head to head · open source
Crater vs Ballerine
Crater has 8,348 GitHub stars, 1,711 forks, 425 open issues and last shipped 2.1 years ago. Ballerine has 2,431 stars, 311 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. Crater leads on adoption by 243% (8,348 vs 2,431 stars). Crater is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; Ballerine is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Crater has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, Ballerine 13%. Ballerine was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Crater | Ballerine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.3K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2024-08-10 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 311 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Crater if
- You weight community size — 8.3K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Ballerine if
- You want the Ballerine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Ballerine fits your workflow better
About Crater
Crater is an open source web and mobile application for tracking expenses and payments and for creating professional invoices and estimates. The web application is built with Laravel and VueJS, while the mobile applications are built with React Native. It lives in the PHP and Laravel ecosystem, is distributed under the AGPL 3.0 license, and is positioned as an open alternative to QuickBooks and FreshBooks.
read the full Crater overview →
About Ballerine
Ballerine open source risk management infrastructure. Tagline describes AI agents transforming merchant risk decisions at scale. It helps global payment companies, marketplaces, fintechs automate decisions for merchants, sellers, users across customer lifecycle. It lives in finance, fintech, compliance, fraud, identity verification ecosystem. It covers account opening, KYC, KYB, underwriting, transaction monitoring. GitHub metadata shows 2429 stars, 311 forks, 19 open issues, zero contributors, NOASSERTION license. Repository age is listed as 0 years. Last push date is 2026 09 09.
read the full Ballerine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Crater or Ballerine more popular?
Crater has 8,348 GitHub stars and Ballerine has 2,431. Crater has the larger community by that measure.
Are Crater and Ballerine free?
Both are open source. Crater is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Ballerine has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Crater and Ballerine?
Crater is written in PHP and Ballerine in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Crater or Ballerine?
Choose Crater if you want the larger community (8,348 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Ballerine if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.