head to head · open source
Polar vs Expensify
Polar has 10,270 GitHub stars, 787 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Expensify has 5,025 stars, 4,010 forks, 2,252 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Polar leads on adoption by 104% (10,270 vs 5,025 stars). Polar is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Expensify is written in TypeScript under MIT. Polar has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Expensify 80%. Expensify 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 | Expensify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 10K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 787 | ⑂ 4.0K |
| 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 Expensify if
- You want the Expensify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Expensify fits your workflow better
About Polar
Polar is an open source billing platform and payment infrastructure project for digital products, SaaS applications, and AI workloads. It is written in Python, licensed under Apache 2.0, and built around FastAPI, Next.js, React, and Turborepo. The project positions itself as a financial layer for software that needs to charge for tokens, agents, compute, subscriptions, and usage based models.
read the full Polar overview →
About Expensify
Expensify (New Expensify) is a chat centered financial collaboration application built in TypeScript and published under the MIT license, aimed at developers and contributors who build and extend expense management workflows across web, iOS, and Android.
read the full Expensify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Polar or Expensify more popular?
Polar has 10,270 GitHub stars and Expensify has 5,025. Polar has the larger community by that measure.
Are Polar and Expensify free?
Both are open source. Polar is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Expensify under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Polar and Expensify?
Polar is written in Python and Expensify 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, Polar or Expensify?
Choose Polar if you want the larger community (10,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Expensify if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.