YNAB to Beancount Migration - Worth the Switch?

General
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Resources that helped my migration:

Official Documentation:

  1. Beancount docs - Beancount Documentation

    • Read “Getting Started” first
    • Reference “Language Syntax” often

  2. Fava - GitHub - beancount/fava: Fava - web interface for Beancount

    • Web interface for Beancount
    • Essential for visualization

Community Resources:

  1. Awesome Beancount - GitHub list of tools

    • Import tools for every bank
    • Scripts and utilities
    • Extension gallery

  2. Plain Text Accounting - plaintextaccounting.org

    • Cross-tool resources
    • Community discussions

Migration-Specific:

  1. YNAB to Beancount converter (community tool)

    pip install ynab2beancount
ynab2beancount export.csv > ledger.beancount

  2. Beancount import framework

    pip install beancount-import
# Smart categorization, learns from history

Learning Path I Followed:

Week 1: Read docs, create simple test ledger
Week 2: Export YNAB, practice imports
Week 3: Set up automation for banks
Week 4: Parallel run (YNAB + Beancount)
Month 2: Beancount only, canceled YNAB

Best tutorial:
The “Command Line Accounting in 2024” blog series covers modern workflows perfectly.

Pro tip: Join the Plain Text Accounting community - incredibly helpful people who’ve all done this migration!