Ask HN: As a freelancer, what's the best app to track finances?

As a freelancer, I used fresh books, and it did everything I needed for the most part. When I incorporated, I switched to Xero and Receipt Bank.

I highly endorse Cushion for this purpose - it helps you estimate revenue, and understand how you're tracking so far. It's the only good solution I've found that helped avoid 'freelance anxiety' leading to bad business decisions https://cushionapp.com

I don't use finance tracking apps anymore. Using Tim Ferriss's advice "how can I throw money at this problem to solve it?", I pay my accountant 200 to 300 euros every month and as part of their job they handle my financial tracking. I just upload my invoices & expenses to their online tool or forward it via email, they process it and hand me quarterly and yearly reports with suggestions for optimisations.

The answer for this will be different for everyone. None of the answers will be sure to fix your problems.

Dealing with your finances (or anything else you deal with more than once) is a process. Figure out what your process needs to be and then automate the most painful parts with the tools you can find. Rinse and repeat as you locate more pain points.

You'll likely find that a general tool such as Excel is the best way to start. As you gain a further understanding of your problem, then you can trial other tools. As I mentioned above, the best app for you will likely be the one which best handles your greatest pain points.

Apps can still be helpful as a starting point for your processes. Apps have workflows which you can steal for your own workflows. You'll then likely tweak to the point where the tool is no longer a good fit.

The exception to the above is when your greatest pain point is some combination of time and collaboration. It may be best to pick among the leaders in the space and force yourself to adapt. I can track things in Excel, but I may be forced to pick something else if I need other people to use it.

The above is from someone who goes through loads of apps and always ends up going back to basic tools.