head to head · open source
Polar vs budget-board
Polar has 10,454 GitHub stars, 811 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. budget-board has 896 stars, 70 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Polar leads on adoption by 1,067% (10,454 vs 896 stars). Polar is written in Python under Apache-2.0; budget-board is written in C# under AGPL-3.0. Polar has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, budget-board 8%. Polar 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
| Polar | budget-board | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 10K | ★ 896 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 811 | ⑂ 70 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Polar if
- You weight community size — 10K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick budget-board if
- You want the budget-board feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and budget-board fits your workflow better
About Polar
Website • Docs • API Reference Polar: A billing platform for the intelligence era Turn usage into revenue. Polar is the financial layer for a new generation of intelligent software, built for AI startups that need to charge for tokens, agents, and compute without building billing infrastructure from scratch. Ship any pricing model in an afternoon. Usage billing, subscriptions, seats, credits, trials, and discounts. Compose them however your product charges. Meter what matters. Bill tokens, API calls, agent runs, GPU seconds, and storage with precision down to the event. Checkouts that convert , realtime metrics…
read the full Polar overview →
About budget-board
A simple app for tracking monthly spending and working towards financial goals. Getting Started Check out the wiki for instructions on how to setup Budget Board. About The Project I created this app to be a self hosted alternative to the now shut down personal finance app Mint. Features Manage Finances Accounts & Assets : Manage both your financial accounts (checking, savings, credit cards) and assets (property, valuables) in one place. Transactions : Record and categorize your transactions to keep track of your spending habits. Budgeting : Set monthly budgets for different categories and track your spending…
read the full budget-board overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Polar or budget-board more popular?
Polar has 10,454 GitHub stars and budget-board has 896. Polar has the larger community by that measure.
Are Polar and budget-board free?
Both are open source. Polar is licensed under Apache-2.0 and budget-board under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Polar and budget-board?
Polar is written in Python and budget-board in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Polar or budget-board?
Choose Polar if you want the larger community (10,454 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose budget-board if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.