head to head · open source
OpenBB vs Formance
OpenBB has 75,033 GitHub stars, 7,844 forks, 117 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Formance has 533 stars, 73 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. OpenBB leads on adoption by 13,977% (75,033 vs 533 stars). OpenBB is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Formance is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. OpenBB has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Formance 14%. OpenBB 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
| OpenBB | Formance | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 75K | ★ 533 |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.8K | ⑂ 73 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenBB if
- You weight community size — 75K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Formance if
- You want the Formance feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Formance fits your workflow better
About OpenBB
Open Data Platform by OpenBB (ODP) is the open source toolset that helps data engineers integrate proprietary, licensed, and public data sources into downstream applications like AI copilots and research dashboards. ODP operates as the "connect once, consume everywhere" infrastructure layer that consolidates and exposes data to multiple surfaces at once: Python environments for quants, OpenBB Workspace and Excel for analysts, MCP servers for AI agents, and REST APIs for other applications. Get started with: pip install openbb Data integrations available can be found here: OpenBB Workspace While the Open Data…
read the full OpenBB overview →
About Formance
Formance Stack • Formance is a highly modular developer platform to build and operate complex money flows of any size and shapes. It comes with several components, that can be used as a whole as the Formance Stack or separately as standalone micro services and libraries: Formance Ledger Programmable double entry, immutable source of truth to record internal financial transactions and money movements Formance Payments Unified API and data layer for payments processing Formance Numscript DSL and virtual machine monetary computations and transactions modeling ⚡️ Getting started with Formance Cloud Sandbox Install…
read the full Formance overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenBB or Formance more popular?
OpenBB has 75,033 GitHub stars and Formance has 533. OpenBB has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenBB and Formance free?
Neither OpenBB nor Formance declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenBB and Formance?
OpenBB is written in Python and Formance in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenBB or Formance?
Choose OpenBB if you want the larger community (75,033 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Formance if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.