I am currently hooked on mint, but has anyone used GNU cash? Wondering how it compares

[G+_Jason Perry]

I am currently hooked on mint, but has anyone used GNU cash? Wondering how it compares

https://www.gnucash.org/

[G+_David Peach]

I used GNU cash when trying to find a replacement for Quicken about a decade ago. Wasn't a good replacement then. However, I'm curious as to what it is like these days. I can't imagine it is any better than what I've heard about Mint.

 

This is a blast from the past. Never thought they would still be around.

[G+_Jason Perry]

Double entry accounting means nothing to me.

 

I like Mint, I don't mind the online aspect. I like that it's a central repository that all my devices can connect to. I would prefer to pull it out of the cloud. Would be great to host it on my NAS or a NUC.

[G+_J Miller]

I use wave. Cloud based wi lots of surprising features.

[G+_Jason Marsh]

TL;DR -> I like GNUCash. This is not a compare/contrast, though.

 

There are some things that just need to be simple, offline, and reliable. For me, my personal financial accounting is one of those. I've used other finance software and cloud services before, and I've had issues with them to the point of having to start over and rebuild more than once. There's also the odd occasion of getting locked out of my banks' portals once or twice.

 

Not that any one solution is going to be perfect for everyone. How you use your current financial management software might lend itself to online-only or totally offline, or somewhere in the middle. It's like eyeglasses; you have to try them on to know if they work for you.

 

I switched from Mint to GNUCash a few years ago. I had been on MS Money for a long time but that product was EOL and showing it's age. I used quicken for a short while before I was on Money, then again after Money, but it never really grew on me.

 

I had technical issues with Money and Quicken. If I pay for software I expect it not to self-destruct. I can't support sub-par software. The crappy part is you have to buy it and then find out months down the road that it'a a turd.

 

And then there's the advertising platform we call Mint. I got annoyed at being the product and not the customer. Not a relationship I'm comfortable with when it comes to my financial readiness. Yes, it's pretty to look at. No, it's not for me.

 

GNUCash still isn't pretty, but it's perfect for a basic ledger. I also like that it's got a small footprint, so I can carry it as a portable app on my keychain when I travel. Sure, it's still not going to natively sync up between your iPhone, desktop, and laptop, but it's easy to sync your datafile over a cloud service (OneDrive, etc).

 

GNUCash is perfect for me. I like that I can use it as a simple ledger. Now that I'm using it 'offline' and manually maintaining ledgers, I'm more conscious of what I spend. It's my trusty old paper ledger, now with search built in. It's just enough tech, well short of too much.

 

Since I don't give GNUcash any login credentials (or even account numbers) I don't have to worry that a flaw in the software or the software's mothership will allow unauthorized persons access to my accounts or credentials. Honestly, even if someone had my GNUCash datafile, it would only allow them to see what they'd find in a discarded checkbook register. Personal, just not super critical.

 

OMG, I'm getting so long-winded these days...

[G+_Denis Montandon]

I replaced Quicken with Moneydance and it is ok for my own purpose. Very close to the original Quicken with all the information stored on your local file system. I download my banking information pretty much like I did with Quicken. I got annoyed with Quicken forcing me to upgrade every 3 years to keep the banking downloads, when they never really improved the product.

[G+_Jason Marsh]

Denis Montandon That's exactly why I left Quicken. You pay a periodic ransom to keep functions. Oddly enough, Quicken (Intuit) gives that function away for free anyways. it's called Mint. Same company, just a different revenue model.

 

N.A.S. 'n More Double entry accounting is a non-issue. Like you, I am not an accountant. The way the usual suspects do it, the flipside of every transaction is automatic.

 

Mint is for lazies. Or people who really don't mind if a transaction appears, then disappears, then reappears as it negotiates the wickets of clearing the bank's process and being passed to the backend for the web presence. The only true reason not to mind is, of course, lack of desire to maintain an accurate, up-to-date transaction history. When I transact, I record immediately or sooner :) I'd rather know precisely what I have, what I will have, what I owe, etc. Mint doesn't satisfy that for me, at least not in a timely manner.

[G+_David Peach]

You guys just need to get a personal accountant who will handle all your funds for you like I have. She tells me how much I can spend and if I ever need to know how much is in the bank I can just ask her.

 

Here's to hoping my wife never gets onto Google+. :-)

 

As an absent-minded man blessed with the richness of an ADHD brain, I am very thankful for her. My life/finances would be a complete wreck without her.

[G+_Jason Marsh]

David Peach So, do you also call yourself "the boss's husband"? That works around here. Actually, we've kept separate finances since the beginning. Not that each can't easily see what the other is up to. It's just not an issue. I must admit my CFO is better than I am at saving, budgeting, and finding damn good deals on autos.

 

N.A.S. 'n More I meant to say that d.e. isn't an issue with the personal finance softwares. It's dead simple to use. I think the description containing "double entry" sounds scarier than the software. It has real implications in business accounting, whether hard-copy or digital, but for the majority of us using quicken, money, gnucash, and the likes, it's just too simple.

[G+_David Peach]

Jason Marsh, no. I call myself very blessed and thankful to have her.

[G+_David Alitz]

I've used both Mint and GnuCash and prefer GnuCash; but I think I'm a bit behind the times. GnuCash gives me a means to reconcile my accounts against bank statements. I've caught a few fraudulent transactions by still reconciling accounts -- but it's been just a handful in the last 20 years.

 

"Double-entry" really has little meaning in computer accounting. It just means every time money changes hands it has a source (E.G. Checking Account) and target (such as Starbucks - Expenses:Dining). An accounting system that doesn't use double entry isn't very useful.

 

The reason it's called double entry is because back in the days of paper every transaction would take two entries in your ledger. To track your Starbuck's purchase, you'd add an entry subtracting the amount from Checking and another entry adding the amount to Dining Expenses. By putting it on two lines it made it easier to find all of one category (Checking or Dining Expenses) than if you listed both categories on the same line.

[G+_Jason Brown]

my 2cents. Its not free but seems more like quicken and it works on all platforms.

 

 

moneydance.com - Moneydance - Personal Finance Manager for Mac, Windows, and Linux | Infinite Kind

[G+_Jerome Semichon]

It's very possible that I'm many years behind the curve on this one.... I use kmymoney. The GUI can be a bit painful at times but I like it and I was able to migrate years of MS Money data into it. I have 25+ years of records in there and it's surviving.