This is a review for rotki, an open source portfolio tracker, accounting and analytics tool that protects your privacy. rotki is an abbreviation for Rotkehlchen, the German word for the bird known in English as the European Robin.
October 1, 2024
★★★★☆
Crypto accounting is hard - rotki makes it easier.
When I was growing up in the 90s, my dad was into computers. He was the DIY type, always trying to add more RAM to an old motherboard. The only thing he actually used his home computer for was to play Microsoft Flight Simulator. Nonetheless, he subscribed to a variety of PC gaming magazines, which I would read cover to cover. My favorite was Computer Gaming World (CGW).
CGW is long gone, but there is an archive of all their print editions that’s a good stroll down memory lane.
I liked Computer Gaming World for several reasons. First, it featured extremely detailed game reviews. Second, it would hype upcoming games for months before they actually came out, so when a new review dropped, I had been anticipating it for a while. They had leaderboards and awards for best game of the year, even an often hilarious “letters to the editor” section.
This was an era when games came on CD-ROMs. There was no multiplayer to speak of. Every game was a local app that you’d run from your D:\ drive.
Which brings me to rotki. rotki is the first local app I’ve used in a while. In an era when we are so accustomed to handing over our email and personal details in exchange for a modern cloud-based web app (and a 5% chance of a data breach), rotki is proudly local-first.
I knew about rotki for some time. The founder, Lefteris, is quite active on the other bird app, but I had never gotten around to trying it. To be frank, I was afraid of the local app aspect, expecting an inferior UI and all sorts of configuration headaches.
Last month, I had a complex crypto accounting problem. I’m pretty decent at accounting, so I figured I could solve it on my own. I enumerated my wallet addresses, created a registry of the chains and tokens I cared about, assembled a bunch of API keys, and wrote some scripts for pulling all the data together. This got me about 80% of the way there.
The last 20% drove me crazy though. Unfortunately, with accounting, you can’t just be 80% of the way there. You have to go all the way.
It was now 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday night and this project had consumed most of my day. I had an anxious pit in my stomach. Would I give up? Stay up all night and make it work? That was when I decided to give rotki a try.
I was done by 11:15 p.m.
I downloaded the app, copy-pasted my addresses and chains (fortunately, I had this ready), and waited for the indexers to run. The only tedious part was hitting ignore on all the scamcoins that had dusted my addresses.
It was incredible.
I needed some more advanced reporting, so I sprung for the premium version. I paid with crypto (although traditional payment options were available, too). Once again, I braced for terrible UX and … it all just worked. I finished my work and went to bed.
rotki saved me considerable time. It will probably save me considerable money in the future. It’s a great product, and you can see it in the details, like being able to set your RPC node preferences and configure country-specific tax policies. The UI is smart, intuitive, and modern.
I sent a quick note to Lefteris thanking him for rotki and he encouraged me to leave a review. So, here it is. Despite my childhood love of gaming reviews, this is the only software product review I’ve ever written.
rotki isn’t perfect, and it probably never will be. But it’s far better than you think it will be.
You should use rotki if:
What I like:
Would I would like to see:
Rating: ★★★★☆
Very Good: Succeeds in many areas. May have minor problems, but is still worth your time and money, especially if you’re interested in the subject matter/genre. (CGW definition)
Download for free at: https://rotki.com/
Premium is available, starting at 10.79€