Softwr

No-Code · head to head

Corteza vs Formance

Corteza logo

Corteza

No-Code

Apache-licensed open source low-code platform, formerly Crust, positioned against Salesforce

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Formance logo

Formance

APIs

Open source double-entry ledger and payment orchestration for money-moving software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Corteza planet Crust is a small company of roughly a dozen or so people, so the entire commercial support capability behind Corteza is thin and a large deployment can outgrow the vendors ability to respond.; Formance formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • They diverge on capability: Corteza covers Corteza Low Code, Formance covers Double-entry ledger.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Corteza and Formance actually diverge.

Attributes where Corteza and Formance differ
AttributeCortezaFormance
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, DockerLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API
CategoryNo-CodeAPIs

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Corteza

  • Corteza Low Code
  • Automation and workflow
  • Bundled CRM
  • Case management
  • Federation
  • Role-based access control
  • Corteza Messaging and integrations
  • Apache 2.0 licence

Only in Formance

  • Double-entry ledger
  • Numscript transaction DSL
  • Multi-currency
  • Payments connectivity
  • Reconciliation
  • Cloud offering
  • API and SDKs

Both cover

  • Self-hosted deployment

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Corteza

  • A European public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor feenot Formance
  • An NGO replacing a Salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring costnot Formance
  • An integrator building a regulated vertical application it intends to resell, requiring a permissive licence it can ship commerciallynot Formance
  • A mid-size European company that wants one platform for internal applications and a sales pipeline without paying per seat as headcount growsnot Formance

Formance

  • A marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditablenot Corteza
  • A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot Corteza
  • A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot Corteza
  • A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot Corteza

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Corteza

  • Planet Crust is a small company of roughly a dozen or so people, so the entire commercial support capability behind Corteza is thin and a large deployment can outgrow the vendors ability to respond.
  • No pricing is published for Planet Crusts support, hosting or implementation services, so the true running cost of a supported deployment cannot be estimated without a sales conversation.
  • The connector ecosystem is small compared with commercial low-code platforms, so integrations with common SaaS tools usually mean writing against the REST API rather than installing something.
  • Hiring is hard: almost nobody has Corteza on a CV, so you are training internal developers on a niche platform and you cannot easily replace them.
  • The bundled CRM is a starting point rather than a mature product, and teams that expect Salesforce-equivalent sales functionality out of the box will spend months building the gap themselves.

Formance

  • Formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • Numscript is a domain-specific language your team must learn, and while it makes complex splits expressible it also means transaction logic sits outside the languages your engineers already debug well.
  • Self-hosting a ledger that must never lose or duplicate a transaction is a serious operational commitment covering backups, upgrades and Postgres tuning, which is real cost the zero licence fee hides.
  • Enterprise pricing is not published, so the difference between the free path and the supported path cannot be evaluated without a sales conversation.
  • The company is much smaller than the incumbent alternatives, and while the MIT licence protects the code it does not protect the roadmap, so features on the hosted side may arrive slowly or change direction.

Pricing, plan by plan

Corteza

Free
  • Corteza communityFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed with no feature gating
    • Low-code builder, workflow engine, CRM and case management included
    • Self-hosted on your own infrastructure
  • Planet Crust support and services$undefined/year
    • Commercial support, hosting and implementation from Planet Crust
    • Custom application development
    • Training

Formance

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • MIT licensed core ledger
    • Numscript transaction DSL
    • Multi-currency tracking
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Managed or private deployment
    • Payments connectivity and reconciliation
    • Support with response commitments

Which should you pick?

Choose Corteza if

  • You need corteza low code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker.
  • You also want automation and workflow.
Corteza review

Choose Formance if

  • You need double-entry ledger.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
  • You also want numscript transaction dsl.
Formance review

Questions people ask

Is Corteza or Formance better?
Neither clearly leads. Corteza starts at Free and Formance at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Corteza or Formance?
Corteza starts at Free and Formance at Free.
Does Corteza or Formance run on more platforms?
Corteza runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
Can I use Corteza for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Corteza best used for?
Corteza is most often used for a european public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor fee, an ngo replacing a salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring cost, an integrator building a regulated vertical application it intends to resell, requiring a permissive licence it can ship commercially, a mid-size european company that wants one platform for internal applications and a sales pipeline without paying per seat as headcount grows. Of those, a european public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor fee and an ngo replacing a salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring cost are not what Formance is typically brought in for.
What can Corteza do that Formance cannot?
Corteza covers Corteza Low Code, Automation and workflow, Bundled CRM, Case management. Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Both handle Self-hosted deployment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Corteza: Is Corteza the same thing as Crust?

Yes. The project was branded Crust and renamed Corteza in 2019 when Crust Technology donated it to the Commons Conservancy.

Formance: Is Formance really open source?

Yes. The core ledger is MIT licensed with full source access and no deployment restrictions.

Corteza: Who owns the code?

The Commons Conservancy, a Dutch foundation. Planet Crust in Cork is the primary developer and sells commercial services around it.

Formance: Does Formance move money?

No. It records and orchestrates movements; the actual payments happen at a PSP or bank you connect.

Corteza: Is there a paid enterprise edition?

No. Corteza is Apache 2.0 with no feature gating. Planet Crust sells support, hosting and development instead of a restricted edition.

Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

Not published. It is an annual subscription quoted per customer.

Corteza: Can it genuinely replace Salesforce?

For case management and a straightforward sales pipeline on a self-hosted footprint, yes. For a large sales organisation relying on AppExchange products and a mature ecosystem, no.

Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?

Yes for anything beyond the simplest transfers. It is how multi-party transactions are expressed atomically.

Share

Related pages

More on Corteza

More on Formance

Keep looking

Other head to heads