Fava

A web interface for Beancount plain-text accounting, with reports, charts and an editor for your ledger file.

2.6k stars, 423 forks Python On GitHub since December 2015

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

Fava at a glance

Open sourceYes, MITNo paid parts in the repository
Health71 of 100Actively developed
Self-hostingDockerSteps in the README
Interface17 languagesIncluding German, French and Spanish
Issue repliesWithin ~4 daysMedian first reply; 70% of recent issues answered

What is Fava?

Fava reads a Beancount ledger, a text file of double-entry transactions, and turns it into a browsable web app with reports and charts, while the text file stays the single source of truth. It installs from PyPI with one command and starts a local server on port 5000. The interface has translations in 17 languages.

Good fit if

  • You track personal or small-business finances in plain text and want readable reports.
  • You value a ledger you can version with Git and inspect without special software.

Look elsewhere if

Before you adopt it

Fava is MIT-licensed and nothing about it is paid. One maintainer writes most changes, with about a dozen occasional contributors. You need to learn Beancount syntax first. A Docker image exists, but most people run it with pip on their own machine.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 31 October 2026. Report a correction

How to run Fava yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
None in the repository
Setup effort
Not rated: no compose file to judge from
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
17 languages, including German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese
Show all 17

Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Ukrainian

Install instructions: beancount.github.io or the README on GitHub.

Fava health: is it still maintained?

71 of 100, actively developed

Release rhythm1 release in 12 monthsLatest: nightly, 3 November 2026
Issue repliesWithin ~4 daysMedian first reply; 70% of recent issues answered
Bus factorHigh riskThe most active of 13 authors wrote 87% of recent commits
  • Activity
    91 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 3 November 2026.
    24 / 30
  • Contributors
    13 people wrote the 91 commits of the last 90 days; the most active wrote 87% of them.
    15 / 20
  • Releases
    1 release in the last 12 months; the latest, nightly, on 3 November 2026.
    14 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 70% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 4 days.
    13 / 20
  • Security practices
    OpenSSF Scorecard 5.2 of 10.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 5 November 2026. How the score works

Fava security practices

OpenSSF Scorecard checks how a project is developed and released: reviews, protected branches, pinned dependencies, signed releases. It does not audit the code itself.

OpenSSF Scorecard5.2 of 10How the project is built and released
Security policyNoNo SECURITY.md or similar
Signed releasesNoDownloads cannot be checked against a signature

What each check found

  • Dangerous workflows10 / 10No risky patterns in GitHub Actions
  • License file10 / 10A license file is present
  • Maintained10 / 10Steady commits and issue activity in the last 90 days
  • Binary files9 / 10A few compiled binaries are checked into the repository
  • Token permissions9 / 10Some CI tokens have more rights than they need
  • Pinned dependencies6 / 10Some dependencies use fixed versions
  • Code review2 / 10Some changes are merged without review
  • Best-practices badge0 / 10No OpenSSF Best Practices badge
  • Fuzzing0 / 10No fuzz testing found
  • Security policy0 / 10No security policy
  • Signed releases0 / 10Releases are not signed
  • Static analysis0 / 10No static analysis found

From the OpenSSF Scorecard of 2 November 2026. Checks that do not apply to Fava are left out.

Fava license: is it open source?

Fava uses MIT, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. December 2015First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayMIT.

Fava for developers

Written in

  • Python 47%
  • TypeScript 30%
  • Svelte 18%
  • CSS 2%
  • HTML 1%
  • Other <1%

Getting involved

Contributing guideYesCONTRIBUTING.mdOpen issues79On GitHub
Authors, 90 days13Of 91 commits

Language shares are GitHub’s count of the code in the repository.

Alternatives to Fava

  • OctoBotFree open source crypto trading bot to automate AI, Grid, DCA and TradingView strategies on Binance,… 70 health · GPL-3.0 · 6.9k stars
  • Invoice NinjaA source-available invoice, quote, project and time-tracking app built with Laravel 85 health · Elastic License 2.0 · 10.5k stars
  • Actual BudgetA local-first personal finance app 84 health · MIT · 30k stars
  • SureThe personal finance app for everyone (by everyone) 83 health · AGPL-3.0 · 10.8k stars
  • BTCPay ServerAccept Bitcoin payments. Free, open-source & self-hosted, Bitcoin payment processor. 83 health · MIT · 7.9k stars

All 13 projects in Money & budgeting

Questions about Fava

Is Fava open source?

Yes. Fava is published under MIT, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Fava still maintained?

Its health score is 71 of 100 (actively developed). It had 91 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 3 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 3 November 2026.

How do I run Fava?

You can run it with Docker. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What is Fava written in?

Fava is written in Python (47% of the code), with TypeScript (30%) and Svelte (18%), by GitHub’s count of the repository.

What languages is Fava available in?

The repository has interface translations for 17 languages, including German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian and Japanese.

What are the alternatives to Fava?

Close alternatives in the Money & budgeting category include OctoBot, Invoice Ninja, Actual Budget.