Wealthfolio

Open-source portfolio tracking, honestly reviewed. No marketing fluff, just what you get when your financial data lives on your own machine.

TL;DR

• What it is: Open-source (AGPL-3.0) desktop investment tracker built with Rust and TypeScript via Tauri — your portfolio data lives on your device, not on a vendor’s server [2][6].
• Who it’s for: Individual investors and non-technical founders who want a polished portfolio tracker without handing their brokerage data to a subscription SaaS or a “free” data-harvesting app [1][4].
• Cost savings: Quicken runs $35–99/year and still requires cloud sync. Empower (formerly Personal Capital) is “free” but monetizes your financial data. Wealthfolio costs $0 to run locally, indefinitely [4][6].
• Key strength: Genuinely local-first with no account required. Featured on Hacker News and Product Hunt. 7,185 GitHub stars suggest real adoption, not just a hobby project [4][6].
• Key weakness: AGPL-3.0 license (not MIT), Connect subscription pricing is not publicly listed, and third-party independent reviews are sparse compared to more established tools. Setup requires some technical tolerance for non-desktop-app users who want self-hosted web access [1][2].

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What is Wealthfolio

Wealthfolio is a desktop investment tracker built on Tauri — a framework that packages a Rust backend with a TypeScript/web frontend into a native desktop application. The pitch is simple: you track your stocks, ETFs, crypto, and cash accounts in a local SQLite database that never leaves your machine unless you explicitly tell it to [2][6].

The GitHub description calls it “A Beautiful Private and Secure Desktop Investment Tracking Application,” which is unusually accurate for project self-description. The website headline — “Grow Wealth. Keep Control.” — maps directly to the two things the project actually delivers: investment tracking features, and data sovereignty [merged profile].

What separates it from a spreadsheet or a free app like Empower is the combination of a genuinely polished UI, multi-account and multi-currency support, performance benchmarking, and an addon system that lets developers extend the core app with custom functionality. What separates it from typical self-hosted tools is that the default deployment is a native desktop app — no server required [1][2].

The project is built by FADIL (afadil on GitHub) under AGPL-3.0. It has been featured on Hacker News and Product Hunt and sits at 7,185 GitHub stars with 465 forks as of this writing [4]. LinuxLinks lists it as one of the recommended personal finance tools in its open-source software catalog [2][3].

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Why people choose it

The case for Wealthfolio lands in three places: privacy, cost, and aesthetic quality.

Privacy as a first-class feature, not a checkbox. The dominant free portfolio trackers — Empower, Robinhood’s portfolio view, brokerage dashboards — work by connecting to your accounts via OAuth or Plaid and then owning the aggregated data. This is the business model. Wealthfolio’s position is that your portfolio composition, asset allocation, and net worth are sensitive information that shouldn’t be transmitted to a third party’s server at all. The local-first architecture isn’t a cost-cutting decision; it’s the product [1][4].

No subscription pricing for core functionality. The desktop app is free with no feature limits. Unlimited accounts, unlimited activity history, full analytics — all local, all offline, all permanent [merged profile]. This matters for anyone who has watched portfolio tracking SaaS products introduce paywalls on features that used to be free, or who has been burned by a discontinuation (Mint being absorbed into Credit Karma, then gutted, is the canonical example that comes up in every thread about this category).

A desktop app, not a web app with a login. This is a real design choice. Most self-hosted finance tools are web applications you run on a server and access via browser. Wealthfolio ships as a native desktop binary. You install it like any other application — no Docker, no reverse proxy, no HTTPS certificate. For users who find server setup intimidating, this is the difference between a tool they’ll actually use and one that sits on a to-do list [2].

The AlternativeTo listing [6] frames it as an alternative to Chart Geany and similar desktop charting tools — niche positioning, but accurate. It is a desktop-first tool in a category that has largely moved to web SaaS.

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Features

Based on the README, documentation, and website [1][merged profile]:

Portfolio and account management:

• Multiple accounts across account types: Securities, Cash, Crypto [1]
• Account grouping (401k, RRSP, Cash Savings, etc.) [1]
• No limit on the number of portfolios or accounts [merged profile]
• SQLite local database — readable, portable, not a proprietary format [2][merged profile]

Activity tracking: Wealthfolio supports a detailed activity type system [1]:

• BUY, SELL, DIVIDEND, INTEREST
• DEPOSIT, WITHDRAWAL
• ADD_HOLDING, REMOVE_HOLDING (for non-purchase acquisitions — stock options, gifts)
• TRANSFER_IN, TRANSFER_OUT (with cost basis preservation)
• FEE, TAX (separately tracked, which matters for tax calculations)
• SPLIT (adjusts quantity and per-share cost basis, no cash impact)

This is more granular than most free portfolio trackers, which often collapse everything into buy/sell/transfer [1].

Analytics and reporting:

• Portfolio composition and performance tracking across accounts [merged profile]
• Benchmark comparison against S&P 500 or any ETF [merged profile]
• Net worth tracking: assets + liabilities in one view [merged profile]
• Income tracking: dividends and interest across the portfolio [merged profile]
• Goal setting with progress tracking [merged profile]
• Contribution limits tracking: IRA, 401(k), TFSA [merged profile]
• Sector exposure and geographic distribution [merged profile]

AI assistant: The website lists a “Built-in AI” that can answer questions about your portfolio and surface insights. This appears to be a local or API-connected feature — exact implementation details (whether it calls an external API or runs locally) are not documented in the materials available for this review [merged profile].

Multi-currency: Exchange rate management is built in, not bolted on. Tickers follow Yahoo Finance format, including exchange suffixes (.TO for TSX, .L for LSE) [1]. This matters for anyone holding non-US assets.

Addon system: Wealthfolio ships with a TypeScript SDK for building custom addons with full type safety and hot reload. Addons can add custom pages, navigation items, real-time event listeners, and access to portfolio data. There’s a permission system with user consent for sensitive data access. Example addons in the repository include an Investment Fees Tracker, a Goal Progress Tracker, and a Stock Trading Tracker [merged profile][README].

Optional Connect service: “Wealthfolio Connect” is a paid add-on (subscription, pricing not publicly listed) that adds brokerage sync, end-to-end encrypted cross-device sync, and household portfolio sharing. The core app is fully functional without it [merged profile].

Cross-platform: Desktop builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux. A web/self-hosted version is available for browser access. Mobile listed as supported [merged profile].

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Pricing: SaaS vs self-hosted math

Wealthfolio (desktop app):

• Core app: $0. No subscription, no feature limits, no expiration [merged profile].
• Connect subscription: optional, pricing not publicly listed on the website at time of review.

Wealthfolio (self-hosted web):

• Software: $0 (AGPL-3.0)
• VPS: $5–10/month on Hetzner or DigitalOcean
• Your time to set up and maintain

What you’re replacing:

Quicken: $35–99/year depending on tier. Desktop-first like Wealthfolio, but proprietary and cloud-synced. Has been moving features behind higher tiers for years. Data is not easily portable.

Empower (formerly Personal Capital): Free portfolio tracking, but the business model is wealth management sales — they analyze your portfolio and call you to pitch their advisory services. Your financial data trains their sales funnel.

YNAB: $109/year. Focused on budgeting, not investment tracking. Separate product category, but often compared because people want “one finance app.”

Brokerage dashboards (Fidelity, Schwab, etc.): Free, but siloed — if you hold accounts at multiple brokerages, you get multiple dashboards. Wealthfolio aggregates all of them in one view via manual import or Connect sync.

Concrete savings math: For an investor with accounts at two brokerages, a crypto wallet, and a cash savings account — the Quicken scenario runs $59/year minimum with questionable data portability. Wealthfolio runs $0/year with your data in a local SQLite file you can inspect, back up, and migrate freely. Over five years: $295 saved on software, your data remains yours.

The honest caveat: if you want automatic brokerage sync (transactions imported without manual CSV export), you either need Connect at an unknown price, or you accept the manual import workflow [merged profile].

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Deployment reality check

For the desktop app: download an installer, run it. No prerequisites, no configuration, no server. This is genuinely the simplest deployment path in the self-hosted finance category [2].

For the self-hosted web version or building from source:

Prerequisites:

• Node.js, pnpm, Rust, and Tauri (per the README)
• A Linux VPS if you want browser-accessible hosting
• Docker Compose support is listed as a canonical feature [merged profile]

What’s documented: The README provides a build-from-source path. Docker Compose is listed in the feature set. The documentation includes a User Guide covering account setup, activity types, and ticker formats [1][README].

What can go sideways:

• Ticker lookup uses Yahoo Finance format. International tickers require exchange suffixes (.TO, .L) — straightforward if you know about it, confusing if you don’t [1].
• The AI assistant’s data routing (local vs. external API) is undocumented in available materials. If it calls an external API, that’s a privacy consideration worth checking in the settings.
• AGPL-3.0 license has network copyleft provisions — if you modify Wealthfolio and offer it as a service, you must publish your modifications. For personal use this doesn’t matter, but for anyone building on top of it commercially, this is a real constraint [6].
• The Connect subscription is the only path to automatic brokerage sync. If the Connect service is discontinued or the pricing becomes unfavorable, you’re back to manual CSV imports. There’s no self-hosted alternative to Connect currently.

LinuxLinks [2] notes the project favorably but provides no install walkthrough. OpenAlternative [4] shows “last commit 8 hours ago” at time of writing — active development, not abandoned.

Realistic time estimate for a non-technical user: 10 minutes for the desktop app download and install. 2–4 hours for self-hosted web deployment on a VPS including Docker setup. Building from source: longer, not recommended unless you’re a developer.

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Pros and cons

Pros

• Genuinely local-first. No account required, no cloud dependency, no vendor who can change the business model and take your data with them [1][4]. This is the primary reason to pick this over Empower or Quicken.
• $0 for full core functionality. Unlimited accounts, unlimited history, full analytics, goal tracking, multi-currency — all free forever [merged profile]. No feature paywalls on the core app.
• Desktop-native simplicity. Install like any app. No server, no Docker, no HTTPS certificate required for the primary use case [2]. This is a meaningful advantage over web-only self-hosted tools for non-technical users.
• Detailed activity type system. Handles stock splits, option grants, gifts, cost basis transfers — the edge cases that break simpler trackers [1].
• Addon system with TypeScript SDK. Developers can extend the app cleanly without forking. Hot reload for local addon development is a real quality-of-life feature [merged profile].
• Active development. 7,185 GitHub stars, recent commits, featured on Hacker News and Product Hunt [4][6]. Not a dormant project.
• Cross-platform. Windows, macOS, Linux desktop. Web/self-hosted available [merged profile].

Cons

• AGPL-3.0, not MIT. Network copyleft applies. For personal use this is irrelevant. For anyone building a commercial product on top of it, this is a license conversation you need to have with a lawyer [6].
• Manual import or paid Connect for brokerage sync. The default workflow is CSV import from your brokerage. Automatic transaction sync requires the Connect subscription, which has no publicly listed price [merged profile]. This is the biggest practical friction point.
• Connect is a single point of failure. If the Connect service changes pricing or shuts down, automatic sync disappears. There’s no self-hosted alternative to Connect currently available.
• AI assistant data routing unclear. The AI feature is advertised, but whether it sends portfolio data to an external API is not documented in available materials. Worth verifying before enabling.
• Sparse independent reviews. Unlike Activepieces or n8n, Wealthfolio doesn’t have a deep ecosystem of third-party evaluations to cross-reference. This review is working from official docs, LinuxLinks, and OpenAlternative — not from a pool of independent user experiences [2][4].
• Building from source is non-trivial. Requires Rust, Node.js, pnpm, and Tauri toolchain. The desktop installer abstracts this, but the self-hosted web path has real prerequisites [README].

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Who should use this / who shouldn’t

Use Wealthfolio if:

• You hold accounts at multiple brokerages and want one dashboard, not five.
• You’ve accepted that CSV import is the price of true data ownership, or you’re willing to pay for Connect once pricing is clear.
• You want a free, polished alternative to Quicken that doesn’t call you to sell you wealth management services.
• You’re comfortable downloading and installing a desktop application.
• You’re a developer who wants to extend a portfolio tracker with TypeScript addons.

Skip it (stay on spreadsheets) if:

• Your portfolio fits in one brokerage account and their dashboard covers your needs. Wealthfolio’s complexity isn’t worth it for simple cases.
• You need to share portfolio access with an accountant or financial advisor in a way they can actually use.

Skip it (pick Ghostfolio instead) if:

• You want a self-hosted web application with a browser-first interface and no desktop install.
• You want an established community around self-hosted wealth management with more third-party documentation.
• You’re comfortable with Docker and want a more server-native deployment.

Skip it (pick Portfolio Performance instead) if:

• You want a mature, Java-based desktop portfolio tracker with a long track record, comprehensive performance calculation (true time-weighted rate of return, IRR), and a large German-speaking community that has documented edge cases extensively.

Skip it (stay on Empower) if:

• Automatic brokerage sync is non-negotiable and you’re not willing to pay for Connect.
• You don’t mind trading data for convenience. Empower’s free sync is genuinely useful if the data-for-service trade-off doesn’t bother you.

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Alternatives worth considering

• Ghostfolio — Open-source (AGPL-3.0), web-based wealth management. Self-hosted on Docker. Browser-first, no desktop app. More established self-hosted community than Wealthfolio. Also listed on AlternativeTo [6].
• Portfolio Performance — Open-source, Java desktop app. Free, no cloud, extremely detailed performance calculations. Steeper learning curve. Strong German-speaking community. Cross-platform [6].
• JStock — Open-source, Java desktop stock tracker. More focused on stock monitoring and trading than holistic portfolio management [6].
• Quicken — Proprietary, $35–99/year. Desktop-first, automatic sync. If you want the Wealthfolio experience but don’t care about open source and want automatic bank/brokerage sync built in.
• Empower (formerly Personal Capital) — Free, web-based, excellent automatic aggregation. Business model is advisory sales. Your data is their product.
• Spreadsheets (Excel/Google Sheets) — Zero dependencies, infinitely flexible, no privacy risk with local Excel. Painful to maintain as portfolio complexity grows. The tool most people start with and eventually want to escape.

For a non-technical founder or individual investor who wants data ownership without server administration, the practical shortlist is Wealthfolio vs Portfolio Performance. Pick Wealthfolio if polished UI and the addon system matter to you. Pick Portfolio Performance if you want the most rigorous performance calculation engine and don’t mind a denser interface.

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Bottom line

Wealthfolio is the best-looking local-first portfolio tracker in the open-source space right now. It solves a real problem — financial data is sensitive, SaaS portfolio trackers have bad incentive structures, and spreadsheets break down past a certain complexity — and it solves it with a native desktop app that any non-technical user can install in minutes. The trade-offs are real: manual CSV import unless you pay for Connect (at an unpublished price), AGPL-3.0 instead of MIT, and thinner third-party documentation than more mature tools in adjacent categories. But for an individual investor who has decided that “my portfolio data stays on my machine” is a hard requirement and not a nice-to-have, the math is straightforward. A free download and ten minutes replaces a $60/year Quicken subscription or an Empower account that monetizes your financial behavior.

If the self-hosted web deployment path is the blocker, that’s the kind of one-time infrastructure setup that upready.dev handles for clients. One-time fee, done, you own the stack.

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Sources

1. Wealthfolio User Guide — wealthfolio.app. https://wealthfolio.app/docs/guide/
2. LinuxLinks — Wealthfolio: desktop investment tracker (updated February 1, 2026). https://www.linuxlinks.com/wealthfolio-desktop-investment-tracker/
3. LinuxLinks — Financial Archives. https://www.linuxlinks.com/category/financial/
4. OpenAlternative — Open Source Projects tagged “Portfolio Tracker”. https://openalternative.co/tags/portfolio-tracker
5. OpenAlternative — Open Source Projects tagged “Tauri App”. https://openalternative.co/tags/tauri-app
6. AlternativeTo — Chart Geany Alternatives (includes Wealthfolio listing with license, platform, and community data). https://alternativeto.net/software/chart-geany/

Primary sources:

• GitHub repository: https://github.com/afadil/wealthfolio (7,185 stars, AGPL-3.0)
• Official website: https://wealthfolio.app
• Addon documentation: https://github.com/afadil/wealthfolio/blob/main/docs/addons/index.md