Personal finance software has taken a new turn with software being developed specifically for personal finance. These software are called personal finance software and financial management programs. I have made a list of the best free personal finance software which you can use to manage your financials accounts and files easily.
Personal finance is a term that has grown lately in popularity. It was once the domain of accountants and financial advisers but now you can pretty much find a topic on personal finance on the internet. The concept has greatly changed over the last few decades and with it came the rise of technology to help people use their money more efficiently.
Quicken
Our favorite personal finance software is Quicken. Quicken has one of the most comprehensive lists of features of all the software listed here, and is known for being one of the fastest personal finance software on the market.
Quicken has four paid tiers, with a 30 day free trial on offer for each of them. Their Starter tier costs $35.99 a year, and allows you to view all your financial accounts in one place. You can also create a budget and manage your bills, to see exactly how much money you’re spending, and where it can be saved. Quicken can be used on both a desktop and their mobile app.
The next tier, the Deluxe tier, costs $51.99 a year, and Quicken claims this is their most popular tier. This tier gives you everything in the Starter tier, as well as the ability to create customised budgets, manage and track any debts you have, or create savings goals.
The Premier tier, the next step up, is $77.99 a year, and Quicken claims this tier has the best value for your money. On top of everything in the Deluxe tier, you’ll be able to pay your bills through Quicken, access customer support, and simplify any taxes or investments you’re dealing with.
The final tier, the Home and Business tier, is the only tier that allows you to manage a business as well as your personal finances. This costs $103.99 a year, and, as well as everything in the previous tiers, you’ll be able to manage both personal and business expenses, email invoices through Quicken itself, and track your business’s taxes, profits, and (hopefully lack of) losses.
Quicken is the most well rounded software on this list, giving you everything you’d expect from a personal finance app, being accessible from anywhere you’d need it, and having lightning fast speed.
Mint
Let’s start off with the good news, Mint is entirely free. There are no features locked behind paywalls, and no choices to be made about which is the best tier for you. If you’re wondering, Mint makes money through referrals made to financial institutions in their “Ways to Save” section.
So what can Mint do for you? Mint can easily aggregate all of your financial accounts (whether they’re credit cards, investments, or good ol’ bank accounts) and present all their data in easily digestible reports on the main dashboard.
While it can do a lot of things that you’d want from a personal finance app, like creating goals, there are also some very solid budgeting features that can help those trying to limit their spending. After setting up all your accounts, your transactions will be auto-sorted into categories, allowing you to see where most of your money is going. You can even make your own subcategories.
There are also some features that are extremely useful, like giving you your credit score, as well as alerting you when bills come in. You’ll even get weekly summaries of your finances sent to you over email.
If you’re worried about keeping a budget, then using a free app is one of the best ways to go about saving money. Not only is Mint free, but its budgeting capabilities will really help anyone looking to squeeze pennies.
Personal Capital
Reasons to buy
+Robust investment & retirement toolset blows competitors out of the water+Great educational offerings to truly understand your wealth
Reasons to avoid
-While it’s possible to add non-retirement savings goals, the guidance offered is thinAdvertisement
Price: Free app, with fees for wealth-management services should you choose to use them.
To be blunt: Personal Capital is what you graduate to, from Mint. Both personal finance managers are free, easy and friendly to learn and use, and will show you a comprehensive view of your finances.
Personal Capital, though, has foregone budgeting and bill-payment tools to focus on next-level concerns. Features like its 401(k) analyzer, what-if Retirement Planner, and projected portfolio values are exactly what you need if you have the good fortune to arrive at the phase in which “How am I going to save some money” has become “What am I going to do with it all?” It’s next-level personal finance software, best for people who have gotten to that next level.
Honeydue
We chose Honeydue as the best option for couples because it is specifically geared toward helping you manage your money with a partner. You can link accounts and customize what information you share with your partner while also communicating about money issues directly through the app. Notifications even alert you to upcoming bills or when you or your partner exceeds pre-set spending limits in your budget categories. Pros
- No monthly fee
- Choose how much account information to share with your partner
- Transactions are automatically categorized
- Customizable alerts for overspending or upcoming bills
Cons
- Only available for iOS or Android (no desktop app)
- Limited financial education
- Few reporting features that allow you to look at the big picture
Honeydue is designed to help couples manage their finances together and its features are focused on joint communication. Honeydue makes sharing information about money simpler by allowing you to respond to your partner’s transactions with a note, a thumbs-up, or other emojis. You can also aggregate your linked account information to see all of your individual and joint transactions in one place.
Honeydue makes tracking spending easy by automatically categorizing transactions as well as allowing you to add your own custom categories. And while there are fewer reporting options than with some other programs, customizable alerts help ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
PocketGuard
We chose PocketGuard as the best option for college students because it makes it easy for busy students to see at a glance how much money they have available to spend. Its goal tracking features and intuitive pie chart help even beginning budgeters see if they’re on track. And most of its features are free, which is ideal for those on a student budget. Pros
- Most features are available for free
- PocketGuard’s In My Pocket feature instantly shows cash available to spend
- Smart algorithms identify areas you can save
Cons
- The free version limits transaction categories and goals
- Advertisements are displayed even in the paid version of the app
- Reporting options are more limited
For college students who are newer to managing money, PocketGuard’s simple user interface and intuitive pie charts make it easy to start budgeting and tracking spending. PocketGuard’s In My Pocket feature also reduces the risk of overdraft accounts by keeping tabs on money available to spend at all times.
While the free version doesn’t include as many features as the paid option, most college students will likely find the program is robust enough and can avoid committing to a monthly subscription fee. And algorithms in the program that help you identify and cancel unwanted subscriptions can help college students identify opportunities to keep more money in their pockets.
YNAB
YNAB is not the name of a lesser eldritch god – it actually stands for You Need A Budget. If you’re someone who is prone to spending money when you feel like it, you might know that being financially flippant can put you in some pretty hot water. That’s why YNAB is intended for those who need to create, and, more importantly, stick to good money-saving habits.
YNAB doesn’t have any kind of tiered structure. There’s just one product, and you can either pay for it at a rate of $11.99 a month, or $84 a year (which will save you $59). Both can be cancelled at any time.
As the name would suggest, YNAB lets you set budgeting goals. You can share these goals with a partner, hopefully holding each other accountable for paying bills, monitoring investments, and saving money. It allows you to set saving goals, and rewards these goals with a lot of fanfare.
Your progress will be fed back to you in the form of various charts and graphs that can show you how well you’re doing in your quest to save money. And on top of this, YNAB offers free online workshops that can help you learn and retain good money management skills.
It’s not the most feature-packed software on this list, but it’s very fairly priced and will allow you to get used to saving money, hopefully using the app’s positive feedback to encourage you to learn these habits for good.
EveryDollar
We chose EveryDollar as the best option for families because it allows you to create a budget in less than 10 minutes that can be completely customized to your family’s needs. It allocates every dollar but makes it simpler than other programs to go through the process as a family. And it instantly syncs across all devices, so everyone can see what’s been spent. Pros
- Created by personal finance expert Dave Ramsey
- Offers a 14-day free trial
- Syncs in real-time across devices
Cons
- You’ll have to manually enter transactions in the free version
- The paid version is about $130 annually
- You must manually categorize transactions
EveryDollar is an ideal choice for families who want to take a hands-on approach to budget together and who don’t want to pay a costly monthly fee. It allows you to allocate every dollar that you’re spending and provides a customizable template to make the budgeting process easier.
For those who want added features, including the ability to link bank accounts, upgrading to the paid version is necessary. Ramsey+ comes at a higher cost than other programs but offers more features including Dave Ramsey’s popular Financial Peace course as well as Baby Steps tracking to help work through the seven baby steps Ramsey has identified for building wealth.
Conclusion:
Personal finance software is the best way to get your finances in order. A good piece of personal finance software helps you organize your income and expenses into neat, comprehensive reports which are easy to understand and therefore, helping you make even better financial decisions in the future.