Comparison

Abacus for Firefly III vs FireFlow for Firefly III

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Abacus for Firefly III

This secure, open-source client connects to your personal Firefly III instance to manage your finances. It offers OAuth2 authentication, secure token storage, and visualizes your net worth and asset account history through charts. It requires a self-hosted Firefly III installation to function.

Highlights
  • Secure OAuth2 authentication
  • Encrypted token storage
  • Net worth tracking by currency
  • Asset account history charts
  • Open-source and no analytics
Read full description

Abacus: a secure & open source Firefly III client. Introduction: - Firefly III Client for iOS. - Authentication with Oauth2. - Use of iOS Keychains to store the accessToken / refreshToken. - No external API calls nor Analytics API, not even sentry / crashlytics. - Support the Net Worth by currency. - Chart to display history of your asset accounts. Source: https://github.com/victorbalssa/abacus. You need a personal Firefly III instance online (or on your LAN) to use this application: Firefly III : A free and open source personal finance manager. Source: https://github.com/firefly-iii/firefly-iii/

About

FireFlow for Firefly III

Features
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FireFlow is a native iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch client for Firefly III — the personal finance software you run on your own server. There is no account to create and no service in the middle. FireFlow talks to one computer: the one whose address you type in. If your instance lives on your home network, your finances never leave your house. RECORD IT WHEN IT HAPPENS Cash purchases happen where there's no signal — a market stall, a car park, a basement till. FireFlow takes the transaction anyway, marks it as waiting, and sends it the moment your server is reachable again. Nothing is lost and nothing is sent twice. Home tells you when you're offline and what's waiting to sync, and anything your server refuses appears with the reason and a choice of retrying or discarding it. Add a transaction however is closest to hand: • Ask Siri — "Add an expense at Soriana in FireFlow" • A three-tap quick add on Apple Watch • The + on your Home Screen widget, Control Center or the Action Button SEE WHERE YOU STAND • Net worth across all your accounts, per currency — never blended, because two currencies have no honest sum • Assets and liabilities, grouped, with the accounts you've excluded from net worth kept out of it • Twelve periods of history: net worth over time, money in against money out, and where it actually went • Budgets and bills, piggy banks you can add money to from the card, and spending paced against the same days last month • Home Screen, Lock Screen and Apple Watch widgets and complications showing the figure you choose ON IPAD A sidebar in landscape, the transaction list and the one you pick side by side, keyboard shortcuts, right-click menus, and receipts you drag in from Photos, Files or Mail. BILLS AND RECEIPTS • A reminder before each bill is due — on the day, the day before or three days ahead. Tap Record payment and the expense opens already filled in and linked to the bill • Turn any payment into a recurring bill, or change, pause and delete bills from the app • Scan a ticket, pick a photo or attach a file. On a new expense FireFlow reads the total, date and shop on your phone — nothing is sent anywhere but your server EVERY TRANSACTION, AT ANY DISTANCE Search covers every date, not just the period you're looking at. Filter by account, type or currency, with each day's net change per account. Scroll back through years. Create, edit, clone and delete, including split transactions — and a transfer between your own accounts is shown from the account you're standing in, so moving money never reads as income. BUILT FOR ONE SERVER: YOURS • Multiple instances, switch between them freely • Behind Cloudflare Access, Authelia or a similar gateway? Add the headers it needs, per server • Amounts in your own number format, or typed in cents • Your token lives in the iOS Keychain • Optional Face ID or Touch ID lock, with a delay you choose • Hide balances with one tap — and it hides them everywhere, including the charts, widgets and what VoiceOver reads aloud • Full VoiceOver support: transactions read as sentences, charts can be played as audio graphs • Dynamic Type all the way to the largest accessibility sizes • Light and dark, fifteen accent colours PRIVACY, PLAINLY No analytics. No tracking. No third-party code of any kind. Nothing is collected about you, because there is nowhere for it to go — there is no backend. Deleting the app, or "Delete all local data" in Settings, removes every trace from the device and touches nothing on your server. WHAT YOU NEED A Firefly III instance you can reach, and a Personal Access Token from it. If you don't have one yet, tap "Try the demo" on the first screen to see the whole app running on sample data with no network calls at all. HELP SHAPE IT Join the beta or send an idea from Settings → About. FireFlow is built by one person who reads every message. FireFlow is an independent app and is not affiliated with the Firefly III project.

Screenshots

Abacus for Firefly III4 screens
FireFlow for Firefly III4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: FireFlow for Firefly III at every 5 days against Abacus for Firefly III's monthly. Abacus for Firefly III's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Abacus for Firefly III ships an update monthly, FireFlow for Firefly III every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Abacus for Firefly III versus FireFlow for Firefly III: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAbacus for Firefly IIIFireFlow for Firefly III
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (44 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings44 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVictor BalssaAnton Krall

Customer experience

Abacus for Firefly III

All ratings41 ratings
Positive97.6%
Neutral2.4%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

FireFlow for Firefly III

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Abacus for Firefly III

No in-app purchases

None

FireFlow for Firefly III

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Abacus for Firefly III free?
Abacus for Firefly III is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is FireFlow for Firefly III free?
FireFlow for Firefly III is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Abacus for Firefly III or FireFlow for Firefly III have ads?
Neither Abacus for Firefly III nor FireFlow for Firefly III shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Abacus for Firefly III or FireFlow for Firefly III?
Abacus for Firefly III ships an update monthly, and FireFlow for Firefly III every 5 days. Most recently, Abacus for Firefly III was updated on October 24, 2026 and FireFlow for Firefly III on November 1, 2026.

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