Firefly III is a free, open-source personal finance manager that you host yourself, with double-entry bookkeeping, budgets, rules and a REST API. The software costs nothing; your costs are hosting and, if you want automatic bank import, a third-party data provider that may charge.
The bottom line
Free and powerful if you are willing to host it; hard work if you are not.
7.1
Our score
7.1 / 10
Conversion Gems editorial verdict
Free (self-hosted)
Features8/10
8 - double-entry, multi-currency budgets, rules, recurring transactions, piggy banks, reports and a REST API.
Value9/10
9 - free under AGPL-3.0; costs only come from your hosting and optional paid bank-data providers.
Ease of use4/10
4 - requires a PHP 8.5 server or Docker plus a separate importer for bank data.
Ecosystem7/10
7 - JSON REST API, Data Importer with several bank-data providers, and many one-click installers.
Support6/10
6 - detailed docs, a demo site and GitHub community discussions; no paid support.
What it really is
A self-hosted web app for tracking personal finances with double-entry accounting.
Our take
Firefly III gives you accounting-grade tracking, rules and an API for free, with your data on your own hardware. The trade is time: you install and maintain the server, and automatic bank import needs a separate importer and a provider that may charge. It rewards people who already run a home lab.
Why we rate it
Free, open source and feature-rich, with an API and many install options.
The catch
Self-hosting and bank-import setup are on you.
Best for
Self-hosters
Multi-currency households
Privacy-minded users
Not good for
People who want a phone app with automatic bank sync
Users without server experience
Friction report
Time to value
An hour or more to deploy with Docker, plus time to set up the importer and rules.
Scale breakpoint
Adding automatic bank feeds means configuring the Data Importer and a provider.
Walled garden
Low: open source, REST API and CSV import.
What Firefly III costs
Item
Cost
Notes
Firefly III app
Free
AGPL-3.0 open source, self-hosted
Data Importer (file import)
Free
CSV, CAMT.052 and CAMT.053 files
Hosting
Your own server or host
PHP 8.5 with MySQL or SQLite, or Docker
Bank data provider
Free to paid
Depends on the provider you choose
From Firefly III's GitHub repositories and documentation, checked 4 October 2026.
Bank-data providers for the Data Importer
Provider
Coverage
Cost
Enable Banking
2,500+ banks in 29 European countries
Free (restricted mode)
GoCardless
EU and UK
Paid; existing users only
Lunch Flow
Many banks via its own APIs
Paid
SimpleFIN
Various banks
Varies
From Firefly III's data-provider documentation, checked 4 October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Firefly III is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. Costs can come from your own hosting and from paid bank-data providers such as Lunch Flow if you use them (checked 4 October 2026).
Not by itself. The separate Data Importer imports CSV and CAMT files, or pulls bank data through third-party providers. Enable Banking covers 2,500+ banks in 29 European countries and is free in restricted mode; GoCardless and Lunch Flow are paid; SimpleFIN varies.
Both are free and open source. Actual Budget uses envelope budgeting and has desktop apps; Firefly III uses double-entry accounting with multi-currency support and a rule engine. Pick Actual for simple budgeting and Firefly III for detailed account tracking.
Run it with Docker or Kubernetes, use a one-click installer such as Softaculous, Cloudron or YunoHost, or install it on a PHP 8.5 server with MySQL or SQLite. A live demo is available at demo.firefly-iii.org.
It is self-hosted, offers two-factor authentication, and the project says it never contacts external servers unless you tell it to. Your security then depends on how you run and update your own server.
Firefly III alternatives
Other budgeting and personal finance tools from our reviews:
Actual Budget: Free, open-source envelope budgeting app that runs locally.
YNAB: Hosted budgeting app built around giving every dollar a job.
Monarch Money: Hosted money app with account syncing, budgets and goals.
Tiller: Daily bank feeds into your own Google Sheets or Excel files.
