Finlynq vs Ghostfolio — full PFM + first-party MCP vs portfolio tracker

When to choose Ghostfolio

Ghostfolio is the right call if any of these matter more than ownership:

You want a dedicated, polished investment tracker — time-weighted and money-weighted return, dividends, and allocation by asset, country, sector, and industry. Its portfolio analytics are the most mature in this set.
You want a mature dual-host model today — free self-host plus a Ghostfolio Premium managed cloud (~$15/yr) with professionally sourced data feeds.
You want a PWA plus an official Android wrapper now. Finlynq's React Native app is functional but less mature.
You want broad self-host distribution — community templates for CasaOS, Home Assistant, Unraid, Umbrel — and a very high release cadence.
You only track investments and do not need budgets, transactions, loans, or subscriptions.

When to choose Finlynq

Finlynq is the right call if any of these matter:

You want the whole personal-finance picture in one app — budgets, transactions, loans and amortization, goals, subscriptions — not just a portfolio. Ghostfolio is portfolio-only.
You want a first-party MCP server. Ghostfolio ships none; it proposed a read-only Claude Agent SDK chat (not MCP) that was unshipped at the time of writing. A small third-party community wrapper exists, but is not official.
You want AI write access, not just read. Ghostfolio's proposed assistant is read-only; Finlynq's MCP supports write tools with a confirmation-token preview/execute pattern.
You want per-user envelope encryption of names. Ghostfolio stores account, symbol, and comment names without per-user encryption.
You want any bank or transaction import at all. Ghostfolio has no bank aggregation — manual entry or CSV/JSON activities import only.
You want trade-date-locked multi-currency cost basis. Ghostfolio re-converts at the current spot rate, a documented cost-basis-drift issue.

Side-by-side

	Finlynq	Ghostfolio
License	AGPL v3	AGPL v3 (same as Finlynq)
Hosting	Self-host (Docker + PostgreSQL) or managed cloud	Both — self-host Docker and managed cloud at ghostfol.io
First-party MCP	Yes — 91 HTTP / 87 stdio tools	No — proposed read-only Claude Agent SDK chat (unshipped); a small third-party community MCP wrapper exists
MCP auth	OAuth 2.1 + DCR, Bearer API key, or stdio	N/A first-party; community wrapper uses a Ghostfolio API token
REST / HTTP API	Yes — full surface mirrored from MCP	Yes — public API; activities import/export
Bank sync	File / email import + connector framework. No first-party Plaid today.	None — manual + CSV/JSON activities import only
Encryption at rest	Per-user envelope encryption (AES-256-GCM, scrypt-derived KEK). Operator cannot decrypt names.	No per-user / column encryption (names stored in plaintext)
Multi-currency	Native, per-currency cost basis, FX locked at trade date	Yes, but converts at current spot rate — cost basis drifts (known issue)
Investment / portfolio	Lot-tracked cost basis, dividends, FX-aware aggregation; RRSP/TFSA/RESP	Best-in-class of this set — TWR/MWR, dividends, allocation/risk breakdowns, crypto-native
Native mobile app	React Native (Expo) app — functional, not at parity with consumer apps	PWA + official Android wrapper
Multi-user / household	No (single-user)	Yes — multiple independent users per instance
Pricing	Donation-based; same features on self-host and managed cloud	Self-host free; Ghostfolio Premium cloud ~$15/yr
Funding / revenue model	Bootstrapped, donations	Donations + low-priced Premium cloud covering hosting/data costs

Migrating from Ghostfolio

Export from Ghostfolio — use the activities JSON/CSV export of your buys, sells, and dividends.
Import into Finlynq at /import/reconcile (or record trades via the portfolio flow) — review and edit, with FX-aware cost basis and per-holding currency handled in staging.
Connect Claude (or any MCP client) at /mcp for natural-language portfolio queries that also reach your budgets, loans, and goals.

FAQ

Isn't Ghostfolio's portfolio tracking better than Finlynq's?▾

Its analytics (TWR/MWR, allocation breakdowns) are more polished. Finlynq's edge is scope (budgets + portfolio + loans + goals in one app), trade-date-locked multi-currency cost basis, and a first-party MCP server.

Does Ghostfolio have an MCP server?▾

Not a first-party one. It proposed a Claude Agent SDK chat (read-only, unshipped at the time of writing). A small third-party community wrapper exists but is not official or maintained by the Ghostfolio team.

Can Ghostfolio sync my bank?▾

No — it has no bank aggregation. It is manual entry or CSV/JSON activities import. Finlynq imports CSV/OFX/QFX/PDF/email.

Is Ghostfolio's multi-currency accurate?▾

It converts using the current spot rate, which causes cost-basis drift (a documented open issue). Finlynq locks FX at trade date.

They're both AGPL v3 — why pick Finlynq?▾

If you want only investments, Ghostfolio is a strong, mature choice. Finlynq is for users who want investments plus budgets, loans, and goals, plus a first-party MCP server with write access and per-user encryption.

Sources

ghostfolio/ghostfolio on GitHub— AGPL v3, fetched 2026-05-29
Ghostfolio pricing— Premium ~$15/yr, fetched 2026-05-29
mhajder/ghostfolio-mcp— third-party community MCP (not first-party), fetched 2026-05-29
Finlynq on GitHub— AGPL v3 source

Try Finlynq

Free, open source, AGPL v3. Run it on our managed cloud or self-host with one Docker Compose file. Same features either way.

Try the managed cloud Self-host with Docker Source on GitHub