Is SlowBooks really free? What’s the catch?
No catch. SlowBooks is source-available under a license that permits free use for personal, educational, and internal business purposes, including at commercial enterprises. The only restriction is you can’t repackage and resell it as your own paid product or hosted service. See the LICENSE for the full text.
Is it “open source”?
The source is public on GitHub and you can read, modify, and redistribute it. Technically the license is “source-available” rather than OSI-certified open source, because of the No-Commercial-Resale clause. In practice, if you’re using it to run your own business, there is no functional difference.
Why is it not on the cloud?
Because accounting data is the last thing that should live on someone else’s server. Your financial history, customer information, payroll, and tax records shouldn’t be subject to some other company’s pricing decisions, breach history, or terms-of-service updates. SlowBooks sidesteps the entire question.
How do I back up my data?
SlowBooks creates PostgreSQL-native backups on demand from the Settings screen. You can also export everything as IIF (for re-import into QuickBooks), CSV, or PDF. If your computer is already backed up by Time Machine, a cloud drive, or an external disk, SlowBooks’ data is already safe along with the rest.
Does it work on Windows?
Yes, natively. Download the signed installer, double-click, and you’re keeping books in under a minute, without a database server to configure first. Windows shows a verified publisher instead of a SmartScreen warning because every release is code-signed. Each company is a single file under %LOCALAPPDATA%\SlowBooksPro, so backups are as simple as copying a file. Docker still works too, if you prefer containers, and serving your whole office over the LAN needs no Docker at all: that’s Server Edition, built into the same signed installer.
Do I need Docker to run the server / multi-user mode?
No. Server Edition is built into the signed Windows installer. Run it in server mode (or use the bundled install script for a boot-time service) and every machine on your LAN connects through a browser, with per-user logins, roles, and an attributed audit trail. Docker is an optional alternative for Linux servers and Intel Macs, never a requirement. See the Server section or the server setup guide.
Can I import from QuickBooks?
Yes. SlowBooks imports IIF files exported from QuickBooks Desktop (including the finicky Mac QB format with quoted thousands separators). It also has OAuth integration with QuickBooks Online for direct import.
Does SlowBooks really have analytics and AI built in?
Yes. v2.0.0 ships an analytics dashboard (KPI cards, charts, 90-day cash forecast, CSV/PDF export) and an optional AI Insights brief. The AI is bring-your-own-key: pick from eight providers (Claude, Grok, Groq, Cloudflare Workers AI, a self-hosted Cloudflare Worker, OpenAI, Gemini, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint you point it at). Nothing is sent until you click. Keys are Fernet-encrypted at rest. If you don’t configure a provider, the feature simply isn’t there.
Can my customers pay me online?
Yes, through Stripe, PayPal, or Square (enable any combination). SlowBooks emails invoices with a “Pay Online” button; the customer pays on the processor's hosted page and a balanced journal entry posts back into your local ledger automatically. Card data never touches SlowBooks. Desktop installs record payments on the customer's return, no public webhook needed. The payment URL is a token-scoped page, so customers never need a SlowBooks login.
Is SlowBooks Pro accessible?
We strive to conform to WCAG 2.1 AA. Text meets AA contrast in the light and dark themes on every page and dialog, checked by a browser before each release. Every PDF it makes is tagged for screen readers (PDF/UA-1), invoices and tax forms included. Every form field is announced with its label, and a required field as required. Dialogs keep keyboard focus, and notifications are announced. The full picture, and how to report a barrier →
Is my data secure if it’s all on one machine?
Single-user authentication is built in - setup wizard on first run, argon2id password hashing, rate-limited logins. All API keys you add (AI providers, Stripe, QBO) are encrypted at rest with Fernet. The Docker image runs as a non-root user. v2.0.0 also completed an external security audit pass: SSRF guards on outbound LLM calls, CSV formula-injection protection, schema-validated config payloads, constant-time secret comparison on the Cloudflare gateway. Your books are still on your hardware, same backup story as the rest of your machine (Time Machine, an external disk, whatever you already use).
