Lago vs Sure
| Tagline | Open-source metering and usage-based billing API for SaaS products | Personal finance app for everyone — a maintained fork of Maybe |
| Category | Finance & Budgeting | Finance & Budgeting |
| Replaces | QuickBooks, Mint | Mint, YNAB |
| GitHub stars | 10k | 8.7k |
| Language | Docker | Docker |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 7 days ago | today |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Lago
- Developer-oriented billing API, not a personal finance or budgeting tool for end-users
- No AR/AP or general-ledger accounting; revenue recognition requires integration with an ERP
- Tax calculation engine is basic; real-world tax compliance needs third-party integration (e.g. Avalara)
- Dunning workflows and payment retries are less mature than Chargebee or Stripe Billing
Sure
- Community fork with a smaller contributor base; long-term maintenance cadence is uncertain
- Bank connection / Plaid integration requires API credentials and is US-centric
- No mobile native app; web-only interface
- Budgeting and envelope features less developed compared to YNAB or Actual
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; choose Lago for the larger community and ecosystem. Sure has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.