Ghostfolio vs Maybe: Investment Tracking Compared

Ghostfolio is a purpose-built portfolio tracker that pulls live market data, calculates performance metrics, and actively receives updates. Maybe aimed to combine budgeting and investment tracking but was archived in July 2025 after the founding company shut down. For self-hosted investment tracking in 2026, the choice is straightforward.

Overview

Ghostfolio focuses specifically on investment portfolio management — tracking stocks, ETFs, bonds, crypto, and other assets with automatic price updates via Yahoo Finance and other data providers. It shows allocation breakdowns, performance charts, dividend tracking, and net worth over time. Built with NestJS and Angular.

Maybe was a broader personal finance app covering budgeting, transaction tracking, and investment monitoring. It was built by a venture-backed startup that pivoted to open source before shutting down. The v0.6.0 release in July 2025 was the last, and the GitHub repository is archived.

Feature	Ghostfolio	Maybe
Focus	Investment portfolio tracking	All-in-one personal finance
Docker image	ghostfolio/ghostfolio:2.249.0	ghcr.io/maybe-finance/maybe:0.6.0
Language	TypeScript (NestJS + Angular)	Ruby on Rails
License	AGPL-3.0	AGPL-3.0
Actively maintained	Yes (weekly releases)	No (archived July 2025)
Market data	Yahoo Finance, manual, data providers	None (manual entry only)
Asset types	Stocks, ETFs, bonds, crypto, commodities, real estate	Stocks, crypto, real estate (basic)
Performance metrics	TWR, MWR, dividends, fees	Basic balance tracking
Allocation analysis	By asset class, region, sector, account	None
Multi-currency	Yes (automatic conversion)	Basic
Database	PostgreSQL + Redis	PostgreSQL
RAM usage	~200-350 MB	~300-500 MB
Benchmark comparison	Yes (compare against S&P 500, etc.)	No

Installation Complexity

Ghostfolio

Three containers — app, PostgreSQL, Redis:

services:
  ghostfolio:
    image: ghostfolio/ghostfolio:2.249.0
    container_name: ghostfolio
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://ghostfolio:changeme-gf-db-pass@ghostfolio-db:5432/ghostfolio
      - REDIS_HOST=ghostfolio-redis
      - REDIS_PORT=6379
      - ACCESS_TOKEN_SALT=generate-random-string-here
      - JWT_SECRET_KEY=generate-another-random-string-here
    ports:
      - "3333:3333"
    depends_on:
      - ghostfolio-db
      - ghostfolio-redis
    restart: unless-stopped

  ghostfolio-db:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    container_name: ghostfolio-db
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=ghostfolio
      - POSTGRES_USER=ghostfolio
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=changeme-gf-db-pass
    volumes:
      - ./db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: unless-stopped

  ghostfolio-redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    container_name: ghostfolio-redis
    restart: unless-stopped

Default login: admin / Admin1234 — change immediately after first login.

Maybe

Two containers — app and PostgreSQL:

services:
  maybe:
    image: ghcr.io/maybe-finance/maybe:0.6.0
    container_name: maybe
    environment:
      - RAILS_ENV=production
      - SECRET_KEY_BASE=generate-a-64-char-hex-string
      - DB_HOST=maybe-db
      - DB_PORT=5432
      - DB_NAME=maybe
      - DB_USERNAME=maybe
      - DB_PASSWORD=changeme-maybe-db-pass
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    depends_on:
      - maybe-db
    restart: unless-stopped

  maybe-db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: maybe-db
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=maybe
      - POSTGRES_USER=maybe
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=changeme-maybe-db-pass
    volumes:
      - ./db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: unless-stopped

Performance and Resource Usage

Metric	Ghostfolio	Maybe
Containers	3 (app + PostgreSQL + Redis)	2 (app + PostgreSQL)
RAM (idle)	~200 MB	~300 MB
RAM (under load)	~350 MB	~500 MB
Docker image size	~300 MB	~500 MB
Startup time	~10 seconds	~15-20 seconds
Market data updates	Automatic (configurable interval)	None

Ghostfolio’s Redis dependency adds a container but barely impacts resources (~20 MB). Maybe’s Rails stack is heavier despite doing less.

The Maintenance Reality

Ghostfolio ships weekly releases with:

• New data provider integrations
• Performance improvements
• Bug fixes and security patches
• New asset type support
• UI improvements

Maybe has received zero updates since July 2025. Known issues include:

• No security patches for Ruby on Rails dependencies
• Gem vulnerabilities accumulating over time
• No community maintaining the fork
• API integrations (if any) breaking as external services change

Running Maybe means accepting increasing security risk with each passing month.

Use Cases

Choose Ghostfolio If…

• You want automatic market data updates for your portfolio
• Performance metrics (TWR, dividends, fees) matter to you
• You want allocation analysis by sector, region, and asset class
• Long-term support and regular updates are important
• You want to benchmark your portfolio against indices

Choose Maybe If…

• You want a combined budgeting + investment view (and accept unmaintained software)
• You plan to fork and maintain the codebase yourself
• You only need basic balance tracking without live market data
• You’re using it as a starting point for a custom Rails app

Final Verdict

If you need investment tracking, choose Ghostfolio — there’s no practical alternative here. The question isn’t which is better; it’s whether you want maintained software with live market data or an abandoned project with manual entry only. Ghostfolio paired with Actual Budget covers both budgeting and investment tracking better than Maybe ever did alone.

FAQ

Can Ghostfolio track real estate?

Yes. Add real estate as a manual asset with periodic value updates. It won’t pull Zillow estimates automatically, but you can record your property’s value and track it alongside your financial portfolio.

Does Maybe support automatic market data?

The self-hosted version does not. The original SaaS product had Plaid integration, but that was never included in the open-source release.

Can I run both and migrate later?

Yes, but there’s no built-in migration path. You’d export Maybe’s data as CSV and manually re-enter positions in Ghostfolio. For new users, start with Ghostfolio directly.

Related

• How to Self-Host Maybe
• How to Self-Host Ghostfolio with Docker
• Ghostfolio vs Firefly III
• Ghostfolio vs Actual Budget
• Best Self-Hosted Personal Finance Apps
• Actual Budget vs Maybe
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to YNAB