Want to replace Quicken? We’ve got you covered.As the granddaddy of personal finance software, was once the best money management tool on the market. Heck, it was practically the only tool on the market. Not so much.Though it was all the rage back in the day, little has been done over the last few years to improve Quicken. In fact, Intuit (famous for programs like Quickbooks and Turbo Tax) actually sold off their ownership rights to Quicken back in 2016. Since then, rumors have swirled that Quicken will actually shut down its program for good.Luckily, Quicken is not your only choice for personal finance software.
These days, there are a number of alternatives that can help you manage your money as well as Quicken ever didand for less money. In fact, some of the best Quicken alternatives are actually free!So, if you’re looking for a new program to manage your money, you’re in the right place. Check out our list of the top 10 Quicken alternatives below. – is our Editor’s Choice for Quicken alternatives.
We’ve prepared step-by-step guides that will show you how to import from various finance apps into MoneyWiz. We also offer a free service to help you with the import. You can contact our support team and either arrange a screen sharing session, a phone call or they can do the entire import for you at no cost.Import Guides ».
This free software automatically tracks your savings, spending, investments, net worth, and more. It’s easy to use and the free price tag makes it an excellent replacement for Quicken. We’ve used it for years and think you’ll love it too! – If you’re looking for a budgeting tool that also runs some basic financial reports, is it. This program takes spreadsheet budgeting to the next level by helping you create a monthly budget and automatically tracking your results.
When it comes to tax prep, Tiller can also run detailed reports on itemized deductions, your annual spend by category, and more. Start with one of their templates, customize it to meet your needs, or build your own. Get it free for the first month, then it’s only about $5 a month. 16 Best Alternatives to Quicken 1. Personal Capitalis our favorite money management software of all time.
We’ve used it personally for years, and we continue to be amazed by this powerful software.What’s so great about Personal Capital? For starters, it’s free.That’s pretty awesome considering they offer a comprehensive collection of money tools in one convenient place. Here, you can track your spending, net worth, and investments. You can also use it to check your investments for expensive fees and calculate whether you’re saving enough for retirement.
These tools are all 100% free and at your disposal after a simple sign up process.So, how does it work?In short, Personal Capital synthesizes the data from all your accounts and delivers a complete financial picture that’s easy to understand.Just link Personal Capital to your bank, credit, and investment accounts and let the program do the heavy lifting. It imports your transactions and calculates how your spending aligns with your budget.Unlike some other alternatives to Quicken, Personal Capital is more than just budgets.
And, since it is free, it makes a great compliment to some of the other programs as well.Personal Capital also offers a powerful investment management tool. It tracks your asset allocation, monitors your investment performance, and analyzes your fees. It even takes your retirement goals into account and estimates your retirement income/expenditures based on your financial data. And, of course, Personal Capital also calculates the value of your assets relative to your debt (i.e. Your net worth).It might sound like a lot going on, but the app is incredibly user-friendly.
A summary of your financial situation is available on the dashboard as soon as you open the app.With all these money tools being offered for free, you might be wondering how Personal Capital actually makes money. Good question. They also offer fee-based wealth management services. Those are entirely optional, and you’re in no way obligated to subscribe. Tons of users enjoy the free suite of tools without using the wealth management services.In my opinion, Personal Capital offers the best free money management software on the market.
With a robust collection of money tools and a free price tag, this program blows many of the other alternatives to Quicken out of the water. Check out our complete for more information! Tilleris a relative newcomer as a money management software program.
This financial tracking tool is used in conjunction with Google Sheets (Gmail account required). So, if you’re into spreadsheets, Tiller might be just your thing.Although it started out as solution for budgeting, Tiller has become more than just a budgeting program. Tiller can help you prepare for tax season by running detailed reports on your itemized deductions, annual spending by category, and more. For self-employed people and freelancers, they also offer a nifty tool that helps you determine your estimated quarterly taxes.
They also provide a worksheet and some simple net worth tracking.To get started, simply link your bank accounts to the program. Then, Tiller will automatically download your financial transactions into Google Sheets on a daily basis.From there, you’re free to take advantage of Tiller’s limitless customization options. They provide multiple budgeting templates you can use, but you can also create a brand new spreadsheet unique to your preferences.Every day, Tiller emails you a summary of your financial activity so you always know exactly what’s happening with your money.You can try Tiller free for 30 days to see if it meets your needs. After that, it’s about $5 a month, or free for a year if you’re a student. YNABis an excellent choice for anyone who wants an easy to use and effective budgeting app.YNAB doesn’t offer a whole suite of money tools like Personal Capital. It focuses on two things: building a realistic budget and tracking your spending.
And that’s ok, because it does them both very well.I say a realistic budget because YNAB’s philosophy is that a budget is fluid and should be adjusted frequently in response to what’s going on in our lives. That’s why YNAB makes it so easy to move money between spending categories to keep your budget balanced.For example, if you’ve budgeted $300 for groceries, but your transactions indicate that you’ve spent $340, YNAB will notify you that you’ve overspent and prompt you to deduct that $40 from another category. This system is especially useful if your goal is to maintain a.When you use YNAB, you have two choices. You can either automatically import your transactions by connecting to your bank and credit providers, or you can enter your transactions manually.
Obviously, automating things is easier, but some may appreciate the option to do things the old-fashioned way., so you can try a full month of budgeting with no commitment. After that, the cost is $6.99 a month, billed annually. That means once a year, you’ll pay $83.88 to use the app/software.
Unless you’re a student – then you can enjoy 12 months for free – which is a pretty cool benefit.Also cool is that YNAB offers a 100% money-back guarantee. So, if you buy the app and decide it’s not helping you take control of your finances, YNAB will give you a full refund. Can’t argue with that! Mintis a comprehensive financial tool that Quicken enthusiasts will probably appreciate. In fact, Intuit acquired Mint in 2010 shortly before they dropped Quicken from their suite of financial tools. Stew on that for a minute and think about which program Intuit thinks is better ?Like with some of the other Quicken alternatives, when you link your financial accounts to Mint, you have access to your whole financial picture in one place.As we mention in our full, you can build a budget, track your spending, monitor your investments, and manage your bills.
The bills feature is really nice for people who haven’t automated their bill payments and want the ease of managing them on one platform.Mint also lets you and explains how it’s calculated. I think this is pretty neat because a lot of people don’t know their credit score or understand how these scores work.With all that under one roof, you might be surprised to learn that Mint is free. Hey, we’ll take it. PocketSmithIf you want to get a better handle on your money, might be for you.
Like several of the best alternatives to Quicken, this program provides a strong option for budgeting. Where it really shines, however, is with its financial forecasting.Instead of simply tracking what you’ve already spent, PocketSmith also helps you see what the future holds for your money. The “budget calendar” provides a daily look at your future income and expenses, all on an easy-to-read calendar so you can plan appropriately. Using your current info, you can even project your bank account balances as far out as 30 years into the future.Our favorite feature is the “what if” scenarios. This feature allows you to test different spending and saving decisions and see how they affect your future financial growth.
Wondering how reducing your grocery spending will affect your savings rate? Want to take a $2,000 vacation next summer? Use the “what if” feature to understand both the short-term and long-term consequences.As with most Quicken alternatives, PocketSmith utilizes live bank feeds to update your transactions automatically. Over 10,000 different financial institutions are supported, so it’s pretty likely that you’ll be able to connect your accounts.The basic functions of PocketSmith can be used for free, however you are limited to connecting just 2 accounts and 6-months of projections. The Premium version runs $9.95 per month and comes with 10 accounts and 10 years of projections.
Unlimited accounts and 30 years of projections are available with the “Super” account which runs $19.95 per month. CountAboutweb-based personal finance software is another contender for the best Quicken alternatives. This program actually supports importing data from both Quicken and Mint, which is nice.When you use CountAbout on a computer, there’s no app to install; you simply log in to their website.
They do offer a mobile app for iOS and Android, but not all the features are available through the app.Use CountAbout to create a customizable budget; then, sync it to your bank account to automatically import your transactions and track your spending. You can get a snapshot of your financial activity with widgets, or general full financial reports.CountAbout offers two membership options: basic for $9.99 a year or premium for $39.99 a year. The only difference between the two is that the basic membership does not support syncing with online bank accounts. That means if you opt for the basic membership, your transactions will not be automatically downloaded. Your options are to enter transactions manually or import QIF files from your bank if they make those available.If you’d like to try CountAbout before committing, you can get their 15-day free premium trial. Moneydanceis another viable personal finance software alternative to Quicken.
In fact, if you currently have Quicken data, you can import it into Moneydance. It’s available as a desktop app for all the major operating systems and as a mobile app.Moneydance’s interface kind of resembles a check register, where you see a record of all your transactions. Those transactions can be imported automatically by syncing with your online banking, or you can enter them manually. If you choose the automated route, you can also manage bill payments through Moneydance.Of course, it wouldn’t be personal finance software without the ability to create a budget. Moneydance lets you create spending categories and track your expenditures. If you’re a visual person, you’ll appreciate the interactive graphing tool. You can also use Moneydance to track your investments and monitor stock performance.If you’re technologically inclined (i.e.
A tech nerd), you can actually develop extensions for Moneydance using an Extension Developer Kit they offer as a free download. But I won’t get into that today!You can try Moneydance using their free trial, which works a bit differently than the other trials we’ve talked about. There’s no time limit on their trial, but you’re limited to 100 manually entered transactions. Still, that’s enough to decide if Moneydance is for you. After that, you can buy the full program for a one-time fee of $49.99. They also offer a 90-day money back guarantee when you purchase from their website.
Banktivityis a personal money manager made for Mac users. The newest version, Banktivity 7, is designed specifically for MacOS Sierra. And – like Moneydance – when you turn to Banktivity as a Quicken replacement, you can import your data for a seamless transition.With Banktivity, you’ll sync your bank accounts and use it to build budgets, track your spending, pay your bills, and monitor your investments.They also offer some really cool reporting options. For example, you can generate reports based on category spending or spending at a given merchant. So, if you want to track how much you spend on eating out, you can easily generate a report showing all your spending in that category over a given time frame. Or, if you want to get even more specific, you can easily pull up how much you spent on McDonald’s in the past two weeks.The “Find” feature in Banktivity is kind of like Mac’s spotlight – it lets you search all your transactions to find the one you’re looking for. This can be a great time saver when you’re trying to quickly check something specific.Banktivity offers a free 30-day trial, no credit card required.
After that, you can purchase the desktop app for a one-time fee of $69.99. You can then download the app on iPhone and iPad and sync across your devices. GoodBudgetis a simple budgeting app that helps you plan and track your spending through a digital version of the envelope method.If you’re unfamiliar with the envelope method, this is a where you use an envelope for each spending category. First, you’ll plan how much you’ll spend on each category (usually throughout the month). Then, you allocate cash for those expenses in each category’s designated envelope.Throughout the month, you’ll take money from a designated envelope each time you need to spend in that category. If you run out of money in an envelope, you can’t spend any more on that category unless you borrow the money from another envelope (which will reduce your spending power in that category).The free version of GoodBudget gives you twenty envelopes and allows you to download transactions from one bank account. You can also sync across two devices – which is great for using it on desktop and mobile.
You can also use one sync to share a budget with your partner.GoodBudget Plus costs $6 a month or $50 a year. This gives you access to unlimited envelopes and bank account syncing. You can also use the app on five different devices.Since you’re likely to have more than one account and may both want access on multiple devices, GoodBudget Plus is probably more practical for a couple who shares a budget. That being said, it’s great that this software also has a free option. Dollarbirdis another simple, no-frills budgeting app that makes for a good alternative to Quicken. This app is unique in that it’s calendar-based rather than category-based.
What this means is that Dollarbird focuses on tracking your income and spending by day, rather than by category.So, when you open the app, you’ll see a calendar. From there, you have the option of adding transactions (income or spending) for each day. Although you do categorize your transactions, the app displays your net spending per day rather than a running category total.At this time, Dollarbird does not support syncing with your online accounts. This means all your transactions must be entered manually.
However, you can schedule recurring transactions so you’re not constantly required to enter your regular fixed expenses. If you’re paid a regular salary, you can do the same with your paychecks.The free version of Dollarbird gives you access to one calendar – perfect if you’re doing a simple solo budget.The paid Pro version allows up to 20 calendars and can be accessed by three people. Again, the paid option might be more practical for couples. You can opt to pay $3.99 monthly or $39.99 for the year.
EverydollarNext on our list of Quicken alternatives, we have. If you’re a Dave Ramsey fan, you may want to give his budgeting tool a try.Everydollar lets you budget your income into customizable spending categories, then enter your transactions and track your spending. The free version doesn’t link to your online accounts, so you enter your transactions manually. (If you want to automatically sync to your online accounts, you’ll need the paid version.) That’s not a deal breaker, but one thing I’ve noticed is that the app doesn’t seem to remember the category associated with a payee that’s previously been entered.
Adding that would be a nice touch.This is a super simple budgeting app that should meet the needs of someone who wants to get started with planning a budget and tracking their spending. It’s free, so there’s no risk involved in trying it out for a few months to see what you think. PocketGuardIf simple smartphone apps are more your thing, deserves your consideration.PocketGuard helps you budget your money, track your spending, and lower your bills. Better yet, it is available for both iOS and Android devices.To get started, simply connect your credit cards, bank accounts, investments, and loans to the app. Your info will sync to the app and update automatically as transactions happen.Although it’s not as powerful as the best Quicken alternatives, it can certainly help you keep an eye on your finances. Like some of the other programs, this app helps you see the balance of your connected accounts all in one place. It can also help you track and categorize your spending, set monthly income and spending goals, and provide tips on where you can save even more.
The “in my pocket” feature even shows the amount of money you’ve got available to spend after accounting for all of your bills and savings goals.PocketGuard’s main features are free. It’s worth noting, however, that they also offer a paid version called PocketGuard Plus. The upgrade offers significantly more customization (including custom categories, cash transactions, etc.) and costs $3.99/month or $34.99 if you pay annually. MoneyWizis another alternative to Quicken that works with Apple, Android, and Windows devices.With this app, you can easily sync all of your financial data into one place. It also boasts a live syncing feature which allows you to sync data between devices in real-time.Using MoneyWiz for budgeting is also a breeze. The app allows you to create different budgeting categories which you can set up as a one time or recurring category.
Balances can be rolled over from one period to the next, and the program will even monitor your accounts for transactions – automatically updating the relevant information as you go. You can also transfer money between categories, similar to the “envelope” method.In addition to the automatic syncing functions on the premium version of the app, MoneyWiz also allows you to enter your transactions manually. It is also capable of creating multiple reports and graphs, including custom financial reports.So, if you’re looking to replace Quicken, MoneyWiz may be worth a try. While there is a stripped down version that’s free, you can get all the functionality by purchasing the premium version for just $4.99 a month or $49.99 per year.
Status MoneyAre you competitive about your finances? There’s an app for that.is a free program that allows you to compare your financial situation with your peers. Simply connect your accounts and start comparing right away.
Then, use those comparisons as motivation to improve your own financial situation!Of course, Status is about more than just comparing yourself to others. With Status, you can track your net worth, create spending goals, and monitor your credit. The program also analyzes your saving and spending by category, offering suggestions to improve your situation along the way.Although Status is not nearly as robust as many of the other options, it is free to use. (It is ad supported, so keep that in mind when considering their suggestions.) So, while it may not be the perfect Quicken replacement, it won’t cost anything for you to test it out. Wallyis another personal finance app available for use on your smartphone.
This app focuses entirely on budgeting and tracking your expenses. So, if you’re somebody who needs help with those two things (and who doesn’t?), Wally may be for you!Although the app is attractive, it isn’t very complex. Unlike almost every other program on this list, with Wally, you won’t connect your accounts.
For those who are a little skittish about cloud-based apps, this may actually be seen as a plus.Effectively, Wally is like using a paper budgetexcept it’s on your smartphone. You’ll have to manually enter your income and transactions, although you do have the ability to create recurring expenses for bills that stay the same every month.Even though it lacks automation, Wally does a good job of doing what it sets out to do – help people manage their monthly budgets. Once you set it up, you’ll be able to quickly compare your monthly income to your expenses, helping you to get a firmer grasp on your finances.Wally was originally available just for iPhones, but they recently unveiled a new version for Android. According to their website, the app is (and always will be) free. There are plans to add some paid features, but we’ll have to wait and see what those are when they are rolled out in the future.
GnuCashis a free open-source financial management software that runs on some Windows and Apple operating systems.The app uses the double-entry accounting method to help you keep track of your finances. Business owners should already be familiar with this concept as it is the preferred method used for balancing books and keeping accurate financial records for companies.With that said, the app can help with your personal finances as well. Through GnuCash, you can track your bank accounts, income, expenses, and investments. If you’re planning to replace Quicken, you can input your information directly from your old software. GnuCash is also capable of running a variety of financial reports for those who need them.GnuCash is typically better for those who have a business and isn’t a perfect fit for most people’s personal finances. However, it is free, so it may be worth a try. Quicken Alternatives: Final ThoughtsWith Quicken no longer the only financial tracking game in town, there are plenty of options to choose from.
Whether you’re looking for a simple budgeting program or a complete personal finance software package, there’s enough variety on this list to suit almost any need.Although everybody has their preferences (us included), ultimately, the best financial tools are ones you’ll use consistently. Use one of the links above to download a free app or start a free trial to find out what program works for you.How many of these money management tools have you tried? Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments! Comments, responses, and other user-generated content is not provided or commissioned by this site or our advertisers. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by this website or our advertisers.
It is not the responsibility of our advertisers or this website to ensure that all comments and/or questions are answered. Club Thrifty has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products.
Club Thrifty and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. With Mint you can change transaction dates when needed (for budgeting alignment). For us who receive a 1st of the month paycheck, which usually posts early when the 1st falls on a weekend or holiday (non-banking day), the inability to change the date completely messes up the ending month and next month budgets.
Same with any bank “auto-drafts” on the 1st. Happens about 3 times a year. This makes Personal Finance (PC) worthless for budgeting. The change transaction date feature has been requested for years and PC ignores it. Poor customer service in my opinion.
No thanks to PC. I don’t understand how you and other “Quicken Alternatives” reviewers gloss over what I consider a “show stopper” with Personal Capital (PC)! You cannot change transaction dates. That makes it USELESS for budgeting. I have a retirement pay (military) that posts on the 1st of every month. But if the 1st falls on a weekend or holiday they post it the last banking day before that. With PC when that happens I have a double pay in one month and no pay in the next and cannot change that.
Since this scenario happens about 3 times a year, PC is worthless for monthly budgeting. I have tried PC for a few months now (running it while also still using Quicken ’16). I also tried Mint several years ago and will give it another shot.Two things keep me from dumping Quicken yet.First and foremost is the ability to have attachments on my transactions. I scan and attach all bills and major receipts/communications. This way I have a one stop shop to find an item via Q’s search feature. This has helped out many times when an appliance/device craps out and I need to find my proof of purchase to get warranty service.Second is the ability to have transaction reminders that can be auto-entered into the register.
This allows me to look ahead to see where my expected spending and expected income is taking me (This is the closest I come to using a budget feature – but I hate the word budget). If contemplating a major purchase I’ll just plug in the transaction and see what effect it has on my outlook (Not a budget, LOL!).I do not use the transaction download feature for my checking account with Quicken because it ALWAYS caused me to have duplicate transactions when writing a paper check because of manually entering when written and then duplicated when cleared at the bank. VERY inconvenient. At least PC will help you correct duplicates – but no attachments.Bill payments through the app or program not necessary. You are not quite correct when you say Quicken data can be seamlessly imported into any other program. In order to move Quicken data over to any other program, the data has to be converted to a.qif file. That conversion comes with a ton of restrictions, and if you do complex splitting, your data doesn’t get converted properly, and is in fact, quite useless.My suggestion: double up on two programs: one Quicken and another alternative for three months, then abandon Quicken, keeping it for legacy purposes.
That’s what I did when I moved to Moneydance in 2006. And even then, I have not updated Moneydance past it’s 2010 version because Moneydance refuses to give the option for one line splits as of 2011, and my finances require many splits in a transaction.As a Macintosh user, Intuit has not been a friend.
I will no longer use.any. Intuit products. There are much better alternatives. Stewart, I agree that Intuit has always treated its Mac constituents as unwanted step-children. I agree that you pretty much have to choose between downloading your transactions and manually entering them in Quicken for Mac—it’s either/or. Manual entries lead to annoying duplicates if you also download your transactions.
But if you do choose to download, best not make any manual entries. You’ll find yourself making sticking Post-it notes on your desk till the latest data comes in, and you’ll NEVER be able to ‘train’ repeating transactions to consistently be labeled the same way under Payees. That should be a cinch. Anyway, here’s my question to everyone: which of these apps have the most patient, responsive telephone support. Call me a thumbsucker, but I need adult supervision now & then!. Great article. I’ve used Quicken for over 20 years, and I’m finding it difficult to find software or an app that allows me to enter my transactions manually and then gives me the ability to reconcile them to either the online bank balance or a paper statement.
I realize that this puts me in the dinosaur category (and I’m not all that old), but to me, it gives me control over my finances and allows me to do the one fundamental step I was taught was essential — reconcile your bank book to your bank statement.Is there a good Quicken alternative I should consider?. Donna, I’m with you all the way. Too bad this hodgepodge of suggestions all over the internet for replacing Quicken for Mac are so confusing when it comes to just the simple functions you cite.
I wish someone would create a comparison chart. I want to start with a new app on Jan. 1 (to replace Quicken), but it seems we just have to take a stab at what looks like it might have those basic Quicken-type functions and then start trying various apps not appealing when you’re dealing with real-life receipts that pile up every day and have to be entered.And to whomever manages this internet page, please get off this fad of making your font almost the same invisible color as your background.
Forget popular fads and us darker “ink” on the page. Donna and Jonathan, same here! I’m Quicken for Mac (a TERRIBLE app)also looking to throw the switch on Jan. I don’t need budgets; I just want an elegantly simple way to keep tracks of expenditures and put out year-end reports.
Reading all through these reviews hasn’t sharpened my focus much. (And yes, please give us a darker font!)Repeating my question above, does anyone know which of these developers offer the most HUMAN assistance? Not FAQ’s, not chat. Knowledgeable people who might even be willing to screen share?.
I have used Quicken for years. I bought the newer version and it choked on one of my accounts on downloading. I called for support. (A support contact number was not readily available on line but my bank had a contact number for support and I got through.) They understood the problem and said it was an easy fix.
But, they wanted a one year subscription for support for $199. Goodbye Quicken. I am leaving them. I have tried Every Dollar. It does down load from all of my accounts and credit cards which is nice and works well It is an easy program to use but they do not offer downloading of reports. I have used report generating for years to help with taxes at the end of the year. So, I am still looking for a program.
I don’t mind paying an annual fee but I need a report generating capability. I basically got spoiled.
I noted you did not mention this in any of the reviews. Somehow you missed that Every Dollar has the capability to Sync up to the Bank accounts and services.
Do you have any update on this and the report generating capabilities of the others?. An informative article and the comments offer great questions too. I nolonger use BillPay because using banks bill paying functions. I do download transactions in order to reconcile as well as downloading investment performance data. Bob White asked about tax reports and a major reason that I used Quicken in the past was the ease of producing tax reports or even exporting data to tax preparation soft ware. I don’t see an answer to Bob White’s question and would like to know how these alternatives assist me to prepare to file income tax.
I don’t see a way to post a comment or question except to “Leave a Reply.” This isn’t a reply, it’s a question.Is Personal Capital web based? Sounds like it must be, but there’s no straightforward statement about it here or on their website.Is it available as a desktop app, or just a mobile app. Some of the screenshots look to be from a desktop app, but they only picture phones on their website.I want a desktop stand-alone app.
I don’t want any of my business going to someone else’s server or website. Does that put Personal Capital out of the running?Another question: Are you familiar with Debit & Credit? From what I can see, it has all the basic functions of Quicken. (I don’t use tracking, downloading bank info, budgeting, etc. I just want to categorize all my expenses for end of year reports (for taxes) and to be able to enter transactions like in Quicken.) Any thoughts about Debit & Credit?Thanks, and especially thank you for the yeoman’s work you have done in comparing so many financial apps. By the way, “free” is not a big factor for me (and I would think anybody).
As long as a price isn’t over the top, it’s more important to have the features you need than to save a handful of bucks. I have used Qucken ever since the demise of Microsoft Money. I have needs that seem to me very uncomplicated: I need a product that will download my bank transactions, will track and project my monthly expenditures, and generate a report showing cleared and anticipated banking transactions for the current month. Quciken’s subscription model and its repeated pop-ups promoting renewal and upgrade (even though I opt out of “remind me again”) are annoying and I think the price is too high for capabilities that I don’t need or use.
Is there an alternative that will do what I need at lower cost?. Long-time Quicken user even though I changed platforms to Mac in 209 and put up with its woefully crude version for Apple users.I need to know which of these alternatives will generate for me an annual summary by category of both Income and Expenses for tax purposes. Short of trying 4 or 5 of these and digging down I have no inkling of which would be useful. I also download banking and investment transactions through Quicken. So I’ll need something that does that too. Can you help? I don’t mind a fee although free is enticing, but NOT if it doesn’t give me these two things.
I also have a financial manager and don’t need unsolicited phone calls. Give me an accounts window (without the unnecessary folders for cash, cc, investments), individual account windows when I open them, keep the legacy register format that has been used for many decades (it just plain works and makes sense, newest on the bottom, empty one at bottom ready to be filled in), a way to run reports the way it’s done in 2007 (again, simple, makes sense, easy to get what you want out of it).
STOP the incessant altering and revamping. It does not work as well for the end users.
Just started a 30day trial with Banktivity. It is not mentioned above that in order to have the most seamless download experience with your banks/institutions online there is a subscription fee for this. Otherwise you can manually download and input or hope that the OFX files work. So far although I have Capital One accounts 360 I have been repeatedly unable to have the Banktivity account get online despite, correct credentials, etc. I can’t waste all this time on a set-up that is arduous to set up.
Maybe I’ll try it again tomorrow, but wow, that’s an hour I’ll never get back. With no results to show for it. Give MoneyDance a try. I’m trying desperately to get away from Q 2019 even though I’ve used it since 1995. I am experimenting with MD now. I imported everything even though MD says there is no qif option in Q2019.
I did it and it worked amazingly well. Lot of clean up and deleting of defunct accounts, but much better results than when I tried a couple of years ago. I may have run into a problem with investment transaction classification but think I can figure out a workaround. It’s in the area of reinvested income. Q has all options available, LT, MT and ST gains can be reinvested and there can be a return of capital. MD hiccuped on the return of capital and has not recorded change in basis correctly. However, since I am not a corporation and won’t be subject to auditing, I have no problem making “adjustments” to get basis correct to move forward.
I’m taking the opportunity to clear out old unused accounts and streamline the entire account list. I plan on keeping my old Q data for reference only once I actually make the switch.The only thing that had been holding me back was the import issue. MD seems to have everything I need; local files, no cloud, portfolio management, bank import, reasonable cost and no dicking around with silly passwords and accounts and such. I’m not sure how old some of these comments are since they don’t seem to be dated, but it seems that the same questions go unanswered time and again.– Long time MS Money user, forced to switch to Quicken some years back. Have had no end of issues with Quicken and frankly detest the software. Major issue downloading Wells Fargo transactions WF blame Quicken, Quicken blame WF with me, as the customer stuck between a rock & a hard place (personally I think the issue lies with WF since I don’t run into the same issues with 6-7 other institutions.– I’ve had to upgrade for PC a few times and am done with Quicken! I also switched to Mac so only ever power up my pc for quarterly / annual reports on Quicken.
Complete waste of my time!– I’m not interested in the ‘budgeting’ aspect of software and just want a software that easily syncs with my banks, where I can add new accounts (some accounts are offline only) add / change categories (with the option to remember previous transactions / categories since Quicken is notorious for autochoosing the wrong category which I keep having to correct every month. Really annoying!
Then, providing I have categorized thousands of transactions correctly throughout the year, I simply print out a report, and hand to it my CPA as the basis of my tax returns.– App MUST be an ONLINE version, so I don’t have to download software and choose between mac & PC. Given the choice between cloud and downloaded desktop apps, I trust cloud more. Desktop apps are annoying and can get corrupted, as I suspect my file has become (pretty much using the same Money/Quicken file that was started in 1998, so yeah it probably became corrupted)– Of all the ones suggested, I have tried Countabout but support leaves a lot to be desired and I’m not sure it really be able to provide the level of tax reports I am looking for.It PAINS me to still be using Quicken, (hopefully 2018 tax year will be the last) and I would love to find that online solution asap to start 2019 taxes with a clean slate.
Quicken has never developed a way to effectively export its data to a standardized format so it can be used by another program. They promised it literally for decades and never came through. What I did and worked well for me is to consider everything on Quicken as legacy and begin anew with a new program like Moneydance.
Back in 2006 when I did this, I doubled entry for three months, putting data into both programs, then kissed Quicken good-bye and have Quicken 2007 on my computer just to look at that data if absolutely necessary. As the years went by, I’ve opened it less and less so now I don’t open it at all, but it’s still there for reference. Recently, I did an export/import from Q to MD and was surprised at how well it went. I tried it a year or so ago, and it was a disaster. This time after seeing an article stating Q had stopped supporting the qfx format, i gave it a try for the hell of it, planning on complaining to Q.
Waste of time I know, but it does make me feel better for a little bit. Anyhow, it wasn’t true and the import was quite a success. There is tons of stuff to clean up but there will be with any conversion. I haven’t completed the transition from Q because of other demands on my time but I am convinced it’s going to be successful. I’ve even re-imported some accounts after messing up balances by deleting obsolete accounts. I worked in accounting/finance for many small-to-medium nonprofits and ended up specializing in data conversion and there were always glitches and clean up to do. I am now convinced I will be able to leave Q, once and for all.
Thank you, quickdraw, for the caution. I definitely plan on running both until I’m sure things are good with MD. Five years ago, I made an archive file of Q to reduce the size of the data file and still have to pop it open so I assume the same thing will happen once I make the move. Portfolio does have some complex transactions and I think some will be a problem with MD. I haven’t fully delved into the MD investment transaction capabilities but at first glance I’m not seeing Return of Capital or Reinvested Income but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to come up with a work-around.
I know how to make adjustments to keep portfolio in balance with statements and I retain cost documentation. I only have 12 stocks that would be affected by complexities, balance is mutual funds and preferred stocks. Less of a problem than Q dropping transactions and losing three months of reconciliations on banks and credit cards. I just gave Tiller a 30-day test run.
I will say that Tiller makes categorizing transactions easier than any program I’ve used in the past. However, it was my experience that one really needs a PhD in spreadsheets in order to do much of the analysis and report running. I’ve used spreadsheets for 35 years, but I couldn’t get out of it what I needed without spending way too much time learning the techniques.
To Tiller’s credit, they have a lot of help articles and videos. However, my time is much better spent with a simpler solution.To that end, I’ve been on the hunt for two years for the “perfect” Quicken replacement, but I don’t think it exists at this time. My current solution is to use Mint to manage and run analysis on my spending accounts (bank accounts, credit cards, mortgage, car loans, etc.) and Personal Capital for managing my investment accounts. I would move over to Personal Capital for everything if they would fix a few things. My biggest issue with Personal Capital is their inability to allow split transactions.
Neither Mint nor Personal Capital allow for account reconciliations which would be a nice addition as well. For many of us, who have significant historical data and relatively complex finances, Quicken is THE only option. I have tried many of the above solutions, endured hours of testing only to find some major deal-breaker that was not obvious because of the slick, glitz and glam interfaces.Hate it if you will (as I sometimes do and have in the past), each one of these options above has its shortcomings, sometimes even more substantial than Quicken. However, if you are new to the world of money management and just starting out to use software to manage your finances, then one of these options may very well work for you, at least in the short run. But eventually, you will most likely realize the shortcomings of your chosen package. This could be related to reporting or tax tracking and include such things as return of capital, capital gains, short sales, stock splits, re-investments, etc.
None of these solutions provide anywhere near the functionality that is available in Quicken, at least the ones that I have tried.Eventually, when and if these things become important to you, you will need to switch platforms to something like Quicken that can handle most anything you can throw at it.I don’t want to pay the annual fee, but until such time as there really is a true replacement, I guess I have no other choice.For Canadians — there are significant differences between Quicken US and Canadian versions. As always, the Canadian version is but the poorer “afterthought” of its feature-rich cousin. Quicken Canada version does not support downloading of investment transactions.
Trades, dividends, interest) held in a brokerage account. Also, keep in mind that these solutions make little or no consideration for Canadians, so you won’t even be able to automatically download simple banking transactions with them. A non-starter for most of us. 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 se 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.Vernon. I have been using Quicken for 20 years. Probably since it first came out I just got an update to my Quicken 2017 and now downloading transactions no longer works. When I attempt to download transactions, it starts and then causes Quicken to force close. Been going on for 4 weeks now. I keep submitting their force close error report but nobody does anything to fix it.
I even installed 2017 on a second PC I have and it does the very same thing on it.I believe Quicken has done this on purpose to force people into their subscription serviceWith that said, I’m now hunting a replacement for Quicken.Depressing as I have learned all the ins and outs with quicken. Now I’ll have to learn something else.
In your case, the question is whether the subscription service allows you to do what you want to do. If it does, then it might be better to just pay for the subscription service, or go back to the earlier version of Quicken that did what you wanted it to do and stay with that.That’s what I did with Moneydance. I’m using V2010 because all their updates since then force me to use two line splits which, in my case is extraordinary clutter. It still works with Mac OS 10 Mojave much to the amazement of the Moneydance staff since newer version don’t!. Where do I start? Our financial structure has changed completely. We have 10 credit cards, 3 bank accounts, Roth, Soc Sec income, Rental income and mics.
Freelance jobs. I want to use an android/ cloud based system that i can merge all off the above to.
Customer service is a big one too as I know just enough to really screw things up. I’m leaving Quick-books.
It always had too many confusing facets. We don’t have employees.
My accountant like QB for tax purposes. HELP I don’t have time to try 3 different apps. I think $50 a year, a good price. As crazy as it may be, I’ve been using MS Money for years now and am still using it. I am on a MacBook Pro and run MS Money in Parallels.
It is the only software that I run in Parallels because I can’t find a software package that can take its place, Period! I do use Mint for a quick look at finances and on my phone when away from home. Mint does a good job, but can’t replace the functionality of MS Money.
I can forecast what ifs, download transactions to do check reconciliation, keep track of money transfers between accounts and do automatic transaction processing when I want to. Some transactions I prefer to do manually. I can change payment dates and control just about everything. There are some processes I lost when MS dropped support for this amazing software, but to this day I can not find a replacement for what was left. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have as a replacement for MS Money.
I too am looking for an alternative for Quicken. I’m still hoping my mother can find the disk at her house so I can install it on my new laptop!
I simply want the ability to manually enter transactions and manually reconcile my bank accounts. I never allowed Quicken to connect to my accounts. I want the program physically installed and files stored on my computer, don’t like the cloud options either. I don’t currently use budgeting, investment tracking, or bill pay.
I do like entering when bill payments are due however. Since we can’t itemize taxes anymore, I don’t even run any reports. Basically a checkbook register. Running Windows 10.
I may just continue using my old laptop for Quicken if I can’t figure something out. Paying for a yearly subscription isn’t a wise use of my money.