• Personal Capital is one of the best personal finance apps on the market. The service's free budgeting tool allows you to track income, spending, and saving over time. It then breaks down your spending habits into categories, allowing you to view transactions by date, merchant, or vendor so you can analyze each purchase.
• Moneydance is a powerful yet easy to use personal finance app for Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and iPad. With online banking, online bill payment, investment management and budgeting, Moneydance provides all the features of Quicken plus benefits such as ease of use and no sunsetting of features.
• Feb 03, 2020 Personal Capital’s free financial dashboard offers a wealth of tools to track your finances. We like its budgeting tool because it automatically tracks all of your income and expenses.
• Banktivity 7 is a great alternative for dissatisfied Quicken for Mac users. This personal finance software has all the features competing Macintosh apps have and a few features typically available only on Quicken for Windows. However, you must have the latest edition of iOS in order to use this software. 10% Off of Banktivity.
• What is the best personal finance software for Mac? Most of the pieces of the software mentioned are suitable for Mac, as well as Windows. Some have web apps, whereas others have a dedicated program to install. Quicken, Turbotax, Future Advisor, Mint, and Personal Capital are all examples of personal finance programs that work well on Mac.

• Best Personal Finance App Mac Free Online
• Best Personal Finance Software

What is the best personal finance software for Mac? Most of the pieces of the software mentioned are suitable for Mac, as well as Windows. Some have web apps, whereas others have a dedicated program to install. Quicken, Turbotax, Future Advisor, Mint, and Personal Capital are all examples of personal finance programs that work well on Mac.

These days there are a number of different personal finance planning software packages available, to make things easier than simply working through a box of papers, receipts, and invoices.

Some personal finance software can be used through software downloaded to a desktop computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux), or through a browser-based cloud software platform, or additionally through apps on your smartphone.

Software records are usually easy to save and backup, either to your harddrive or to a cloud storage service, making it harder to lose your progress.

Basic financial planning software simply provides an easy portal for managing your finances, but some of the more advanced ones can help with reducing debt, managing budgets, or even provide finance advice as an additional service.

We'll therefore look at the best on the market for personal finance software, and show you the standout features of each one so that you can get a better idea of which would be best for you.

If you're looking to keep your business books with a bit more detail, check out our guide to the best accounting software.

In the meantime, you can jump to:

• Best personal finance software
• Best free personal finance software

• We've also chosen the best free software for small businesses

• Want your company or services to be added to this buyer’s guide? Please email your request to desire.athow@futurenet.com with the URL of the buying guide in the subject line.

Best personal finance software

1. Quicken
2. YNAB
3. Banktree
4. Money Dashboard
5. Moneydance

1. Quicken

Quicken is a long-established tool for managing personal accounts, and while its reputation was built on a desktop version, it's now available to run as an app on your mobile devices.

Quicken offers a good range of financial reporting tools. These are set around a few different areas, namely budgeting, bills, accounts, and even investments. For budgeting, it offers you a chance to input your purchases and income so you can compare them both together to get a better idea of how much you are spending compared to how much you are earning.

In terms of bills, you can also see which utlities and similar you are constantly paying out to, and see both the amounts to be paid and how much money you have left over. For accounting purposes you can even bring your banking and credit card bills together in one place so that you have a very clear idea indeed of how much you're paying out. This is especially handy as people easily underestimate how much regular small purchases can add to costs.

For investments it also offers the ability to track these, whether as part of your savings, investment portfolio, or 401k pension plan. This means you have a clear idea of how much your savings and investments are worth, though it's fair to say you shouldn't panic about short-term fluctuations in the stock market.

Altogether, Quicken brings together your budgeting, banking, and investment reporting into a single dashboard, which you can view from your desktop or even via your cell phone from the mobile app.

Pricing starts at $34.99 a year for the Starter Plan which covers most of the basic features, though the Deluxe plan at $49.99 a year allows for additional budgeting and goal setting.

2. YNAB

Just in case you need to be told explicitly what to do, along comes YNAB - short for You Need A Budget. Because, hey, if you don't want to spend every single penny you have and more, you absolutely do need one. And perhaps you have more money than you thought?

YNAB's primary mission, as you might expect, is to help you curb overspending and avoid living from paycheck to paycheck. Stick to the program, temper your spending appropriately, and eventually YNAB will see you spending last month's money rather than that which you've just earned.

It's quick to install, supports the majority of transaction information downloadable from banks, and appropriately configures itself for personal or small business use by changing its monetary categories depending on your needs.

If you get off track, YNAB – which is reasonably forgiving and understanding for a bit of software – will tell you what you need to do to get back to where you need to be. You'll have to make sacrifices, but if it's guidance you need, this sets itself apart from the likes of Quicken.

Pricing is a little higher than some alternatives, with pricing starting from $11.99 per month, or $84 a year when paid annually.

3. Banktree

Banktree is more than happy to support worldwide currencies, and in fact does a solid job if you're working simultaneously with more than one, offering balances in multiple currencies rather than rounding them off into a single total. It's also good for keeping track of everything, allowing you to scan receipts with its mobile app and import them later on.

It's not the prettiest software around, and it's slightly more awkward to use than many of its more refined cousins, although Banktree does produce very neat reports which you can break down by time, or by payee. It may be worth experimenting with the free trial before you choose to invest in this one.

Pricing costs $40 for the desktop software and comes with one year of updates and support, though you are restricted to one PC and there is a charge of around $6 per additional PC you want to run the software on. There's also a browser-based version available for $40 per year.

Whichever version you opt for, there's a 30 day free trial available, so you can try before you buy to get an idea if Banktree will work for you.

4. Money Dashboard

Features personalized tags that make budgeting easier

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This iOS/Android app doesn't try to reinvent the banking world or offer anything truly ground-breaking, but it is perhaps one of the most useful money management tools out there. Hook up every one of your UK bank and credit card accounts and you'll be able to see each of your balances in a single place with a single login. That in itself is enough for us to recommend it.

But there's more – Money Dashboard will track your spending, offering you an overall pie chart depicting your spending on loans, consumables, transport and the like. There's an at-a-glance overall balance, showing exactly how much money you have available across all of your accounts, and you can compare this to the previous month's figure to show how well you've been managing your funds. That's a great motivator.

It's super-safe, too: Money Dashboard locks down your login with an equivalent level of security to that of your bank, and it's completely read-only – your money isn't going anywhere.

There are apps available for Android and iOS, and surprisingly both are free to use.

5. Moneydance

Money management made easy with a simple interface

Made primarily for Mac users (but also out on Windows and Linux), Moneydance is a desktop money management package with a very neat single-window interface. Load it up and you'll get an instant view of your finances, upcoming bills, recent expenses and more. Click an item in the left hand sidebar and the main content changes to reflect it.

Its reporting features are quite strong if not spectacular to look at, and one of Moneydance's most useful sections is its account register. If you're old-school and once managed a cheque book, this operates on a very similar principle. There's also an iOS app for logging transactions on the go, which later syncs with the software on your desktop.

Unfortunately for UK users, Moneydance doesn't support the connection protocols used by UK banks, so you'll need to download your transaction history manually to keep on top of it and revert to your bank's own app to move money around. US users, however, are well covered.

Cost for use is $49.99, and that applies per household rather than per computer, which means that you are licensed to run it on multiple dekstops at home. While no free trial is advertised, a 90-day money-back guarantee is.

Best free personal finance software

1. Buxfer
2. HomeBank
3. AceMoney Lite
4. GnuCash
5. Buddi

1. Buxfer

Perfect for managing personal finances

An online service that's not slathered in effects and colours, Buxfer does a good job of presenting your finances in a clean, professional manner. It cutely brags about the fact that it's currently helping its users manage over four trillion dollars in funds, so it's got a solid user base behind it.

You don't have to give Buxfer your exact banking details if you're uncomfortable doing so – you can opt for offline manual syncing with your bank account instead – but if you do trust it, there's a layer of high-level encryption to protect your data and the company is regularly audited.

We like its budgeting tools best of all – the visual reporting is very strong, and the fact that it doesn't force you into predefined categories and instead allows you to tag expenditures however you see fit means Buxfer should fit nicely into most people's banking lives.

The free version gets you five budgets, accounts and bill reminders, the Pilot version ($1.99 per month) adds on automatic tagging and bank syncing, the Plus version ($3.99 per month) gives you unlimited budgets, and the Pros version ($4.99 per month) includes online payments, advanced forecasts and more besides.

2. HomeBank

Powerful finance software with handy reports to keep you on track

Best Personal Finance App Mac Free Online

HomeBank will appeal if you work on multiple platforms, or don't use Windows by default. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux (there's also an Android app in development) HomeBank can be installed normally or as a portable app, and it makes the topic of personal finance easily accessible. If you've been using another program – such as Quicken or Microsoft Money – to manage your finances, you can import data to save having to start from scratch.

You can add an unlimited number of accounts to the program, and they can be linked to each other to allow for easy money transfers – it is all entirely dependent on manual editing, though. With enough data entered, it's possible to generate all manner of reports, including helpful predictive reports for car ownership and the like. Very much designed with the average person in mind, this is a personal finance app for people who hate personal finance apps.

3. AceMoney Lite

A great choice if your financial affairs are relatively straightforward

Billing itself as an alternative to Quicken sets a high bar for AceMoney Lite, but it's a target it manages to reach, even in its free, cut-down iteration. There's only support for two accounts in AceMoney Lite, but this should be enough for many people – and the full edition of the program is only $40 (around £30, AU$50) anyway. You can even use the program to keep track of your PayPal account.

Managing accounts in different currencies is no problem, but you'll have to enter data into this free personal finance software rather than having your transactions pulled in from your bank account. That said, if you download statements from your online bank account, these can then be imported to saved time with manual entry. AceMoney Lite also makes it easy to track your spending and investments, making it a great financial tool for anyone looking to take control of their finances.

4. GnuCash

Flexible enough for home users and small businesses

GnuCash is simple enough to be used for home finances, but flexible enough to be put to use by small businesses as well. While the software is easy to use, the fact that it's suitable for small business accounting is thanks to the inclusion of a number of extra features that you would not necessarily expect to find – support for payroll management and double-entry accounting, for instance.

Although relatively easy to use, this free personal finance software does really require some familiarity with accounting software, and it's simple to migrate from another program because you can import data in QIF and dOFX formats. Support for expense tracking makes this ideal software for preparing for tax season, and there are a huge number of reporting options to help you to make sense of your cashflow. The software is available for macOS, Windows and Linux, as well as Android, and it's highly recommended that you try out this great tool before you consider any of the paid-for alternatives.

5. Buddi

Clear and well designed – ideal if you're new to finance software

Proving that free personal finance software doesn’t have to be complicated, Buddi keeps things about as simple as they can be. In a matter of minutes, you can set up all of the accounts you need and start keeping track of your incomings and outgoings.

Money can be easily pulled from and moved between different accounts, and Buddi can generate all sort of reports about your spending and earnings broken down in a variety of ways. If you're looking to save money, the program can help you to stick to a budget and for anyone who is completely new to the concept of accounting, the Buddi website has a number of helpful guides to help get you started.

On the downside, Buddi requires you to have Java installed which is not going to be to everyone's liking, and the software itself has not been updated for a little while. Neither of these two factors are enough to stop us from recommending that you take a look at the program – it could well be just what you've been looking for.

Ten years ago, there were no solid personal finance apps out there. If you wanted to track your money, you didn't have many options beyond websites like Google Finance. I got my start tracking our budget and net worth with a spreadsheet. I would learn about Intuit's Quicken software but it felt silly to pay for software to help me save money. It wasn't until later that other personal finance tools started to appear.

The best personal finance software works like a money management app that gives you an instant snapshot of your financial situation in seconds. A lot of the problems we face when dealing with money is how much time it takes to stay on top of things. A good personal finance app will help you save time and money.

Earlier this year I polled the readers of Wallet Hacks for their “must-have, can't live without” money apps. I compiled their responses and made the following list of best personal finance software (most of which have a mobile app).

Best Money Management App – Personal Capital

A financial dashboard is a place where you can see everything involving your money in one place. Your assets, your liabilities, your net worth – all your financial accounts visible on one convenient page.

This is important because when that information is easily accessible, it's easily remembered and understood. We use it to pull in all of our data, though we ignore the credit card debt piece because we pay off our bills every month in full.

What's easier – logging into one account or logging into a dozen?

When it comes to a financial dashboard, the clear leader is Personal Capital. It has a rich suite of tools built around investments, with a nod towards expense tracking similar to Mint, so you can get a sense of where everything is at a moment's notice. If you're interested in a consultation with a financial advisor, they have that built-in as well and it's something that helps them stand out from other similar services. It's how Personal Capital makes the money that supports the free tool.

This app is for you if: You want an instant snapshot of your finances, from your investments to your budget, in one place. Personal Capital is free.

Best Investing App – Robinhood

Robinhood is a stock brokerage that offers commission free trades through their app or web interface. They're like any other brokerage, they use Apex Clearing Corporation, are a member of FINRA, and have SIPC insurance for up to $500,000 like any other brokerage. There is no account minimum, no maintenance fee, and you can even trade crypto if you're so inclined.

They make money by offering a Robinhood Gold subscription service that gets you margin and after-hours trading. If you want to trade stocks, I find it difficult to argue against a Robinhood and their free trades.

For a limited time, you can get a free share of stock from Robinhood.

Best Budgeting App – You Need a Budget

If you want to change your budget, You Need a Budget (YNAB) is one of the most powerful tools you can use because it does more than track your expenses – it actually helps you build and stick to a budget.

One of the biggest challenges in money management is in near-term planning. What are you going to do next week and next month?

Retirement can be decades away but you are spending money today and tomorrow. By getting the next month right, you go a long way towards getting your money situation under control.

YNAB has a four rule methodology that has worked well for its users.

1. Give Every Dollar A Job
2. Embrace Your True Expenses
3. Roll With The Punches
4. Age Your Money

Another reason why YNAB is powerful has to do with its educational tools and community. You will not find this with financial tools like Mint. There are no Whiteboard Wednesdays to help you understand your money a little better. This is what separates them from the pack in many ways. Our You Need a Budget review goes deeper into the app and the company if you wish to learn more.

This app is for you if: You want to transform your budget and get your spending in line with your financial goals. YNAB costs $6.99 a month after a 34-day trial.

It's this methodology around the tool that makes it powerful.

Budgeting Runner Up – Mint

For tracking a budget, Mint is one of the most popular free budgeting tools out there and we wanted to list them because they are free to use.

Run mac apps on my ipad. If you don't have sizable investments, Mint is a very powerful tool that is better for budgeting but less effective for investments. I felt like Mint was fantastic up to a point. Once you focus more on investing than budgeting, Personal Capital has far more tools to help you succeed.

This app is for you if: You want to know where your money is going each month without having to log into multiple accounts. Mint is free.

Best Support Tool – Tiller

Tiller is a service that will connect with your bank and credits card to pull daily transaction data into a sheet on Google Docs. No other service out there offers this. You can choose to start from half a dozen templates or roll your own, but Tiller will update it automatically from 100,000+ financial institutions.

Tiller automates your custom spreadsheet so it fits you perfectly. Don't change the way you do things to match a tool, add Tiller and bring your spreadsheet into the 21st century.

Tiller is a monthly subscription but it won't inundate you with advertisements or pitch you on their financial planning services as an upsell. (to be fair, other companies need to do that because they are free – the bills have to be paid!)

You get the customization of a financial spreadsheet but the automation piece so you don't need to login to all of your accounts and update everything manually. Removing that hurdle makes money management that much easier. They offer a free 30-day trial.

This app is for you if: You love spreadsheets or have one you've tailored but need a tool to help you pull the data for you. Tiller costs $6.58 per month ($79/year) after a 30-day trial. (here's more about Tiller)

Best Micro saving App – Acorns

One of the newest innovations in personal finance apps is the idea of a micro-savings app – where you can automatically save small amounts of money and have it invested in the market. The idea is that these apps will figure out how much they can transfer into an investment account without you, or your budget, realizing. It's less active than traditional saving but more effective if you're the type of person who doesn't actively manage your budget daily.

One of the best in class is Acorns, which doesn't rely on a black box “guessing” how much to save. When you make a purchase, the amount is rounded up and transferred. This predictability is often seen as a better process than some other apps, which “guess.” Guessing can be a little scary.

They also have a “Found Money” feature with some partners where if you purchase with a merchant, they may contribute a small bit to your Acorns account.

Here is our full review of Acorns.

Best Personal Finance Assistant – Trim

If robots can help you invest, perhaps they can help you do some of the more mundane jobs you don't want to?

That's the idea behind Trim, and a whole host of similar apps.

Trim is free to use and they can help you renegotiate your bills like with your cable provider, including Comcast, Time Warner, and Charter. They connect to your accounts, analyze your recurring subscriptions, and identifies areas where you could be saving money. The cable is just the start, they will look at other subscriptions too including your car insurance.

The best part is that they handle the negotiations for you. No more calling Comcast and navigating the phone menu for ages – they do it for you. If you want to cancel, they'll do that for you too.

Here is our full review of Trim.

Summary

There are a lot of apps, many of them free but some of them paid, that will help you save time, save money, and save gray hairs.

Want to hear something funny? When we surveyed of our readers, the number one “app” was Microsoft Excel. Far and away the most popular application for anything – budgeting, financial dashboarding, net worth, whatever category you picked – it was Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft Excel is all about finding a template and customizing something that fits your exact needs. It can be a lot of work but that hands-on interaction means you know the data is pristine. You can rely on tools like Tiller to pull the transaction data too so you get the automation (it works with Google Docs).

I use Microsoft Excel to track our net worth, with Personal Capital pulling the data. It's a nice little set up but it takes some time to get going.

The apps on this list are pre-built, faster to get into, and free. If you're starting from scratch, these apps will get you there faster but will not fit you like a glove. Excel is like a custom-tailored suit, these are off the rack.

Best Personal Finance Software