Why we built Analytical Ledger
The books stop getting done when the business gets busy. Here's why we built free, correct-to-the-cent accounting you can run yourself, and how we pay for it.
The books stop getting done the moment the business gets busy — which is exactly when knowing your numbers matters most. That kept happening to us, so we built the tool we needed.
TL;DR
- Analytical Ledger is multi-entity, double-entry accounting and budgeting built correctness-first. Money is stored as exact decimals, every entry must balance, and the rule is enforced twice: in the application and again by PostgreSQL triggers. Your data lives in a database you control.
- The software is free and Fair Source (FSL-1.1-ALv2). You can run it on Windows, self-host it, or ask us to run an isolated instance for you. We charge for the services around it: managed hosting, firm onboarding and support. There are no published prices yet.
- Bring your own agent. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or any MCP client with read or draft access. An agent can draft; people post.
Why did we build another accounting app?
Because the ones we tried made us choose between running the business and knowing where it stood. Spreadsheets broke once they got big and never enforced double-entry. Subscription tools charged every month for features we half-used, charged again per company, and made the data feel rented. So we built the tool we actually wanted to use.
The wall is always the same. Work picks up, the bookkeeping slides, and a month later there's a pile of unreconciled statements and a quiet dread: did we make money last month? Being behind on the books is normal and fixable — but only if the tool makes catching up fast, and only if you can trust the numbers once you're caught up.
What is Analytical Ledger?
It is a real double-entry accounting and budgeting system for the people who run several sets of books: owner-operators, CFOs and fractional CFOs, and financial planners. Each entity has its own books, and consolidated views eliminate the accounts flagged intercompany. Bank data comes in by CSV, OFX or a SimpleFIN feed, and every row is reviewed before it posts.
Correctness is the whole point. Money is stored as exact decimals, never floating point. Every journal entry must balance, and that rule is enforced twice. Posted entries are immutable; you correct them with reversing entries, the way real accounting works. The numbers are either right or the entry doesn't post. How double-entry is enforced names every trigger.
Free software, paid services
The software is free: no monthly fee, no per-entity charge, no trial that expires into a bill. It is Fair Source under FSL-1.1-ALv2. That means the source is available, you can use and modify it for permitted purposes including internal business use, and competing commercial products or services are restricted. Each release becomes Apache 2.0 after two years. It is source-available, not open source, and we try never to blur the two.
The public source release and the Windows download are in preparation, and we won't say they are available before they are. Managed hosting is an invite-only beta.
What we sell is the work around the software: running an isolated instance and database for each client, onboarding a firm, and support. If you would rather run it yourself, you can. Request early access or ask about hosting.
We run our own books on it
This isn't a demo we spun up for a launch. Analytical Solutions keeps its own companies and household on Analytical Ledger and runs it daily on its own server. When a report is wrong, we feel it before anyone else does. That's the standard the correctness guarantees are held to: our own month-end.
What people get wrong about "free"
The usual worry is that free means worse, or that the real bill arrives later. Here the software has no upsell tier holding back the reports you need and no meter on how many entities you add. The honest limits are the real ones: it is USD only, and the Windows and source distributions are still being prepared.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Analytical Ledger really free?
The software is. There's no monthly fee, no per-entity charge, and no trial that expires into a bill. You pay only if you ask us for a service: managed hosting, firm onboarding or support. No prices are published yet.
Is the Analytical Ledger source public?
Not yet — the source release is in preparation, under Fair Source (FSL-1.1-ALv2). We won't claim it's public before it is. Fair Source is source-available, not open source, and each release becomes Apache 2.0 after two years.
Can I keep my own data and run it myself?
Yes. Run it on Windows with its own embedded database, self-host it from source on PostgreSQL 18, or have us run an isolated instance for you. In every case your data is in a database you own. Neither the Windows download nor the source release is public yet.
Do I need to be an accountant to use it?
No. It is built for owner-operators, CFOs and planners. A 118-account chart of accounts mapped to IRS Schedule C and Form 1120 lines is ready to use, and AI-assisted import proposes categories for you to approve — the machine does the tedium, you keep the judgment.
See what it does
The fastest way to understand Analytical Ledger is to read what it can do and what's still in preview. The feature list tags every capability Shipped, Preview or Planned, and the guides walk you from install to your first close.
About Analytical Solutions — we build Analytical Ledger and run our own companies on it, daily. The whole tool exists so no owner has to choose between running the business and knowing its condition.