Beancount
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 5 accounting software
Free plain-text accounting tool praised for simple, automatable files that people keep for years. Caveat: documentation often mixes outdated v2 instructions.
Free plain-text accounting tool praised for simple, automatable files that people keep for years. Caveat: documentation often mixes outdated v2 instructions.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 4 years
Median of the 6 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 8.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Scriptable imports that automate reconciliation
“the beauty of beancount (and other plain text accounting ledgers) is the ability to automate them”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files” “make the beancount files 100% generated by a program - no manual edits allowed at all”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files” “I've found pulling the data from the spreadsheets into beancount/fava isn't too bad.”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Wealthfolio 2.0- Open source investment tracker. Now Mobile and Docker” - Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files”
- Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files”
Simple, versatile plain text format
“Eventually, I settled on beancount because it is the most versatile file format.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files” “Beancount's format is so simple it's hard to beat.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files” “nothing to host, just text files”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “From MIT: AI financial advice is surprisingly good” - Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Wealthfolio 2.0- Open source investment tracker. Now Mobile and Docker”
Preferred over other accounting tools
“The only tools that were able to provide that were GnuCash and PTAs like beancount.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “One Number I Trust: Plain-Text Accounting for a Multi-Currency Household” “OP's importers look promisingly robust compared to my hledger scripts”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files” “is what I end up going back to whenever I look for the sort of tools”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Wealthfolio 2.0- Open source investment tracker. Now Mobile and Docker” - Comment from 25 Apr 2026 in “"Plain text has been around for decades and it's here to stay." – Unsung”
Works with modern AI tools
“Nowadays, I feel like the Beancount is much better when using modern AI.”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 on Hacker News “This sort of structure is really helpful for a human or language model.”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Wealthfolio 2.0- Open source investment tracker. Now Mobile and Docker” “I use it for my custom personal finance agent.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Can AI Do My Bookkeeping?”
Other accounting software people recommend
The four most recommended other accounting software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BeancountThis page | 25 | 3 | 89% | 8 | 4 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| hledger | 17 | 3 | 85% | 6 | 3.5 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| GnuCash | 16 | 10 | 62% | 6 | 3 yrs3 owners | — |
| QuickBooks | 12 | 28 | 30% | 6 | — | — |
| Xero | 5 | 5 | 50% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
31 of the 34 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I prefer the simpler beancount”
“nothing to host, just text files”
“I just have a folder on my computer where I keep things in beancount.”
“have you thought about using something like ledger/beancount for the storage?”
“a lot of the documentation on the web is in v2 and it's not clearly demarcated that it doesn't apply anymore”
“I just might join you in Beancount + Fava land.”
“It's far easier and faster to use than QuickBooks”
“Nowadays, I feel like the Beancount is much better when using modern AI.”
“I use it for my custom personal finance agent.”
“even more useful for the basic idea than”
“I've recently tried Beancount, but it still didn't convince me to switch over”
“Beancount's format is so simple it's hard to beat.”
“I've been maintaining a beancount files for 7+ years.”
“got confused with missing packages in the new version”
“None of the applications I've found except for Microsoft My Money (Sunset Deluxe) has felt intuitive and not wasted my time.”
“make the beancount files 100% generated by a program - no manual edits allowed at all”
“My importers take care of reconciling the common transactions”
“I have personally benefited from his contributions to the Beancount ecosystem.”
“The only tools that were able to provide that were GnuCash and PTAs like beancount.”
“I do like the sound of the project”
“OP's importers look promisingly robust compared to my hledger scripts”
“given how simple it is you can almost even ignore whole parts of it”
“What I appreciate the most about this approach to personal finances is it just tracks everything.”
“the beauty of beancount (and other plain text accounting ledgers) is the ability to automate them”
“its designed for a very specific niche userbase”
“Eventually, I settled on beancount because it is the most versatile file format.”
“I've found pulling the data from the spreadsheets into beancount/fava isn't too bad.”
“This sort of structure is really helpful for a human or language model.”
“all in one (local) git repo”
“is what I end up going back to whenever I look for the sort of tools”
“Beancount hits most of the Holy Grail points.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.