Is GnuCash right for your business?

Best open-source accounting solution for home and small business

It has been a rock solid tool for managing transactions and monitoring fiscal health in the short and long term. I've tried a few different data store backend options (including mysql, postgresql, and XML file) - I landed long term on the XML file storage because it has had the least issues.

Pros

I was appealed by the low barrier to entry, including free download and installation, as well as strong documentation for an administrator that prefers to configure my own software.

Cons

Still haven't solved the multi-user limitation. We generally work from two different computers with a network file share, and often one user will forget to close the application, keeping the file lock in place. The UI still feels a bit dated, even with recent updates since version 3.0. I am okay with this because double-entry accounting is a well-established process and less change is ultimately better. But the menu structure layout is like the late 90s early 00s desktop application era and, in my opinion, can and should be improved upon.

Great accounting software for individuals and freelancers

Overall, I have nothing but high praise for it. Especially as a small business owner and freelancer. Older versions of the software used to crash when running specialized reports (eg pie charts of expenses) used to sometimes crash, however I have not experienced any such behavior as of the the latest versions of 3.0 and up (currently 3.6 as of this review.)

Pros

It was very easy to setup all of my accounts, and track my expenses and income across them. This includes bank accounts, and stock portfolios. And the ability to run reports that turn my accounts in to pie and bar charts is very helpful as well.

Cons

While I found 99% of the software to be easy to use, and despite having used the software for several years now, I still find it difficult to do split-transactions. Instead I find it easier to just make 2 separate transactions manually, noting that they're part of 1 transaction. They really could improve this feature to make it more failproof and intuitive.

GnuCash is OK... until you need to hire a bookkeeper

I liked using GnuCash when my organization was small and I did all of the bookkeeping myslef. Once my company grew to the point where I had to outsource my bookkeeping, I switched to QuickBooks because most bookkeepers I found were unfamiliar with GnuCash.

Pros

GnuCash is free and open source. If configured to do so, it uses a central MySQL database, which makes it work like enterprise software, where various people in the organization perform bookkeeping tasks. That's huge. It's also self-hosted which means you keep your own database files locally. GnuCash is cross-platform which means it runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Cons

The database isn't very well normalized. That means that if you want to integrate the data into other systems, it's more cumbersome than it should be. There is no good web front end; the only front end with a complete feature set is a desktop application. That makes sharing the data a bit more cumbersome than it would be otherwise. The worst thing is that it's hard to find bookkeepers, at least in the US, that are familiar with it. That makes it hard to outsource your bookkeeping.

GNUCash Review

GNUCash is an open source free package that works much like the for-profit Quicken program without the spyware (content guard) bundled in by Intuit. On the most basic level you simply fill in your checkbook register. If you want to learn a small amount, you can also download your bank statements in various formats, including Quicken format, and click File Import to auto-magically insert them into your checkbook register. I use GNUCash on my desktop, over my LAN to a server, and over Internet via my SSH connection. Those who delve deeper will find this is actually a double entry (professional) accounting system with any number of ledgers you desire to create. You can split transactions just as you would in a paper based accounting system to show all the elements for the cash flow on every transaction, or use any of the (perhaps 50) built in reports to generate a balance sheet, income statement, and other common accounting reports. In this sense it leaves Quicken in the dust and is far easier to use than QuickBooks. Also, GNUCash will leave your payroll percentages alone while Intuit has programmed QuickBooks to delete all your payroll percentages every time you use it after February each year unless you buy the free IRS Circular E from Intuit each year. The Intuit rep explained to me that I had no choice and was forced to buy this free data from them "because business owners are too stupid to enter the (6) percentages themselves". Yes, she actually said that. GNUCash is not a "pretty" program but it is extremely functional and free. The downside is some non-intuitive behaviour when splitting an already entered transaction (which you will eventually figure out), and the rather obtuse way in which you enter budgeting data - the budgeting report however is very straightforward and allows you to change dates and which accounts are included very easily. It also provides a paper trail after every session as a separate (timestamped) file for review or recovery purposes. If you want more privacy and less cost in your company (or personal) accounting software this is a great choice. If you want for-pay customer support instead of using a FAQ or video tutorials to get answers, don't care if a glitch could lock you out of your own data when ContentGuard decides you're suddenly "not authorized", think business owners are stupid, and prefer to buy every feature for hundreds of dollars each, then by all means buy one of Intuit's packages.

Pros

Simple, resembles check register and most people can use it effectively immediately. It is free and malware free. More interested users can scale up their use to include complicated accounting steps (year end closing, splits across accounts, etc) as much as they wish.

Cons

Some features, such as initiating a split, or finding the budgeting functionality, can be non-intuitive.

It's a free, professional, accounting software, kind of usable for personal finance

Pros

I use it to keep my personal finance. It's also a professional tool so it has many features that I will probably never use, but they don't get much in the way. Double entry is a powerful tool when you get the grasps of it, making it possible to bind together transactions between more than two accounts. It can also track stock prices and it's possible to update them with some setup. Charts and reports are available and very flexible. It's free and open source, so you can trust it with your numbers. There are mobile apps that help you not bringing around dozens of receipts to remember where you've spent your money.

Cons

If you're not a professional accountant, you'll need some time to get used to "double entry", and I still get confused sometimes. The setup of stock prices update is definitely not easy (esp. on Linux). Charts and reports require quite some work to get the most out of them, the presets are not that insightful. The Android app I use (GnuCash for Android) is nice but the export/import procedure is annoying: in some cases, you even have to tell GnuCash which date format you're using, and you probably have no idea without checking in the XML file!