Looks good but the real problem, as for 90% of similar programs, is the volume of necessary data-entry. Paid-for options like YNAB, nowadays, can fetch transactions from many mainstream US/EU banks and credit providers. Without that sort of feature, it's a real drudge to keep up entering every single expense.
Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
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Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#12how do Firefly or ActualBudget and the like compare to something like hledger?
Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#13Looks good but the real problem, as for 90% of similar programs, is the volume of necessary data-entry. Paid-for options like YNAB, nowadays, can fetch transactions from many mainstream US/EU banks and credit providers. Without that sort of feature, it's a real drudge to keep up entering every single expense.
Most of these work be giving the application your bank credentials, right? This probably violates the terms and conditions of your bank and gives the application unrestricted access to your account.
Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#14Looks good but the real problem, as for 90% of similar programs, is the volume of necessary data-entry. Paid-for options like YNAB, nowadays, can fetch transactions from many mainstream US/EU banks and credit providers. Without that sort of feature, it's a real drudge to keep up entering every single expense.
The workaround for data entry I have in hledger are a few csv import scripts for various sources of txn info, but I still have to manually edit the imported data sometimes. So still would prefer something that can auto-import transactions. The other thing I have done is close a few accounts to simplify this process.
Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#15I applaud the effort, but sometimes think apps like this when they promote self-hosting should have a mode of installation and operation that acts more or less like a desktop application.
FWIW, Firefly III has an old Sandstorm package, but it isn't currently maintained so it's a fair bit out of date. We aim for "like installing an app on your phone".
The problem here is ultimately on the platform your app runs on, not the app itself. If web servers are hard to spin up, so too are web apps.
Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#16Looks good but the real problem, as for 90% of similar programs, is the volume of necessary data-entry. Paid-for options like YNAB, nowadays, can fetch transactions from many mainstream US/EU banks and credit providers. Without that sort of feature, it's a real drudge to keep up entering every single expense.
Most of these work be giving the application your bank credentials, right? This probably violates the terms and conditions of your bank and gives the application unrestricted access to your account.
Afaik most use something like Plaid which works with the banks to get this data appropriately.
Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#17Looks good but the real problem, as for 90% of similar programs, is the volume of necessary data-entry. Paid-for options like YNAB, nowadays, can fetch transactions from many mainstream US/EU banks and credit providers. Without that sort of feature, it's a real drudge to keep up entering every single expense.
As of several years ago, banks would provide csv files of transactions to customers. That's still more work than the paid options, but much less than individual transactions.
I suppose something like Firefly could create a module (or even sell one) that is preconfigured, and updated, with the best method for each bank - download csv, api, scrape, etc. In fact, they could charge for that service and fund development.
Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#18I recently discovered PocketSmith[0] which is not free nor open-source, but I have found it to be the easiest to keep up to date. It automatically pulls transactions from most banks and credit providers, which I've been unable to replicate with other solutions. [0]: https://www.pocketsmith.com/
It’s also one of the few that does a good job of forecasting balances.
Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#19Are there FOSS libraries that handle common financial functionality and do it reliably? Are these FOSS applications all reinventing the wheel?
Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager
#20Looks good but the real problem, as for 90% of similar programs, is the volume of necessary data-entry. Paid-for options like YNAB, nowadays, can fetch transactions from many mainstream US/EU banks and credit providers. Without that sort of feature, it's a real drudge to keep up entering every single expense.
Here's two free solutions you can use for bank data sync (Nordigen & Saltedge): https://docs.firefly-iii.org/data-importer/install/nordigen-...