Free Accounting Software: GnuCash v QuickBooks?

Question

Has anyone used this program for any accounting functions? It appears to be somewhat robust for a free open source application with no fees.

You should be able to download install and compare with any other applications which you might be familiar with.

http://www.gnucash.org

James Miller · Answer

I run my law office's books with Ledger-CLI and GNUCash. What it won't do is your payroll and automatic 1099s and W2s so you need to know how to do that manually or have a service. I got tired of being nagged to death to upgrade every 3 months by Sage and Quickbooks that I ditched them. I like to use as much open source as I can.

Account Closed · Answer

It is a great piece of software and seems to fit what I need to use it for.

Roy N. · Answer

Availability in stores, particularly these days, is not a metric I would use to measure a software application.  The trend is for software to be delivered electronically and not in a package of atoms.  Some of the best software in the world - upon which the backbone of the Internet was built - is open source and not sold in stores.

GnuCash (which has been around for 15-years), SQL-Ledger and a few others are Open Source offering for accounting and POS applications.   There are many businesses around the world using these products and lots of folks providing support for them.   In North America, Open Source solutions has not had the same level of adoption as elsewhere in the world ... largely because of our narrow mindset of if I do not pay for it, it cannot be any good.

That, of itself, does not make it a good piece of software, or a globally usable piece of software.   Though I am to understand that QuickBooks - and other Intuit - product offering have made great strides in recent years in their realization there is a big world outside of the U.S.A.  That was not the case just a short while ago.

But you could simply download the application and try it out (there is actually a fairly good manual and Wiki available for GnuCash) and you didn't have to shell out sever hundred dollars to realize it wasn't for you.

On these last points we agree.  What works best as an accounting programme for you, sitting in the U.S.A., may not be suitable for someone who conducts business in other countries ... and vice-versa.

Roy N. · Answer

Account Closed

We ran a software company using GNU Cash for a decade.  It is robust, can use a real database back end and, at the time, had better multi-currency and international support than QuickBooks or Simply Accounting.   You can create any customized report you wish - may need to acquire a little more knowledge to make it happen.   It is also the only one I've encountered that runs on UNIX/Linux, Mac OSX and Windoze.

The only reason we switched was due to our accountants - the fellow with whom we dealt moved on and none of the other folks were willing to use it .... I tried for a couple of years to write maintain a conversion utility to allow the accounts to be dumped in a format friendly to their accounting software, but it became too much effort to keep up with the changes in both applications.

Account Closed · Answer

You have to take into account is the software in stores everywhere?  And, has it been around for a long time?  Does it have a track record?  Does your CPA use it over any other program?

Many programs have come and gone, but QuickBooks seem to stay forever.

As I said, I would be open minded to review the program in its entirety, but just looking at their webpage, doesn't do anything for me.

But I'm all for people trying all different types of software programs.  When I began I spent over $1,000 trying every software program under the sun, and kept coming back to QuickBooks.

So, absolutely, I encourage people to experiment and find the one that suits them!

There is no such thing as the "Best".  As someone always seem to have something better than the next guy.

Nancy Neville

Account Closed · Answer

I tried to be open minded, but it doesn't look very good to me.  I tried to see screenshots, but it didn't give hardly anything.

I want to see Customer Screen Shots

A Profit and Loss Report by Class screen shot

A Chart of Accounts screen shot

Balance Sheet

These are main things to see.  I don't want to see words, I want to see the real thing.

Nancy Neville

Roy N. · Answer

Kenneth:

Only "almost unheard of" in the U.S.A.  It and other Open Source accounting software are better known in other places.

Account Closed · Answer

Interesting.. I was almost shocked the application was almost unheard of based on the range of features. The payroll module may be integrated soon into the application as it appears many businesses are inquiring about it. Someone literally would have to write and donate the code. Hopefully the developers are able to develop this soon.

Jon Mason · Answer

I really like Wave.  (http://www.waveapps.com).

Free Accounting Software: GnuCash v QuickBooks?

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