Wavepal vs Monica.
Two personal CRMs that actually agree on the important things. This one comes down to self-host and own everything, or ready in two minutes and gently nudged. Updated September 2026.
The short answer.
Monica and Wavepal share the same values: private, no ads, built for people you love. Choose Monica to self-host and own everything, free on your own server, or $9/mo hosted as of July 2026. Choose Wavepal for a hosted app with nudges at the center: free up to 10 people, then $5/mo billed annually.
Monica is the beloved open-source personal CRM: around 25k GitHub stars, a hosted version, and a self-hostable app that’s a fixture of the r/selfhosted world. It’s built for documenting your life with the people you love: notes, journals, gifts, debts, even pets.
And honestly, we agree with Monica about almost everything. Not a social network. No ads, no data selling. For friends and family, not pipelines. If you’re choosing between us, you’ve already made the important choice. What’s left is execution.
The short version.
Choose Monica if…
You want to self-host and own the server outright
Open source is a requirement, not a nice-to-have
You love the document-your-life breadth: journals, gifts, debts, activities
Choose Wavepal if…
You want to be up and running in two minutes, no server involved
The reminding is your actual problem: you want gentle, cadence-aware nudges
You want an iPhone app and a product that’s somebody’s full-time job
Side by side.
| Feature | Monica |  wavepal |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Documenting life with your loved ones | Actually reaching out to your loved ones |
| Getting started | Hosted signup, or self-host: Docker, database, SMTP, backups on you | Hosted, ready in minutes |
| Reminders | Email reminders plus fixed-interval “stay in touch” timers | Guilt-free waves on a per-person cadence |
| Breadth | Very broad: journal, gifts, debts, pets, documents, tasks | Deliberately focused: people, notes, tags, birthdays, cadence |
| Mobile | No official native app; web on your phone | Web app, plus an iPhone app in beta |
| Open source | Yes: AGPL, inspectable, yours forever | No |
| Who builds it | A volunteer side project (their words), community-funded | Two founders, full time |
| Pricing | Hosted $9/mo or $90/yr after a 30-day trial; self-host free (as of September 2026) | Free up to 10 people; $5/mo billed annually |
Filing cabinet vs nudge engine.
Monica is optimized for recording: the journal, the gift log, the how-you-met, the documents. If you love writing life down, it’s a wonderful filing cabinet. Its reminders are honest, simple timers, and Monica says so proudly: their own docs describe the app as deliberately not smart, only emailing you the things you asked to be reminded of.
Wavepal is optimized for the other half: the reaching out itself. A cadence per person, one gentle nudge, a snooze that doesn’t shame you, and the details surfaced right when you need them. Less filing, more waving.
The self-hosting question.
Honesty requires saying this plainly: a self-hosted Monica is the maximum-privacy option. Your server, your database, your rules, and the official Docker image has tens of millions of pulls. If running it sounds fun, Monica is wonderful and you should use it.
The tradeoff is that you become the ops team: upgrades, backups, SMTP for reminder emails, and choosing between the stable version and a long-running beta rewrite. If that sounds like a second job, that’s what we’re for. Wavepal’s privacy promise is different but real: nothing syncs in, and your notes are never sold or shown to anyone.
Fair questions.
- Isn’t self-hosted Monica more private than Wavepal?
- In the strict sense, yes: nothing beats owning the server. Our promise is a different shape: no syncing in, no ads, no data sales, and zero servers for you to maintain.
- Is Monica still maintained?
- Yes. It’s a volunteer-paced side project, in the maintainers’ own words, and signups are open. Development moves slower than a full-time product, which is part of the tradeoff either way you choose.
- Can I import from Monica?
- There’s no importer today. Wavepal starts small on purpose: add the handful of people you actually want to stay close to, and grow from there.
- Is Wavepal open source?
- No. If open source or self-hosting is a hard requirement, Monica is the better pick, genuinely. Wavepal’s trade is different: a small hosted product, ready in minutes, with nudges at the center.
- Which is cheaper, Wavepal or Monica?
- Hosted against hosted, Wavepal is cheaper: $5/mo billed annually against Monica’s $9/mo or $90/yr as of September 2026. Wavepal is free up to 10 people; hosted Monica has a 30-day trial instead of a free tier. Self-hosted Monica is free if you run the server yourself.
Be the friend who remembers.
Add your first few people in minutes. Wavepal takes it from there.
Free up to 10 people. No card. Nothing for your friends to install.