Background This FAQ will describe Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) for personal finance. Zender maintains a nice FAQ on MS Money and other threads on this forum discuss Quicken. While both of these fine personal finance packages can often be otained free after rebate, they will not be discussed here. Instead, we will talk about software which isn't only given away to everyone for $0 with no strings attached, but is also available with source code, allowing anyone in the world to contribute features and bug fixes. This thread was started after a posting I made in a thread on Money vs. Quicken. You might still be able to find useful information there, but I will try to include everything in this thread. Please feel free to ask questions in this thread--I will update this OP as needed & as time allows. If I don't think your comment warrants a mention in the OP, I will still try to respond to you.
Programs capable of importing QIF can import data from Quicken or Money or from many online banks. Programs capable of importing OFX can import data from many online banks. OFX is a newer standard that both MS and Intuit are embracing & it allows for better reconciliation. OFX is ideal for direct connect. Be aware that current support for direct downloading is poor, in part because banks don't share enough information with open source developers. The suggested way to use any personal finance software is to manually enter transactions as they occur & to verify them against statements. This verification can be done manually against paper or against manually downloaded QIF/OFX statements. To automate OFX download, see GnuCash Online Banking.
Windows users who want to try applications which aren't on there platform will not have much luck with cygwin, unless otherwise noted. Most are dependency-heavy & do not have cygwin binaries yet. You may wish to test the applications under various LiveCDs or use coLinux, which should be able to run the software listed here. Other options include dual booting or running Linux under PC virtualization software, such as VMware or Qemu. In summary: running *nix applications is, for the most part, very possible under windows. However, is beyond the scope of this FAQ.
For those unfamiliar with KDE/GNOME, these are desktop environments which run on top of X11 (a windowing system for *nix). You can run GNOME apps without needing to use GNOME as your desktop environment & you can run KDE apps without needing to use KDE as your desktop environment. You just need to load additional libraries into memory which are usually loaded by GNOME/KDE. This won't take any additional work for you, but some people choose not to mix/match apps from different environments because of the greater memory and disk-space overhead of two sets of libraries & also to improve the single look/feel of their desktop. Some other people are agnostic & will just use their favorite apps, regardless of which desktop they were built for.
Users coming from MS Money or Quicken are familiar with Single-Entry Accounting. This is "checkbook" style bookkeeping, in which you merely record transactions out of an account. Double-entry accounting is used by businesses & in software like PeachTree and QuickBooks. However, current software makes it easy to use for your personal finances as well. Each transaction is recorded in two accounts. So, rather than just saying that you charged $10 (in single-entry), you'd say that your credit card balance was decreased by $10 and some other account (such as an expense account for your gas company) increased by $10. It sounds confusing, but it allows you to do some really fundamental checks for data validity (e.g. the sum of all accounts needs to be $0. The software will do this for you & it won't take long to get used to, or even to like more (for example, it is often easier to setup finer-grained nested accounts and get reports on them than "categories" which are often used in single-entry systems).Dual-Entry Accounting suitable for personal or business financeGnuCash
Summary: Most mature and popular F/OSS application still under heavy active development: best choice for platforms that support it
Platforms: Apache + Perl + postgresql (available on all platforms)
Imports: none
Multiple Currencies: no
Investments: no
Documentation: Excellent.
Single-Entry Accounting suitable for personal finance, in the style of Money or QuickenGrisbi
Summary: Best cross-platform single-entry system (GTK2 looks nice)
Platform: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, Zaurus
Imports: QIF, OFX
Multiple Currencies: Yes
Investments: No.
Documentation: Pretty good if you know Frech.
Tax Preparation Tax preparation is only recently starting to have free/open source solutions. The IRS freefile program and AARP's Tax-Aide might still be the best (easiest, most well tested/supported) ways to file your taxes gratis, but the open source apps are making impressive progress.
TaxGeek Is probably the most polished app. It is Mozilla-based and can prepare PDF forms for you to mail in. It is basic & works on all platforms & doesn't have the "interview" of commercial apps. Open Tax Solver This is a slightly older app which is probably more basic than TaxGeek, but works on all platforms & can be fairly easily expanded with other tax forms. You enter amounts directly into a minimal GUI or into a raw text file. It calculates all lines in your tax form. Fewer federal schedules than TaxGeek, but can do state taxes. Additionally, there is an Excel spreadsheet (TaxCalculator), java-script addons to the IRS forms which do calculations for you (Autotax), and other efforts. Linksfreshmeat.net
To enter a coupon code in your post please enter the following info:
Coupon Code:
Coupon Offer:
Merchant:
Expires (optional):
Restrictions (optional):
saving...
Quick Summary is created and edited by users like you... Add FAQ's, Links and other Relevant Information by clicking the edit button in the lower right hand corner of this message.
I played around with GNUCash on OS X for a week or so. It worked fine, and the tutuorial is excellent. In the end, I stopped using it mostly because my tried and true amalgam of a PDA and a versatile note collector (sticky notes) works better for me.
I agree with EricGo: this is a superb thread. At this point, there are very, very few tasks for which I rely on non-Open Source software... and I use a Windows machine. Perhaps the most important of these tasks is personal finance. Here are my questions:
1. How possible is it to use GnuCash or KMyMoney with cygwin, Cooperative Linux, or Qemu? 2. How do these programs rate in terms of interface design, documentation, stability, security, and feature set, both relative to each other and relative to Quicken, MSMoney, and others that might deserve consideration, like Grisbi [open source] or Peachtree [commercial]? 3. How smooth are the direct, online interactions between these programs and banks, brokerages, etc.? 4. How smooth are the interactions between these programs and other open source software that might be used to complement the tasks they perform (such as Gnumeric, OpenOffice, and the K spreadsheet)?
I changed the format of the OP to make it more concise, allowing you to more-easily compare the applications. I will be updating this heavily in the near future.1. How possible is it to use GnuCash or KMyMoney with cygwin, Cooperative Linux, or Qemu?You'd have to compile them to use them on cygwin. This would not be trivial, especially for GnuCash. KDE has been ported to cygwin, so you might have more success. coLinux and Qemu are both quite viable options.2. How do these programs rate in terms of interface design, documentation, stability, security, and feature set, both relative to each other and relative to Quicken, MSMoney, and others that might deserve consideration, like Grisbi [open source] or Peachtree [commercial]?I will put some of these in the OP. Interface design is somewhat similar on all three & good enough on all of them that it is probably a matter of personal aesthetic. I commented on documentation briefly. They all have stable releases & any of them are ready for your personal finances.3. How smooth are the direct, online interactions between these programs and banks, brokerages, etc.?Direct connection is quite poor in all F/OSS compared to the commercial choices. I gave a link to direct connect via GnuCash (or others that support OFX). Connection is currently only to download statements & not pay bills/transfer money/etc. The number of supported US banks is also somewhat small, but the page I posted helps with that--they hacked out connection info from MS Money.4. How smooth are the interactions between these programs and other open source software that might be used to complement the tasks they perform (such as Gnumeric, OpenOffice, and the K spreadsheet)?You can usually get a spreadsheet in any of these programs. Those that use XML allow you to use XSLT to transform data into whatever you want.
Great responses, both inline and in the edits you made to the OP. As excited as I was about seeing this topic discussed in the FW Finance forum, I'm even more excited about the direction in which you're taking it.
For the past month or so I've been working on a general OSS (and freeware) guide for MS Windows users and I've run into some of the same questions about audience and scope that seem to be arising in this FAQ. As user-friendly as Linux is becoming, it still has to develop further before it's as simple for users as OS X or MS Windows. This isn't a slight against Linux--I'm definitely rooting for it, and it does make hard tasks easier to accomplish than MS Windows or OS X--but simple things on MS Windows or OS X (installing the OS on a newer machine, installing software, running software, getting a GUI-capable program to use its GUI interface) are still significantly easier than on Linux. For that reason, Linux users tend to know much more about computers than MS Windows or OS X users--they have to in order to get things done.
Which is why I think you might want to step back and explain:
1. The advantages of a personal finance program. What is the typical user experience like? What kinds of tasks does it automate/make easier/make possible? Can it exchange data with my PDA or phone?
2. How would a typical user decide on going with a double entry vs. a single entry system?
3. Which Linux distros make the most sense for a newbie who wants to use GnuCash or KMyMoney (and perhaps experiment with Linux in general). Possible criteria: overall ease of install (maybe a Live CD, but then Live CDs don't usually allow users to save data, right?); GUI friendliness (nice desktop manager); having the target software already included in the distro, eliminating the need to install it after installing the distro; especially simple apt/rpm version/security updates; especially well integrated dual boot configuration software. Note: I've been paying close attention to MEPIS for these reasons, but there are likely other distros are making similar strides.
4. What is the path of least resistance for a Windows user who doesn't want to give up Windows but does want to run Linux software? I've had success with QEMU and could provide details, but it's still so slow that I don't think it's yet capable of winning hearts and minds. I've found coLinux so poorly documented that I haven't yet given it much of a chance, and compiling software in cygwin or MinGW is beyond my ken. Virtualization may be the way to go, perhaps in combination with coLinux, but I haven't yet found the right guide/manual.
5. Security. What risks are involved and what's the best way to mitigate the most obvious risks?
6. Data Portability. How possible is it to go from Quicken/MS Money to an OSS package and back again? What steps are needed?
ABC3, thanks for your comments. They will help me improve the OP. I may not get to all of them immediately, but I will try to get to most of them eventually.but simple things on MS Windows or OS X (installing the OS on a newer machine, installing software, running software, getting a GUI-capable program to use its GUI interface) are still significantly easier than on Linux.Depending on the distro, I disagree--there are some very-easy-to-install distros (which will also give you a GUI) & apt/portage/other good package managers make software at least as easy to install & definitely easier to update. One can also buy *nix machines, but I digress...1. The advantages of a personal finance program. What is the typical user experience like? What kinds of tasks does it automate/make easier/make possible? Can it exchange data with my PDA or phone?I'll attempt to add more here, but due to the bredth of the software & the number of programs I'm reviewing, it may never be 100% satisfactory for a short FAQ.Which Linux distros make the most sense for a newbie who wants to use GnuCash or KMyMoneyThis seems beyond the scope of this article. I may provide links to a few options, but I will never go into great detail on this.maybe a Live CD, but then Live CDs don't usually allow users to save data, right?A "persistent" home directory, which is either written to the harddisk, a usb stick or some other medium isn't uncommon.4. What is the path of least resistance for a Windows user who doesn't want to give up Windows but does want to run Linux software?Also beyond the scope of the FAQ & beyond most of my experience--I don't run Windows. I would actually encourage YOU to write a FAQ on this for the Computer forum. I'd be happy to link to it or other brief how-tos in my OP.5. Security. What risks are involved and what's the best way to mitigate the most obvious risks?I may or may not discuss this.6. Data Portability. How possible is it to go from Quicken/MS Money to an OSS package and back again? What steps are needed?I will discuss export formats. Many programs can export to QIF for import into other Financial software.
The GNUcash tutorial is so good (especially on double accounting methods) that it should probably read it even if you go with another program.
IMO, Live CDs are probably the best bet for Windows users who want to sample some of these programs. Optimally the CDs would come with the packages already installed. Other Live CDs have to be installed to the HD before you install additional packages (or at least I couldn't figure out how to use apt-get / dpkg without a HD OS install). I thought it might be useful to have a list of LiveCDs that already come with these financial packages, so they can be tried out without anything "permanently" installed. I used the info at distrowatch to come up with this list (I'll try to update it when I find out what other packages are included):
These Live CD's include financial packages:
Gnoppix - versions 0.5.4 and 0.5 have GNUcash 1.8.5
Kanotix - versions X-2004 and 09-2004 have GNUcash 1.8.9
Morphix - version 0.4-1 (hGUI) has GNUcash 1.8.7 - version 0.3-6 has GNUcash 1.8.2
PCLinuxOS - version P7 has GNUcash 1.8.6 - version P8 has KMyMoney 0.6.4
SUSE - version 9.1 has GNUcash 1.8.8 - version 9.2 has GNUcash 1.8.8 and KMyMoney2 0.6.1
These Live CD's do not appear to have financial packages included, so you would have to install to HD first: D*mn Small Linux (Debian) Knoppix (Debian) Luit (Debian) Mepis (Debian) Ubuntu Live (Debian) Xfld (Debian) BeatrIX (Debian) FreeSBIE (Free BSD) Sam (Mandrake/Xfce) SLAX (Slackware) Berry Linux (Fedora)
Excellent idea for a thread. I think it's especially important to get some good Free tax software on there, I've looked around, and I haven't found anything worth using.
Of course, it probably didn't help that I got TaxCut for -$26.
One question: how does a non-linux person quickly extract the GNUcash docs, compressed in tar.gz format? Nothing I have on my XP install can do this. TIA.
1)The documentation is online. The Tutorial and Concepts Guide is useful to anyone needing a crash-course in dual-entry accounting (not just GnuCash users). The Help Manual is the more traditional/basic how-to get started.
2)When on windows, I use 7-Zip to decompress just about anything (including .tar.gz). The only downside is that I think you might have to extract the .tar.gz to a .tar & then extract that (so two steps). Other compression software does it in one, but 7-zip is free & does everything & is also a great compressor, so I prefer to use it.
This is a terrific thread. After many years of on-again, off-again use of Quicken, Im prepared to get serious. I'm looking for an app that is: o free and open-source o runs on Microsoft Windows XP and Linux o does dual-entry accounting o supports automated downloads of - my credit card transactions, - checking accont activity - mutual fund activity
From what I've read in this thread, jGnash is the leading candidate. Are there any in the new list I should consider before I go full-bore on jGnash? Bump. Also: I will eventually add:
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
