GnuCash
About GnuCash
Awards and Recognition
GnuCash Pricing
Completely free of use. Possibility to support by making donations.
Free trial:
Not Available
Free version:
Available
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Most Helpful Reviews for GnuCash
1 - 5 of 47 Reviews
Tim
Verified reviewer
Music, 1 employee
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2019
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.
PROSI 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.
CONSStill 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.
Reason for choosing GnuCash
n/a
Jason
Publishing, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed August 2019
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.)
PROSIt 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.
CONSWhile 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.
Reason for choosing GnuCash
Those sites seemed like more of the same compared to Quickbooks, and I wanted something that I could use offline, DRM free, and could backup and use my data on my own machines.
Reasons for switching to GnuCash
I used to use Quickbooks, but made the switch after realizing it was only costing me money as it caused headaches since it only kept track of transactions, and not future transactions (e.g. it'd automatically categorize a Paypal transaction, but would not automatically deduct the transaction from the payment source.) Which wasn't very useful. Instead, by manually entering all of my transactions daily in to GNUCash, I am taking a much more active role in my financial health as I obtain an overall clearer picture.
Eric
Computer Software, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
2
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed February 2022
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.
PROSGnuCash 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.
CONSThe 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.
Reason for choosing GnuCash
GnuCash is free and open source, and I could integrate it with other software since the data is stored locally.
Matt
Farming, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed October 2022
Open source worth a look
Eventually I migrated away from gnucash to a popular accounting package, for the sole purpose of making my CPA happy. However, after doing bookkeeping for almost 10 years, I am confident that I could make gnucash work in my operation just as well as any paid for program.
PROSClearly the price and value are the initial reasons to take a look at gnuCash. However, once you get used to it, and if you are familiar with bookkeeping, it can prove to be just as good as any accounting software for small medium businesses that exist.
CONSInitially, and this may be because I was new to the world of bookkeeping, it was hard to get some answers on how do use the software. My CPA and other accounting resources were not familiar with the program at all, so I was left to searching on the Internet
Reason for choosing GnuCash
I initially tried Gnucash simply because it was free and open source. As a young company we did not have the resources to purchase a high-end accounting software package, and I generally prefer to try open source options when available.
John
Non-Profit Organization Management, 2-10 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed April 2017
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.
PROSSimple, 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.
CONSSome features, such as initiating a split, or finding the budgeting functionality, can be non-intuitive.