What is hledger used for?

hledger is a plain text, double-entry accounting tool with command-line, terminal and web interfaces, tracking money, investments, time and more in readable text files. It is a good fit for personal finance tracking in plain text, freelancer time and invoice tracking, and learning double-entry accounting.

Is hledger open source?

Yes. hledger is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at hledgerorg/hledger and is written mainly in Haskell.

Yes. hledger is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What is hledger an alternative to?

hledger is an open-source alternative to Quicken and YNAB. Other open-source alternatives to Quicken include Beancount, Paisa and Fava.

Is hledger actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to hledger was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is 1.52.4, published on 10 September 2026. The project has 4.7k stars on GitHub.

hledger: open-source alternative to Quicken, YNAB

About hledger

hledger is a lightweight, cross-platform, multi-currency accounting program based on double-entry bookkeeping and plain text files. It can track cash, investments, cryptocurrencies, invoices, time and inventory in a data format that is future-proof, version-controllable and private.

There are several interfaces: a command line, a terminal UI, a web UI and mobile and editor integrations, and it is scriptable through the CLI, HTTP or an API. It imports and exports CSV and can output text, HTML, JSON and SQL. The accounting engine is multi-currency, supports your own account names, currencies and number formats, and is inspired by Ledger CLI while being interconvertible with Beancount.

hledger is written in Haskell, has been developed continuously since 2007, and is free software under GPL-3.0 or later. It installs on Unix, macOS and Windows and ships with built-in documentation, tutorials and beginner videos. The maintainers aim it at both technical and non-technical people who want clarity about their finances and time, and describe it as a good way to learn double-entry accounting.

Key features

Double-entry plain text accounting
Command-line, terminal and web interfaces
Multi-currency accounting engine
CSV import and export
Text, HTML, JSON and SQL reports
Partly compatible with Ledger CLI
Scriptable through CLI, HTTP and API

Good fit for

→Personal finance tracking in plain text
→Freelancer time and invoice tracking
→Learning double-entry accounting

Built with: Haskell
Tags: accounting; plain-text-accounting; double-entry; finance; haskell; cli; tui; ledger

hledger: questions and answers

What is hledger used for?: hledger is a plain text, double-entry accounting tool with command-line, terminal and web interfaces, tracking money, investments, time and more in readable text files. It is a good fit for personal finance tracking in plain text, freelancer time and invoice tracking, and learning double-entry accounting.
Is hledger open source?: Yes. hledger is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at hledgerorg/hledger and is written mainly in Haskell.
Is hledger free?: Yes. hledger is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What is hledger an alternative to?: hledger is an open-source alternative to Quicken and YNAB. Other open-source alternatives to Quicken include Beancount, Paisa and Fava.
Is hledger actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to hledger was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is 1.52.4, published on 10 September 2026. The project has 4.7k stars on GitHub.