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APIs · head to head

Formance vs Hasura

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Hasura logo

Hasura

APIs

GraphQL engine that instantly creates production-ready GraphQL API from databases

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Hasura active model definition: model/command accessed more than 1,000 times monthly
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Hasura covers GraphQL API.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and Hasura actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and Hasura differ
AttributeFormanceHasura
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feefreemium
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, APIWeb
FoundedUnknown2017

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

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 Formance

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

Only in Hasura

  • GraphQL API
  • Real-time subscriptions
  • Access control
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • Webhooks
  • REST APIs
  • Cloud support

What people use each for

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

Formance

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

Hasura

  • Automatic GraphQL API generation from existing databasesnot Formance
  • Real-time data subscriptions for modern applicationsnot Formance
  • Backend infrastructure for web and mobile applicationsnot Formance
  • Event-triggered webhooks for database changesnot Formance

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Hasura

  • Active model definition: model/command accessed more than 1,000 times monthly
  • Private DDN requires Base or Advanced plan

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Hasura

Free
  • DDN FreeFree
    • Unlimited models
    • 1 supergraph developer
    • 15-minute observability retention
  • DDN Base$5/month
    • Per active model billing
    • Unlimited developers
    • 30-day observability retention
  • DDN Advanced$30/month
    • Per active model billing
    • Federated collaboration
    • Multi-repo CI/CD

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Hasura if

  • You need graphql api.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want real-time subscriptions.
Hasura review

Questions people ask

Is Formance or Hasura better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance starts at Free and Hasura at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Formance or Hasura?
Formance starts at Free and Hasura at Free.
Does Formance or Hasura run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. Hasura runs on Web.
Can I use Formance for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Formance best used for?
Formance is most often used for a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable, a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit, a payments team that wants one normalised model across several psps so reconciliation is not written separately for each, a company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappears. Of those, a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable and a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit are not what Hasura is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that Hasura cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Hasura covers GraphQL API, Real-time subscriptions, Access control, PostgreSQL.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Formance: Is Formance really open source?

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

Hasura: How much does Hasura cost?

Hasura DDN Free is free. DDN Base starts at $5/active model/month, and DDN Advanced starts at $30/active model/month.

Source
Formance: Does Formance move money?

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

Hasura: What is an active model in Hasura pricing?

An active model is defined as any model or command accessed more than 1,000 times monthly.

Source
Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

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

Hasura: Is there a free version of Hasura?

Yes, Hasura DDN Free is always free and includes unlimited models, 1 supergraph developer, and 15-minute observability retention.

Source
Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?

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

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