To be financially successful, one needs to know how to manage their funds. There are high chances of making mistakes while calculating expenses manually within spreadsheets. Probably, this is why you would tend to look for an automated personal finance tool to do your bidding.
Personal finance tools like the ones listed below can go a long way in helping you manage your costs. Each of these tools can help you create budgets, track your spending, and much more. Keep track of your money, and spend wisely to enhance your savings.
Here is a list of the top five open-source personal finance tools doing wonders for Linux users.
1. GnuCash
GnuCash is a free accounting software offering some basic yet essential accounting features. It’s ideal for small businesses, startups, and individuals who like to track their finances effectively. Unfortunately, GnuCash continues to be a single-user tool, which means you won’t be able to add any more users to your account.
Given this constraint, this product is an ideal addition to a sole proprietor’s financial kitty, but not capable of supporting a growing business. Despite being open-source software, its features are pretty extensive for a free offering.
Here’s what you can look out for with GnuCash:
- Double-entry
- Accounting functionality
- A checkbook-style register to track both income and expenses
- Multi-currency conversion standards
- Automatic banking transactions download and reconciliation
- Bill payment reminders
While small businesses and individual users can use the aforementioned features, medium-sized and large companies can make use of these exclusive features:
- Accounts payable (A/P)
- Accounts receivable (A/R)
- Customer and vendor management
- Budgeting and reporting
2. HomeBank
HomeBank, being a personal finance software, houses some user-friendly reports to help people figure out where they're spending their money. It also helps individuals set up rules for importing transactions. Probably the best part is that it supports almost all modern formats for importing reports into the platform.
Some widely used reporting formats include, but are not limited to, OFX/QFX, QIF, and CSV. This is not all, for this open-source tool is equipped to handle multiple currencies too. HomeBank is available on most Linux distributions by default, so you can rest assured the installation is not going to be too complex.
When you log in, you need to create an account, especially if you are accessing the portal for the first time. Once you create an account, you can either import compatible files or start entering transactions.
Unlike some of the other options available in the market, you don't have to master double-entry bookkeeping to manage your expenses with HomeBank.
Some additional features include:
- Pre-applied categories to segregate and analyze your daily transactions
- Excellent budgeting features allow you to plan for your future
- Exhaustive reporting features, like bar charts, pies, budget spending, trend reports, and a balance report, amongst others.
3. KMyMoney
What makes KMyMoney stand out is its widespread usability, along with its familiar user interface. If you have been a Windows user before moving to Linux, there is a high possibility you might have used Quicken and MSMoney for balancing your checkbook and tracking finances.
If yes, then KMyMoney will be a cinch to master and access. Transfer your existing records gracefully or start with a fresh slate. This tool's clean interface proves to be an effective personal finance management tool with a flat learning curve.
One size doesn't fit all; and for this reason, KMyMoney is not best suited for business transactions. On the contrary, it is an ideal solution for individuals and SMBs.
Setting up the software is relatively straightforward; define your banks and transaction centers, followed by your most commonly used accounts. Each of these groups into savings, current, and credit cards.
Some features worth reckoning:
- KMyMoney supports different account types, along with income and expense categories.
- Reconcile your bank accounts with the help of online banking support and statement downloads within the OFX and HBCI protocols.
- Align brokerage accounts with their respective investment accounts.
- KMyMoney scheduler's feature offers numerous options for handling recurring transactions.
4. Money Manager Ex (MMEX)
A finance software may not sound like one of the most exciting software you can install on your computer, but it's undoubtedly one of the best. Money Manager Ex (MMEX) aims to try and be simple enough for a layman, yet, it continues to be powerful enough to keep demanding users happy.
If you've been using a spreadsheet to manage your money until now, then rest assured, Money Manager Ex's import feature will get you up and running in no time at all.
Some plus points of this software are its approachable interface, easy-to-access SQLite database with AES encryption, and unending support for various currencies, which is ideal for overseas transactions.
Unlike some of the other software, Money Manager Ex is an entirely offline application. You can't pull in bank statements automatically or make online payments.
Once you have all the basic setup directions out of the way, you might be able to get around to using the tool for managing your finances. The program provides you with a raft of tools to analyze your spending and make future predictions, all with simple maintenance.
5. Skrooge
Skrooge is an excellent tool for devising budgets, tracking income/expenses, and running simulations drawn from different decisions despite its uncanny name. For a layman used to using spreadsheets, Skrooge is an enticing alternative towards managing personal finances.
Skrooge comes with its dashboard and separate tabs, which include the following:
- Managing accounts
- Operations
- Scheduled operations
- Trackers
- Payees
- Categories
- Budget
- Search and progress
- Report
- Monthly report
- Units
- Simulations
Unfortunately, using this tool is not as easy as one would like it to be. The interface is a little clunky; there are many tabs and an 'n' number of fields to navigate through.
Nevertheless, its dynamic database allows you to categorize multiple transactions in one go, all with custom tags.
What’s the Best Personal Finance Tool to Use?
Depending upon your need of the hour, you can pick and choose the software that works best for you. Each tool is free to download and is highly compatible with Linux and its varied distros.
Do have a look at some of the different distros within Linux, and download/install the ones which meet your needs.