Ghostfolio
Joplin
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $5.99/mo | Free / from $2.99/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | privacy-focused-investors, self-hosters, passive-investors, international-portfolios | privacy-advocates, developers, linux-users, evernote-migrants |
| Founded | 2021 | 2017 |
| Portfolio Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Performance Analysis | ✓ | ✗ |
| Allocation Views | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi Currency | ✓ | ✗ |
| Dividends | ✓ | ✗ |
| Benchmarking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hostable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Markdown | ✗ | ✓ |
| Encryption | ✗ | ✓ |
| Sync | ✗ | ✓ |
| Web Clipper | ✗ | ✓ |
| Plugins | ✗ | ✓ |
| Notebooks | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Ghostfolio Pros
- Open-source with self-hosting option
- Privacy-focused (no data selling or ads)
- Supports stocks, ETFs, crypto, commodities
- Beautiful portfolio allocation visualizations
✗ Ghostfolio Cons
- Limited broker integrations (manual entry mostly)
- Smaller community than commercial alternatives
- No tax-loss harvesting or advisor features
✓ Joplin Pros
- Free and open-source
- End-to-end encryption
- Self-host option
- Import from Evernote
✗ Joplin Cons
- Less polished UI
- Sync requires setup
- Limited collaboration
The Verdict
Ghostfolio is built for privacy focused investors and self hosters, with a focus on portfolio-tracking and performance-analysis. Joplin targets privacy advocates and developers and leads with markdown and encryption.
Pricing is close: Joplin starts at $2.99/mo versus $5.99/mo for Ghostfolio — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Ghostfolio offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Joplin takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.