GnuCash

GnuCash is a free, open-source double-entry accounting program that is part of the GNU Project. It was first released in 1998 and is still developed by volunteers. It began as a personal finance tool in the style of Quicken and added small-business accounting in 2001. Today it covers customer invoices and credit notes, accounts receivable and payable, bill reminders, employee expense vouchers, depreciation, sales tax and VAT/GST tracking, and US tax export in TXF format. Bookkeeping features include scheduled transactions, bank and credit card reconciliation, multi-currency accounts with online exchange rates and stock quotes, budgets, and a set of built-in reports that can be customised with Scheme scripts. You can bring in transactions from OFX, QIF and CSV files, and HBCI/FinTS is supported for German banks. Books are stored in a local XML file or in a SQL database. GnuCash costs nothing: it has no plans, subscriptions or paid add-ons, and it is licensed under the GPL. It suits sole traders, freelancers, small businesses and nonprofits that know some accounting and want to keep their data offline on their own machine. The main limitation is that it is a single-user desktop program. It has no cloud access, no automatic bank feeds, no online invoice payments, and no real collaboration, so working with an accountant means passing files back and forth. Reviewers also mention a dated interface, a steep learning curve for people without accounting knowledge, and slow loading for large files. Development is active: the 5.x series released 5.14 in December 2025, 5.15 in March 2026 and 5.16 in June 2026.