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Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

firefly-iii.org

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Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#71

Post by kleebeesh »

supernovae wrote: post #65
kleebeesh wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using firefly over two years now. Data entry has not been been a problem: * Run the data-importer as a separate container. Takes maybe 20 minutes to configure correctly if you already know docker and docker-compose. * Download the transactions as CSVs from each of my 5 or so credit card and bank accounts that get regular use. * Upload them through the data-importer. It lets you configure and save settings f…

this sounds like such a pain in the ass just to do my finances when other tools do it all for me…

I guess it comes down to the tradeoffs you're willing to accept for privacy. I personally find it quite sketchy that Plaid takes your username and password to your literal money and then does some opaque screen-scraping just to grab your transactions. I also spent a lot of time working with their API and it did not inspire confidence.

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#72

Post by kleebeesh »

1123581321 wrote: post #62
kleebeesh wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using firefly over two years now. Data entry has not been been a problem: * Run the data-importer as a separate container. Takes maybe 20 minutes to configure correctly if you already know docker and docker-compose. * Download the transactions as CSVs from each of my 5 or so credit card and bank accounts that get regular use. * Upload them through the data-importer. It lets you configure and save settings f…

I appreciate the breakdown but I think you’re out of touch with how easy auto-import has become for most PF software users. They just see whatever new transactions have come in, as often as they care to look at their budgets. Like checking email.

Maybe out of touch. I've used them all (Mint, ynab, pocketsmith, buxfer, some google-sheets-based app, probably tried a dozen others). All of the auto-sync features had obvious bugs. It works for a few months and then you end up with junk data. But if it works for you, carry on!

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#73

Post by bjeanes »

kailanb wrote: post #8

I 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/

Yeah I use them too. I keep meaning to set up Firefly III to try it but Pocketsmith _has_ been really good. For a period of time I had accounts in a couple of countries and it was one of the few tools which let me get a multi-currency view of all my finances across the globe. Highly recommend.

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#74

Post by 1123581321 »

kleebeesh wrote: post #72
1123581321 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the breakdown but I think you’re out of touch with how easy auto-import has become for most PF software users. They just see whatever new transactions have come in, as often as they care to look at their budgets. Like checking email.

Maybe out of touch. I've used them all (Mint, ynab, pocketsmith, buxfer, some google-sheets-based app, probably tried a dozen others). All of the auto-sync features had obvious bugs. It works for a few months and then you end up with junk data. But if it works for you, carry on!

My best guess is you have an unusual data source most don't have. I wasn't describing an anecdotal experience but the reliability in aggregate.

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#75

Post by GeorgeHahn »

toyg wrote: post #11

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 has a documented API [1] that can be used to build import tools. I used it to build a Plaid importer [2].

1: https://api-docs.firefly-iii.org/

2: https://gitlab.com/GeorgeHahn/firefly-plaid-connector

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#76

Post by tjbiddle »

emiller88 wrote: post #39
toyg wrote: post #11

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.

Agreed. I've found https://lunchmoney.app/ really nice.

I'm a hugeeee LunchMoney fan. It's a solo dev and she does great! Hooked a few friends on it as well. This has been a lifesaver for insight into my financials and it's super flexible.

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#77

Post by Semaphor »

toyg wrote: post #11

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.

I always fail to see how that actually works (edit: I mean the auto importing of transactions). My 3 biggest non-recurring expenses are Amazon, REWE (German supermarket chain) and PayPal. While REWE is mostly groceries, it certainly isn’t all, Amazon could be almost anything and PayPal could be absolutely anything.

Do people just give up on granularity, or how does it work?

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#78

Post by TehShrike »

sirsinsalot wrote: post #7

I 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.

My first thought when I saw "self-hosted" was "I wonder if I can pay a monthly fee to some other HN reader to get them to deal with the annoyance of hosting for me"

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#79

Post by balaji1 »

Fnoord wrote: post #54
imroot wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really just depends on how comfortable you are in the command line. If you know how to get your transactions downloaded from your bank and don't ever want to leave the command line, hledger is great for you -- I've been using hledger since 2019 and love every minute of it. If you need something point and click, or, need a high "wife-acceptance factor," firefly-iii is not a bad choice. After coming from hledger, I…

Ideally you want to be able to access such a database with whatever frontend you want: CLI, HTTPS (Laravel apparently), Qt and such, etc.

hledger has a decent front-end web UI [1], it runs as a local server on your machine by default. The filter and searching on this view is quite good, and visualization is decent.

We are able to add txns from this UI but I have never used it.

[1] https://hledger.org/1.25/hledger-web.html

Re: Firefly III: A free and open-source finance manager

#80

Post by resonious »

kailanb wrote: post #8

I 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/

I wish this site was more clear about which banks exactly are supported by bank feeds. It seems right now like I have to buy the service before I know if I can even use the bank feeds feature.
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