A self-hosted Quicken LifeHub alternative
Open source vs hosted. See how Harbor stacks up.
| Question | Harbor | Quicken LifeHub |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $1.99 to $3.99 a month |
| How your records are hosted | On your server, under your control | On Amazon’s cloud, run by Quicken |
| Marketing use of your information | None. No company holds it | Allowed by its privacy policy |
| Legal requests for your records | Handled by you | Handled by Quicken |
| If the company is sold | Not applicable. It’s open source | Your data goes to the new owner |
| How much you can store | Unlimited | 30 GB |
| Backups | Nightly, to a provider you choose | Manual download, once every 30 days |
| Two-step sign-in | Required at every sign-in | Only when something looks unusual |
| AI model | Your choice, including local | An unnamed third-party model |
| Source code | Open (AGPL-3.0) | Closed |
| Setup | Your own Linux machine | Sign up in a browser |
Checked against these sources: product page, privacy statement, terms of use, security, household download, storage, reported sale (Bloomberg).
Why self-hosting matters
- 01
Your records, not a marketing profile
LifeHub sits under Quicken’s company-wide privacy policy. It lists wills, passports and deeds among the information Quicken collects, and lets Quicken use personal information to market its own products and its partners’. The policy doesn’t say who those partners are. With Harbor there is no company and no profile: your records stay on your machine.
“Specifically, we use personal information to: … Advertise, promote, or market our or our partners’ products and services…”
Quicken privacy statement - 02
Protect from corporate churn
Quicken is owned by a private-equity firm that explored selling it in 2025. If it is sold, its privacy policy says your information goes to the new owner. Its terms can change without notice, and it can end your account for any reason. Harbor is open source: the copy you run keeps working whatever happens to any company, including the people who make Harbor.
“…we may immediately, in our sole discretion and without notice, terminate this Agreement or your use of the Products and Services… or for any other reason.”
Quicken LifeHub terms of use - 03
Paperwork that files itself
Harbor reads every document the moment it arrives, from an upload, an email or a photo of a letter, and does the filing for you. You review what it suggests and accept it with one click.
What Harbor does with a new document - Reads every page, and turns phone photos into clean scans
- Suggests a title, category, tags and the people or property it belongs to
- Finds due dates and expiry dates and turns them into to-dos
- Searches every word, and finds documents by what they are in English or German
Use Quicken LifeHub if
Harbor is software you run, and that is not for every household.
- You don’t want to set anything up yourself
- You want a native iOS or Android app
- You already pay for Quicken Simplifi
- You’re comfortable with a third party holding your records
Switching from Quicken LifeHub
- Can I move my documents from Quicken LifeHub to Harbor?
- Yes. In LifeHub, open Settings, then Household Details, then Download your Household, and request a copy. Quicken emails you when the ZIP file is ready, with your documents in folders by category. Upload that file to Harbor, which reads and files each document again. LifeHub allows one download every 30 days, so check the file before you close your account.
- What do I need to run Harbor?
- A Linux machine with Docker, such as a Raspberry Pi 5 with an SSD or a small PC, an encrypted disk, somewhere for backups, and some comfort with the command line.
- How long does it take to set up Harbor?
- Download Harbor and run a single script. It asks a few simple questions: which drive should hold your documents, how you want to reach Harbor and where your backups should go. Harbor does the rest. On a typical home connection it is ready in minutes. Then open Harbor in your browser and create your account.
Your data. Your rules. Your Harbor.
Free, open source, and on a machine you own.