AceMoney Lite AceMoney Lite is the no-cost version of AceMoney, designed for those who only need to follow one account but still want proper budgeting tools. Despite the limitation, it offers categories, reports, and scheduled payments, so everyday tracking doesn’t feel stripped down. It’s a small, dependable program that has been around for years and continues to find its audience among people who prefer desktop software over cloud services. Everyday use

Kresus Kresus is a personal finance manager that takes a different approach from most popular budgeting apps. Instead of living on somebody else’s server, it runs on the user’s own machine or a small home server. That choice makes it especially attractive to people who want to keep financial data private and under their own control. Despite being self-hosted, it still looks and feels modern thanks to its clean web interface. Everyday use

Actual Budget (Free version) Actual Budget is an open-source tool built around the envelope method of budgeting. Unlike many apps that keep everything in the cloud, it runs locally first, which means data stays on the user’s own machine unless they decide to sync it through Dropbox or another service. That approach has made it popular among people who want control and privacy but still like the structure of modern budgeting software. Everyday use

Buckaroo Buckaroo is one of those open-source apps that keeps things deliberately small. It doesn’t try to compete with heavy finance suites or polished commercial products — instead, it sticks to the essentials: recording what comes in, what goes out, and showing the balance in between. That simplicity is the whole point, and it’s why some users prefer it over flashier alternatives. Everyday use

Ledger CLI Ledger CLI is where the idea of plain text accounting really began. It’s been around for years, and while many tools have tried to copy or simplify the concept, Ledger remains the reference point. At its heart it’s just a command-line program that reads text files and turns them into financial reports. No databases, no locked formats — just plain text that anyone can keep for decades without worrying about compatibility. Everyday use

Plain Text Accounting (hledger) hledger belongs to a group of tools built on a simple idea: all financial records can live in plain text files. No hidden databases, no vendor lock-in — just a journal that can be read with any text editor. For many users, this is less about fancy features and more about trust: plain text doesn’t break, and it can be backed up or shared like any other file. Everyday use