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Manager.io – Free accounting software for small businesses
- acount5437 13y agoThis is wonderful. Where do you get your tax codes? Any plans for an API?
- ptr 13y agoFeels very polished, even as a Mac app. Well done. Lion full screen support would be a nice feature to have.
- deweller 13y agoWhat is the business model? Will they charge for upgrades? Or will they use your data to send you targeted ads?
- kiosan 13y agoThey sell Cloud Storage for $5/month. Very interesting software.
- quarterto 13y agoInteresting. My immediate question was "is this US-specific", but it seems not: http://www.manager.io/about http://www.manager.io/about, section "First-class support for every country".
- cjg 13y agoThat was exactly my first thought. Something else encouraging as far as internationalisation is concerned is that the company is based in Australia not the US so they are less likely to be blinkered to only their home market.
- lubos 13y agoWow. I'm founder of Manager.io and long-time member of HN but I was always afraid to submit on HN link to my own startup thinking it won't ever get any upvotes. There are hundreds of people on www.manager.io right now. I'm amazed and completely humbled by the interest right now.
- kiosan 13y agoSoftware is really good. I have an error on emailing invoices. It says just "Error" in modal.
- sashagim 13y agoHey there! The software looks very good, although I'm not in your target audience. Good luck! I'm curious as to why have you decided to package this as a desktop software, rather than a web app?
- ericcholis 13y agoAs an outside observer, it seems that providing the desktop app allows the developer to have a freemium model without incurring additional hosting costs for those users. Users who want cloud storage offset his costs directly with the $5 charge. Just guessing Side Note, for those who haven't downloaded the app. There doesn't seem to be a mention for the cloud storage option on the home page. The app stores data locally, but offers the option of cloud storage with additional benefits for $5/month. Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/zWYpv7I.png http://i.imgur.com/zWYpv7I.png
- lubos 13y agoI will release server edition for people who want to install this on their own web-server. That way it can run as a web app too.
- Heliosmaster 13y agothis is great! And, incidentally, you are welcome for this submission ;)
- chrisdevereux 13y agoNot being a webapp is a huge plus for me if I'm going to use a piece of software for something important (when the use isn't inherently tied to the web). The people who make this could sell to GoogleAppleSoft, get hit by a bus, or start charging stupid money for it, and I'll still have a copy and all my data. A webapp by a company I've never heard of before needs to do much more to reassure me that won't happen.
- stwr 13y agoI am definitely going to check this out :)
- jonathanmarcus 13y agoDownloading now. Based on the screenshots, this looks pretty damn solid.
- rfnslyr 13y agoI am so jealous of any product or startup with a perfect domain name. I'll definitely use this.
- nickler 13y agoCool stuff. Reminds me of www.waveaccounting.com, is it ad supported as well? Looking forward to taking it for a test drive.
- thoughtpalette 13y agoSent the link to a family member who still uses Quicken 2000. The invoicing looks great!
- mrjatx 13y agoYou should work on integrating this into various niche apps, like WHMCS (webhosting control panel), VOIP panels, basically any reseller panel you can find. It'd take off.
- tommis 13y agoFor those who have tried it out: what kind of options does it offer for taking out/exporting your data?
- lubos 13y agoI will implement export to any format that will be in demand. I have configured UserVoice page, please check it out http://manager.uservoice.com/forums/202564-plugin-ideas http://manager.uservoice.com/forums/202564-plugin-ideas
- airtonix 13y agoMake sure you mention this on your website. I'd also suggest you create a bitbucket account for issue submission since: 1. You can enable access only to issue tickets 2. you can keep your source code private 3. it's got a low barrier to entry (you don't actually need to keep source code there, but git is awesome and so is bitbucket)
- crusso 13y agoDefinitely the export list is a barrier to adoption. Really, it's all I care about. I'm sure that any small business package is going to have a chart of accounts, invoice creation, etc. What I have to make sure of is that my accountant can import the package's exports and do my taxes. :)
- mixmixmix 13y agoJust curious, but what is the app written in? Is it something like Adobe Air?
- lubos 13y agoIt's written in C#. I'm using cross-platform GUI framework http://github.com/picoe/Eto http://github.com/picoe/Eto
- sandGorgon 13y agoDid you look at using something like Qt ? Or did you want something in C# ? curious to understand your technology choice
- shuzchen 13y agoIt appears to be a wrapper around a webservice that runs in process. So I assume the webservice is something like .NET and so they stuck with C# for the GUI bits.
- sandGorgon 13y agointeresting - strange choice of architecture. Is there an advantage to something like this ?
- vyrotek 13y agoAlways happy to find other startups built on C# :) This GUI framework is intriguing as well.
- relaxman 13y agoIt's written in C# or .NET? ("Cross platform GUI framework for desktop and mobile applications in .NET") Would it be possible to use other languages with Eto?
- cwensley 13y ago
- ckdarby 13y agoI thought this was open source ;_;
- rexreed 13y agoAny interest in making personal accounting software as well? On the Mac, there are few good low-cost options if you want desktop software and not cloud-based.
- rfnslyr 13y agoWhat are some desktop based OSX accounting solutions? I run a small consultancy (just myself) and need to track expenses, taxes, write offs.. etc.
- rexreed 13y agoI use Moneydance. It's ok.
- dalore 13y agoMe too. It's not great, UI needs a bit of polish, feels like the Java app that it is but it does the job. I am looking for alternatives though.
- mixmixmix 13y agoI'm actually planning to build a native OSX app. Would love to talk more about your needs/pains. Shoot me an email if you get a chance. My email is in my profile.
- rfnslyr 13y agoAwesome! Will do. Heck we could even work on it together :)
- leephillips 13y agoledger should work wherever there is a unix commandline: http://www.ledger-cli.org/ http://www.ledger-cli.org/
- cdcarter 13y agoYNAB is a great personal software, if you can buy into it's very specific (but helpful!) process.
- joebo 13y agoGood work. The install process was very smooth. I like that it doesn't require admin. Also a neat architecture. Looks like it's a .NET app running an in process web server.
- lukashed 13y agoReally looking great! If you could attach files to bills (i.e. a PDF scan) it would fit all our needs perfectly! :)
- cmalpeli 13y agoVery nice! Does this pull in transactions from your bank accounts automatically? I'm using Xero right now (awesome BTW) and that is a killer feature for me.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- elyase 13y agoIt would be nice to be able to customize the text in the invoices (for example to translate them to other languages) and be able to add your logo. Also full screen on mac would be very welcome.
- holri 13y agoimportant clarification: it is free as in beer not as in speech.
- krmmalik 13y agoThis is brilliant. I'm referring to the execution, the landing page, design, pricing model etc. One question, can bank accounts be linked for realtime importing or is it based on importing csv's only etc?
- airtonix 13y agolove that you have GST and BAS statement generation. I sent you an email about dpkg errors since I only use Linux (ubuntu 13.04 Gnome Shell 3.8)
- pbreit 13y agoIf this works, it could be a new model for software. There's something about accounting that seems more appropriate as desktop software. I like avoiding the monthly fees and it's probably more comforting to the developer not to be serving the app (I realize they are offering cloud storage).
- mcescalante 13y agoSeems like you could put the *.manager file into dropbox or another "sync service" and put a symlink into the Users/... folder to point it to the dropbox file, which would probably allow multiple users to all access the same data. I feel like this would sort of be bypassing your cloud service
- lubos 13y agoI don't mind but the problem is, if two people edit the file concurrently, Dropbox won't merge them. It will just create a copy. Cloud Storage is designed to merge changes no matter how many people work on file concurrently.
- mcescalante 13y agoI hadn't tested and suspected something like that may happen. Just keep in mind it's possible people could hack together their own working versions of a multi-user sync.
- lubos 13y agoNo need to hack anything. I'm going to release server edition which will give users multi-user access without putting data into cloud storage. That will settle this matter.
- mcescalante 13y agoI'll bet you you're going to make a lot of people happy with that :) (Not even me, just know people like it!)
- Felipe1976 13y agoGreat app congrats! I have a tech related question. It seems like you are running a web server locally and using a web browser component to display the pages processed locally. Would you care to explain how everything is setup? What webserver are you using? Is it a QA app with a webview? Thanks!
- lubos 13y agoRegarding web-server, I'm just using HttpListener class in .NET Framework (or Mono) which is ultra lightweight solution. As per web-browser, Manager doesn't bundle it. I'm just using whatever is available on target operating system, that is Internet Explorer on Windows, Firefox on Linux and Safari on Mac OSX. Lots of credit goes to https://github.com/picoe/Eto https://github.com/picoe/Eto which allows easy creation of these cross-platform apps.
- dragthor 13y agoI might download and try to use for me own personal expenses and bills.
- free652 13y agoSadly I got an exception right after trying to add a company: System.FormatException: Guid should contain 32 digits with 4 dashes (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx). at System.Guid.GuidResult.SetFailure(ParseFailureKind failure, String failureMessageID, Object failureMessageFormatArgument, String failureArgumentName, Exception innerException) at System.Guid.TryParseGuidWithNoStyle(String guidString, GuidResult& result) at System.Guid.TryParseGuid(String g, GuidStyles flags, GuidResult& result) at System.Guid..ctor(String g) at Manager.Objects.Get(String entityId) at Manager.HttpHandlers.File.Upgrade.Get() at HttpFramework.HttpModule.ProcessRequest(HttpRequest request) at Manager.HttpModule.ProcessRequest(HttpRequest request)
- tobeportable 13y agoI wished this would be based on http://www.ledger-cli.org/ http://www.ledger-cli.org/
- ams6110 13y agoThat's what I use. A simple CSV download of transactions (what bank doesn't offer that?), an awk script or two, and my bank transactions are ledger entries.
- elwell 13y agoWill check this out. Have been using Wave Accounting rather happily.
- dangero 13y agoI do too. I also started using Wave for Payroll and it's been fantastic.
- hunvreus 13y agoSame boat here; we switched to Wave (http://waveapps.com http://waveapps.com) a month ago and it's been great, even with the multiple currencies and offices. Love it. Recommended.
- MistahKoala 13y agoI've been attempting to 'love' Wave for the past couple of days now and it doesn't seem to be happening. I've done the homework on double-entry bookkeeping and have tried to fit my brain into Wave's workflow. Unfortunately, the total lack of documentation on how to get started with it is making life very difficult. I've downloaded OP's application and whilst it seems much more straight-forward, I've come across a problem with transfers between accounts that makes me feel that it isn't quite ready yet. Looks like I might have to settle for GNUCash. I can't believe how difficult it's been to find a solution for simple double-entry accounting that's also self-contained (ie, I can create invoices and attach receipts). Our side project doesn't make enough money to justify spending on Quickbooks or a monthly site subscription, but I'm not convinced that they would be the right answer, anyway.
- anandpdoshi 13y agoHave you looked at ERPNext? It is Open Source - http://github.com/webnotes/erpnext http://github.com/webnotes/erpnext Though it is an ERP, you can just use the accounting and sales modules and hide the rest. (I am a developer at erpnext)
- arbuge 13y agoLooks interesting. My main concern with something like this is that my accountant won't be able to work with the file it generates, or will charge me more to do so. My accountant, like most others, speaks Quickbooks.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- breckinloggins 13y ago"Enter bank transactions." Nope. Customer lost. Look, I hate Quickbooks and Quickbooks Online. I really, really do, but I will not use a financial product that doesn't connect to my financial institutions. Period. Do you want to know what MY startup dream is? I want someone to give me money, and then I want to go create a service that kicks the crap out of Yodlee and Intuit's own bank connection system. I want it to use REST APIs when it can, OFX when it should, and intelligent screen scraping when it must. I want to build a startup based on an open core of specifications for how to connect to every financial system in the world. I want that spec to be executable and available as a simple library with bindings to every language you can think of. If you have a new institution or your bank changes and you can fix it, I want you to be able to fork the library and send us a pull request. I want end users to be able to go through a "guided login process". "OK, log in now", "OK, click on the accounts list", "OK click on a transaction". "You're done! We've autogenerated a basic scraper for your bank. Thanks for helping us out." I want to make money off this library by providing a simple, unified REST API behind all this mess that provides the computational resources to handle millions of customers connecting with thousands of institutions. I want this company to provide push notifications so your app can do clever things when people spend money. I don't want you to have to sign an NDA and pay thousands of dollars just to get permission to play with it. I want it to be the Twilio of Banks. But if you want to take the code and go your own way, you can. I really don't know why we've let just a few companies keep our collective financial data locked up for so long. Is it because it's so expensive to get it working? Well why not spend it on people who will create an open, scalable system that can still make money? Instead, we have Mint.com and mvelopes. That's it, really. Have an idea for a personal finance tool that lets you create "virtual subaccounts" for your checking and savings accounts so you can leverage double-entry bookkeeping in your personal finances through a clear metaphor? Great! Now have fun spending 10 minutes every two days copying and pasting stuff from 10 websites into 1. It's just madness. You know that "one weird thing" you're passionate about that's not really related to anything else you're passionate about? This is it for me. P.S.: lubos - this isn't really about you or manager.io. I commend you for making something and getting it out there. This is about the thing that makes every one of these attempts inevitably fail, and it's sad that we're all being held hostage to crappy software because of it. I wish you success, I hope that I'm completely wrong.
- madao 13y agoThanks for this, I am starting a small side business and this looks like a nice solution for what I need.
- jaboutboul 13y agoI use wave (www.waveapps.com) for this and its been absolutely fantastic. absolutely fantastic. (yes it had to be said twice.
- gregd 13y agoExcept, Wave accounting is missing bank reconciliation...a really important feature that your accountant will probably tell you, needs to be there.
- davidandgoliath 13y agoPrecisely why you should all be using Xero! :)
- mbostleman 13y agoThis is awesome. I have rental properties and I am so sick of Quickbooks. This is everything Intuit is not.
- maheart 13y agoThis looks really good. I'm kind of concerned (wondering?) about the long-term viability of this product: 1. It's free (how does the company backing it plan to stay in business?). 2. It's free (as in beer), so I/the community cannot take over in case the product/company ever goes under. Thanks for your work.
- chatman 13y agoGNUCash just rocks. And it is more trustworthy.
- gregd 13y agoWhen I try to email an invoice, I get an "Error", which isn't very helpful. I can't find anywhere to setup the emailing functionality, so I assume that that part isn't ready yet?
- brass9 13y agoA nice piece of work! But I'm curious about a few architectural decisions. What made you to decide to build each HTML page by hand? Code like this[1] makes my eyes bleed... reminds me of the faux-OOP HTML builder classes that used to be a fad among PHP programmers (or ISAPI & Delphi web developers of old) a while ago.. No offence, but much of your Manager.HttpHandlers.* codebase feels like messy, ugly PHP4 code ported to C#... What made you decide against template-based output rendering (Razor, NVelocity, NHaml, .liquid to name a few)? With template-generated output, the business logic layer could be decoupled from the UI. I had only a cursory glance at your code (and thus could be wrong), but it seems manager.io's DAL/BLL layer is intermingled within the GUI parts. The protobuf DLL was named protobufnet.dll in the MSI. But the proper filename should be protobuf-net.dll I think user input validation and error handling could be made more robust. Additionally, spawning 5 HTTP worker threads to serve a single user seems a little overkill. These are few of the issues I've noticed during the 5 minute tinkering with your assemblies. But don't let this critique discourage you. The app looks good - I guess end users won't care how it's built so long as it provides real value... PS: Thanks for the heads up about Eto forms! I'll give it a spin and see how it fares against Xamarin's XWT. [1] https://gist.github.com/anonymous/7003337 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/7003337
- NKCSS 13y agoI like the creditcard form, where you ask your customers to send their creditcard details + CVV to be sent via mail... is that secure? http://www.manager.io/invoice http://www.manager.io/invoice
- nigekelly 13y agoThis is really superb. It's quick and responsive. Looks good. Looks easy to use. Will give a test drive over next few days as have to get my taxes done. I see that many of the plugins are disabled so suspect that's the business model.
- ikonos_de 13y agoWhat environment is used to create this app? Seems to be made of simple HTML-sites, but what is used as a backend?
- joshdance 13y agoI don't really download software much. If you had a web app I would probably try it out.
- blind4x 13y agoIs there something simmilar but solely online and with a good design?