head to head · open source
Crater vs Ballerine
Crater has 8,356 GitHub stars, 1,708 forks, 425 open issues and last shipped 2.2 years ago. Ballerine has 2,454 stars, 315 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. Crater leads on adoption by 241% (8,356 vs 2,454 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 | ★ 8.4K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2024-08-10 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 315 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Crater if
- You weight community size — 8.4K 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
Introduction Crater is an open source web & mobile app that helps you track expenses, payments & create professional invoices & estimates. Web Application is made using Laravel & VueJS while the Mobile Apps are built using React Native. Table of Contents 1. Documentation 2. Download 3. Mobile Apps 4. Discord 5. Roadmap 6. Credits 7. Help us translate 8. License Documentation Installation Steps User Guide Developer Guide API Documentation Download Download Link Mobile Apps Android IOS Source Discord Join the Crater discord server to discuss: Invite Link Roadmap Here's a rough roadmap of things to come (not in any…
read the full Crater overview →
About Ballerine
Open Source Risk Management Infrastructure Documentation · Slack · Website · Contact · Issues ⚠️ Important Notice The open source repository is currently undergoing a major rebuild and is not actively supported at this time. Stay tuned for updates! Interested in our SaaS version? Join our Slack workspace and ping anyone from the team Email us at sales@ballerine.com Have questions about the OSS version? Reach out to oss@ballerine.com Connect with us on our Slack workspace Ballerine is an Open Source Risk Management Infrastructure that helps global payment companies, marketplaces and Fintechs to automate their…
read the full Ballerine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Crater or Ballerine more popular?
Crater has 8,356 GitHub stars and Ballerine has 2,454. 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 (8,356 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.