There's a lot that goes into running a small business, and one of the most important tasks is taking care of the finances. After all, if you're spending more than you're earning, chances are that your company won't make it for too long. But, with so much already on your plate, we know that you don't want to waste time looking around (and trying out) a bunch of different finance and budget software programs.

You have more important things to do, right?

Quicken might be among the more popular pieces of software in this genre, but it's far from the only choice. The three open source alternatives below are both free of cost and free of restrictions, and that alone makes them worth checking out. And if these applications aren't right for you either, be sure to click on the link at the end of the article for even more options!

GNUKhata

First up is GNUKhata, a piece of accounting software designed for both for-profit and non-profit organizations. One of the features that sets this application apart from other Quicken alternatives is that it runs in a web browser.  (A desktop-based version is in the works). 

With GNUKhata, you can have multiple users and export your ledgers, balances, and other reports to spreadsheets. There are several additional modules currently in development (tax calculations and inventory management, for example), but those aren't ready for public consumption just yet.

Released under a GNU General Public License, GNUKhata is free to download and install for Linux users (sorry Windows and OS X fans).

Check out the wiki's Installation page for all the technical requirements.

HomeBank

As you might have guessed by the name, HomeBank was designed for personal users, but depending on what type of company you're running, this could be a good option for you, too.

Are invoices not something you're interested in? Do you keep your inventory data in a different piece of software? Are you just looking for something to use for your financial information? If so, this software could be a good fit. 

Homebank lets you import your data from a lot of other systems, checks for duplicate transactions, tracks several types of accounts (bank, cash, asset, credit card, and liability), allows scheduled transactions, lets you set budgets, and provides lots of reporting tools. And, on a side note, the reports HomeBank creates are professional and attractive.

Homebank is available for Linux and Windows, and if you're looking for the source code, you can also grab that from the above link. If you're on OS X or Nokia's Maemo, there aren't official versions for you to download, but there are some unsupported third-party packages for you to check out. Homebank was released under a GNU General Public License.

TurboCASH

And last on our list is TurboCASH, which is a much more typical piece of accounting software for small businesses. It's currently available in more than 20 languages and 80 tax regimes, and its features list is long.

TurboCASH lets you manage bank accounts, ledgers, debters and creditors, contacts, and stocks, and it also keeps track of documents, open item processing, projects, calendars, budgets, and, of course, lets you run reports on all of these items. Plus, if you're just getting started, the developers have created a manual that includes, among other things, a "New to Accounting" section that walks you though everything from double accounting systems to accounting equations to methods of recording.

Released under a GNU General Public License, TurboCASH is available for Microsoft Windows, and if you'd like to check out the source code, you can download that from its Sourceforge page.

Not Quite What Your Looking For?

If you didn't find the perfect match in the programs above, we have another group of projects for you to check out, too. Maybe one of these will be what you're looking for.