head to head · open source
hledger vs rotki
hledger has 4,821 GitHub stars, 425 forks, 328 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rotki has 4,091 stars, 790 forks, 395 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hledger leads on adoption by 18% (4,821 vs 4,091 stars). hledger is written in Haskell under GPL-3.0; rotki is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. hledger has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, rotki 19%. hledger was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (accounting), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| hledger | rotki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.8K | ★ 4.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Haskell | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-14 | 2026-11-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 425 | ⑂ 790 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick hledger if
- You weight community size — 4.8K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Haskell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rotki if
- You want the rotki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and rotki fits your workflow better
About hledger
hledger Robust, intuitive plain text accounting Welcome! This is a brief intro to hledger. For a more detailed version, see the home page: hledger is lightweight, cross platform, multi currency, double entry accounting software. It lets you track money, investments, cryptocurrencies, invoices, time, inventory and more, in a safe, future proof plain text data format with full version control and privacy. hledger aims to help both computer experts and regular folks gain clarity in their finances and time management. Though the UIs are basic, hledger can model any accounting situation and provide precise, clear…
read the full hledger overview →
About rotki
rotki: The Opensource, Self Hosted Portfolio Manager A privacy focused portfolio manager, accounting, and analytics tool. 📌 Table of Contents 📖 Overview ✨ Features 🔧 Requirements 🚀 Installation 📘 Usage 📜 Changelog 🤝 Contribute 📢 Get in Touch 💰 Donations 📄 License 📖 Overview rotki is an opensource self hosted portfolio management tool that puts privacy first. Unlike most competitors, which are closed source SaaS platforms requiring you to hand over sensitive financial data, rotki keeps your data encrypted and stored locally ensuring you stay in control. Our mission is to bring transparency to the…
read the full rotki overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hledger or rotki more popular?
hledger has 4,821 GitHub stars and rotki has 4,091. hledger has the larger community by that measure.
Are hledger and rotki free?
Both are open source. hledger is licensed under GPL-3.0 and rotki under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hledger and rotki?
hledger is written in Haskell and rotki in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, hledger or rotki?
Choose hledger if you want the larger community (4,821 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose rotki if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.