Self-Host Ghostfolio: Investment Portfolio Tracker 2026

TL;DR

Ghostfolio (AGPL 3.0, ~4K GitHub stars, TypeScript/Angular) is a privacy-first investment portfolio tracker. Track stocks, ETFs, crypto, and other assets across multiple accounts and currencies — all on your own server. Personal Capital (now Empower) requires linking your brokerage accounts to their cloud; Ghostfolio keeps everything local. Multi-currency support, dividend tracking, benchmark comparison, and a clean UI for understanding your net worth.

Key Takeaways

• Ghostfolio: AGPL 3.0, ~4K stars, TypeScript — investment portfolio tracker
• Multi-currency: Track assets in any currency with automatic conversion
• Data providers: Yahoo Finance, Alpha Vantage, and more for real-time quotes
• Benchmarking: Compare portfolio performance against S&P 500, custom indices
• Dividend tracking: Track dividend income, yield, and reinvestment
• Privacy-first: No brokerage account linking — manual or CSV import only

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Part 1: Docker Setup

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  ghostfolio:
    image: ghostfolio/ghostfolio:latest
    container_name: ghostfolio
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3333:3333"
    environment:
      NODE_ENV: production
      HOST: "0.0.0.0"
      PORT: 3333
      
      # Database:
      DATABASE_URL: "postgresql://ghostfolio:${DB_PASSWORD}@db:5432/ghostfolio"
      
      # Redis:
      REDIS_HOST: redis
      REDIS_PORT: 6379
      
      # Security:
      ACCESS_TOKEN_SALT: "${ACCESS_TOKEN_SALT}"   # openssl rand -hex 32
      JWT_SECRET_KEY: "${JWT_SECRET}"              # openssl rand -hex 32
      
      # Data providers (at least one required):
      # Yahoo Finance (free, default):
      # No additional config needed
      
      # Alpha Vantage (free tier: 25 req/day):
      # ALPHA_VANTAGE_API_KEY: "your-key"
      
    depends_on:
      - db
      - redis

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ghostfolio_db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: ghostfolio
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "${DB_PASSWORD}"
      POSTGRES_DB: ghostfolio

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ghostfolio_redis:/data

volumes:
  ghostfolio_db:
  ghostfolio_redis:

echo "DB_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 24)" >> .env
echo "ACCESS_TOKEN_SALT=$(openssl rand -hex 32)" >> .env
echo "JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)" >> .env

docker compose up -d

Visit http://your-server:3333 → create your account.

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Part 2: HTTPS with Caddy

portfolio.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3333
}

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Part 3: Adding Accounts and Holdings

Create accounts

Accounts represent your brokerage, bank, or crypto accounts:

1. Accounts → + Add Account
2. Name: Fidelity, Vanguard, Coinbase, 401k
3. Platform: select or create
4. Currency: USD, EUR, GBP, etc.

Add holdings

1. Portfolio → + Add Activity
2. Activity type: Buy / Sell / Dividend
3. Search for asset: AAPL, VTI, BTC
4. Fill in:
   • Date: purchase date
   • Quantity: number of shares/units
   • Unit price: price per share at purchase
   • Fee: transaction fee
   • Account: which account
5. Save

Supported asset types

Type	Examples
Stocks	AAPL, MSFT, GOOGL
ETFs	VTI, VOO, QQQ, VT
Crypto	BTC, ETH, SOL
Mutual Funds	VTSAX, FXAIX
Bonds	Treasury, Corporate
Precious Metals	Gold, Silver
Cash	Savings accounts, CDs

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Part 4: Portfolio Dashboard

Overview

The dashboard shows:

• Total net worth: Sum of all accounts
• Performance: Absolute and percentage returns
• Allocation: By asset class, region, sector, account
• Holdings table: Each position with current value, gain/loss, weight

Performance chart

• Time-weighted return vs money-weighted return
• Compare against benchmarks (S&P 500, total market)
• Filter by: 1M, 3M, 6M, YTD, 1Y, 5Y, Max

Allocation view

• By asset class: Stocks vs bonds vs crypto vs cash
• By region: US, Europe, Emerging Markets
• By sector: Technology, Healthcare, Finance, etc.
• By account: Distribution across brokerages
• By currency: USD, EUR, etc.

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Part 5: Import Transactions

CSV import

Date,Type,Symbol,Quantity,Price,Fee,Currency,Account
2025-01-15,BUY,VTI,50,245.30,0,USD,Vanguard
2025-02-01,BUY,AAPL,10,180.50,4.95,USD,Fidelity
2025-03-01,DIVIDEND,VTI,,125.00,0,USD,Vanguard
2025-06-15,SELL,AAPL,5,195.20,4.95,USD,Fidelity

Portfolio → Import → CSV → upload file → map columns → import.

Manual entry tips

• Enter transactions in chronological order
• Include dividends for accurate total return
• Record fees for true cost basis
• Use the correct currency for each transaction

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Part 6: Benchmarking

Compare your portfolio performance against indices:

1. Settings → Benchmarks
2. Add: SPY (S&P 500), VT (Total World), custom index
3. Dashboard → toggle benchmark overlay on performance chart

Example insights

Your portfolio:     +12.3% YTD
S&P 500 (SPY):     +15.1% YTD
Difference:         -2.8% (underperforming)

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Part 7: Dividend Tracking

Log dividends

1. + Add Activity → Dividend
2. Symbol: VTI
3. Amount: total dividend received
4. Date: ex-dividend date
5. Account: receiving account

Dividend dashboard

Shows:

• Dividend income by month/year: bar chart of passive income
• Dividend yield: weighted yield across portfolio
• Top dividend payers: which holdings contribute most

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Part 8: Multi-User and Security

Additional users

Admin → User Management → Invite:
  Email: partner@example.com
  Role: User

Each user has their own private portfolio — no data shared between users.

Security practices

• No brokerage linking: Ghostfolio never has access to your actual accounts
• Self-hosted: Data stays on your server
• Manual entry: You control exactly what data is stored
• Encryption: Use HTTPS and encrypted database backups

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Maintenance

# Update:
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

# Backup database:
docker exec ghostfolio-db-1 pg_dump -U ghostfolio ghostfolio \
  | gzip > ghostfolio-db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

# Logs:
docker compose logs -f ghostfolio

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See also: Actual Budget — for budgeting and expense tracking

See all open source finance tools at OSSAlt.com/categories/finance.