Overview
Manage Transactions Daily (MTD) started as a practical solution to a personal problem: I needed a straightforward way to keep my business records organised to keep up with the changes from paper to digital bookkeeping. What began as an early idea for a SaaS product quickly shifted once I realised two things - I didn’t want to maintain a cloud platform, and most people like me don’t need one.
The project naturally evolved into a Self-hosted bookkeeping software that can run locally or be deployed.
Keeping data on my own platform felt simpler, more private, and more manageable for the kinds of people I had in mind - self employed developers, sysadmins, devop professtionals and anyone else who just wants clean digital records without the weight of full accounting software.
Digital Bookkeeping
A clear GitHube README and a clean Django/Tailwind interface make the software easy to install and intuitive to use.
MTDify now stands as:
- A self-hosted tool
- A self-contained bookkeeping system
- A platform free no-subscription tool
Perfect for self employed professionals who are tired of overbuilt accounting platforms.
Designed to reduce overwhelm and provide simple digital record-keeping.
Technical Details
MTDify uses a web-based interface for the best user experience. The application runs entirely via local http or you can host it on your server your computer. Opening in a browser simply provides a modern, familiar interface that's easy to use.
MTDify is built using a modern, secure Django architecture which includes:
Technology Stack
- Django 5.2+
- SQLite (default)
- TailwindCSS Version 4
- HTML templates for speed and simplicity
- Python virtual environment auto-setup
- Docker option (coming soon)
SQLITE Database
All data stored in a single db.sqlite3 file
One-user, one-business design (as per licence rules)
(Licence terms: MTDify is single-user, not multi-tenant, and cannot be hosted or converted into a SaaS — per Software Licence Agreement)
Core Features
Income & expense tracking
Categories (fully editable)
Dashboards & summaries
Recurring monthly entries (e.g., rent, software, utilities)
Quarter calculations aligned with UK tax periods
CSV export
Results
MTDify delivers a bookkeeping solution tailored to the realities of UK self-employment. It eliminates the subscription model, reduces complexity, and gives users full ownership of their business records.
Outcomes Achieved
- A fully functioning bookkeeping app packaged with Docker for self-hosting
- Extensive documentation including installation, usage, troubleshooting and licensing
- A legally safe, single-user, single-business, self-contained system
- Clear licensing that prevents misuse, resale, or SaaS conversion
(Based on the enforced clauses in the Software Licence Agreement)
