6 Great Free Alternatives to Quicken & MS Money

Adam Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 6:40 am

Yodlee is really nice. Probably the coolest feature is being able to see your net worth in real time. It imports all of your credit card and bank account balance information and (if you are like most people) shows you how much debt you are really in. Note: this information might be depressing for many.

Ravindran Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 7:59 am

I am using GnuCash on my Ubuntu box. It’s an amazing software. I recommended this to one of my friend and he is totally sold out. He is very happy with Windows version of GnuCash recently releashed.

Vincent Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 8:29 am

Also a GNUcash user here. When I actually keep up with my accounting, the program is all that I need and nothing more—no bloat, no unnecessary features, no stupid interface choices (Quicken, I’m looking at you). It does everything a financial program should and then gets out of the way.

CraigM Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 8:42 am

I’ve used GNUCash in the past, and while it’s an excellent tool, I’ve found I like MoneyDance much better (http://moneydance.com). The program is completely cross-platform, and has very mature online banking support (of which I don’t currently use. Shame on me. :) ) I highly recommend it. It’s not free, but $30 is cheaper than all but the basic editions of Quicken, and is a one-time purchase.

Balfour Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 9:04 am

Thanks, this is excellent info. I’ve never gotten Quicken off the ground for myself, even though every year I get it, because I have a rebate on it after purchasing Turbo Tax. But, since I got a Mac a few years ago, I’ve had to purchase Quicken for Mac (no rebate), so I haven’t updated it to the current year. Also, I’m now a club treasurer and have tried to move the Quicken data from a Windows machine to my Mac and they’ve made it really really hard! From a quick web search, my understanding is that Intuit has disabled features that would make it easy for transition from Windows to Mac and also so that financial institutions have to pay extra for people with Mac to download data. Not loving Quicken! So, I’m ready to explore something else, but Excel spreadsheets are pretty pokey compared to a database system.

Wondering about the security of the freebies that allow you to download banking and credit card data?

CarlaT Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 9:05 am

I’ve tried a couple of the programs mentioned (Gnu Cash, Wesabe, Yoodle, Quicken and MSMoney) but it wasn’t until I took the time to build my own spreadsheet that I finally was able to bring my savings rate up from 5% to 60%. It’s amazing how much one can spend on frivolous stuff.

verevi Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 10:09 am

I’ve been working with Wesabe and I really like it. I’ve dabbled with others (Quicken, MoneyDance, GnuCash). But I find Wesabe quick, simple, and almost fun to use. I never got deeply into any other programs, so I don’t know what I’m missing by using Wesabe (if anything). But, I easily can see my spending broken out by the tags I choose, and it updates every day automatically ALL of my accounts with the uploader on my local machine.

I guess it could probably use more reporting tools, but the developers seem very interested in making Wesabe even better. Plus, you can actually call up the CEO directly if you have a question. Try that with Quicken!

Matt Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 10:48 am

I recently switched to Mvelopes and I find it to be an excellent service. The best aspects are that I can access my financial information from any PC and the budgeting system is much more effective and easier to stick to than with most other programs. The only thing I dislike about the service is that reports are not nearly as full featured as in programs like Money and Quicken. I don’t consider that a very important feature though.

rob d Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 11:39 am

if you use fidelity, they provide yodlee services with their brokerage accounts.
they call it FullView.

mawcs Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 13:38 pm

I didn’t see your “Ask the Reader,” but this software is working well for me:

http://jgnash.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Ruby Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 14:23 pm

I use KMyMoney because… well it was the first thing I tried and it worked, so why change? I use KDE so it’s the most lightweight desktop solution anyways; and the online services… I don’t think I would trust any third party website with my financial information.

Dave M Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 15:11 pm

I’ve definitely tried both Mvelopes and YNAB. Rather than repeating myself here, you can read my thoughts at http://www.mauder.com/budgeting/81/quick-update-on-envelope-budgeting/

Ryan Williams Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 16:58 pm

I’ll throw NetworthIQ out there too. It’s a simple way to track your finances from a high level and keep yourself on track, not requiring you to keep up with all those transactions. If you feel inclined to share your progress and insights with the world, you can do that too.

Aaron M Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 17:58 pm

Thanks for suggesting yodlee. The interface is very slick, and it has the expense categorization features and automatic account downloads that have kept me chained to Money for far too long. Plus, since Money was my #1 reason to keep Windows on my home machine, I may finally be able to make my way back to Linux!

noksagt Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 18:13 pm

I went from Quicken to MS Money to GnuCash. I’ve tried a lot of others, but GnuCash is my favorite. I maintain the FatWallet Finance FAQ: Free and Open Source Finance Applications & there are several other apps listed there.

Jay Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 22:38 pm

Mvelopes has saved my marriage! Well, it’s not quite that dramatic, but it has got my wife and I budgeting together for the first time in 15 years. I was a long time user of Quicken and decided to try Mvelopes after hearing about it from a friend.

I really enjoy the day to day accountability having to decide which “mvelope” funds have to be pulled from when transactions come through. It really makes you think twice about your spending.

Leo Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 23:06 pm

Thanks for all the awesome responses, everyone! You guys have really helped make this post better.

@Jay: Thanks for sharing … but if my marriage is already doing well, should I still use Mvelopes? :)

Andy Pasuszak Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 23:31 pm

I personally use Moneydance (http://www.moneydance.com). It costs $30, but it’s cross platform and the support is OUTSTANDING. There is a mailing list and the author seems to respond to questions on an almost daily basis. Check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

HardwareGuy Says:

May 24th, 2007, 0:03 am

Great recommendations, but Excel isn’t free. Of course you can use OpenOffice Calc instead.

Patrick ALlmond Says:

May 24th, 2007, 0:08 am

Thanks for the list. Do you have any information about Yodlee? It does not seem that the general user can sign up for it. You have to come through a provider like intuit, scottrade, etc. I went to thier site and that is all they seem to have.

Patrick

PS Says:

May 24th, 2007, 0:47 am

You left out:
Money Manager Ex
Simple to use and powerful too.

Open Source too,

Available for Windows & Linux.
DEB files for Ubuntu.

http://www.thezeal.com/software/index.php?Money_Manager_Ex

Jean Doute Says:

May 24th, 2007, 2:26 am

MoneyDance gets my recommendation too. Great software, cross-platform (I have used the same data file and license on Mac and Windows), and the multi-currency feature is impressive. On one occasion when I needed support (during an upgrade) the developer answered and solved my problem the same day. Cheers.

markdbd Says:

May 24th, 2007, 2:28 am

What about HomeBank?
is the free software you have always wanted to manage your personal accounts at home. The main concept is to be light, simple and very easy to use. It brings you many features that allows you to analyze your finances in a detailed way instantly and dynamically with powerfull report tools based on filtering and graphical charts.
http://homebank.free.fr/index.php

yodJordan Says:

May 24th, 2007, 2:53 am

You can reach Yodlee directly at http://moneycenter.yodlee.com, but going through your bank will keep your data all through your FI.
The primary reason I like the Yodlee service is that I can “set it and forget it” and let MoneyCenter keep all my information updated on its own. When something interesting happens, I’ll get an e-mail alert telling me a bill is due, an account is low on money, or one of the other events I’ve told it to watch for. That way I don’t have to keep constantly inputing data or checking on the state of things. It all happens magically while I’m out living life, even if I’m away from my computer for two weeks.
All comments and suggestions for Yodlee are welcome on our user forums. http://forum.yodlee.com

..Jordan, Yodlee, Inc.

jona Says:

May 24th, 2007, 3:23 am

nobody here are using grisbi ?
http://www.grisbi.org/index.en.html

Kris Bravo Says:

May 24th, 2007, 3:26 am

Wondering out loud, why wasn’t MoneyDance included? Java application so it runs on linux, bank feeds, plugin support, and nowhere near as bloated as Microcrap Money or Quicken (Ugh).

Anyone looking for one register for various platforms, check this one out…

Franky Says:

May 24th, 2007, 4:28 am

Thanks for the helpful resource…now if I could only figure out how the hell I’m supposed to install GNUCash on windows I’d really be happy. I wish more open source software took into account us relative noobs.

mykoleary Says:

May 24th, 2007, 8:29 am

Yodlee is a life saver. You can also track reward programs like Amex, Discover, and frequent flyer programs. You can also track how many anytime minutes are left on your current cell phone bill this month. And the kicker: you can set up alerts for EVERYTHING. Get alerted when a transaction over $5 hits on that 0% card in the bureau, get alerted when you have less than 45 minutes left this month on your cell phone, get alerted when you’re about to overdraft yourself since your checking account balance dipped under $100. No self respecting person should be without Yodlee. Have the alerts sent to your cell phone’s email for the most secure fraud monitoring system ever created.

mykoleary Says:

May 24th, 2007, 8:31 am

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Yodlee also has an amazing mobile interface to make access to all that infomration from your phone even easier. Musy have for the mobile/travelling folk.

Geir Freysson Says:

May 24th, 2007, 9:58 am

Interesting. We just launched a free web 2.0-ish money tracker we call Walletproof. It’s at http://www.walletproof.com

:)

loops Says:

May 24th, 2007, 9:59 am

+1 for Gnu Cash, currently Excel will do for me though

Ryan Pharis Says:

May 24th, 2007, 10:06 am

Nice list. I have tried a few of these.
I am building my own version at http://www.trackyourbudget.com.
It’s very simple to use and has the basics so far.
Looking to include many more useful features, and leave out the stuff no one ever needs or cares about.
Feel free to sign up, it’s free!

Scott Says:

May 24th, 2007, 11:00 am

I’m surprised no one has mentioned http://www.buxfer.com. This is a fantastic budget and tracking site built by some grad students at Carnegie Mellon, who are adding more and more new features all the time and are very responsive to their users. Has charts/graphs, SMS capabilities, Web 2.0 stuff, import bank files (e.g. QIF, QFX, etc), and many more features.

I have used several of the above mentioned sites, but after all that work, I have settled on Buxfer as the tool of choice. Give it at try!

Chris Says:

May 24th, 2007, 12:35 pm

Another good free one is Pear Budget ( http://pearbudget.com/ ).
It’s just an Excel spreadsheet, but it’s well designed and does the basics. Unlike the fancier ones you have to enter stuff manually, but I find it easier to enter stuff off a reciept rather than trying to figure out what something was from the limited info that come on your bank statement. The company is working on a “Web 2.0″ version, but they’ve been working on it for awhile.

A.P. Says:

May 24th, 2007, 12:46 pm

Has anyone tried Buddi? After being burned by Quicken several times, I’ve not been able to motivate myself/invest the time to try another program. I’ve heard Buddi is easy.

Or, could someone explain to me how to to track my $*#&ing mortgage payments in Quicken?

Ron Says:

May 24th, 2007, 14:09 pm

I’d have switched from Quicken a while ago but I still haven’t found any solution that does cash forecasting. I’m currently an almost paycheck to paycheck guy and having all of my scheduled transactions (paychecks, bills, auto-transfers) entered into quicken, i can hit cash flow and it’ll show me a calendar of my bills and a nice bar chart of my daily account balance. I can go out as far as I want, say 4 months and see how much I’ll have on any particular day… anyone seen a feature like that in anything but quicken?

Balfour Says:

May 24th, 2007, 14:53 pm

Can anyone answer my question of how you can be assured of privacy and security from the free programs that include an option to get downloads from one’s own financial institutions?

Greg King Says:

May 24th, 2007, 15:20 pm

Back when I was using Windows I was a loyal Quicken user. Once I switched to Mac I purchased Quicken for Mac and was shocked to see how crippled it is. I am currently considering going back to Quicken for Windows using Parallels, but I would love another solution.

Prolific Programmer Says:

May 24th, 2007, 16:00 pm

I wrote my own, called it Finance on Rails. Search through my blog for a download link.

Chris Says:

May 24th, 2007, 16:29 pm

I’ve been using ClearCheckBook for 6 months or so and I really like it. It is a modern interface which is always under development. You can set categories, run reports, set spending limits, reminders, and have as many accounts as you like. They encourage you not to enter any bank account information other than a descriptive name. One of the coolest features I use is their CheckBot. That lets you retrieve balances of accounts as well as debit/credit your account using AIM, ICQ or cell phone txt. They say V2 is coming soon so it will be getting many new features shortly.

Very cool, check it out: https://www.clearcheckbook.com/

Golbguru Says:

May 24th, 2007, 16:40 pm

Yodlee is awesome. I have been using it for over 6 months now. Let me know if you ever want to read more about using it - I wrote a couple of posts about it long back.

Spencer Ferguson Says:

May 24th, 2007, 17:49 pm

I used an Excel spreadsheet of my own creation to track expenses for years. As business grows and multiple people need to edit the books at once these freebies just don’t do the trick any more. Very unfortunate as Quicken and Money make things more complicated than they need to be in order to be ‘feature-rich’.

Matt Says:

May 24th, 2007, 18:04 pm

I started out as a Quicken user over a decade ago. Several years ago I switched to gnucash, which I dearly love. However, my annual switching of OSes makes this a difficult one to maintain. I recently moved to jgnash, as I really like the fact that it is written in Java so that I can run it anywhere (including my new Mac), with absolutely NO PAIN. I still use an OpenOffice spreadsheet to maintain my charts for achieving financial independence ( http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=0140167153 ).

Erika Says:

May 24th, 2007, 18:12 pm

I’ve been using ClearCheckbook.com for about two months now, and I love it. It’s a free online checkbook balancing app, with a few budgeting features as well. I like it because it’s fast, easy, and streamlined. Advanced users may not be keen on their lack of features (always adding more, though) but for people like me who just want a basic way to balance the accounts and track expenditures by categories, it’s the tops.

I’ve used GnuCash in the past, and loved it, but I really wanted an online application so that I can make entries and check the balance from both home and work.

Amit Says:

May 24th, 2007, 18:41 pm

I use Buxfer and am extremely happy with it. It allows me to track how much my friends owe me, in addition to knowing where I am spending my money. I can set up repeat transactions (for my cable bill, rent, etc.), report transactions and query balances using SMS, and set up budgets (I can query real time for the amount remaining in my budget. Plus, I get real-time updates whenever I exceed my budget).

Buxfer also allows importing of transactions in different formats. Not only that, it automatically categorizes the transactions into meaningful categories.

Amit Says:

May 24th, 2007, 18:42 pm

The URL is https://www.buxfer.com

putput Says:

May 24th, 2007, 20:17 pm

clearcheckbook.com is a good one for money tracking. lets you track all expenses, set up multiple accounts, view charts of past spending.

MM Says:

May 24th, 2007, 21:16 pm

Do any of these allow you do download transactions from financial institutions using .OFX or Quicken WebConnect?

Amit Says:

May 24th, 2007, 22:28 pm

https://www.buxfer.com You can download transactions from financial institutions as a .OFX (or .QIF or .QFX) file, and then import it into Buxfer. Buxfer also automatically detects the duplicates, which is pretty cool!

Peter Glyman Says:

May 25th, 2007, 0:08 am

Check out http://geezeo.com We just launched Geezeo Mobile which lets you check you bank balances and available credit from your mobile phone using text/sms messaging. The service is free and can access thousands of financial institutions. We’ll be rolling out a more comprehensive personal finance manager this summer. Let us know if you check it out. We would love your feedback! -Pete

Jason A Clark Says:

May 25th, 2007, 1:17 am

These are all great tools but I’m not convinced they stack up against Quicken and Money. I guess they have their place, though.

Balfour Says:

May 25th, 2007, 7:47 am

Amit - thanks for the info on how you can download info securely in that program. That helps to answer my earlier question about secure downloading in relation to some of these free programs.

Jason, why do you say that?

Jason A Clark Says:

May 25th, 2007, 9:32 am

Although all of the programs mention do some things well, none of them do as many things well as Money and Quicken. I know the big boys always have naysayers but the truth is both Money and Quicken are pretty decent programs that offer tons of options and familiar interfaces. Almost all of the programs mentioned above do one or two things well but are really more niche oriented. A couple of them could work if you simply could not afford to buy Money or Quicken but if I had to recommend an all-in-one financial tool to someone in my own family it would be Quicken or Money. The others just can’t do what they do…not yet.

Martin Says:

May 25th, 2007, 9:56 am

What, no mention of Buddi? It’s *simple*, open source, and Java. http://buddi.sourceforge.net

Lester McGrath Says:

May 25th, 2007, 10:55 am

I have been using clearcheckbook.com for some weeks, but have been wanting to try yoodle.
Previously, I have used Crown Financial Ministries’ Money Matters.
A great software for those wanting to live by a tight budget. They are also behind mvelopes.

Lester McGrath Says:

May 25th, 2007, 10:58 am

I just realized yodlee can be accessed in Spanish. More reason to use it now, since my wife speaks no English.

Eric Christensen Says:

May 25th, 2007, 11:48 am

I like yodlee a lot as well and use it myself. My only problem with it is that the running balance in the yodlee register does not exactly match the balance on my bank site. Basically it appears that they take the reported ledger balance after all pending transactions and then work backwards from that, even though the pending transactions themselves are not downloaded. That makes it a bit inaccurate IMO. Otherwise a great site.

rgr Says:

May 28th, 2007, 19:06 pm

Thanks for some really great tips!

I use the Palm desktop software for my expenses; I am always on the road with work, so I log receipts on the Palm as I go, and sync every few days with my laptop (Samsung Q1 - great for travel). This gives me a running total, and different currency schedules, and I can then export the results into Excel and email the spreadsheet to my accountant every couple of weeks, which they prefer.

Denny Says:

May 29th, 2007, 4:21 am

EditGrid (http://www.editgrid.com/) is a great alternative for Google Docs.

Hank Schwartz Says:

July 27th, 2007, 17:24 pm

Tried most of the six..not sure if its just me or everybody else aswell all of these application require too much effort. I really am not trying to do a lot with my finance just like to know where my paycheck goes thats all. categorizing each one of transaction which is real pain. I recently got an invite from this new beta startup called spendview. They got some really cool features like auto categorization. It categorized 90% of my transaction. still trying out other feature..will keep u guys update on how it worked out for me for now they are worth lookin into.

Jason Says:

August 5th, 2007, 19:33 pm

Actually another one that works, but is still in beta is call sharpcash
http://www.codelandia.com/jaws/index.php/contents/mySharpCash.html

The forum is here:
http://www.codelandia.com/phpbb/index.php

Right now it only supports the basic OFX downloading, but it does get maintained.

Ben Says:

August 7th, 2007, 20:23 pm

Thanks man this was really helpful

Michael Says:

August 23rd, 2007, 0:32 am

Another great tool is Mint! It’s a free online tool to manage your money and suggest ways you could be saving money. It is currently in Beta and requires an invitation to use, but as an original alpha user, I have extra Beta invites. If you are interested, please see the following eBay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300144414940

Even if you don’t want to buy a Beta invitation, at least check out www.mint.com and read their personal finance tips blog.

Disclaimer: I am not an owner or employee of Mint, just an alpha tester with extra beta invites.

Mjrz Says:

August 23rd, 2007, 13:22 pm

Disclaimer: I am the author of this product.

Take a look at Personal Finance Manager from www.mjrz.net. It is written in Java, so will work on all platforms.
Currently it supports basic double entry accounting.
Import OFX data.
Download statements for Bank and Credit card accounts using OFX protocol

zaps Says:

September 7th, 2007, 1:18 am

Hi, enjoyed your links. I made a very simple online application that updates stock portfolios & checking/savings accounts & lets you see a net worth graph, individual account graphs, etc. It is free, please check it out: http://finance.spimp.net/ Also there are helpful allocation charts too.

Isarian Says:

October 16th, 2007, 10:27 am

Mint is a great new site I just found (www.mint.com). I’d have switched to it completely if it had a few more features like budgeting and manual account entry for cash accounts. Anyone else making use of it?

Al Says:

October 19th, 2007, 8:56 am

I had been using an excel sheet for a long time and finally came across budgetEDGE (www.budgetedge.com). This is by far the most comprehensive online budgeting/expense tracking tool I have used.

I have tried mint and I like their charting and the overall look of the site, but I chose budgetEDGE simply because it offers more features such as manual account entry, credit card tracking, and basic asset and debt management. There is a basic charting module that graphs aggregate demographic data and I hear these guys are going to release a more advanced version soon.

I find the interface very simple and intuitive and didn’t have to wait a month for an invitation to join (like i had to for mint). I would definitely recommend this tool to people looking for a complete budgeting and financial planning experience.

Ben Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 15:31 pm

This is just what I needed. I am giving wesabe a go. Looks good so far! Easy to upload financial data, and work out the gui.

Vilyamkh Says:

January 21st, 2008, 19:06 pm

effects of katrina on mississippi

ingryan Says:

January 30th, 2008, 14:33 pm

having tried several of these promising options, here’s my experience:

*yodlee is opaque if it’s not already integrated with your FI–the link one of their folks provides above goes to a login page–couldn’t find basic info about personal accounts.
*gnucash is way more complicated than i need for personal finances
*wesabe was cool, but for some reason kept truncating my imports–could be a corrupted file, but others handled it ok
*clearcheckbook.com didn’t detect duplicates when imports overlapped

and my winner is….buxfer. so far so good. and simple, intuitive, etc.–though i don’t think i’ll make much use of the groups features, etc. that seem aimed at students (though i could have used these over my last several years of group housing situations…)