHub stars
- Written in Ruby
Frequently asked questions
Is Skrooge or Sure better?
Neither is universally better. Sure has the larger community, while Skrooge is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Skrooge and Sure free and open-source?
Yes. Skrooge is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sure under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Skrooge and Sure with Docker?
Skrooge: check the project docs for container support. Sure: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Skrooge or Sure?
Skrooge has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Sure. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.