head to head · open source
Polar vs paisa
Polar has 10,454 GitHub stars, 811 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. paisa has 3,230 stars, 218 forks, 91 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Polar leads on adoption by 224% (10,454 vs 3,230 stars). Polar is written in Python under Apache-2.0; paisa is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Polar has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, paisa 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.
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Side by side
| Polar | paisa | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 10K | ★ 3.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 811 | ⑂ 218 |
| 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 paisa if
- You want the paisa feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and paisa 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 paisa
Paisa Paisa is a Personal finance manager. It builds on top of the ledger double entry accounting tool. Checkout documentation to get started. Demo A demo of the Web UI can be found at Status I use it to track my personal finance. Most of my personal use cases are covered. Feel free to open an issue if you found a bug or start a discussion if you have a feature request. If you have any question, you can ask on Matrix chat. License This software is licensed under the AGPL 3 or later license.
read the full paisa overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Polar or paisa more popular?
Polar has 10,454 GitHub stars and paisa has 3,230. Polar has the larger community by that measure.
Are Polar and paisa free?
Both are open source. Polar is licensed under Apache-2.0 and paisa under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Polar and paisa?
Polar is written in Python and paisa 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 paisa?
Choose Polar if you want the larger community (10,454 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose paisa if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.