What is the best personal finance software? Unless you are super organized, keeping track of your personal finances can be tedious. For this reason, it is critical to use the best free personal finance software for managing your budget.
Choosing the best personal finance software (best free personal finance software) can be challenging. Maybe you don’t know what features to look for, or maybe you’re not sure which brand to choose. Whatever your reason, I’ve tested some of the best personal finance software (personal financial management apps), and here are my findings.
Money Dashboard
Money Dashboard works in a similar way to Emma. Link your current and savings accounts to find out how much you are up or down overall. There is an active budget tracker that breaks down how much you have spent that month and in what categories. You can then compare this to the previous month’s spend.
You can also set yourself a budget for every month. For example, if you don’t want to spend more than £400 on ‘fun’, create your budget, and Money Dashboard will let you know your progress. You can also see how your budget compares to previous months.
Pros:
- Completely free to use – not even a paid version
- A comprehensive budgeting section
- Easy to set up and operate
- Link to popular investment accounts like Nutmeg and Fidelity and cryptocurrency accounts
Cons:
- Not as many ‘extra’ features compared to its competitors
FreeAgent
FreeAgent is targeted at freelancers and small businesses, so it focuses on daily admin tasks like invoicing, time tracking, and expense management. It’s a cloud accounting software package.
You can set invoice reminders and upload pictures of your receipts. Pricing starts at £19 a month (for sole traders) with 50 per cent off for the first six months. Plus, if you’re a Simply Business customer, you can get a 15 per cent lifetime discount. Find out more.
FreeAgent say it’s ready for Making Tax Digital, and has been submitting digital VAT returns to HMRC for customers since 2010.
Snoop
Snoop is a little different from the above apps. Instead of showing you graphs and figures, you’ll be shown ‘Snoops’. These are easy-to-understand summaries about your finances, which give you tips about how to save money.
There’s nothing groundbreaking, but Snoop is a simple way of keeping an eye on your money.
Pros:
- Easy to set up
- No fees
- Uses language that everybody understands
- £5 Amazon voucher for referring friends
Cons:
- Snoops are not always relevant
- They’re keen on you to click on their referral links so Snoop can earn money.
Mint.com
Mint is a free personal finance service that’s in a class by itself. No web-based rival provides as comprehensive a collection of tools for tracking your spending, budgeting, and goals. The site continues to incorporate machine learning in its design, making your tasks more automated and your feedback more useful.
PROS
Free, fast, and easy
Highly automated
Simple budgeting tools
Alerts
Checks credit score
Good mobile support, including for Apple Watch
CONS
Only supports US and Canadian accounts
Discontinued bill pay
Weak investing tools
Quirk
This is an app that claims to be tailored to you. When you start with Quirk, you fill out a quick survey about your financial preferences. The app can then give you tips based on your ‘unique character’. With the ability to add multiple accounts, this is a good app for keeping an eye on your overall wealth.
Pros:
- Free to use
- Easy to set up and monitor your budgets
- Quite nifty being able to see your overall wealth
Cons:
- I’m not convinced that your financial character actully changes much
- Can be a little tough to navigate the app
- Unable to link to investment accounts, meaning you have to manually add the value of them to Quirk
- This means your overall wealth will probably not be accurate
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is developed by Intuit, one of the very earliest providers of accounting software, and it’s cloud-based.
Freelancers can sign up for the basic Self Assessment package that helps you track your self-employed income, while small businesses can use it for things like VAT and payroll. There are lots of reporting and monitoring tools too. You can connect your account with over 700 third party applications through the QuickBooks App Store – this lets you reduce time spent on data entry, payroll processing, capturing backups and tracking inventory. Subscription prices start at £8 a month (for the Self Assessment package) – but prices are sometimes reduced for the first six months.
For small businesses and VAT-registered companies who want to use the accounting and VAT features, prices start at £12 a month. These are the packages that are ready for Making Tax Digital.
Claro Money
This is a budgeting app with a bit of a difference. Although the budget features aren’t as good as some of the others on the list, the app does come with a major benefit… to some users. The opportunity to speak to a Financial Coach. Bear in mind, this is not always free and the app carries a £10 annual fee. But currently, the fee is waived for new users.
But one feature that makes Claro stand out from the rest is the fact it is offering access to a 2% interest bonus for their easy-access account. This is a market-leading rate that you won’t find elsewhere.
Pros:
- Great for those that need extra help
- Simple to use budgeting tools
- 2% interest on up to £3,000
Cons:
- Annual subscription fee (unless you’re an early adopter)
- Budgeting side is a little limited
- The coaching sessions are not free
Quicken Deluxe
Quicken Deluxe includes more personal finance management tools than any competitor, but it’s relatively expensive and many features aren’t available in the mobile apps. Still, no one does personal finance more comprehensively.
PROS
Robust set of personal finance, planning, and investment tools
Mobile and web companion appsFlexible transaction tracking
Useful reports and graphs
Excellent support options
CONS
Expensive
Inconsistent user experience
Electronic bill pay through biller websites not available
Emma
The Emma app links to your current accounts, savings and investments and keeps track of money coming in and going out. You can breakdown into categories where your money is being spent or which merchants you use the most.
Emma learns when you have money coming in, so it is able to set you a budget each month. Emma also lists all your subscriptions, which is very handy in finding if you’re paying for services 5 years after you last used them.
There is also an option to move to a paid version of Emma, called Pro, which offers some (rather underwhelming) extras. Emma also offers ‘rewards’. These generally involve you signing up for a trial or purchasing something and receiving money back. No reward should ever involve me spending money.
Pros:
- Basic version is free
- The ability to link lots of different accounts
- Easy navigation
- Will point out where your money is wasted
- A decent referral scheme
Cons:
- The Pro version of Emma provides little in the way of benefits
- The rewards on offer can often be found at cashback sites with better rates
Conclusion:
There are lots of good unique ways to save money. But it’s not enough to simply think of these ideas. That’s why you need to pick one that works best for you. Personal finance software can help because it makes tracking your finances simple and it gives you the power to get organized before the next big bill comes due. The purpose of this list is to help match you with the app that’s best for your needs.