head to head · open source
Invoice Ninja vs hledger
Invoice Ninja has 10,464 GitHub stars, 2,793 forks, 945 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hledger has 4,806 stars, 426 forks, 328 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Invoice Ninja leads on adoption by 118% (10,464 vs 4,806 stars). Invoice Ninja is written in PHP under a custom or non-standard licence; hledger is written in Haskell under GPL-3.0. Invoice Ninja has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, hledger 9%. hledger 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
| Invoice Ninja | hledger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 10K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Haskell |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 426 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Invoice Ninja if
- You weight community size — 10K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick hledger if
- You want the hledger feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Haskell
- You evaluated both and hledger fits your workflow better
About Invoice Ninja
Invoice Ninja 5 Invoice Ninja Version 5 is here! We've taken the best parts of version 4 and added the most requested features to create an invoicing application like no other. Check the Invoice Ninja YouTube Channel to get up to speed, or try the Demo now. Choose your setup Hosted: Our hosted version is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. You're up and running in under 5 minutes, with no need to worry about hosting or server infrastructure. Self Hosted: For those who prefer to manage their own hosting and server infrastructure. This version gives you full control and flexibility. All Pro and Enterprise…
read the full Invoice Ninja overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Invoice Ninja or hledger more popular?
Invoice Ninja has 10,464 GitHub stars and hledger has 4,806. Invoice Ninja has the larger community by that measure.
Are Invoice Ninja and hledger free?
Both are open source. Invoice Ninja has no licence declared in this registry, and hledger is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Invoice Ninja and hledger?
Invoice Ninja is written in PHP and hledger in Haskell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Invoice Ninja or hledger?
Choose Invoice Ninja if you want the larger community (10,464 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose hledger if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.