Beancount vs FrontAccounting

Beancount is a double-entry bookkeeping language for recording transactions in text files and producing reports. The `bean-check` command checks ledger files, while `bean-query` extracts tables of data from them. Documentation covers importing files downloaded from financial institutions and automating parts of that process. The `bean-price` tool can retrieve prices for commodities held in accounts, but ledger processing does not fetch prices automatically; reports can therefore run offline and remain deterministic. Beancount supports multiple currencies and documents portfolio export to external tracking websites. Version 3 is identified as the current stable, maintained branch, while version 2 is frozen and obsolete. The v3 guide notes that some tools were removed and that `bean-report` and `bean-web` are deprecated. Installation instructions cover uv, pipx, pip and source, including Windows instructions for v3. Contributed editor support includes Emacs, Sublime Text, Vim and two Visual Studio Code extensions. Beancount is open source under GNU GPLv2 only and has a free plan priced at free; it has no free trial.

FrontAccounting is free, self-hosted web accounting software for small companies, covering accounting tasks across a broader ERP chain. It includes purchasing, sales, accounts payable and receivable, inventory, manufacturing, fixed assets, and a general ledger with budget. Sales tools include quotations, orders, delivery notes, invoices, credit notes, batch invoicing, point-of-sale definitions, and payment allocation. Purchasing includes purchase orders, goods receival notes, supplier price lists and payments, and transaction attachments. Inventory supports stock items, locations, transfers, reorder levels, average material cost, and barcode scanner entry; manufacturing includes bills of materials and work orders. It supports multiple companies and users with different privileges, along with backup, restore, and simple audit trails. Reports can be printed, emailed, converted to PDF, or exported to Excel or OpenOffice Calc. Multi-currency and GST/VAT support are listed. Installation requires a web server, PHP, and MySQL with InnoDB enabled; other database systems are unsupported. The software is web-only, and support requests are directed to its forum. The listed plan is free.