If you want to turn your Mac into an all-purpose center of financial management for your home or business, you’re just a download away. Take a look at the best financial software for Mac and see what solution offers the features you need. There are lots of other apps you can use for a ton of things. Here are some of the best software apps you can get.
What Is the Best Personal Finance App for Mac
1. QuickBooks
Quicken for Mac gets a lot of attention, but if you aren’t using Windows then Quicken is a poor deal: In the last several years support has dropped off and the lack of compatibility just isn’t worthwhile (Quicken 2015 is currently to turn the trend around, to mixed results). QuickBooks, however, remains fully supported and feature-rich financial software for Mac: This is the program of choice for running a small business on an OS X platform. If your company uses Mac computers and you want the best financial software around, QuickBooks remains unparalleled with its full invoice, transaction, workflow and reconciliation features. Another great option with a free trial and also if you want something simple is EveryDollar, which is a budgeting software that helps you plan out where every single dollar is going. However, the software does cost $99 per month after the free trial ends. And if you need weather details on your iPad, read our review of the 6 free weather apps for iPad. For Android users, here are the best free weather apps for android phone download.
2. iBank 5
The latest version of iBank offers a full suite of financial management capabilities at an incredibly deep level. Direct Access and direct downloads allow you to connect directly to bank accounts, and you can quickly import from Quicken to update all your data. Budgeting, investment tracking, and advance notifications about bills are all included. You can also build you own financial charts and reports if you want to analyze a particular part of your finances. The downside to this universal collection of features is, unfortunately, the price. If you love to customize your iPhone, take a look at our review of these 15 eye enticing parallax wallpapers for the iPhone 5s.
3. iFinance
If iBank sounds too comprehensive or expensive for your Mac financial software needs, take a look at iFinance, which focuses more on the basics of financial management. You can import multiple financial documents and create budgets that are as simple or complex as you want. iFinance sports the in-depth transaction management that small businesses and careful families alike can appreciate…as long as you can invest the time necessary to learn the sometimes unique accounting tools.
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4. MoneyWell
If the interface on iBank doesn’t do much for you, take a look at MoneyWell financial software. MoneyWell offers many of the same features, from direct bank connections to budget control and transaction management, but with a very different set of graphics and tools that you may appreciate more. MoneyWell also has full support for iPad if you feel like taking your finances over to the sofa to work on. If you like envelope budgeting, you will also appreciate its “spending buckets” that help you limit spending in specific categories. The downside is once again the price, but it’s not quite as high as iBank if you want to save a few bucks. Check out Personal Capital as well, another easy to use software to help with personal money management and tracking your spending habits, which is a lifesaver if you have multiple credit cards. It’s labelled as a free version with free investment management tools and tax preparation and optimization, but a minimum balance is required alongside management fees. And for security, you may also need one of the best password management tools for Mac to keep your financial data safe.
5. Fortora Fres
Fortora is a newer entrant in personal finance software than previous options, and specializes in more streamlined features that allow you to quickly search for specific transactions, bulk edit entire fields to save time, and use shortcuts when setting budgets and recording items. It can import not only bank account information but also stock quotes for your investments. Otherwise, it makes a strong competitor to services like iBank and MoneyWell, although its support on mobile devices like iPad is unfortunately lacking.
6. SplashMoney
SplashMoney is more affordable personal finance software for creating budgets and tracking transactions. Like its more expensive personal finance software Mac brethren, it can also connect to major banks to upload transactions and account information automatically. There are features for comparing actual vs. budgeted expenses, and rearranging budgets based on what’s important to you. There are both desktop and mobile versions of this software, make sure you pick the desktop version and its strong collection of features.
Best budget app for mac
1. Moneydance
If you want a budget app for Mac that covers all the bases, then Moneydance is a great place to begin. The software lets you see all of your accounts at a glance and allows you to record detailed transactions. The latest updates to Moneydance have increased its features, added more mobile compatibility, and turned the app into a powerhouse for tracking every aspect of your budget, including more complex investments. It also connects to your bank accounts and offers free bill pay services so you can stay on top of your monthly expenses. And with that kind of access to all your sensitive financial information, you will need the best free antivirus software tools for mac to keep your data safe.
2. YNAB
You Need a Budget has quickly grown from a financial management app to one of the strongest financial brands and possible the best budget app for Mac, a suite of powerful products that manage to avoid being intimidating through their friendly interfaces and smart tool management. The latest version includes cloud syncing capabilities and long-term bill planning and collection. It’s an ideal match for a young family or someone who wants to move their money management fully onto a Mac. And that means you will also need one of the best password management tools for Mac to keep your financial data safe.
3. OmniFocus
At first glance, OmniFocus doesn’t really look like a budget app, and that’s because it’s a whole lot more. If you already have a budget system in place but would appreciate an organization and notification system to help you manage your money a little more effectively, this is the app for you. It specializes in creating detailed to-do tasks, reminders, shopping lists, and similar features. From organizing the latest home improvement project to making sure your shopping trip fits within your budget envelopes for this month, Omnifocus 2 is the ideal complementary app to your finance pursuits. If you prefer to find partners through social media and online dating platforms, check out our best free dating apps for iOS guide.
4. Mint QuickView
Mint.com is a project by Intuit to help people, especially younger people, manage their finances more responsibly. It encourages people to follow sound financial advice, develop healthy budgets, and plan for the years ahead with smart savings and investments. Mint QuickView is free budget software for Mac that ports the whole experience from the Web to your Mac desktop. With the app, you get alerts for all transactions and account changes, along with the ability to monitor all your cash flows and any important updates. The app also sports Mint.com’s trademark friendly graphs for a snapshot of your budget.
5. Personal Capital
If you have an eye on your financial investment, you may prefer a tool that goes a little deeper than something like Mint or YNAB – or, frankly, a lot deeper. That’s where Personal Capital comes it. It allows serious investors to do what they want to do best: Manage a complex and mature portfolio with an eye on long-term profit and quick, effective decision making. It’s one of the best tools around for self-management of your investment funds, including plenty of information and charts that showing your funds, stocks, bonds and other investments at a glance.
6. GnuCash
GnuCash differs from the other available budget software for Mac. First, it’s open source. The download is free and there’s a ton of customization for your particular situation, but you will need to spend a lot of time searching through plugins and optimizing to make it work for you. Within its framework, however, GnuCash allows you to find solutions for transaction matching, investment accounts, full double-entry accounting for business work, reports and graphs, scheduled future transactions, and much more. You won’t get the simplicity and fancy interfaces of other apps, but you will get a lot of content in trade.
7. Evernote
Evernote is known primarily as a notetaking and note sharing app using for collaboration. This is exactly what many group budget activities desperately need. Because Evernote is so ubiquitous and easy to use, it makes an ideal tool for syncing budget decisions between roommates or family members. Want to share a shopping list? Create a reminder about gas money? Keep a tally of utility payments and who owes what? Evernote can help with all that and more. This complementary nature makes it one of the best budget software for Mac options, no matter what other apps you use.
8. OfficeTime
So far, most of these apps have been designed primarily for home budgeting work. OfficeTime, however, brings budget tracking capabilities over to the business side, particular those workers who need to track billable hours and project budgets for multiple projects at the same time. It’s a great app for busy freelancers and works well with Excel and Numbers. You may need something else for your primary budget, but OfficeTime is an invaluable option for creating smooth, accurate numbers for that budget, no matter how confusing things get.
Free personal finance software
Managing your money successfully includes keeping a close eye on your expenses. One way to do that is to take advantage of free software and services. Free personal finance software can be surprisingly robust, helping you track spending, create and manage budgets, and run reports.
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.
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.
Part of what complicates the search for the best personal finance software is that there are now so many plans available. You could spend weeks or months searching through the dozens of potential choices that are out there.
It may help to first decide exactly what you expect the software to do for you, so you can narrow the search. For example, if saving money is a priority, you’ll want to narrow your search down to budgeting software that also helps you to set savings goals. If paying off debt is a priority, you’ll want to look for software that specifically helps you with debt reduction strategies.
Conclusion
Part of what complicates the search for the best personal finance software is that there are now so many plans available. You could spend weeks or months searching through the dozens of potential choices that are out there.
It may help to first decide exactly what you expect the software to do for you, so you can narrow the search. For example, if saving money is a priority, you’ll want to narrow your search down to budgeting software that also helps you to set savings goals. If paying off debt is a priority, you’ll want to look for software that specifically helps you with debt reduction strategies.