2.5 KiB
% Getting started FAQ
Ledger, hledger, beancount, etc. - which should I choose ?
Here are some PTA app comparisons. Also:
- SM opinions on hledger for new users (2023)
- hledger and Ledger & hledger and other software (2023)
- A Comparison of Beancount and Ledger (2014)
We all have opinions - ask for them in chat or search the reddit / mail lists / web. Circa 2022 I hope it's fair to say, without my bias showing:
- Ledger, hledger and Beancount are the big three apps, with many users.
- The other apps are less used, though some may be quite capable.
- Ledger is the oldest and best known, with many features and long-standing quirks.
- hledger is a cleaned-up version of Ledger, the most actively maintained, and the most user-friendly.
- Beancount has the most features for investing and trading, and the most support (and need) for customisation, via Python.
- Ledger and hledger parse files flexibly and forgivingly by default, with strictness as an option. Beancount's file format is more restricted and always strictly enforced.
- It's generally relatively easy to migrate data from one to another, eg using data conversion tools like ledger2beancount and beancount2ledger.
--Simon M.
How to organise files ? Should I split the journal into many files ?
All in one file (or one file per year) and ordered by date is simplest and creates the fewest headaches (balance assertions/assignments, scope of directives, where to put entries, finding things..).
If you use emacs: it’s possible to insert org headings (which are comments to h/ledger) and then use org-mode or org-minor-mode to collapse/expand/navigate sections of your journal.
Also in emacs: in ledger-mode, C-c C-f can give you a filtered view of just one account’s transactions. (But be careful, if you edit in the wrong place it will lose data.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/plaintextaccounting/comments/d69slp/how_do_you_manage_multiple_accounts_in/
How big is your ledger/journal file ?
For individual accounting, somewhere between 500-1500 transactions and 100-400 Kb of journal file per year seems typical.
https://www.reddit.com/r/plaintextaccounting/comments/dbjizl/how_big_is_your_ledgerjournal_file/