Personal finance software can be used to track spending, create budgets, and plan for future expenses. Some software differs by feature support, software code and development transparency, mobile app features, import methods, Monetization model, privacy and data storage practices.

Risks

The use of expense tracking, budgeting, and other personal finance software carries some risk, most notably is due to the disclosure of a username, password, or other account credentials used to automatically synchronize banking information with an expense tracking application. Another significant area of risk is due to sensitive personal information that is stored anytime data is digitized. This risk may be compounded based on the security the software vendor has implemented as well as the availability of the data and where specifically it is stored (online or a local application). An often overlooked form of risk is due to the monetization model and privacy practices of the vendor or software provider, whether the application is "free" or fee based. Open source software is one way of potentially minimizing the risks of privacy and monetization related risks of data exposure.

The following is a list of personal financial management software. The first section is devoted to free and open-source software, and the second is for proprietary software.

Free and open-source personal financial management software

Name Written in Operating system Mobile Presence Software license Description Countries of origin Last stable release date Language
GnuCash C, Scheme, C++

Java (Android App)

Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux[1] Android (limited companion app)[1] GPL,[1] Apache License 2 (Android App)[2] Personal and small-business financial-accounting software that supports tracking bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses.[1] 5.5 / 17 Dec 2023[3] Multilingual[1]
HomeBank C, GTK Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD GPL[4] Personal accounting software package[5] Contributors in multiple countries 5.6.2 / Feb. 6, 2023[6] Multilingual[7]
KMyMoney C++ Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux[8] GPL (v2)[9] Supports different account types, categorisation of expenses and incomes, reconciliation of bank accounts and import/export to the “QIF” file format Worldwide 5.1.3 / Jul 30, 2022[10] Multilingual[11]
Ledger C++ Any Unix-like including macOS, Microsoft Windows[12][citation needed] Android (via Termux)[13] BSD[14] A command-line based double-entry bookkeeping application. Data is stored in a plain text file, using a simple format, which the users prepare themselves using other tools. Ledger does not write or modify data, it parses the input data and produces reports. 3.3.0 / Feb 8, 2023[15] Multilingual

Proprietary personal financial management vendors and software

Name Spending Tracking Budgeting Investment Tracking Third-Party Bill Paying Operating Systems Mobile Support Software Type Direct Cost Other Monetization Models Description
Banktivity Yes Yes Yes Yes macOS iOS Stand alone Yearly Fee[16] Personal finance software for Mac OS.
Mint Yes[17] Yes[17] Yes[17] No[18] Any iOS, Android Web-Based Free Financial product referrals[19] Deprecated[20]
Moneydance Yes Yes Any (JVM based) Stand alone
Moneyspire
MoneyWiz Yes Yes Yes No macOS iOS Stand alone Yearly Fee[21]
Personal Capital Manual or Automated Yes No Any Web-Based Free Fee-based in-house financial planning. Primarily a wealth management company that provides free services to non-clients. Offers financial advising for a fee, which establishes a client-fiduciary relationship that they claim makes them less incentivized to sell private client data as they are bound by law to act in their client's best interests.[22]
Quicken Manual or Automated[23] Yes[23] Yes[23] Yes[23] Windows, macOS (limited)[23] Android, iOS[24] Stand alone or Web-Based for full functionality Yearly fee[23]
You Need a Budget Manual or Automated Yes Yes No Any Android, iOS, Apple Watch, Alexa Web-Based Yearly or Monthly Fee[25] Differentiates itself by providing budgeting advice.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Free Accounting Software". GnuCash. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  2. ^ Fet, Ngewi (2019-01-11), Gnucash for Android mobile companion application. : codinguser/gnucash-android, retrieved 2019-01-14
  3. ^ GnuCash 5.5 Released, GnuCash Developers, 2023-12-17, retrieved 2024-01-10
  4. ^ "HomeBank Support | Free, easy finance software, personal money management for everyone". Launchpad. Canonical Ltd. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  5. ^ "HomeBank Features | Free, easy finance software, personal money management for everyone". Launchpad. Canonical Ltd. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  6. ^ "ChangeLog". Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Translations : HomeBank". Launchpad. Canonical Ltd. January 14, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  8. ^ "KMyMoney download page". KMyMoney. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  9. ^ "COPYING file". Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  10. ^ "KMyMoney News". Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  11. ^ "iCash: Personal Finance, Money Management and Budgeting for macOS and MS Windows". www.familycash.com. Stan Busk. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  12. ^ Ledger 2.6.1 and 3.1.1 binaries for windows systems
  13. ^ "Available Software - Termux Wiki". wiki.termux.com. Archived from the original on 2019-08-13.
  14. ^ "Ledger: Command-Line Accounting". GitHub. 15 February 2022.
  15. ^ "Releases · ledger/Ledger". GitHub.
  16. ^ "Banktivity Enhances App with Direct Connectivity to Financial Accounts in the UK and Europe". www.businesswire.com. 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  17. ^ a b c "How it works". Mint. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  18. ^ "Mint bill pay is no longer supported". Mint.com. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  19. ^ "Privacy". security.intuit.com. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  20. ^ Gross, Jenny (November 3, 2023). "Mint, One of the First Budgeting Apps, Is Shutting Down". NYTimes. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  21. ^ "MoneyWiz 2023 - Personal Accounting". www.wiz.money. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  22. ^ "Privacy Policy | Personal Capital". www.personalcapital.com. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  23. ^ a b c d e f "Quicken 2018: Personal Finance, Money Management, Budgeting". Quicken. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  24. ^ "Manage your finances on the go with Quicken". Quicken. 2014-10-01. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  25. ^ "Pricing | You Need a Budget". YNAB. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
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