What are GnuCash users saying about the software?

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!

Solid accounting software... for free!

Like the fact that it's free and that it gets the job done - ideal for small businesses or contractors who want something simple and free. Doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles but it's a great way to track business expenses and income.

Pros

Love that it's free and that it works all the time, with no fuss and no muss. It might take a bit to get up to speed on how to use it, but individuals familiar with other accounting programs shouldn't have any trouble. It even has a mobile piece (Android) where I can track trip expenses.

Cons

There is a steep learning curve at the beginning - particularly for those who may not be familiar with double-entry accounting. The mobile piece needs to have a better way of integrating with the main data file. There is also no way to have multiple users accessing the main data file.

Best free accounting software

Once I got the hang of the application, I enjoyed the ease and accuracy of keeping track of my expenses and accounts. It is very stable and does more than I'll ever need!

Pros

This application is feature rich for a software product that is opensource and free. It is great for personal and small businesses.

Cons

A little challenging to setup if you don't understand the basics of bookkeeping and accounting. It took a bit to get used to the interface and understand how the application worked.

Works great, wish it had multi-user

I have been using it for years for my personal needs. I would recommend it to more customers / clients if it could be used on multiple systems. As it stands though, I have recommended it to numerous people that just have one person in accounting / sales / etc.

Pros

It is free, just a click to download and install on Windows. A quick install from the application manager in Linux/Debian/Ubuntu.

Cons

It does not support multi-users. Meaning if you have the file open on one system, you can not open that company on another. So if you want two people to be able to invoice at the same time, they can't.

GnuCash accounting software

I have a monthly clear income/expense balance, so I know what expenses should be avoided or are needed.

Pros

A very good software for personal accounting, and for business accounting too. I am using it for my personal income/expense balance.

Cons

I had troubles to use it on Mac OS X. I almost lost all my accounting details. Lucky me that I use an automatic backup solution.

Best tool to Manage Personal Finance

Pros

I've personally used this tool to learn more about accounting and also to manage my personal finance. It helps identify the imbalance and the missing transactions. Being open-source software, there is regular development and bug fixes.

Cons

1) The UI looks a bit outdated 2) Automations are limited and need more clicks to get the data added 3) Need more user-friendly features for handling advanced finance

I have been using GnuCash for personal accounting and for two small businesses for over three years.

No cost for product or use of product. Saves time. Very productive. Ease of use.

Pros

The ease of use, the double entry accounting, and the different functions, reports, and tools are excellent. The tools for different currency accounts are excellent for our international business.

Cons

There is a learning curve. Small things, such as learning how to print a register, can be a bit tedious in learning and doing the first time. While there is a user's manual and searching for assistance online is available, finding the answer to a question or learning how to do something often takes much trial and error and just simple experimenting with clicks key punches.

Free software for creating invoices and tracking payments

I implemented GnuCash when my department did not have a digital invoicing system in place for internal invoicing. We invoice between departments, and we were doing it on a spreadsheet, which was not optimal as sometimes mistakes were made. I implemented GnuCash myself, and I was able to do this as it was free of cost to download and use. We now have an internal billing system that tracks accounts payable and accounts receivable, and it is much more accurate and efficient.

Pros

I like that GnuCash is free, open source software, so there is no cost to use it, so I was able to implement it without putting forward a budget, and this was able to let me implement it quickly.

Cons

It isn't as polished as paid-for software, but it is also more flexible, so I think the negatives and positives on this issue balance out.

Free, and free, accounting software

My small business has run on GnuCash since the late '90s. Never had a problem with it, through numerous upgrades and system replacements. And no calling the vendor for permission to run it on a new computer!

Pros

GnuCash is Free software, as in, you are free to use it, study the code, modify it to suit your own needs, and share it with others. It is also free, as in, zero cost. I use it because it is not Quickbooks, nor Intuit. However, it does have its own merits: auto-complete register entries, bank import with auto-matching, customizable reports, light on system resources. It also saves to compressed or plain-text files. The plain-text files are searchable outside of the program. I can search 20 years of financial records in two seconds.

Cons

User preferences are saved with the company file. So every time you start a new file, you have to set your preferences again.

Fine if you like bookeeping

I have never regretted switching from GnuCash to Xero for my business bookkeeping. But my husband and I still use GnuCash for our household books. It's more work than Xero, but it really is nice to have a free/self-hosted solution to keep our finances under control.

Pros

The price tag (free) is hard to beat. Hosting the database locally yourself (vs. an online cloud solution) lets you control the security of your data.

Cons

It's all so manual. Downloading your bank feeds, importing into the software, categorizing all of your transactions - GnuCash gets a little better at recognizing some of the common ones, but it still miscategorizes a lot of them. You still end up having to go through each one line by line, and it can be pretty slow waiting for the import to happen. The interface is really clunky, too.

I have been using GnuCash for 5 years

I will continue to use for my personal and business needs.

Pros

Very nice functional multi ledger, double-entry accounting with QIX/F files and bank statement imports. You can create balance sheet and income statement financial reports which you can customize and print. Love the price ;) and not being tied to yearly licenses and support up-selling.

Cons

Setting it up takes some work specially when you use it to for business, but GnuCash has a thriving community with lots of information in the web and your bookkeeper should not have trouble finding answers. You can also find resources that could help you further customize the application to suit your business.

Powerful personal accounting software that's free!

Pros

The account setup is customizable and fairly easy to modify / update on the fly. The ability to automatically grab stock quotes (though recently has become a little more difficult) is very helpful. I use the reports often to understand how my investments are going as well as tracking expenses and adjusting my spending accordingly.

Cons

The mobile app does not easily import transactions into the database. A cloud based database would be more useful as I need to be at my computer (or one linked to my cloud drive) to access the database. While I understand the need for it, the double entry book keeping system takes a little getting used to.

GnuCash does it all

I have used GnuCash for over 10 years on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. It was an excellent package when I started and has improved with updates. Having taught accounting, I find it provides everything needed for personal and business use.

Pros

GnuCash has drop-down menus to access everything needed in reporting. One drop-down menu has a link to automatically generate all closing entries at the end of the year. When making entries, it will remember information for last corresponding entry, just change amount.

Cons

I can generate a long list of back-up files, if not tuned properly.

Can be of great help when it comes to your personal budget

I've set a goal of saving up for a deposit for a house and GnuCash helps me stay on track with my budget .

Pros

It doesn't cost anything to use .Supports multiple currencies .You can switch between multiple accounts and work on them individually .Income and expenses are easy to distinguish ,which helps you see where you are siphoning money .

Cons

You get several options when it comes to generating reports ( Pie chart ,Bar chart and so on ) . If you pick Line charts ,they often become too large and unreadable on the screen.

Accounting Alternative

As with other open source software, the world community of users generally makes it easy to solve any issues that come up. I'd recommend it to the more advanced user.

Pros

I use gnuCash as a backup, supplemental accounting platform when I need to step outside of my practice management software. The level of customization makes it useful for special needs.

Cons

A certain familiarity with open source software and a proper understanding of charts of accounts is necessary to get all you can out of this software.

Great open source accounting software

Pros

I can setup the accounting structure however I like. It uses double entry bookkeeping to keep track of income and expenses. Does a good job tracking investments and can calculate capital gains based on lots bought/sold for better accuracy. Lots of reporting features.

Cons

Getting used to the double entry system took some time. It used to be able to get online quotes for stocks, but that feature no longer works well. Not their fault since Yahoo broke it, but there isn't a reliable fix yet.

All the financial help you need .

Pros

GnuCash is great for both personal and small business use . It's spreadsheet like design makes it easy to keep track of income and expenses and make the necessary adjustments .It can be customized to your specific needs and is free to use .

Cons

It requires a lot of time to set up initially ,especially if you are using it for a business .Is also hard to integrate on mobile

A Great Alternative to Quickbooks

Pros

In searching for an alternative to Quickbooks for a new startup business, I stumbled upon Gnucash as a cost-effective alternative. If you are comfortable with Quickbooks, Gnucash is a breeze to catch onto, set up, and use on a daily basis. It mirrors the setup very closely and is simple to set up.

Cons

Gnucash is not set up to automatically integrate with very many other software applications, like its main competitor, so it could lead to a lot of manual data entry if this aspect is not thoroughly researched prior to setup.

Helped me immensely with reaching my budgeting goals .

Pros

Very easy to install and use .It is designed to look like a spreadsheet, so you quickly get used to using it .You can make the graphs as detailed as you need and as many incoming payments and expenses as needed .

Cons

I honestly have no complaints .It's a free program that does what it says it does .

Simply brilliant

Pros

I use it for my personal budgeting and am really happy I was recommended this app .The interface is similar to Excel ,which almost eliminates the learning curve .It is the easiest way I have found to track my income and expenses .

Cons

Seeing as how you don't pay anything to use it ,there really isn't anything to complain about

Great for personal financing but doesn't scale that well

Pros

You can use GnuCash free of charge and it is fairly easy to use .Linking to different accounts at the same time is convenient and so is arranging for automatic payments to be made . This is especially convenient if you prefer to be more hands-off with your investments .

Cons

The app is suitable for personal financing and the operations of small firms but I do not think it has the capability to cover the full accounting needs for medium and large organizations . The necessary infrastructure to cover the cases of hundreds+ customers just isn't there .