It’s a confusing world out there for those who are on a budget and those who self-identify as “frugal”. With so many reports about the best personal finance tools and budgeting software, it can be overwhelming, to say the least. There are hundreds of lifestyle bloggers claiming to have tried it all and that trying some new financial product is the answer to your money worries. Does this sound familiar?
Budgeting has become a necessary element of life in the 21st century. With the increase in costs of living, maintaining a budget is necessary to stay on top of things. If you are looking for free budget software, I’ve given several suggestions on some of the best budget software personal finance. Here are my top picks: Microsoft Money is a favorite personal finance software offering by Microsoft. This program has been used by both individuals and small businesses to manage their finances more effectively. The program has come a long way to offer users greater independence and control over their finances. There are three versions available: Basic, Deluxe, and Premium. If you are trying to find the best personal finance software, there are a number of things you have to consider. Assuming you have already created a budget for yourself, next you need to figure out how to track your finances. You might be wondering if you should use an online tool or software application. There are many choices in both categories but it is highly recommended that you consider online tools first. If for whatever reason you prefer a different type of software, there are still a few important things to consider.
The Internet is clogged with lifestyle bloggers, financial gurus and braggart crooks (to name a few) who all want to make a quick buck off your naivety. Don’t be the victim. Read through the rest of this article if you want to learn more about what is the best budget software for personal finance, how to save money and make right decisions on finances.
There’s a lot of free personal finance software out there. Unfortunately, most of it’s pretty bad. Most of it makes you enter your financial data manually (which is never fun), or really only keeps track of your budget on screen (not printing or not allowing sync to other devices). If you’re going to install something to manage your money, you might as well get something that works. Of all the different kinds of personal finance software, I think the best all include some kind of online account and sync capabilities. In this post, we’ll look at what types of personal budget software are out there, how they work and which ones we like best.
What Is the Best Budget Software Personal Finance
EveryDollar, for simpler zero-based budgeting
Why we recommend it: This apps offers a zero-based budgeting framework that’s simpler (and perhaps easier to manage) than YNAB.
First, an explanation of the names: EveryDollar is a free budgeting app. But, to get the app’s extra features, you must become a Ramsey+ member. In addition to a beefed-up version of EveryDollar, a Ramsey+ membership includes other, off-app features, such as audiobooks and courses.
The free version is simple, in part because you don’t sync accounts. You manually enter incoming and outgoing money throughout the month. You also categorize line items in your budget and set reminders for bill payments.
If you sign up for Ramsey+, you can connect your bank accounts so it’s simpler to track transactions. You can also track debts, see reports on how you spent your money and print your transaction history.
Why you may want to think twice: The free version of EveryDollar is pretty bare-bones, and the Ramsey+ membership is more expensive than any app on our list. Also, the app’s website offers few resources to help you understand how to use the app before signing up for a trial.
Cost: The basic version of EveryDollar is free. To access more features, you must join Ramsey+, which you can try for free for 14 days. After the trial, you can pay $59.99 for three months, $99.99 for six months or $129.99 for 12 months.
Apple store rating: 4.8
Google Play rating: 4.2
Quicken
Quicken is an all-in-one personal finance software that can help you manage your finances and investments, as well as track your business expenses. Quicken offers a variety of features that allow you to view, organize and analyze all of your financial information in one place.
Quicken’s small business tools include invoicing, inventory management, statement reconciliation and much more.
Finance professionals who want to use Quicken for their taxes might be disappointed by its limited tax filing capabilities (though they can import data from TurboTax). While there aren’t any free versions of Quicken available, there are several different paid plans starting at $39/year or $3/month based on how many accounts you want to add on top of the main account type: bank accounts or credit cards.
YNAB
YNAB is an online budgeting and personal finance software. YNAB is budgeting software that allows you to link all accounts, categorize your expenses and income, set goals for your spending, and save money for the future.
YNAB’s main goal is to help users live on last month’s income (aka the “envelope system”). This means that users have to manually enter their income into YNAB when they receive it or else risk not being able to pay bills with their money. This may seem like a tedious task at first glance but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. The best part about using YNAB is that once you input all of your transaction information into YNAB every month, tracking your spending will be as easy as pie!
Mint
Mint is a free budgeting software that offers an impressive array of features. It’s arguably the most popular personal finance tool out there, and has been around for over a decade. The interface is easy to use, with a stylish design that makes Mint look like any other app on your phone or tablet.
The biggest feature missing from Mint is investment management—if you want that level of complexity in your finances, you might be better off going with another service on this list that offers it as part of their suite (like YNAB). Mint also doesn’t offer bill pay or check deposits, though those are features some users may not care about at all. You can set up recurring bills in the Mint mobile app but they don’t sync automatically with bank accounts like other apps do; instead you need access to direct deposit so funds can be transferred into your account each month without any action required on your end.
Mint doesn’t include tax preparation tools either—and while some people may find this useful enough to warrant paying for another product (we recommend TurboTax), it does leave something out if taxes are something you plan on doing yourself without professional help every year
Tiller Money
Tiller is a spreadsheet-based budgeting software. It’s a Google spreadsheet, and it also has an associated add-on that makes it easy to track your spending from within the spreadsheet.
While some financial management programs require you to use their proprietary software, Tiller is designed for people who prefer to use something like Microsoft Excel or Apple Numbers instead of learning how to use an application that can only be used when connected online (and whose data isn’t accessible if your internet connection goes out).
It’s free for 30 days ($5/mo after that) so there’s no reason not to give it a try if you’re on the fence.
Goodbudget
Goodbudget is a free personal finance management (PFM) app, but it also offers a paid version for $5 per month. It’s available online or on your mobile device, and it syncs with your bank account so you can see what goes in and out of your account each day.
The Goodbudget envelope budgeting system works by assigning categories to envelopes that represent your monthly income. Each month you’ll spend the money for each envelope until it’s gone, and then you’ll transfer whatever’s left over into another envelope with the same category name—this time as savings! You can easily share budgets with other people if needed.
You Need a Budget (YNAB)
- YNAB has a clear and simple interface, which makes it a great option for budgeting beginners.
- It’s easy to use, intuitive and highly customizable—you can even track your net worth through YNAB.
- This software lets you connect all of your bank accounts, credit cards, loans and investments in one place so that you can easily keep track of how much money is coming in and going out (and where).
- It also allows you to set up “envelope” accounts that allow users to save specific amounts each month without having to worry about spending that money on something else first.
Personal Capital
Personal Capital is another software that gives you the power to track wealth, investments and retirement planning. The software has a few benefits including being free to use and available on all devices. It can be used with multiple bank accounts, credit cards and investment accounts. One of my favorite features is the ability to see my net worth in real time!
Personal Capital offers an easy-to-use interface so you don’t have to hire an expensive CPA or accountant just to track your finances (which means it’s perfect for people who want their money work for them).
Goodbudget (formerly EEBA, the Easy Envelope Budget Aid)
Goodbudget (formerly EEBA, the Easy Envelope Budget Aid) is a free budgeting app for Android and iOS that takes a more old-school approach to budgeting. It works like a virtual version of the envelope system, with you setting aside certain amounts of money in separate envelopes that correspond to your various expenses. You can easily track how much money is left over each month or week by seeing which envelopes have been depleted.
The basic version of Goodbudget allows you to set up five separate envelopes and apply any name you want to them (it’s not hard to think up creative names). If you want additional features such as importing data from other apps or tracking recurring bills, however, there are subscription options starting at $4 per month.
There are many different kinds of software available for budgeting.
There are many different kinds of software available for budgeting. Some are free, and some you pay for. There’s even web-based personal finance software, which you can access with any web browser on your computer or mobile phone.
Some people prefer having a physical copy of the software on their computer that they can organize in folders and print out when needed. Others like the convenience of having all their information online so they can access it from anywhere there is an Internet connection. The key is finding what works best for your personal needs
Conclusion
Anyone with a bank account is in the business of personal finance. And to survive in this business, you need to be organized, whether it is your income, expenses and savings. You may have heard of YNAB and other budgeting software, but if you want something more, there are best budgeting apps out there that you might like. The answer will amaze you! It really depends on your needs. For example, if your budget is $0 each month and you’re out of debt, great job! Every app is free for you. But let’s face it, if you have a budget of 0 then you probably need some help in this area. If that’s the case, I recommend reading How to Start a Budget where we learn how to track expenses and make better financial choices. It’s all about starting small and building on our successes. When you know what tools are available, you can take advantage of them in order to best serve your unique needs.
It is my understanding that without the help from this new software, a lot of people would not be as advance with their personal budget processing. I think that it is one of the most helpful software for every person. It really helps you keep track of just about everything. It is also very beneficial to use because it will help you manage all your expenses so you will know when something is getting out of hand. The good thing is that they have available different kind of personal budget software that come with different prices and various features.