Personal finance software is often a good choice for individuals who want to start managing their finances in one place. The desktop personal finance software category includes all types of software you can install on a computer, including freeware and open source programs.
Free desktop personal finance software can help you track your income and expenses in a secure environment. There are lots of free financial tools available, such as Web-based applets and apps, desktop software, and mobile apps that support syncing between devices.
Personal finance software is a broad category that includes software for tracking credit cards, managing a budget and investment planning. The most important feature of personal finance software is that it’s easy to use, so you can spend less time getting organized and more time making money. A good personal finance program will help you visualize where your money is going in real-time.
Personal financial software is used to keep track of one’s money and spending. This is different from business management software, which can help track the finances of a small business and also does bookkeeping. Personal financial software personal finance software desktop combines accounting, budget and personal information management (PIM) applications.
Personal Finance Software
Personal Finance Software will let you set the goals for the future and provide an in-depth picture of your position. It offers a facility to monitor the bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investment balances in one platform.
If we compare the online vs desktop personal finance software then the online tools provide more security, there will not be any software installation, and you will get automatic software updates. Fact Check: Personal Finance Software offers several benefits like tracking & analyzing investments, no late payments, monitoring credit scores, etc. According to Allied Market Research, the market size of Personal Finance software is expected to grow to $343 million by 2026 for the US region. It is growing at a CAGR of 5% from 2019 to 2026.
The below image will show the statistics for the market size for Personal Finance Software for the period 2020 to 2024.
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Pro Tip: While choosing the Personal Finance Software you can consider multiple factors like spending reports, free credit score, account restrictions, cost, etc. but the most important factor is that the tool should be able to sync with your bank and credit card accounts. The final selection of the tool is completely based on your requirements like all-purpose, budgeting, investing, taxes, saving, bill management, etc.
General Features Of Personal Finance Software
While choosing the software, you can also look for the below-mentioned features.
- Mobile App
- Bank-level Security
- Real-time updated information
- Categorization of transactions
- Financial accounts in one place.
- Setting of goals
- Tracking of goals and spending.
- Reports on your performance.
- Balance forecast
- Tool’s personalization capabilities.
Precautions To Use Online Money Management Apps
Three measures should be taken while using the online money management app i.e. look for the tool’s security features, its data backup policy, and see if it has a strong password. A strong password provides good security as it is not controlled by the provider of Personal Finance Software.
How Does The Personal Finance Software Work?
The online Personal Finance Software works by storing your financial data on their servers. This gives you an advantage over storing data on desktop computers as it can be easily hacked.
Some advanced online solutions provide the highest level of security. They encrypt your data and show it in a non-readable format. A good tool provides firewall protection for filtering the network traffic and preventing malicious attacks.
List Of The Best Personal Finance Software
Here is the list of popular Budgeting Software available in the market:
- Mint
- Honeydue
- Mvelopes
- PocketGuard
- EveryDollar
- Moneydance
- Money Dashboard
- GnuCash
- Quicken
- YNAB
- BankTree
- Personal Capital
Comparison Of Top Budgeting Software
| Name | Best for | Type | Platforms | Free Trial | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intuit Mint | Online Accounting | Web-based & mobile app. | Web-based, Android & iOS. | No | Free |
| Honeydue | Couples to manage Finances. | Mobile app | Android & iOS | No | Free |
| Mvelopes | Envelope budgeting system. | Web-based & Mobile app. | Web-based, Android, & iOS. | Available for 30 days. | The price starts at $5.97 per month. |
| PocketGuard | Categorization & organization of your expenses. | Web-based & Mobile App. | Android & iOS | No | Free plan & Plus Plan. |
| EveryDollar | Creating a monthly budget & track spending. | Web-based & mobile app. | Web-based, Android, & iOS. | Available for 14 days. | It starts at $59.99 for 3 months. |
#1) Intuit Mint
Best for online accounting.
Intuit Mint is the platform for personalized insights, custom budgets, spend tracking, and monitoring subscriptions. It supports Android and iOS devices. You can add your cash, credit cards, bills, and investments to the tools to track the money easily. It will categorize bank transactions and provide safety and security to your data.
Features:
- Mint is a platform with a budget planner and credit monitoring.
- In a budget planner, you can add and update the categories as per your requirement easily.
- For securing the data, it has various features like safeguarding the mobile app with a 4-digit code, multi-factor authentication, etc.
- It automatically finds the savings that are missed.
- It can track the bills to help you without missing them.
Verdict: Intuit Mint is a trusted, protected, and dedicated platform to manage your finances. It will help you stay focused on your financial goals. It is a platform for all accounts in one place and offers the functionalities of bill payment tracker, budgeting goal tracker, free credit score, budget alerts, investment tracker, etc.
Price: Intuit Mint is available for free.
Website: Intuit Mint
#2) Honeydue
Best for couples to manage finances.
Honeydue is an application that helps couples to manage their finances together. It is a smart tool that provides instant notification and real-time balances & budgets for each partner. It is a collaborative tool. It is a secure platform and offers real-time card locks functionality. It offers 24*7 fraud protection.
Features:
- Honeydue has the features to access cash from more than 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs, Apple, and Google Pay.
- With Honeydue joint bank account, the couples will be able to bank together.
- Honeydue supports multiple languages.
- It provides reminders for bills.
Verdict: Honeydue is a mobile application that will let couples collaborate on their terms. It offers the functionalities for tracking all the accounts, coordinating bills, and chatting. Honeydue is working on automatic bill payment features too.
Price: Honeydue is available for free.
Website: Honeydue
#3) Mvelopes
Best as an envelope budgeting system.
Mvelopes offers an envelope budgeting system with three editions i.e. Basic, Premier, & Plus. The app is available for Android and iOS devices. It will let you connect with an unlimited number of accounts.
With all three editions, you will get access to live chat & knowledge base, interactive reports, and auto transaction importing & account balance monitoring.
Features:
- The basic edition will let you connect your bank accounts and create an online envelope budget.
- With the Premier and Plus plan, you will get access to Mvelopes learning center, debt reduction center, and initial setup assistance.
- For the Plus plan, Mvelopes offers the features like a dedicated personal coach, a personalized financial plan, and high-level priority support.
Verdict: This envelope budgeting system will help you gain financial peace of mind. It is a simple and affordable budgeting program. With Mvelopes, you will be able to manage your finances from anywhere.
Price: Mvelopes offers a free trial for 30 days. Basic ($5.97/month or $69 per year), Premier ($9.97 per month or $99 per year), & Plus ($19.97 per month or $199 per year).
Website: Mvelopes
#4) PocketGuard
Best for categorization & organization of your expenses.
PocketGuard is the tool that will help you with categorizing and organizing expenses. It will categorize and organize your expenses into tabs and graphs. It will set aside the money for bills, goals & necessities and give you a clear view of spendable money. You can link all your bank, credit cards, and loans & investment in one platform.
Features:
- PocketGuard has features to personalize the reports with custom categories and hashtags.
- It provides the feature of AutoSave that will automatically grow your savings. You just have to enter your goal of saving and the tool will handle the rest.
- It will track the bills and negotiate better deals for cell phone bills, cable bills, etc.
Verdict: PocketGuard will help you with optimizing your spending and thereby grow your savings. You can see all accounts in one place and will be able to keep track of your account balances, net worth, etc.
Price: PocketGuard offers a free plan and a Plus plan. You can get a quote for its pricing details. As per the reviews, it may cost you $3.99 per month or $34.99 per year.
Website: PocketGuard
#5) EveryDollar
Best for creating a monthly budget & tracking your spending.
EveryDollar is a budgeting app with the functionalities to create a monthly budget, save money, and track spending. You can enter your monthly income, make a plan, and track spending by creating a transaction. It is accessible through a web and mobile app. The mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices.
Features:
- EveryDollar provides a customizable template to help you with planning your expenses.
- You can track your spending according to your plan.
- Every time you spend money you can create a transaction and this helps you to track spending.
Verdict: EveryDollar is an all-in-one budgeting guide that is accessible from anywhere. It will let you track your expenses and save more. This easy-to-use app will help you with achieving your goals.
Price: You can try the app for free for 14 days. EveryDollar offers the solution with three pricing plans i.e. 3 months ($59.99), 6 months ($99.99), and 12 months ($129.99).
Website: EveryDollar
#6) Moneydance
Best for personal finance management.
Moneydance is an application for personal finance. It supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS platforms. It has the capabilities of online banking, bill payment, account management, budgeting, and investment tracking.
It supports multiple currencies. It provides a summary of your finances that includes account balances, upcoming and overdue transactions, reminders, etc.
Features:
- Moneydance has features for downloading transactions and sending payments online. For this, it supports a lot of financial transactions.
- It provides the facility to create graphs and reports for your income and expenses.
- It has Account Registers for entering, editing, and deleting transactions in an account.
Verdict: Moneydance is a personal finance software that is easy to use. It provides all the features required to manage personal finances. It will easily handle any financial task. Moneydance has various functionalities including online banking and setting up reminders for payments.
Price: Moneydance offers a free trial. You can buy the tool for $49.99. It has a 90-day money-back guarantee.
Website: Moneydance
#7) Money Dashboard
Best for budgeting and growing the savings.
Money Dashboard is a budgeting app that provides the functionalities to manage all your accounts. It supports more than 40 banks and providers. It offers the functionalities to transfer money and create offline accounts. It can be used on a laptop, tablet, or phone.
Features:
- Money Dashboards will automatically categorize your spending so that you will get to know where the money goes.
- It has functionalities to track bills, payday countdown, and predicted balance.
- To provide you security, it follows the best in class practices like FCA authorized & regulated and bank-level security.
Verdict: Money Dashboard is a secure platform with capabilities of bank connections, budgets, balance after bills, bills & subscriptions, tracking your spending, etc.
Price: Money Dashboard is available for free.
Website: Money Dashboard
#8) GnuCash
Best for personal finance and ease of use.
GnuCash is the accounting software for personal use as well as for small businesses. This financial accounting software supports multiple platforms Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac, BSD, etc. The software is intuitive and based on professional accounting principles.
For small businesses, it offers the functionalities of customer & vendor tracking, jobs, invoicing & bill payment, tax & billing terms, etc.
Features:
- GnuCash provides the features of double-entry accounting, small-business accounting, reports, and graphs.
- It has features for Stock/Bond/Mutual Fund Accounts.
- It offers functionalities like QIF/OFX/HBCI Import and Transaction Matching.
- It has features for scheduled transactions and financial calculations.
Verdict: GnuCash is an easy-to-use and powerful platform. This personal financial accounting software offers the functionalities of tracking bank accounts, stocks, income, and expenses.
Price: GnuCash is available for free.
Website: GnuCash
#9) Quicken
Best for money management & personal finance.
Quicken is a personal finance and money management software. That will help you with managing spending, budgets, investments, retirement, etc. It will categorize your expenses automatically. Quicken provides 256-bit encryption security. Your data will be transmitted securely with robust encryption.
Features:
- Quicken has a bill center dashboard and a facility to download a PDF of bills.
- With Deluxe and premier plans, it offers the features of loan, investment, and tax planning.
- Quicken Bill Manager offers the features of bill tracking and bill pay.
- Quicken’s key features include keeping finance up-to-date, searching transaction history, checking investment performance, and viewing balances, budgets, accounts, & transactions, etc.
Verdict: With Quicken, you will be able to manage your money on desktop, web, and mobile platforms. It is a secure place that will let you see all the bank and credit card accounts in one place.
It will give you a complete financial picture at a glance. In one place you can view banking, investment, retirement, credit card accounts, etc.
Price: Quicken offers the four pricing plans for Windows PC i.e. Starter ($35.99 per year), Deluxe ($46.79 per year), Premier ($70.19 per year), and Home & Business ($93.59 per year). For the Mac platform, it has three plans i.e. Starter, Deluxe, and Premier. It offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Website: Quicken
Best for Budgeting Mint
Mint is one of the most popular budgeting and expense tracking tools. You can have the software pull in your bank and credit card information to analyze your spending and pinpoint areas where you can cut back to improve your finances. For more accountability, Mint allows you to set up alerts for things like due dates and low balances to keep you on track. These features help you avoid expensive fees on late payments and overdrafts from your bank account. If you’ve set up budget categories, Mint will give you real-time information about the amount you can spend on things like food and gas. Mint is free to download and use on iOS and Android devices, as well as desktop.
Best for Habit Building YNAB
You Need a Budget, or YNAB, is a personal finance software that’s aimed to help you improve your financial literacy as you manage your monthly budget. As you create your budget and manage your daily finances, the software provides you with tutorials that will help you tackle some of the tougher financial topics. If you’ve been struggling with bad financial habits, YNAB can help you break those through a few basic financial management rules.
The software automatically links to your bank account, integrating your spending information for analysis and budget tracking. You can keep tabs on how you’re tracking toward your monthly budget and take action if you’re overspending. It doesn’t include any investment tracking capabilities. YNAB offers a 34-day free trial that allows you to use the software while you decide whether it’s right for your personal finance goals. The full software is $14.99 monthly or $98.99 annually.
Best for Zero-Based Budgeting Mvelopes
The traditional envelope budgeting system helps you stick to a budget by using envelopes to manage your money. Once you’ve broken down your budget, you put that amount of cash into different envelopes. So, if you budget $100 for gas for the week, you place that amount in a “gas” envelope. Once you’ve spent that $100, that’s it. Mvelopes takes this same approach to budgeting, except that it’s done digitally on your phone and computer rather than with physical cash.
Choose the financial goals that are most important to you, then add your bank accounts and set your income. Mvelopes will help you create a budget and set up your “envelopes.” The software tracks your spending and shows you what you’ve spent from each envelope to keep you on budget throughout the month.
The basic version starts at $5.97 per month, and you can try Mvelopes for 30 days for, free when you enroll in the premier plan at $9.97 per month.
Best for Taxes TurboTax
You may not necessarily need TurboTax to manage your finances throughout the entire year, but when it’s tax time, the software can come in handy. While it’s one of the pricier tax preparation tools, it’s also consumer-friendly, walking you through your tax preparation to help you accurately file your tax return. Entering your tax information is fairly simple—you can import your W-2 information from your employer or take a picture of it and the software will transfer the information into the form.
If you’ve used TurboTax in previous years, the software will remember your personal information and ask whether there have been any major changes. The most basic version lets you file your federal and state return for free if all you use is form 1040 with no attached schedules.
On the higher end, TurboTax Live connects you with a tax expert to give you personalized advice and answer questions about your tax return. Paid versions of TurboTax include a feature to help you uncover deductions you may not have known were available to you. While you can use TurboTax on the web, you can also download the software to your device for added security.
Best for Investing FutureAdvisor
If you’re a DIY investor looking for low-cost access to a financial advisor, FutureAdvisor is a great option. The investment software provides personalized recommendations to help you diversify your portfolio, which you can follow or not follow as you see fit. You’re eligible to sign up for the software if you have at least $5,000 in investable assets. FutureAdvisor manages the assets you transfer into the account for a flat annual fee of 0.5% of the managed assets, billed quarterly at 0.125%. When you transfer your assets into the account, FutureAdvisor works to consolidate them into accounts with its partners, Fidelity or TD Ameritrade.
Best for Investment Advice Personal Capital
Personal Capital allows you to manage all your financial accounts in a single platform. You can include your bank accounts, mortgage, and other credit accounts, plus your investment accounts, to have your complete financial picture right in front of you. If you have multiple accounts—as most of us do these days—using Personal Capital can save you from having to switch between multiple screens to understand where you stand.
If you have a portfolio of more than $100,000, you can get personalized financial advice based on your goals. While you’re charged a fee for this service, financial advisors are obligated to provide you with advice that works in your best interest.1
Use the software to tell whether you’re on track with your retirement and other investment goals. Even if you’re not quite ready to take advantage of the financial advisor, you can use Personal Capital to track your finances and investments in one place. There is no monthly fee, and the annual management fee is tiered based on the investment amount.
Best for Spreadsheet Management Tiller Money
Tiller Money lets you see all your money in one place by automatically updating your checking, credit card, loan, investment, and other account data into a customizable Google Sheet or Excel template. Tiller Money lets you choose from templates that organize your data for you or you can customize your spreadsheet to suit your needs. It’ll also send you daily emails with a summary of your recent transactions and balances. The service costs $79 per year or $6.58 per month, but you can take advantage of the 30-day free trial to decide whether it’s right for you.
Financial Planning Tips
- Consider working with a financial advisor to build a financial plan that’s tailored to your life and needs. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
- Before selecting a financial planning software, assess your needs. For instance, are you looking for a program that focuses on weekly and monthly budgeting? Do you need something that includes long-term retirement planning and other tools to help you grow your wealth? The answers to these questions will lead you to the best options for you.
Conclusion
The selection of the Personal Finance Software depends largely on your requirement of the types of features. E.g. a free software will be a good option for the requirement of tracking and categorization of money with basic functionalities. To get the guidance and advanced features you will have to go with the paid tools.
Sometimes, the best personal finance software is one that you don’t pay for. There are a number of free personal finance desktop software programs available to consumers. By using these programs, you can learn about personal finances in a hands-on way that will help you better understand how to make smart money decisions.