Paying Bills Using Quicken For Mac
Last Updated: November 30, 2018 If you’ve finally had it with the Mac version of, we’ve taken a closer look at the best personal finance software for Mac of 2018. Quicken for Mac has lagged behind the Windows version for years and even though (and the recently released ) were an improvement, the decision to make it subscription only was the final straw for many faithful users. The good news is that nowadays there’s some excellent finance tools on Mac that not only do a better job, they don’t require a monthly or annual subscription to use. Some of the apps featured here are even free like the excellent which blows Quicken out of the water when it comes to investment tracking. There are also some serious value for money Mac desktop apps that can import your Quicken accounts such as the impressive. Apart from price, other reasons the choices here beat Quicken include:. Bank Syncing: Quicken is notoriously bad at syncing with bank accounts.
You’ll find the apps here that support connecting to financial institutions far more reliable. Mobile Support: Quicken’s mobile app is limited and nowhere near as useful as the desktop app. Most of the apps here have well designed iPad and iPhone apps which are clear and easy to use. Investment Tracking: The Mac version of Quicken has never been good at tracking investments.
You’ll find software here that do a much better job of managing car loans, home loan amortization, stocks, retirement funds and more. For a more specific look at investment apps, check out our look at the. Less Paperwork: By centralizing all of your accounts with some of the tools here, you should also find that they help you if you want to. With this in mind, here then is our list of the best alternatives to Quicken for Mac in order of ranking.
Is an amazing tool to manage your finances and best of all, it’s actually free to use. If you already use Intuit’s other budgeting tool Mint, you’ll really like Personal Capital because it’s got the same feel but with. Around 1.8 million people use Personal Capital and many of them have switched from Quicken, especially those with investments. Here’s a summary of why Personal Capital is such a great replacement for Quicken. Yes, hard to believe for a personal finance software worth its salt but Personal Capital is 100% free to use for as long as you want with no limitations.
Personal Capital only charges you a small commission if you decide you want to maximize your investments via a personal consultation with one of its own Financial Advisors. This is completely optional and not obligatory but is there if you want it. It syncs accounts seamlessly in one place. If you’re tired of constant syncing issues and problems with Quicken, Personal Capital is a breath of fresh air. It syncs extremely well with all major financial institutions, aggregates your accounts and makes it easy to get an overview of your finances.
Quicken For Mac Support
This includes checking, savings, 401k, mortgage and investment accounts. That’s not to say that hiccups don’t happen as much depends on technical changes made by financial institutions but it’s so much painless than Quicken. You can also download any transactions synced with Personal Capital in CSV format. It analyzes your investments to save you money. What makes Personal Capital different to many budgeting apps is that it also helps you save money on existing investments. One of the ways it does this is via a fee analyzer and an investment analyzer.
For example, the retirement fee analyzer immediately identifies areas where you may be getting ripped-off or over charged with 401K admin or management fees. The investment analyzer does the same for your investments to see where your existing investments and holdings can be diversified to improve your returns.
It helps you plan for the future. By telling Personal Capital exactly how much income you expect to have in retirement, Personal Capital calculates exactly how on or off track you are. It can also assess the impact on your 401k of major life events such as the birth of a child, illness, college fees etc.
It also has a comprehensive cost of living retirement calculator which gives you useful insights into your average net worth by age. In fact Personal Capital is easily the best retirement planning software for Mac available. It’s as secure as any bank out there.
Like any major financial institution, Personal Capital is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and has to adhere to the same security standards and procedures. What’s reassuring about Personal Capital is that it doesn’t actually handle your log in details at all. It uses Yodlee which is a highly secure financial credentials management system used by major banks and investment institutions worldwide. This is bank level, military grade security that’s about as secure as it gets nowadays. Even if your account were somehow compromised, Personal Capital doesn’t actually allow transferring of funds to they cannot be touched anyway. There are other measures that Personal Capital takes to encrypt and protect your data which you can. You can talk to a human if you want to.
Sometimes an app just isn’t enough if you really want to grow your money. Especially if you’re investing large sums, Personal Capital allows you to consult with a Personal Capital advisor who can make specific recommendations based on your personal situation and minimize tax liabilities. You need a minimum of $100,000 to use this service and Personal Capital charges a commission for it but for serious investors, this is a unique bonus the app. Personal Capital obviously encourages you to use one its Financial Advisors but there’s no hard sell if you’re not interested. You can check your finances on the move. The Personal Capital iOS app is one of the best personal finance apps for iPad or iPhone we’ve tried, allowing you to manage and monitor your finances wherever you are. It’s clear, easy to use and has lots of features compared to most mobile budgeting apps.
The only big gripe we have with Personal Capital is that you can’t import Quicken QIF or QFX files which is disappointing if you have years of Quicken accounts. Another slight drawback is that it doesn’t help you much at tax time. Although there’s dedicated for this, there seems little reason why Personal Capital can’t make things easier when it comes to declarations. Overall though, Personal Capital not only helps you budget better but it manages your investments too and it’s so convenient to have that all in one app. For more information, you can check out our full.
You can also to judge for yourself. Pricing: Free. If Cloud based apps are not your thing and you want a dedicated Mac desktop app, (formerly Fortora Fresh Finance) is an excellent no-nonsense personal budgeting software for both Mac and Windows.
Moneyspire doesn’t store your accounts in the Cloud, doesn’t require you to upgrade regularly or subscribe like Quicken and you can download it onto your Mac. Even better, at the moment, compared to the normal price of $49.99 which is definitely a good deal for a desktop personal finance software for Mac on this level.
You can import QIF files from Quicken and likewise, export your accounts to QIF if you move back to Quicken at a later date. Moneyspire supports online bill payments though via both and its own service both of which are free to use. Moneyspire Connect supports over 15000 financial institutions so it’s safe to say, your bank is probably supported if Direct Connect doesn’t work for any reason.
Moneyspire is a very complete alternative to Quicken on Mac which tracks bank accounts, credit cards, loans, investments and more. You can set bill reminders, budgets and generate detailed reports and charts to monitor your outgoings and if you run a small business, you can also create professional invoices and track payments. It can even print checks which most finance apps no longer support anymore on Mac. One of the things we like most about Moneyspire is that it doesn’t over complicate things. It gives a very clear overview of everything from accounts and details of spending to bill reminders and budgets.
The Bill & Deposit Reminder provides a very clear overview of upcoming payments: You can generate detailed reports and charts to see exactly where your money is going to make tax reporting less stressful and much easier. Other useful features in Moneyspire include Balance Forecast, Reconcile Statements, Online Banking, Import & Export of Data and Cloud syncing.
If you’ve got a lot of accounts saved in on Windows, Moneyspire can also import MS Money files. For mobile users, there’s a free which allows you to check your account balance, see upcoming bills and keep an eye on how your budget is doing. Moneyspire used to be available in different versions but has now simplified its pricing policy and there’s now just which includes Direct Connect access. Normally it retails for $49.99 but it’s currently offering a 40% off deal. The impressively reliable Moneyspire Connect service is even included in the price (which previously used to cost an extra $49.99 per year).
If you do decide to purchase it, you have a 60 day money back guarantee if you’re not happy with it. Unlike with Quicken, updates to Moneyspire are free but major updates usually require an upgrade fee. You can also if you want to see what it’s like for yourself. Pricing: $29.99 (Normally $49.99) – Free Trial. (formerly iBank) is designed specifically for Mac and has long been one of the most popular desktop replacements for Quicken on Mac.
Long before Quicken for Mac, Banktivity supported things like online banking integration, bill pay, envelope and full year budgeting, loan amortization and multi-currency support. Some of these things have now been introduced in the latest version of Quicken 2018 for Mac but Banktivity still remains an excellent personal finance app for macOS. Here are some of the things we like the most about Banktivity:. Account Importing: Banktivity will import your accounts from Quicken and other finance software. Although it’s not perfect, the import tool does a pretty good job and saves valuable time manually entering old accounts. You can see how this works below. Bank Syncing: Banktivity will automatically connect to and download transactions from your bank or other financial institution in real time.
It offers various ways of doing this with the most reliable and widely supported being Direct Access. Direct Access is Banktivity’s own syncing service and generally works very well although it costs an extra $44.99 on top of the cost of Banktivity. Other free ways of connecting are available though. Detailed & Customized Reports: The reports generated by Banktivity are very well-organized due to tags and categorization. There are Quick Reports for instant overviews of the essentials and you can create highly customized reports for virtually any kind of spending. Budgeting: Banktivity supports traditional and envelope budgeting with useful setup wizards to get you going. You can filter budgets by time frame to see exactly when you’ve gone under or over budget and set budgets for scheduled and unscheduled expenses.
iPad, iPhone and iWatch Apps: Banktivity is designed exclusively for the Apple ecosystem with to help you monitor and enter transactions on the move. The apps sync with the desktop version of Banktivity and there’s even an iWatch app with spending alerts to help keep you on budget. Investment management isn’t Banktivity’s strong point but there is a separate free (formerly iBank Investor) which syncs investment data specifically. So for example, you can see all of your holdings with the current gains or losses in real time with data pulled from Yahoo Finance. Banktivity 6 costs but you must pay an additional $44.99 per year for Direct Connect access. You can also true a. For a more in-depth look, you can also read our full.
Has many satisfied customers that previously used Quicken and is an excellent desktop equivalent to Quicken on Mac. Moneydance has all of the features of Quicken including online banking and bill payments, bill attachments and arguably has better investment tracking and budgeting tools than Quicken.
Moneydance is particularly good at handling investments and transactions in multiple currencies so is an excellent choice for those that hold investments or make purchases in currencies other than US dollars. Moneydance provides a very clear overview of your finances. It gives you all the essentials such as account balances, upcoming and overdue transactions and exchange rate information. The calendar overview is particularly useful for a quick oversight of upcoming credits and debits so you can manage your finances for that month more easily. Moneydance can import Quicken files in QIF format although we noticed several duplicate transactions which had to be manually adjusted.
Moneydance can automatically download transactions and make bill payments online to hundreds of financial institutions. However, online banking is only available via Direct Connect and we found this can be tricky to setup in Moneydance. Moneydance can sometimes be unreliable at retrieving bank data especially from credit card accounts and there’s no enhanced online bank connection service that you can pay extra like with Moneyspire and Banktivity.
Investment tracking is also easier to navigate and more powerful than Quicken, with support for stocks, bonds, CDs and mutual funds among others. You can see the total value of your investments or the performance of individual stocks and mutual funds over time. Moneydance will also download stock prices automatically in real time. Moneydance also has some powerful reporting tools that compare favorably with Quicken and it can generate reports for any of your accounts, savings or investments. The are both free so you can manage your budgeting on the move although it’s only really useful for manually inputting transactions. Slightly concerning though is the fact that Moneydance only syncs the Mac and iOS app via Dropbox which doesn’t feel very secure compared to Banktivity’s encrypted Direct Access features. You can also extend its functionality with add-ons and extensions for such things as a Balance Predictor, Debt Insights and a Find and Replace extension.
Overall Moneydance is a solid financial software for Mac to replace Quicken especially if you need reliable online banking integration. From the Mac App Store with a 90 day money back guarantee and there is also a free Moneydance demo for up to 100 transactions. Pricing: $49.99 Mac App Store is owned by Intuit the makers of Quicken and is basically a free, lighter and less powerful version of Quicken. The biggest difference between Mint and Quicken is there is no automatic online bill pay feature in Mint so if this is a deal breaker for you, move on. Mint has improved a lot over the years and has faced less criticism than Quicken, partly because it doesn’t cost a cent to use. In fact many people to manage their finances. Mint is all about getting your money in order and is based around three things:.
Budgeting: Mint will automatically suggest a budget for you based on your income and goals. You can factor in one off expenses and of course recurring monthly costs. Bill Tracking: All your bills are clearly labelled and managed in one place. You can see when bills need paying and set alerts to let you know before they’re overdue. Credit Score Analysis: Mint performs a free credit score analysis if you verify your identity. It also gives you recommendations on how you can improve it. Spending Summary: You get a weekly summary of where your money has gone.
This is useful for seeing which areas you’re spending most in and is handy to compare month-by-month. Mint will also alert you to unusual or large transactions.
Spending by Category: Mint can also categorize transactions to make it clearer where you spent your money. If you’ve ever looked through your bank statement and can’t understand the codes and jargon used for certain transactions, this is useful. It also separates ATM withdrawal amounts from ATM withdrawal fees so you can see just how much your spending in charges and other hidden fees.
Investment Tracking: The investment tracking features in Mint are very basic and certainly nothing like the financial tools in Personal Capital but for 401(k) accounts, mutual funds and IRAs it gives a basic overview. Mint also has one of the best out there for budgeting. The Mint iPad and iPhone app looks good, gives a clear overview of your finances and is easy to navigate.
The biggest problem you”ll encounter with Mint is connecting to banks to update your accounts. Like many personal finance apps, Mint can take time to update your balances and transactions and can be affected by changes made by your bank to the way third-party apps communicate with it. Sometimes this means you have to delete an account in order to reconnect it and the problem with this is that you lose your account history in Mint. It’s also important to note that although Mint and Quicken are both Intuit products, there is no integration between Quicken and Mint. They are completely separate products. Overall however, as a more basic free alternative to Quicken, Mint is an excellent budgeting tool for Mac users. Pricing: Free.
Is designed specifically for Mac and used to be the closest thing you could get to Quicken before Intuit finally released Quicken for Mac. Despite the launch of Quicken, the makers have continued to develop SEE Finance into a very reliable, robust and feature packed personal budgeting app for Mac. In fact the latest version of SEE Finance 2 has been built from the ground up and is a big improvement on in terms of both looks, functionality and affordability. We found that SEE Finance 2 is one of the best personal finance software for Mac when it comes to importing Quicken QIF data accurately. Unlike apps such as Banktivity and Moneydance, there’s less chance of duplicated transactions when importing large QIF files into SEE Finance.
You can import files in QIF, QMTF, CSV, QFX and OFX format. Investment tracking is also very well done in SEE Finance 2 with a clear and varied overview of your investments with lots of different reports. SEE Finance 2 is also very good at handling multiple currencies with over 150 different currencies supported. You can connect to banking institutions via Direct Connect which will automatically download transactions and import data from others.
This is easy to setup and use in SEE Finance and pretty reliable at syncing and updating account. Note however that SEE Finance 2 does not support Bill Pay. More recently there’s now an for iPhone and iPad that syncs with the Mac version via iCloud.
It also works with OFX Direct Connection downloads if your bank supports it. SEE Finance 2 is a massive improvement on the first version and remains a fast, reliable and slick app to manage your finances on Mac. Note that is still available in the Mac App Store but we strongly recommend using instead as it’s far more modern, includes an iOS app and is more likely to be supported by the developer in the future. You can also try a. Pricing: $39.99 – Free Trial Although You Need a Budget can’t fully compare with Quicken, if it’s mainly budgeting you use Quicken for, it’s definitely a contender. YNAB that new users save on average $200 in their first month and more than $3000 by month nine although this of course won’t be true for everyone.
Because of the way it approaches budgeting, YNAB has proved very effective at helping users to save money and get their finances in order which is made it very popular with Mac and PC users alike. More recently, it’s now added online banking support via Direct Connect to conveniently sync and update all of your accounts and transactions in one place so you can keep tabs on your money better. There is no support in YNAB for Bill Pay however.
The developers of YNAB strive to help you manage your money more efficiently by encouraging you to use a which can genuinely help you save money or get out of debt. The four golden rules are:. Give Every Dollar A Job: Every cent is accounted for. Embrace Your True Expenses: Break down large purchases into monthly payments. Roll With The Punches: Create an overflow for the unexpected. Age Your Money: Deal with bills as they happen YNAB is structured around these four principles and helps you to structure your budget accordingly. YNAB can and can retrieve your balances from over 12,000 banks.
Note that there’s no support for Direct Connect or Bill Pay though. YNAB also does not support multiple currencies or investment tracking so it’s not really suitable for those who have a big investment portfolio. It does however allow you to factor mortgages and simple investments into your overall budget and gives you a very clear overview of where your money is going. YNAB is also one of the only personal finance apps that has an but even more unusual, an which can automatically check category balances or record new spending at your command. Although across all devices, note that it uses Dropbox for syncing and doesn’t offer its own Cloud syncing service or syncing via iCloud.
YNAB now costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 per year direct from the developer. If you’re a US college student,.
You can also try a of YNAB before deciding whether its for you or not. If you’re struggling to make ends meet at the end of the month, YNAB is an excellent straightforward budgeting alternative to Quicken. Pricing: $49.99/Year – Free Trial.
Is a simple but effective budgeting app that can import Quicken QIF files and Mint files. The Quicken import tool is one of the best we’ve tried and accounts are imported with very little need for manual adjustment. CountAbout automatically downloads transactions from your bank including investment balances like 401k’s. There is no support for Bill Pay though. CountAbout offers two subscription plans – one for $9.99 per year and a premium subscription for $39.99 per year.
Paying Bills Using Quicken For Mac Free
The difference is that the Premium subscription includes Direct Connect which allows you to automatically download transactions from bank, credit card and investment institutions. CountAbout is very good value for money and considerably cheaper than most personal finance software that supports Direct Connect. You can see a quick overview of what CountAbout can do below. Pricing: $9.99/year or $39.99/year with Direct Connect. Is a slick, simple but effective Quicken alternative designed specifically for Mac.
MoneyWell is unique in that it uses an to help you manage your finances better. Rather than setting targets that you either hit or miss, envelope budgeting works on the basis that any money you save or overspend is constantly adjusted to show the effect on your incoming bills.
MoneyWell also supports Direct Connect so that you can automatically pay bills from your bank account. MoneyWell is clearly well thought out with some really smart interactive reports. In fact the graphs and reports in MoneyWell are some of the best we’ve seen in any budgeting software at this price. Unfortunately, there’s no longer a mobile app though. MoneyWell Express was the mobile version of MoneyWell but was discontinued in early 2018 due to syncing issues.
MoneyWell costs $72.60 but you can also. Pricing: $72.60 – Free Trial.
Finally, if you’re looking for something that can double as both a budgeting app and, might be for you. MoneyWorks was one of the first ever finance apps for Mac and made its debut on OS X way back in 1992 – before Windows 95 was even invented. If you’re a treasurer and use Quicken to keep track of your organization or company budget, MoneyWorks may be ideal for you as it’s designed for small businesses, organizations and accountants in mind. MoneyWorks can import data from QuickBooks, MYOB, Xero and Greentree although it doesn’t support importing Quicken data. MoneyWorks also doesn’t support Direct Connect or Bill Pay though so it’s not suitable for those that want to sync it with their bank. MoneyWorks is however well-integrated with other business software on Mac including Daylite, FileMaker, Numbers and Microsoft Office.
If you need something that can manage payroll, CRM and, then MoneyWorks is a particularly good choice. MoneyWorks is also generally very good at representing complex business data in graphs and produces custom reports via the MoneyWorks Gold report writer.
It’s also a good option for those that need to share their accounts with Windows-based accountants as it works on both Mac and PC. MoneyWorks comes in aimed at differing sizes of business and all are available for standalone purchase or via subscription. MoneyWorks Cashbook is completely free to use and is ideal for small organizations that need a simple financial management solution. You can also for 45 days. If you’re looking for a Quicken alternative with a focus on accounting and cashflow, MoneyWorks is a powerful solution for Mac users Pricing: Free/$18 per month+/$249+. Which Is The Best Quicken Alternative For Mac?
If you’re looking to maximize your investments as well as manage your budget, then is still the best of the lot. It just makes budgeting and maximizing your assets so easy and looks great on Mac. However, the current deal makes it a great option for those that want a dedicated Mac finance software without any subscriptions or Cloud storage of your finances. Considerations When Replacing Quicken The best alternative to Quicken really depends on your specific needs. Some people need things like Bill Pay and Online Banking while others are more focused on investments. To help you in your decision though, here’s a checklist of features to bear in mind when deciding which Quicken replacement to choose.
You can see whether the application you’re interested in supports these features by checking the comparison table above. Online Banking Integration This is essential for those that want their accounts to be regularly updated with real time bank transactions. (known as in Quicken products) is the standard method that most banks support although increasingly, users are finding it very unreliable. Sometimes this is not an application’s fault and is due to changes made by banks on how third party software connects to them. Some banks such as Citibank have even dropped support for Direct Connect in favor of their own proprietary system instead. As a result, some applications such as Moneyspire, Banktivity and Moneydance have developed their own version of Direct Connect although this usually costs extra. However, Moneyspire’s reliable service is now included for free in the price of the product which makes it a very good deal indeed.
Note that some banks may levy a small charge for connecting your account to a third-party app via Direct Connect so it’s always wise to check with your financial institution first. Bill Pay It’s important to be aware that just because an app supports online banking, doesn’t necessarily mean it supports Bill Pay. Bill Pay enables an application to automatically pay your bills to help keep on top of them. Of course, you can do this easily by setting up a Direct Debit with your bank for things such as utility bills but Bill Pay enables your finance app to track them more easily. Encrypted Connections When it comes to security, remember that any connection made between finance apps and your bank are only as safe as the application accessing it. Make sure that the application takes security seriously and uses encrypted connections to your bank to prevent unauthorized interceptions.
A few apps such as Personal Capital add an extra layer of protection by not actually storing your financial credentials but managing access via specialized encrypted service Yodlee. This is also used by many financial institutions and adds an extra layer of protection to your data. Investment Tracking This is essential to track loans, assets, stocks, shares and bonds etc. One of the big gripes Mac users have with Quicken is that it doesn’t do a good job of tracking basic things like car loans or home loan amortization (although fixed interest rate tracking was introduced in Quicken 2017), Alternatives such as Personal Capital, Banktivity and Moneydance all feature investment tracking as standard. Mobile Apps If you like to manage your money or check accounts on the move, make sure the software you choose has a mobile app. Most apps that have a mobile app sync accounts with your iPhone or iPad although many are limited in functionality and don’t allow you to make many transactions. Some user their own servers to sync while others offer syncing via iCloud.
If you like to take photos of receipts and invoices to sync with your Mac later, make sure this feature is supported. Quicken Import Support If you want to import your Quicken accounts into another application, you can easily do so by exporting them into QIF format. However, not all personal finance software supports QIF importing so if this is important to you, make sure you can migrate from Quicken easily.
Note that no Mac personal finance app will import Quicken files 100% perfectly – there will always be some manual correction necessary. Multiple Currencies For those that travel a lot or that deal with foreign transactions regularly.
The Mac edition of Quicken is still lagging behind when it comes to multiple currency transaction support. Those that imported foreign currency accounts into Quicken 2018 for example found that they were suddenly converted to dollars.
Make sure foreign currencies are supported if you do a lot of trade abroad to avoid some major headaches when importing data. User Profiles If you share the software with a partner, other members of your family or colleagues, support for creating multiple profiles is very useful. It allows you to track spending and create budgets for each individual member whilst also preserving the privacy of each user. Some financial software only allows one user per license and some don’t support more than one profile so bear this in mind if you’re intending to use the program with other.
We hope this article has helped you be more informed when choosing a replacement for Quicken on your Mac. This is by no means a definitive list of programs to replace Quicken with on your Mac. There are other options (examples include and ) but we haven’t included them as most are now very dated and can’t compare to the latest version of Quicken anymore. If you have any other questions, experiences or suggestions regarding the software featured here, let us know in the comments below. You May Also Like:. Smayer97 Why not still list the original Quicken for Mac 2007?
It is still available for only $15. Though it may be old, it is feature rich and has many capabilities, works PPC & Intel, from OS 9 through OS X Mavericks (OS X 10.9). Though it may be dated and missing some modern features, it is still the best out there that is still available. It can be downloaded here: or here: Note that a new version is actively in the works (in beta testing right now), based on Quicken Essentials but more feature rich that will become more comparable to Quicken for Mac 2007.
Smayer97 That information is incorrect. Yes, there was a problem that took a week or 2 to fix. Most financial institutions now have been fixed. That said, there are several institutions where the problem persists. BUT all of this has been a coincidence.
The root problem, in great part, is due to the fact that a hole in the SSL security protocol was found in Sep 2014 and many companies updated (readturned off) their security protocols which has made them incompatible with Quicken 2007 and older. (do a search on POODLE and SSL to learn more). So at this time, most Quicken 2007 users are ok again, though some still experience some problems. Quicken 2015 has filled in the gapthere are still many shortcomings with this version that make in impossible for many users to move to this new version, but Intuit at least now has a dedicated team to move the product forward. Only time will tell if they sustain the momentum they have finally achieved. Smayer97 I agree with your concerns. That said, I have yet to find an alternative that handles data as well as Quicken 2007, though it still has limitations.
A lot of what others offer may look nice, but a lot is stuff I have not significant need. So far, none other can handle my data the way I need it.
At least recently, Intuit hired a new team to work on making significant updates to Quicken for Mac. Hopefully they will deliver. Seeing behind the scenes (being involved with beta testing) they have a lot of good stuff planned AND in the works.
Only time will tell. For now, Quicken 2007 still is the best option for me. It may still be for others too. And since it is still available, though not widely publicized, it should still be presented as a viable option, with caveats.
If you're looking to replace, you're in the right place. For years, Quicken was the name in personal finance software. But let's accept reality – Quicken is often broken. It doesn't sync your accounts problem, you have password problems, screens that should appear are blank, and it's just not a great experience. Sometimes it feels like they're just getting you to buy the newer version, right? Quicken was once the most popular and powerful personal finance management software out there. But Quicken isn't what it used to be.
It's hard to innovate a platform built in 1983. Back then, cell phones were bricks (if you could afford one) and apps were what you ordered at a restaurant. Quicken has faced a lot of technical issues and its support is meh at best. (if you own Quicken for Mac, you know this headache first hand) In 2010, Intuit acquired Mint for $170 million. In 2016, Intuit sold Quicken to private equity firm H.I.G. Look: If you're tired of Quicken, its support and sync issues, and want a suitable free alternative or replacement – we have some options. Here are some of the best Quicken alternatives available: Our Best Picks.
If you're quitting Quicken and want to move to a spreadsheet you can customize to exactly what you need, Tiller will automate all the data collection for you. You build a spreadsheet (or use a template) and Tiller will pull the data for you. Thus, saving you a ton of time and hassle. 11 Best Quicken Alternatives:. – free financial dashboard and wealth planner. – spreadsheet automation to bring it in house. – best in class budgeting tool & mindset.
– ad-supported budgeting tool. – compare your situation with your peers. – can import data from Quicken. – not cloud-based. – follows Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps. – follows envelope budgeting method. – open-source and free.
– date & calendar based budgeting 1. If you're a long time user of Quicken, you're beyond the “help me build my budget” phase. If you're more interested how your investment account is performing and less interested in just knowing how much you're spending on groceries, Personal Capital is a great Quicken alternative (but it'll also pull your credit card transactions so you will know how much you spent on groceries if you want!). Personal Capital is a full-featured, free, personal finance management tool that focuses on helping you with investing.
It has a powerful mobile app (also means it's a cloud-based service) that replicates the web experience. They're free because some users pay them for their wealth management services (optional). They are not stuffed with advertisements like some other free tools. You can read my.
Why it is a good alternative to Quicken: It's better than Quicken because it's updated, has a rich set of tools for investment and retirement, and it has a budget and expense tracking component. It's a website and not a software application, there's no software to download and patch or update (ugh) – that's all done automatically.
I am a fan of their retirement planner, a tool that helps you project your future financial needs and whether you'll get there. It's worth checking out. One other vote of confidence for this Quicken replacement is their CEO – Bill Harris. He was formerly the CEO of Intuit and PayPal. You know he has the leadership skills to dominate in this space and the ability to lead teams to build financial systems that are top notch (the rest of the leadership team is very impressive in their own right!). What could be better? The budget and expense tracking are good but it's not as old as Quicken, so it's not as developed as Quicken.
I don't find it to be a negative because it works for me, but people with really complicated budgets may find it limiting. Here's a brief over view video of Personal Capital's cash flow and budgeting tools. (since you access it with a browser, it is compatible with Mac OS!) 2. One of the most popular personal finance tools out there is a little software application known as Microsoft Excel. People love spreadsheets.
You can customize it, tweak it, and get it tailored to exactly what you need. The only downside to spreadsheets is how you need to pull the data yourself and who really wants to do that? Quicken was great back in the day when there weren't nearly as many sync issues because it pulled the data for you. There's a solution: Welcome – a $4.92 a month service (after a free 30 day trial) – that pulls your data for you and puts it into a Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel document. You can start with one of their free templates or build your own, but after the initial work you'll have a fully automated spreadsheet tailored to what you need. You can use this to track your net worth, set a budget, or anything else you can imagine.
Why it is better than Quicken: Quicken is now cloud-based so if you want to avoid putting your data into the cloud, going with a spreadsheet is your best option. Tiller makes it possible for you to get automation AND keep your data locally. Is one of the best budgeting software tools available. Think of it like Mint with a personality and a philosophy.
YNAB's philosophy revolves around four rules:. Give Every Dollar a Job. Embrace Your True Expenses.
Roll With The Punches. Age Your Money Those four pillars form the foundation for a budgeting app that has helped many people transform their financial lives.
If you're looking to transition to a financial tool that will help you (as in help you make the change, not just record expenses), you should take a look at. YNAB made a video showcasing the newest version plus a discussion on their philosophy.
Why it is better than Quicken: Quicken only tracks your budget, YNAB does that AND helps you build a budget that meets the demands of your life and your savings needs. If you want to change the way you budget, while still tracking it, YNAB is your solution.
YNAB is not an entire personal finance management suite – it focuses on budgeting and only budgeting. You won't get investment tools, retirement planning, or wealth management. It's strictly about building, maintaining, and transitioning into the budget you want.
You might have heard of these guys since they're now owned by the same company that once made Quicken. Intuit acquired them in 2010 and that's the reason why they shuttered Quicken Online shortly thereafter. Later, Intuit sold Quicken to H.I.G. Capital and that's when you knew the end was near! Why it is a good alternative to Quicken: Mint is free and very powerful on the budgeting and expense tracking side. They do not have much to help you with investment and retirement savings, which I think you'll find is a huge limitation as you get older.
The goal of Mint was always to be a budgeting app and with that in mind, they do a very good job. If you are sick of Quicken and focus entirely on expense tracking, Mint is a good Quicken alternative. It, like, is cloud-based so there's no software to download, patch, or update.
Quicken Bill Pay Free
If you have investments and want to manage those, Mint will not be able to adequately fulfill your needs. Status Money is a free cloud-based budgeting tool that lets you compare your finances with people around the United States. It offers all of the tracking functionality of these other tools, will always be free, but adds the comparison component so you can see how you are performing against your peers and against the National Average. Your peer groups are set by your age range, income range, location (location type), credit score range, and housing status (own, rent).
This ensures you are getting a true apples to apples comparison and you aren't compared with someone in another age group, different cost of living, or life phase. You can also build custom groups too if you feel you're in a special situation not captured by basic demographic information. The founders built CountAbout to be a Quicken alternative. Founded in mid-2012, it is one of the only personal finance apps that will import data from Quicken (and Mint!).
If you're looking to transition away from Quicken but worry about losing all your data, you can feed it your Quicken file and it'll populate itself. That'll make the transition far less painful! Like Quicken, CountAbout isn't free but it only costs $9.99 for the Basic subscription and $39.99 for Premium subscription. The Premium subscription includes automatic transaction download.
A subscription model means you have complete data privacy and you won't get annoying ads like with Mint. Why is it a good alternative to Quicken? CountAbout has a lot of similar features to Quicken’s: split transactions, recurring transactions, attachments, budgeting and more. CountAbout is web-based, with multi-factor account security, so you don't have to download a program onto your computer, and there's no need to deal with unwieldy syncing issues – all you need is a web browser. And with CountAbout’s iOS and Android apps, your financial information is always at your fingertips. Check out the key features (reminds me a lot of Quicken). Individual Account QIF importing.
Budgeting. Running register balances. Account reconciliation. Graphs for Income & Spending.
Recurring transactions. Investment balances by Institution. Memorized transactions. Split transactions.
Description renaming. Invoicing 7. MoneyDance is not as well known as some of the other alternatives I've listed but I wanted to mention them because they're one of the few money apps that doesn't rely on the cloud.
If you are concerned about your data being stored online, this solution is an alternative that keeps your data local to your computer. You can still link your accounts online, so they pull your transactions in automatically, but they only store them on your computer. You can enter transactions manually if you didn't want to link your accounts. MoneyDance looks and feels like a checkbook, with the check register for transactions, but has charts and tables for reporting.
It does budgeting but can also as well, albeit not as feature rich as others. MoneyDance is free to download and try but it costs $49.99. The free version has all the features as the paid version. The free version's limitation is that you can only enter 100 manual transactions. Have you heard of Dave Ramsey?
Many folks swear by his approach and is built with that in mind. His approach takes into account human psychology, rather than relying solely on math, and explains why it is so effective. It also explains why ideas like the debt snowball work so well, we need to work with our biases and tendences if we hope to succeed. EveryDollar is a budgeting tool affiliated with Dave Ramsey's group, the Lampo Group. Much like YNAB, it's a budgeting tool that uses the principles of zero-based budgeting.
In zero-based budgeting, you assign every dollar to a category (or job, in YNAB parlance). It's a level of rigor that can be refreshing or restricting, depending on your personality. The app itself is beautiful, available on your smartphone, and there is both a free and paid version. The paid version costs $99 a year. (paid version offers phone support and automated transaction importing which is a big time saver; otherwise, you must manually enter the data) Here's a tutorial video on how to build a budget. GoodBudget is a free budgeting app based on the envelope budgeting method. Envelope budgeting is when you set aside a prescribed amount for each category of spending, then spend it down each month.
It's one of the most popular money management techniques in personal finance. The envelope refers to the manual method of managing these types of budgets where you put the money into an envelope. When you run out of money, you either borrow cash from another envelope or you make do.
GoodBudget adds technology to the mix and will synch up bank accounts to help track your income and your spending. You set the amount for each category and then watch as your spending nears the limit each month. It's available for both iOS and Android phones.
GnuCash is a free open-source accounting software that, if you're willing to put into the work, can replicate a lot of the Quicken experience for those who are willing to scale the learning curve. It features double-entry accounting (every transaction must debit one account and credit another), which is effective but will require an adjustment if you're not used to it. It offers a lot of the functionality of Quicken like splitting transactions, categorizing transactions, managing multiple accounts, schedule transactions, and reporting that includes all kinds of charts and reports (balance sheet, P&L, portfolio valuation, etc). The big benefit is that it does budgeting as well as investments.
It's not strictly a budgeting tool. Lastly, it offers QIF importing, so you can import your Quicken files, plus OFX (Open Financial Exchange) protocol. So you can pull in your data if your bank offers you the ability to export transactions. Dollarbird is another personal finance app with an eye towards collaboration and a monthly calendar. You synchronize your accounts (banking, brokerage, and credit cards) with Dollarbird and they build a schedule of future income and expenditures to help with planning.
Dollarbird also offers a 5-year financial plan that lets you establish longer-term financial goals and track your performance against them. The innovation they bring to the table is the idea of calendar-based money management. You can collaborate with other people (partner, family, or a team) to manage a team budget, though the collaborative piece requires the Pro version ($39.99 / year).
One of these will make a fine replacement for Quicken. Is there a Quicken Online? Intuit created Quicken Online to try to compete with Mint. Near the end of 2009, they gave up and acquired Mint. Afterward, they opted to shut down Quicken Online and sold the entire Quicken unit to H.I.G.
Capital in 2016. Quicken Online no longer exists. Quicken does have an online experience, something they've only recently created, but it's not free and it's playing catch up.
Why is budgeting so important? A lot of folks start using Quicken to help them maintain a budget. As the tool started having problems, you may be tempted to quit altogether. We wanted to briefly discuss why budgeting, whether with Quicken or one of these other alternatives, is a good idea. For that, we turned to: 1. Why do you believe it is important for individuals to budget? Professor Ariel Belasen, Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleWith credit card spending superseding cash spending as the predominant form of payment, it’s especially important for people to budget because it’s tougher to experience the “slim wallet feel” of spending.
Instead, the impact of spending hits all at once on each credit card statement. That means overspending is far more likely – and far more costly given that credit card interest rates are on the rise again. Many folks think of budgeting as tracking what you've spent, how do forecasting and planning fit into budgeting?
Most people spend more on fixed expenses each month than on variable expenses. Fixed expenses are your mortgage or rent, utility bills, phone and internet bills, daycare expenses, etc. The largest variable expenses are typically food and transportation.
Planning a month or two ahead will not only help you keep track of what you have already spent, but it will give you an idea of what you can spend moving ahead. It’s also important for people who enjoy taking a vacation or who want to make a large purchase in the future. Planning ahead can help an individual figure out how much disposable income should be saved each month.
Personally, how do you budget and how has that changed over the years? I use Microsoft Excel and I plan a quarterly budget which, at this point, revolves around my childcare expenses. But prior to having children I used to budget out one month in advance so that I could be sure to allocate a certain amount to savings. I find it easiest to put together a simple balance sheet listing when paychecks come in and when various bills or direct debits will come due. If you were advising a student or recent graduate on budgeting, how would you suggest they get started? First of all, I’d recommend calling their credit card company to place a hard cap on their spending limit (preferably well below the overall card limit) so they do not exceed a fixed amount of spending or incur penalties for exceeding their card limit.
Once that preventative step is taken, the rest involves keeping track of due dates for bills and deposit dates for paychecks. I would recommend just looking at the current month at first and then eventually expanding out to the month ahead as well. Saving is far less important for students since their income will rise quite a bit after graduation, but falling into default on their personal debt can haunt them for years. Jim Wang is a thirty-something father of three who has been featured in the New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Entrepreneur, and Marketplace Money. Jim has a B.S. In Computer Science and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University, an M.S.
In Information Technology - Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a Masters in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. One of his favorite tools is, which enables him to manage his finances in just 15-minutes each month. If you sign up and link up an investment account with $1,000+ within 40 days, you get a $20 Amazon gift card. They also offer financial planning, such as a Retirement Planning Tool that can tell you if you're on track to retire when you want.
He is also diversifying his investment portfolio by adding a little bit of real estate. But not rental homes, because he doesn't want a second job, it's diversified small investments in a mix of properties through. Worth a look and he's already made investments that have performed according to plan. An important point about CountAbout is that the $9.99 or $39.99 is per year!
That’s pricey, even surpassing Quicken for all but the simplest of accounts. I prefer a one-time fee rather than the constant reach into my wallet. I chose Ace Money which is a very good substitute for Quicken on a PC (the Mac version runs via an emulator. Hopeless and looks like a DOS program). As I recall it was something like $60 one time and syncs most accounts pretty well. MoneyDance I found very simple and a poor substitute.
I’m happy with the switch to Ace money and have moved on from Quicken. I have used Quicken for many years, ever since Microsoft Money was discontinued. It used to be great but today it is fraught with errors that cause me to spend more time trying to figure out what is wrong with the application and sync than I spend managing my spending and investments. I really do not want a cloud-based application. Call me old school but like have all of my information on my personal computer or in my file cabinets. Really ready for a STABLE alternative that can download my CC and investment transaction and reconcile correctly.
Kind of like Quicken used to be? I have been a Quicken Home & Business user for many years, in the US and more recently in Canada. The Canadian operation has now moved to a subscription mode and the Home & Business version now has an annual subscription fee of $90 per year – to me, that’s a real ripoff. To discourage you from continuing to use your current, non-subscription version, they have now disabled two key features – downloading & categorizing transactions from financial institutions and downloading stock quotes.
I have tried all the major alternatives out there, and my favorite by far is one I rarely see mentioned – KDE’s KMyMoney. Just tried MoneyDance and CountAbout – the two closest things to what I’m looking for – and found them worse than even Quicken for the features I really care about. I just want an easy to use electronic register I can enter transactions into for all my accounts then reconcile against statements as they come in. Not much to ask. And I think just about EVERYONE I know wants one too. We all hate Intuit software but are reluctantly using it because nothing else out there does the two things Intuit does reasonably well: Easy, rapid transaction entry and account reconciliation.
Of course, lately it seems that Quicken is just getting worse with each new release. Bugs creep in and are never fixed. I think maybe it’s time to just write my own solution and get insanely rich off it.
There’s a huge market out there for an easy to use electronic register. Can’t understand why nobody is jumping on it to knock Intuit off that hill they occupy all by themselves. For several years I used MoneyCounts a very simple program but it was bought out and ended up being discarded by Intuit and users advised to use Quicken. I to want a simple program that will keep an electronic register on multiple bank accounts and capable of downloading bank transactions that is not cloud based.
Some of the newer programs will do a wonderful job of budgeting but will not give a decent P&L or Income & Expense report that is helpful for the preparation of one’s tax reports. I tried Moneydance but could never link it to download transactions from any of my banks in mid-America.
Would someone please come up with a simple accounting program. While not being a budgeting program per say if it had the capability of doing fund accounting an individual could allocate their income to the various funds and be directly subtracted when the expenditure account (whether called a Category of account is set up to come from a given fund) is posted to in the register. I used Quicken 2007 for home and business (Windows version) for 10 years. Tried the upgrade to 2011 but went back to 2007 version as new features were just complications. Now we have switched to Mac computers and bought 2017 Quicken for Mac. Hugely disappointed, can’t even print a reconciliation statement along with the illogical interfaces. Much more complicated than the Windows versions I’m used to.
I agree with the comment above. We need a simple way to keep our basic financial accounts and good reminders when bills come due. A good “simple” old fashioned system really would sell to most of us. Just the essentials please!!