# Ghostfolio vs Portfolio Performance vs Wealthfolio: a server, a file and an app

Three free, open-source trackers that keep your portfolio off a vendor's cloud. How your transactions get in decides between them, and their returns do not match.

*https://stockmarketstack.com/compare/ghostfolio-vs-portfolio-performance-vs-wealthfolio*

- https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/ghostfolio.md
- https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-performance.md
- https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/wealthfolio.md

Reading the cards one after another, these look like three versions of the same idea. All three
are open source, none needs an account with a vendor when you run it yourself, and all three
keep your portfolio somewhere you control. They are built differently, though. [Ghostfolio](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/ghostfolio)
is a web server that runs on PostgreSQL and Redis.
[Portfolio Performance](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-performance) is a Java desktop app that writes one XML
file. [Wealthfolio](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/wealthfolio) is a desktop and mobile app on a local SQLite file. How each
is built decides how your transactions get in, and that is the question that settles the choice.

## How your history gets in

None of the three syncs with a broker for free. What each does instead is very different:

- **Portfolio Performance reads PDFs.** You download the trade confirmation your bank sends and
  import it. The importer handles more than 90 banks and brokers by the manual's count. Most of
  them are German, Austrian and Swiss, and Degiro, Trading 212, Revolut, Saxo, CommSec, Questrade
  and Wealthsimple are among the rest. It also reads an Interactive Brokers Flex Query file and
  CSV. If your bank is on the list, this is the closest any free tool gets to automatic import.
  If it is not, you are writing CSV or typing transactions in.
- **Wealthfolio reads CSV for free, and sells sync.** Connect Essentials, at $7.99 a month or $79
  a year, links up to five institutions through SnapTrade. It is read-only and refreshes once a
  day. The brokers its page names are US ones: Fidelity, Public, Robinhood, Webull and E\*TRADE.
  This is the only automatic import among the three, and it is a hosted service. The app keeps
  your data on your own machine, but the sync does not.
- **Ghostfolio takes manual entry, CSV or JSON, or its REST API.** There is no broker connection
  at any tier. The API is a real advantage for someone who will script their own import. Anyone
  else ends up typing.

So a reader in Germany, Austria or Switzerland whose bank's PDFs are on the importer list already
has an answer. So does a US reader who will not type trades in and will pay $79 a year. Everyone
else is choosing between three ways of doing the import work themselves.

## The three return figures are different numbers

Load the same history into two of these and the headline percentage will differ, even though
neither is wrong. Ghostfolio reports return on average investment, over periods from today out
to the full history. Portfolio Performance reports a true
[time-weighted return](https://stockmarketstack.com/glossary/time-weighted-return) and an internal rate of return.
Wealthfolio reports time-weighted and money-weighted returns.

The time-weighted figure removes the effect of when you added or withdrew money, so it is the
one that compares with the return an index fund publishes. Ghostfolio does not report one. If
your question is "did I beat the fund I could have bought instead", Portfolio Performance and
Wealthfolio can answer it and Ghostfolio cannot.

## Where the prices come from

All three need a price source you choose, and the defaults differ:

- **Portfolio Performance** has a built-in feed that is free with a Portfolio Performance ID, an
  email login you renew every 90 days. It covers the major US exchanges and more than 20 European
  markets. Exchange rates come from the European Central Bank automatically. If you pick Yahoo
  instead, the manual warns that it returns only three months of history by default.
- **Wealthfolio** uses Yahoo Finance by default. It can also use Alpha Vantage, Finnhub or
  MarketData.app with your own API key, or a custom provider you define.
- **Ghostfolio** uses Yahoo Finance and CoinGecko, or the vendor's own professional provider,
  which needs a Premium key at $48 a year. That key also works from a self-hosted instance, so
  $48 buys better data without moving your portfolio to the vendor's cloud. On a self-hosted
  instance you also have to collect historical exchange rates yourself before cross-currency
  returns will compute.

For a portfolio held in more than one currency, Portfolio Performance is the one that documents
its exchange rates loading on their own.

## Running it, and reading it on a phone

Self-hosted Ghostfolio is a server you operate. It runs on Docker with PostgreSQL and Redis. You
bump the image version by hand and take your own database backups. In return, every device in
the house opens it in a browser, and it supports more than one user: the first account created
becomes the admin. Releases come several times a week. The Android app works with the hosted
service only.

Portfolio Performance and Wealthfolio are applications, not servers. Portfolio Performance's file
can be password-encrypted and synced through a cloud drive to a mobile app, but the app is
read-only. Adding transactions still happens on the desktop, and the phone dashboards cost
EUR 3 a month. Wealthfolio has a native iOS app and, since v3.9.1 (27 September 2026), an Android APK on GitHub
with no Play Store listing; device sync is Connect
Basic at $2.99 a month. Its Docker image gives self-hosters a browser version as well.

Two more differences may matter. Wealthfolio is the only one of the three that tracks option
contracts. And none of the three produces a tax report shaped for filing in any country.

## The recommendation

**Choose [Portfolio Performance](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-performance)** if your bank or broker is on its
PDF importer list, which covers most German, Austrian and Swiss banks, or if you want a
time-weighted return and exchange rates that load on their own, for no money at all. What it
lacks is any way to work on the portfolio away from your desktop.

**Choose [Wealthfolio](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/wealthfolio)** if you are with a US broker and want the import done
for you: Connect Essentials at $79 a year is the only automatic sync among these three. Also
choose it if you hold options or want to edit the portfolio on an iPhone. Without Connect it is
still a good CSV-fed desktop tracker.

**Choose [Ghostfolio](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/ghostfolio)** only if you actually want a server: one portfolio that
several people or devices reach through a browser, and an API to script imports into. Accept
that you will run PostgreSQL and Redis and supply exchange rates, or pay $48 a year to let the
vendor run it. If the reason you want self-hosting is privacy rather than access from anywhere,
the other two give you that with less to maintain.

The hosted trackers, with broker sync and tax reports, are on the
[portfolio trackers page](https://stockmarketstack.com/categories/portfolio-trackers).

## FAQ

### Which open-source portfolio tracker imports from my broker automatically?

Only Wealthfolio, and only through Connect, its paid hosted add-on. Connect uses SnapTrade, refreshes once a day and costs $7.99 a month or $79 a year for up to five institutions. Portfolio Performance has no live connection but reads the PDF statements of more than 90 banks and brokers, mostly German, Austrian and Swiss. Ghostfolio has no broker connection at any tier.

### Why do Ghostfolio and Portfolio Performance show different returns for the same trades?

Because they calculate different figures. Ghostfolio reports return on average investment. Portfolio Performance reports a time-weighted rate of return and an internal rate of return, and Wealthfolio reports time-weighted and money-weighted returns. Only a time-weighted return can be compared with the return a fund publishes, so if you are checking yourself against an index, use the time-weighted figure from Portfolio Performance or Wealthfolio.

### Which one is the least work to run?

Portfolio Performance or Wealthfolio, which are desktop apps that keep your data in one file on your own disk. Self-hosted Ghostfolio is a server with PostgreSQL and Redis. You update the image version by hand, take your own database backups and supply historical exchange rates. Its hosted Premium plan, $48 for a year, does that work for you.

### Are any of these trackers really free?

All three are open source, but each one charges for something different. The Portfolio Performance desktop app is entirely free, and only the phone dashboards cost money. Wealthfolio's app is free, and you pay for broker sync and device sync. Ghostfolio is free to self-host with every feature except its professional data provider. Its free hosted plan is the cut-down version.