head to head · open source
Polar vs OpenBudgeteer
Polar has 10,454 GitHub stars, 811 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenBudgeteer has 974 stars, 64 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Polar leads on adoption by 973% (10,454 vs 974 stars). Polar is written in Python under Apache-2.0; OpenBudgeteer is written in C# under AGPL-3.0. Polar has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, OpenBudgeteer 7%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Polar | OpenBudgeteer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 10K | ★ 974 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 811 | ⑂ 64 |
| 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 OpenBudgeteer if
- You want the OpenBudgeteer 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 OpenBudgeteer 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 OpenBudgeteer
OpenBudgeteer is a budgeting app based on the Bucket Budgeting Principle and inspired by YNAB and Buckets. The Core is based on .NET and the MVVM Pattern, the Front End uses Blazor Server. Documentation Within the Documentation you will find all the details how to install and setup OpenBudgeteer and how it is used. Some sections are still WIP but you should find the most important things that were previously maintained here in the README. Quick Start For a quick ramp up up of OpenBudgeteer using Docker and MariaDB see here. Screenshots
read the full OpenBudgeteer overview →
More in Business Software
Related comparisons
More Finance & Accounting projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Finance & Accounting field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Polar or OpenBudgeteer more popular?
Polar has 10,454 GitHub stars and OpenBudgeteer has 974. Polar has the larger community by that measure.
Are Polar and OpenBudgeteer free?
Both are open source. Polar is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenBudgeteer under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Polar and OpenBudgeteer?
Polar is written in Python and OpenBudgeteer 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 OpenBudgeteer?
Choose Polar if you want the larger community (10,454 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenBudgeteer if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.