{
  "slug": "plain-text-accounting",
  "category": "budgeting",
  "name": "Plain Text Accounting",
  "description": "An approach to bookkeeping that keeps records in plain text files and processes them with command-line tools such as Ledger, hledger and Beancount.",
  "website": "https://plaintextaccounting.org",
  "license": null,
  "platforms": [],
  "jurisdiction": null,
  "pick": false,
  "pick_reason": null,
  "disclosure": null,
  "grade": "A",
  "score": 100,
  "coverage": 100,
  "summary": "Plain Text Accounting scores 100 out of 100 (grade A) on the budgeting criteria. It meets 3 of 3 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry and no ads or data sales.",
  "url": "https://privacyratings.com/budgeting/plain-text-accounting/",
  "markdown": "https://privacyratings.com/budgeting/plain-text-accounting/index.md",
  "answers": {
    "open_source": {
      "title": "Open source",
      "weight": 3,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://github.com/ledger/ledger/blob/master/LICENSE.md",
      "note": "An ecosystem of tools rather than one product. The main tools are open source: Ledger (BSD-3-Clause), hledger (GPL-3.0) and Beancount (GPL-2.0)."
    },
    "no_trackers": {
      "title": "No trackers or telemetry",
      "weight": 3,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://github.com/hledgerorg/hledger",
      "note": "The main tools are offline command-line programs with no telemetry or analytics in the source code."
    },
    "no_ads": {
      "title": "No ads or data sales",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://hledger.org/sponsor.html",
      "note": "The main tools are volunteer projects funded by donations, with no ads."
    },
    "independent_audit": {
      "title": "Independent audit",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "n/a",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "A bookkeeping method and a set of independent tools, not a single product that could be audited."
    },
    "transparency_report": {
      "title": "Transparency report",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "n/a",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "Only applies to hosted services with a website to test."
    },
    "user_notice": {
      "title": "Tells users about requests",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "n/a",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "Only applies to hosted services with a website to test."
    },
    "tls": {
      "title": "TLS configuration",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "n/a",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "Only applies to hosted services with a website to test."
    },
    "security_headers": {
      "title": "Security headers",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "n/a",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "Only applies to hosted services with a website to test."
    },
    "web_standards": {
      "title": "Modern web standards",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "n/a",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "Only applies to hosted services with a website to test."
    }
  },
  "tests": {
    "ssllabs": null,
    "observatory": null,
    "internetnl_web": null,
    "internetnl_mail": null,
    "trackers": [
      {
        "name": "Cloudflare Web Analytics",
        "host": "static.cloudflareinsights.com",
        "effect": "partial"
      },
      {
        "name": "Google Fonts",
        "host": "fonts.googleapis.com",
        "effect": "none"
      }
    ],
    "tested_at": "2026-10-01T07:01:11.892Z"
  },
  "last_modified": "2026-10-01T07:44:20Z"
}