Budgeting is an easy way to get your finances in order. Or so they say. Some people find budgeting helpful, while others find it frustrating and a waste of time. How can you make this process easier? If you’d like some help, there are a few great software tools out there that can assist you with your budgeting efforts. And thanks to a recent update, the Mac operating system has more options than ever before for helping you manage your finances. Let’s take a look at the best free budgeting software for Mac and how it can help.
There are a lot of budgeting software options available for Mac, but which one is the best for you? This article will explore the Top Personal Finance Software for Mac, Budgeting Tools, and Personal Finance Software Free and more.
Free Budgeting Software for Mac
1. Debit & Credit
Being aware of your income and expenses is the first step in good money management, but maintaining financial records may be a pain. I’m beginning my list with not one, but two applications devoted to financial management because of this.
The first, Debit & Credit, is a straightforward, uncluttered Mac application that enables you to track and view all of your revenue and cost sources in one location. Additionally, Debit & Credit offers a mobile version for the iPhone and iPad that enables you to add transactions while on the road and syncs the data with your Mac app via iCloud.
Other great features:
- Import transactions from your financial institutions
- Budget and schedule transactions
- Generate reports that show you where and what you spend your money on
- Shared your accounts with someone else
2. HomeBudget Lite (w/ Sync)
The second money-management program I’m highlighting here is HomeBudget Lite, and for good reason.
Although this Mac program and the Debit & Credit app both have a number of similar capabilities, such as tracking costs, income, invoices that are past due, and account balances, there are a few distinctive features that set this one apart.
The most crucial aspect is its family sync feature, which enables a collection of devices from the same home to share income and expense data under a single budget.
Other great features:
- Browse expense entries by month, category, date, etc.
- Attach photo images of receipts
- Support for multiple currencies and automatic exchange rate conversion
- Classify expenses into fixed, variable and discretionary and compute your disposable income
The greatest drawback with the lite version of the HomeBudget software is that users are limited to 20 expense entries and 10 income entries. This may be a deal breaker for users with more complex finances.
3. Stock +
You may monitor the stock market in general and your stock portfolio in particular using Stock Plus, a terrific research tool.
Update your knowledge of mutual funds, exchange traded funds, commodities, and international stocks from global exchanges.
The software comes with a brief and understandable welcome tutorial that will help you become familiar with its capabilities.
Other great features:
- Scrolling menubar ticker tape guarantees that you never miss changes
- Pause the ticker to keep a handful of stocks in sight at all times
- Create comparison graphs with ease
- Mouse over graphs to see historic data for a specific day or time
4. Unpaid Bills Lite
Unpaid Bills Lite is a straightforward program that excels at what it does. You can prevent paying another payment late by doing this.
The software that resides in your dock will notify you when all of your upcoming or recurring invoices are due by entering the information.
When a bill is paid and marked as paid, it is removed from the dock. Easy as pie.
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5. MoneyWiz 2 Premium
With MoneyWiz 2 Premium, you can organize all of your accounts, budgets, and bills in one location for quick viewing and simple management, making it simple to gain a full picture of your money.
Other great features:
- Highly customisable
- Build custom reports based on what you want to know about your money
- Supports more than 16,000 banks worldwide
- Sync multiple devices with cloud based SYNCbits
User BuildoBen says:
6. Car Manager 2
A car owner’s fantasy is Car Manager 2. You can enter and organize all financial and non-financial information pertaining to your automobile with this useful software.
The program computes information to produce thorough statistics of your expenditures, including cost per spending category, cost per mile, and cost per day.
Non-financial statistics can be calculated and presented in brief or in full. Examples include the change in miles and average fuel usage.
Other great features:
- Calculates carbon footprint and the mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) vehicle produces
- All data—costs, fill-ups, vehicle information—can be exported as a CSV file
- Application automatically adapts to the units of measurement used per country
User Setulp3 says:
7. GetRate
GetRate is your friend if you frequently travel, conduct business abroad, or make investments abroad.
Using a variety of data sources, this currency converter covers more than 130 currencies and offers analytics and projections for exchange rates.
One of GetRate’s best features is its built-in statistics, which will teach you more about currencies and how they interact.
Other great features:
- Forecast tools to help you estimate future exchange rates
- Built-in alarm clock to help you keep informed about sharp currency fluctuations
- Calculator can operate in offline mode
- Country and currency matching system
8. TimeBalance
A wonderful app for anytime bank account monitoring is TimeBalance. With just one click, the program creates a small indicator that sits in the Mac’s menu bar next to the clock and continuously shows the account balance. It also provides a quick glance at recent transactions.
You may get a quick overview of your account at any given time thanks to the secure transmission of balance and transaction information across encrypted connections and local storage on the Mac.
Other great features:
- Easily connect to multiple accounts
- Need to log in just once
- App updates every 10 minutes, or manually when you click it
- Translate multiple currencies into Euros, Pound Sterling or US Dollars
Top Personal Finance Software for Mac
1. Moneydance
Moneydance is a wonderful place to start if you’re looking for a comprehensive budget tool for the Mac. The software enables you to record thorough transactions and provides a quick overview of all of your accounts. With the most recent improvements, Moneydance now has more features, more mobile compatibility, and is a powerhouse for managing all facets of your budget, including more complicated investments. In order to help you remain on top of your monthly spending, it also connects to your bank accounts and provides free bill payment services. You’ll need the best free antivirus software tools for Mac to protect your data with that type of access to all of your private financial information.
2. YNAB
You Need a Budget, a suite of powerful tools that manage to avoid being scary thanks to their friendly interfaces and clever tool management, has quickly developed from a financial management app to one of the strongest financial brands and possibly the best budget app for Mac. The most recent version offers long-term bill planning and collection as well as cloud synchronization capabilities. A young family or someone who wants to completely switch their money management over to a Mac will find it to be the perfect fit. To protect your financial information, you will also require one of the top Mac password management programs.
3. OmniFocus 2
Because it is much more than just a budget software, OmniFocus doesn’t initially appear to be one. This app is for you if you already have a budgeting system in place but would benefit from organization and notification features to help you manage your money a little more efficiently. It excels at producing thorough to-do lists, reminders, shopping lists, and comparable features. Omnifocus 2 is the perfect supplemental software for your financial endeavors, helping you organize everything from the newest home improvement project to making sure your shopping trip is within your monthly budget boundaries. See our list of the top free dating apps for iOS if you prefer to meet people online and through social media.
4. Mint QuickView
The goal of Intuit’s Mint.com project is to assist people, particularly younger people, in making more responsible financial decisions. It encourages people to build healthy budgets, adhere to competent financial advice, and make wise financial plans for the future. Free Mac app called Mint QuickView brings the entire online experience on your desktop. With the app, you can keep track of all your cash flows and any significant adjustments while receiving alerts for any transactions and account changes. The app also features the familiar, user-friendly graphs from Mint.com for a quick look at your spending.
5. Personal Capital
If you’re keeping an eye on your money, you might prefer a program that digs a little bit deeper than Mint or YNAB—or, to be honest, a lot deeper. Personal Capital comes into play here. It enables serious investors to focus on managing a sophisticated and complex portfolio with a view on long-term profit and swift, efficient decision-making. One of the best tools available for managing your investment money on your own, it offers a wealth of data and graphics that provide a quick overview of your portfolio’s stocks, bonds, and other holdings.
6. GnuCash
When compared to other Mac-compatible budgeting programs, GnuCash is unique. It is open source, to start. The download is free, and there are many modification options for your unique circumstance, but finding the right plugins and optimizing it will take a lot of your time. GnuCash, however, enables you to find answers for a variety of issues, including transaction matching, investment accounts, comprehensive double-entry accounting for commercial activity, reports and graphs, scheduled future transactions, and much more, inside its framework. Although some apps have simpler and fancier interfaces, this one offers a ton of content in exchange.
7. Evernote
Evernote is primarily recognized as a note-taking and note-sharing tool used for teamwork. Many group budget-related tasks really need this. Evernote is the perfect tool for synchronizing spending decisions between roommates or family members because it is so widely used and simple to use. Do you want to trade shopping lists? Make a reminder about the cost of gas? Keep track of utility bills and debt obligations. All of that and more can be facilitated using Evernote. No matter what other apps you use, its complementing nature makes it one of the top cheap software for Mac solutions.
8. OfficeTime
The majority of these apps have thus far been developed exclusively for personal budgeting tasks. OfficeTime, on the other hand, adds budget tracking features to the business side, especially for employees who must simultaneously track billable hours and project budgets for several projects. For busy freelancers, it’s an excellent software that integrates well with Excel and Numbers. Even if you might require something else for your main budget, OfficeTime is a priceless tool for generating precise numbers for your budget no matter how perplexing things become.
Personal Finance Software Free
Mint
Mint is a free online budget planner from Intuit, the makers of TurboTax and Quickbooks. This app brings all of your financial data together, showing you an overview of your budget, spending, bills, and credit score. You can create your own budget, set goals and reminders, and sync your data between web and apps. Security is enhanced by encryption and multi-factor authentication. You can also use Mint to track your investments and portfolio.
Access Mint via the web or phone apps for iOS and Android.
GnuCash
GnuCash is desktop software; its features include tracking bank accounts, stocks, income, and expenses. GnuCash is based on double-entry accounting for balanced books and you can run a number of reports to see your financial data. GnuCash also offers small-business accounting tools that let you manage customers and vendors, handle invoicing and bill payment, and even payroll.
GnuCash is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, BSD, and Solaris. There is a companion app for Android that will let you track expenses on the go and later import them into the desktop software.
AceMoney Lite
AceMoney Lite bills itself as the best Quicken alternative. You can manage your budgets, track your finances in multiple currencies, keep an eye on your investments and analyze your spending habits. You can also do online banking. As this is the lite version, you’re limited to two accounts; the full version supports unlimited accounts.
AceMoney Lite is compatible with Windows and Mac OS X.
Personal Capital
Personal Capital offers free financial software for tracking investments and planning for retirement, in addition to its tools for cash flow, spending, budgeting and net worth. Personal Capital’s focus is on investments, showing you the performance of your portfolio over time and helping you make decisions for the future, so its budgeting components aren’t as robust as other software.
If you’re not an investor or prefer fine-tuning your budget to getting the broad view, Personal Capital may not be the best fit. However, if you want to save for college or retirement, its free tools will show you whether you’re on track.
Personal Capital can be accessed via the web or apps for Android and iOS.
Buddi
Buddi is an open-source budget software that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems and has been translated into multiple languages. Buddi can encrypt financial data with a password, and it’s designed to be easy to use even if you have no financial background.
Features include budgeting, tracking accounts, and personal finance reports, but you will have to enter transactions manually. Free plugins add more features, and the online user manual is easy to read and use.
Buddi is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Free Budget Spreadsheets
If you don’t need fully featured personal financial software and you’re just concerned about keeping a budget, there are some great free budget spreadsheet templates you can use with Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc or Google Sheets. Just download and open them in your spreadsheet software to get a handle on your cash flow.
Budgeting Tools
Scoro
Scoro combines budgeting features with other tools to manage your entire company in one system. You can also manage expenses and resources, use a financial dashboard, and manage project budgets.
Top features:
- Budget planning and forecasting
- Financial reports and analysis
- Unlimited project budgets
- Financial KPI dashboard
- Invoicing and professional services automation
- Automated revenue stream from invoices
What’s special about this tool: Scoro combines the tools for budgeting, CRM, and project management so that you can manage your entire business in one solution and access all the financial data in one place.
Pricing: From $26 user/month, 14-days free trial.
Centage
Centage is a comprehensive enterprise budgeting software provider that offers different tools called Maestros for budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, etc. If you’re looking for a highly complete solution, Centage might be the answer.
Top features:
- Budgeting and planning
- Forecasts
- Financial dashboard and reporting
- Comprehensive analytics
What’s special about this tool: Centage integrates with other widely used enterprise management software like SAGE, Dynamics, and QuickBooks.
Pricing: Upon Reques
Prophix
Prophix says it has created a software solution for corporate performance management, which means that it includes many smaller tools for managing a company’s resources and planning its budgets.
Top features:
- Budgeting, planning, and forecasting
- Financial, statutory and management reporting
- Cash flow planning
- Profitability modeling and optimization
- Personnel planning
What’s special about this tool: Prophix wants to offer its users a wholesome product that scales as the company grows.
Pricing: Upon Request
Float
Float is an easy-to-use cash flow forecasting and budget management software that integrates seamlessly with other tools like Xero, Quickbooks Online, and Free Agent.
Top features:
- Cash flow forecasting
- Business budgeting
- Visual reporting
What’s special about this tool: Float is a highly visual and nice-to-use tool that helps to bring more clarity to your company’s budgets and cash flow.
Pricing: Small (1 user account) $35/month, Medium (3 user accounts) $59/month, Large (10 user accounts) $119/month
Planguru
Compared with Centage and Prophix, Planguru is a more simple budgeting software solution, which might be what you’re looking for to manage your small company’s budget.
Top features:
- Pre-built Integrated Financial Statement Structure
- Payroll Utility
- Engagement Tools for Professional Accountants
- 20+ Standard Forecasting Methods
- Forecast using Non-Financial Data
What’s special about this tool: Planguru has a separate analytics tool that helps to get a better overview of financials and make better decisions.
Pricing: $99/company/month + $29 for each additional user
GIDE
GIDE helps companies combine budgeting, strategic planning, and rolling forecasts while consolidating projects/companies and business departments within one comprehensive corporate performance management platform.
Top features:
- Profit/loss statement Balance sheet & Cash flows
- Capital asset planning
- Capital structuring
- Operational data
- Working Capital
What’s special about this tool: GIDE promises a fast implementation process of two weeks compared to the average of 8 weeks of budgeting software implementation.
Pricing: N/A
Pen and Paper
While budgeting apps and software are popular, you don’t need anything more than a pen and some paper to write a budget. The basic budgeting process involves writing down all your expenses, from monthly bills to small discretionary purchases such as morning coffee or lunches. Then, categorize those expenses according to whether they are needs or wants. Next, add up your income. Earmark your income for your needs first and any money left over can be spent on wants.
If your expenses exceed your income, you’ll need to determine what changes to make. You may be able to balance your budget by cutting out wants, such as dining out or a gym membership, but in some cases, you may need to consider more significant changes such as moving to an area with a lower cost of living.
Envelopes
An envelope system involves placing cash into envelopes marked for major budget categories such as groceries, clothing and dining out. It makes it easy to see how much money is available for each spending category.
“The envelope method is a great tool for budgeting because it forces people to take control of their spending with cash in hand,” says Howard Dvorkin, CPA and chairman of Debt.com. When money in a particular envelope is gone, it signals that no more spending should occur in that category until the cash is replenished.
Spreadsheets
For a highly customizable way to track income and expenses, use a spreadsheet. “People can download budgeting spreadsheet templates that come formatted with formulas, dates and labels,” Dvorkin says. “This method helps take the guesswork out of organizing a budget, and it can also make it easier to edit a budget and track income.”
Both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets offer free budget templates to users. You can also create your own, though there can be a learning curve to using the programs. Microsoft provides free online training lessons on its support website for Office products. Otherwise, plenty of tutorials can be found on YouTube.
Worksheets
If you’re making a budget for the first time, a worksheet can eliminate some of the guesswork. These papers often have recommended percentages to indicate how much of your earnings should be spent on each category each month.
Several organizations offer free budgeting worksheets online. American Consumer Credit Counseling, a nonprofit credit counseling provider, has sheets for household budgeting, expense tracking and budgeting for specific needs. Meanwhile, Regions Bank has free worksheets anyone can download from its Next Step Financial Education website, including a personal spending plan worksheet and daily spending tracker.
“The resources and tools we offer through Regions Next Step, like these worksheets, can help people improve their financial skills, stay organized and take the next steps to meeting their goals,” says Joye Hehn, vice president of financial education strategy and implementation at Regions Bank.
Banking Tools and Apps
Free budgeting tools may be as close as your bank’s website. Bank of America, Chase and even local credit unions are among the institutions to provide customers budgeting resources that can track expenses, run spending reports and export data to spreadsheets or computer software.
“At Chase, we are constantly enhancing our digital banking features to help our customers make the most of their money,” Divilek says. With the Chase Mobile app, customers can use a budget feature to track their spending throughout the month and determine how much is available after bills and transfers.
By paying bills online, banking tools may create charts and graphs that categorize spending, and this information can be used to develop a household budget. Banks may also offer other tools that aren’t specific for budgeting but can be helpful to manage money. For instance, you may be able to set up automatic transfers to savings or receive alerts when account balances are low.
Mint
No list of free budgeting tools would be complete without mentioning the many free budgeting websites and apps available today. Mint may be the most well-known of the internet and smartphone-based budgeting applications, and it offers comprehensive services at no cost.
Mint users can link multiple financial accounts to the service, which then tracks and categorizes spending. It includes a payment tracker with bill reminders, and its calculators allow people to see how their decisions may impact progress toward goals.
Honeydue
Designed specifically for partners who are managing money together, Honeydue helps couples stay on the same page financially. The free app allows people to link multiple accounts to share balances and spending information. A chat feature allows partners to discuss specific transactions if needed.
In terms of budgeting, Honeydue categorizes expenses to make it easy to ensure your monthly spending stays on track. The app will also send bill reminders. For those who are looking for a joint bank account, Honeydue offers those as well, with deposits insured by Sutton Bank.
SoFi Relay
SoFi Relay is another free budgeting app. It allows users to link accounts, review balances and set spending targets. It aggregates accounts and makes it easy to review spending by category.
The app also provides access to VantageScore 3.0 credit scores and makes it simple to connect with a professional to discuss financial goals and strategies. SoFi Relay users are entitled to a complimentary 30-minute call with one of the company’s in-house financial planners.
Goodbudget
This savvy budgeting software is intended for those who like the idea of an envelope cash management system but don’t want the hassle of carrying physical envelopes.
Instead, Goodbudget lets users fund virtual envelopes that are used to track expenses and sync and share budget information across devices. The free version includes 10 regular envelopes, 10 more envelopes, one year of account history and access to community support forums.
Truebill
Reducing expenses is often an integral part of creating a workable budget, and Truebill is an app that helps users identify sources of spending that may fly under the radar. Once you link a bank account, Truebill will automatically search for recurring payments such as subscription services and, if you want, cancel those accounts.
Truebill can also create a budget based on your transactions and monitor your spending. Through its bill negotiation feature, it may be able to lower monthly expenses for wireless, cable and insurance bills, among others. While the app is free to download and use, Truebill will collect 40% of your savings if it successfully negotiates down a bill.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the best way to track personal finances?
Apps and budgeting software make it easy to categorize your spending so you can see when and where your money is going—at a glance. Knowing these patterns is the first step toward changing your behavior to start saving more.
Is personal finance software safe?
Go with trusted brands, and you can expect the same types of firewalls and encryption that you’d expect from a banking website. It’s often the human who does something risky rather than a flaw in the software.
Conclusion
In order to save money on your Mac, it’s important to use the right budgeting software. There are many different types of budgeting software available, so it’s important to find one that will fit your specific needs. Additionally, using free budgeting software can help you save money on your Mac. By learning how to use these tools correctly, you can make sure that you’re spending less each month and achieving your financial goals.