If you use a computer to manage your budget, then you will probably find offline personal budget software useful. A local copy of the program can be a lifesaver if your computer crashes or gets lost/stolen as it will allow you to calculate how much money you need to spend on stuff for the week and gives you more control over how much money is coming in vs. going out.
The best personal accounting software is the one you can use on a regular basis. If you’re using a system that requires internet access, your information will be at risk of being stolen. Offline personal budget software is portable, so you can take it with you anywhere and sync it back up when you get a connection.
Looking for free personal budget software? A lot of people are these days. I can’t believe how many people are switching to personal finance software. I think they’re going freeware or open source because they want to save money on the most important thing in their lives. That’s smart of them! Personal finance software has made a big impact on my life.
If you don’t like to use budget software, you can still create a budget by hand. It’s easy, but it will take some time. First, grab a sheet of paper and write down all your monthly expenses, as well as how much income you bring in each month. Then estimate what your spending and income will be for the year ahead. You’ll want to write in your monthly bills like rent or mortgage payments, utilities, and other expenses that stay the same each month. Budgeting tools help you track your spending and automatically set aside money into savings or towards a goal. The best ones are free and easy to use, which makes it easier for you to practice smart financial habits. Here’s how to find the best free budget software for your needs.
The best free personal finance software 2022.
- Mint is a powerful web-based tool that’s completely free. It allows you to track all of your finances from one place, categorize spending, and set goals. You can also get alerts when something goes wrong with your account balances or bills. The biggest downside is that it doesn’t have many features for advanced users: there’s no integration with investment accounts or other types of accounts; it has limited reporting capabilities; and its budgeting tools are not as robust as some others (though they are good enough for most people).
- Personal Capital is a desktop application designed to help you manage all of your financial accounts in one place, including investment accounts such as 401ks or IRAs. It also gives advice on how much money should be saved toward retirement each month based on age and income level so that users can see how much they need to save each year in order to retire comfortably when they reach their goal age (eighty years old). The biggest drawback here is the cost: $19 per month after an initial free trial period ends; if this isn’t an issue then this may be worth considering because it does everything better than other platforms here except for Mint which offers more bells & whistles like automatic savings plans but at less cost overall once paid subscriptions kick in around year three onward.
Moneyspire.
Moneyspire is the best money management, personal finance and budgeting software for Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Moneyspire is easy and powerful personal finance software that helps you manage your accounts, bills, budget and more. Moneyspire lets you create budgets and goals to help you save money or pay off debt. You can keep track of all your financial information in one secure place so that it’s always available when you need it most.
GnuCash.
GnuCash is free, open-source accounting software that offers a variety of features suitable for both personal and small business accounting needs. It can also be used by non-accountants to track their expenses and balance their checkbooks. The software provides users with the ability to create budgets, keep track of assets, liabilities and net worth, and manage income and expenses in multiple accounts at one time with flexible reports.
YNAB, for hands-on zero-based budgeting
Why we recommend it: YNAB is designed so that users plan ahead for their financial decisions, rather than track past transactions. This app follows the zero-based budgeting system, which has you make a plan for every dollar you earn.
As soon as you get paid, you tell YNAB how much of your income should go toward various categories, including expenses, goals and savings. The idea is that you become more intentional with your money when you’re prompted to actively decide what to do with it.
With all this decision-making, YNAB is about as hands-on as you can get. To help users trek up that learning curve, YNAB’s website offers many educational resources describing exactly how to budget and use the app.
YNAB allows you to link your checking and savings accounts, as well as credit cards and loans. The app works on the phone, desktop, iPad, Apple Watch and Alexa.
Why you may want to think twice: You have to be committed to keep up with YNAB. By design, it works best for users who want to get hands-on while planning for their money. Also, compared to the other apps that made our list, its price is high, and its Google Play ratings are low.
Cost: Pay either $14.99 per month or $98.99 per year, although you can try it out in a free 34-day trial. College students can use YNAB for free for a year.
Apple store rating: 4.8
Google Play rating: 3.2
Goodbudget, for hands-on envelope budgeting
Why we recommend it: Goodbudget is more about planning for your finances than tracking previous transactions. This app is based on the envelope budgeting system, in which you portion out your monthly income toward specific spending categories (called envelopes).
This app doesn’t connect your bank accounts. You manually add account balances (that you can pull from your bank’s website), as well as cash amounts, debts and income. Then you assign money toward envelopes.
You can access the app from your phone and the web. You’ll also find many helpful articles and videos that help you use the app.
Goodbudget offers a free version that allows one account, two devices and limited envelopes. Its paid version, Goodbudget Plus, allows unlimited envelopes and accounts, up to five devices and other perks.
Why you may want to think twice: Because you can’t sync financial accounts, you must enter every expense. If you’re not up for that work, the app probably won’t be effective.
Cost: Goodbudget is free. Goodbudget Plus is $7 per month or $60 per year.
Apple store rating: 4.7
Google Play rating: 4.5
Mint.
Mint is a robust personal finance program that has main features such as budgeting, investments, bill tracking and spending tracking. It also allows you to create a budget and track your spending in real-time. The best thing about the software is that it tracks your credit score for free so you can check it at any time. This feature saves you money by alerting you when there’s suspicious activity on your accounts or if something looks like fraud. You can also create accounts for all of your bills in one place and make transfers between them easily to manage cash flow or even pay down debt over time. Mint’s mobile app lets you check balances from anywhere so no matter where life takes you – whether it be home or away – Mint will keep track of everything!
AceMoney Lite.
AceMoney Lite is no-frills personal finance software. It is easy to use, but has all the features you need to manage your finances. AceMoney can be used for home and small business accounting, or to track personal finances across multiple accounts.
Money Dashboard.
Money Dashboard is a free personal finance software that helps you track your spending, manage your bills, and save money.
Money Dashboard has many benefits:
- It’s easy to use. You can easily create budgets and track your progress using the program’s user-friendly interface. All of your information is stored in one place so it’s always there when you want to review or update it.
- It has good reviews from users who say that Money Dashboard makes managing their finances easier than other programs they’ve tried in the past.
There are two ways to get started with Money Dashboard: downloading an app for Windows or Mac computers; or signing up for an online account at moneydashboard.com
CountAbout Basic.
CountAbout Basic is a free personal finance software option that works with Quicken and Microsoft Money. CountAbout is a web-based service, so you don’t need to download or install any software on your computer. It’s available in both ad-supported and paid versions, but the former is probably sufficient for most users’ needs.
CountAbout’s user interface will look familiar to anyone who has used other online financial management services like Mint or Personal Capital before: there are graphs that show how much money you spend per month on each category of expenses, pie charts illustrating where your income comes from, and more. Other useful features include an easy way to categorize transactions (by dragging them over) and transaction summaries by category (which can be helpful if you want to track spending patterns).
These free personal finance software programs can help you manage your money and set financial goals
If you’re looking for personal budget software, there are many to choose from. Here’s a list of the best free personal finance software programs that can help manage your money and set financial goals:
- Mint (free for desktop and mobile)
- Personal Capital (free for desktop only)
- Quicken Loans Personal Loan Calculator (free)
Mint is the most popular online budgeting tool with more than 15 million users. It’s completely free to use, but if you want more advanced features like credit score monitoring or investment tracking, then it will cost $20/month. Just enter all your account information into their easy-to-use system then get notified whenever something needs attention—like when one of your credit cards has an upcoming annual fee or a bill payment is due soon. You’ll also be able to see where all your hard-earned cash goes each month in order to fine-tune it further so that it works harder for you.
Goodbudget
- Free basic version
- Allows you to create a budget for any category of spending
- Premium version allows you to sync between multiple devices
- Premium version allows you to share budget information with a spouse or partner
- Premium version allows you to add a second account
Wally Next
Wally Next is an online free personal budget software that can support multiple currencies, accounts, users, saving goals and budgets. It also supports multiple expense categories and income categories.
There are seven top free budgeting apps.
- Mint
- YNAB (You Need a Budget)
- EveryDollar
- Goodbudget
- PocketGuard Plus (formerly known as MoneyWell)
- Mvelopes
Conclusion
Budgeting is an effective method of controlling one’s spending and saving money. A budget is a detailed analysis of spending that helps users to understand their cash flow, prioritize their expenses and set aside sufficient amounts to achieve savings goals. Budgeting is important for individuals with irregular incomes or those who have different priorities from month to month. Personal budget software provides an easy way to plan budgets, track spending and manage finances in one place.
It’s clear that there are some advantages to using an offline personal budgeting program. Because you download the software onto your computer, it’s guaranteed not to be hacked and it will never be down because of a server issue. The software also won’t have any ads or pop-ups — something that can be distracting when you’re trying to focus on your finances. If you’re looking for an easy way to track your spending, then offline personal budgeting software might just work for you! We hope our guide has helped you find the perfect budgeting tool for your needs! Feel free to check out any of these links for more information about each software. Happy budgeting!