Whats the best FREE personal finance software?

by Bob on April 13, 2009

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There is an abundance of free personal finance software out there and while it can be a challenge to find the best one, it is a good problem to have. We are becoming more of an open-source world, where you can find all kinds of great programs and software for free. If you are looking specifically for budgeting software, you should check out these 10 free budgeting software downloads.

I do my budgeting with ING Direct and use a few of these free programs once in a while to do checkups, but don’t consistently use any of them. I have tried out and played with quite a few of the free personal finance tools and most of them have some strengths and weaknesses depending on what you are looking to use it for. For example, some tools are better at helping you stay on track with your budget and others offer a bigger picture of your personal finances. It just kind of depends on what it is you are looking for – but thankfully, there are an abundance of free options to choose from!

Quicken Online is the online version of Quicken. They used to charge $3 a month for the service, but have changed their policy and now offer it for free.
Mvelopes isn’t free, but it is a widely used budgeting software that is recommended by many. They have a free trial offer for those looking to check it out.

What’s your favorite?

So, if you wouldn’t mind I would love to get your opinion as to what you think the best personal finance software is! Below I have created a poll of just about every free personal finance software or tool that I could find. Some of them are extremely popular and others are extremely obscure, but I want to know what you use and find to be the best!

(If you are reading this in your email or RSS, you will probably have to click the title of this article to access the poll)

[poll id="3"]

Comparing them against each other

If you have had experience with a couple of them together, or switched from one software to another for a particular reason, please share it in the comments. As I mentioned before, everyone has different reasons for using different software apps, so what may not work for me, may work for you and vice versa.

Also, In the forums there has been quite an informative discussion about Mint vs. Quicken Online that you may want to check out if you are interested in either of those free tools.

Article by Bob

Bob enjoys dark chocolate, paying off debt, giving, Foosball, loose-leaf tea, helping people succeed, learning, anything God created, playing guitar, doing things the "long" way, Philippians, excellence, Chick-Fil-A, and making his wife smile. He started ChristianPF in 2007 and has been having a blast ever since. Find him on Facebook & Twitter.

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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

Jesse April 13, 2009 at 11:14 am: Yay for Mint! Looks like its topping the vote there.
I use mint, coming from using nothing at all and if I were to compare those two, well lets just say its a landslide to Mint.
I have tried a few of the others including Wasabe, Geezeo and Rudder.

I would say Mint is the easiest to use and the prettiest.
Wasabe has some cool compare features, comparing companies and peoples spending on those companies, such as a groups spending on cell phones. You can shop providers this way. They also have a cool forum.
Nikki April 13, 2009 at 11:15 am: Yodlee is a great tool, I recommend it!
Todd Colucy April 13, 2009 at 11:21 am: I’d say it depends on what your objective is. For budgeting, I love google docs as I can access my budget anywhere I have an internet connection.

For month-to-month expense and checkbook types of tracking I use quicken online.

Getting people to track their spending at all is a major step forward in winning financially. So just by picking any of the above software on your list is a win.
Ian April 13, 2009 at 12:13 pm: I tried Yodlee and Mint and neither of them did what I needed. I’ve been using GNUcash for a while now, and I really like it. It’s very, very customizable. As long as you don’t mind spending some time setting it up, you can really tailor it to your needs.
Wm Tanksley April 13, 2009 at 12:36 pm: I’ve tried, at least briefly, all the free ones you list… I like most of them for one feature or another, but I’ve stuck with Buxfer because it’s the only one that supports CSV import (Wesabe has been talking about it for years now). If your bank isn’t directly supported (my main account is a brokerage money market account), you can still get your data input reasonably easily.

I’m very impressed with their brand new budgeting interface and Projection Report, though; even if I wasn’t stuck with it, I think I’d choose it now.

Mint is still (I’d say) the simplest to get working — it’s really smooth. Wesabe has a great attitude towards customer privacy, but Buxfer now provides all the same protections, and has vastly higher development speed (new, useful features are fairly common).

-Wm
J. Money April 13, 2009 at 3:23 pm: Excel via Google Docs baby!!! haha…i’m certainly biased using it myself, but it’s the only way to cater your budget + whatever else you want 100% in your own way

Here’s the spreadsheet i giveaway for free if it helps anybody…more like a “financial snapshot”.
patty April 13, 2009 at 6:54 pm: Best is YNAB.
Tyler April 14, 2009 at 7:14 am: Excel is NOT FREE! FYI.
Pochax April 14, 2009 at 7:47 am: MINT works best if:
1) you spend primarily via credit cards/debit cards that can pinpoint where you spent. if you spend cash or checks, it will just register them as ATM or check and you will have to figure out what you spent it on (too timeconsuming, IMO).

2) you have lots of online experience and are willing to hook up all your accounts into one (security confidence). if you want a complete financial profile for yourself, it’s best to link up everything (credit cards, bank accounts, 401ks, IRAs, brokerages, etc.). this takes some time and some online tech saavy.

but if you do 1 and 2, MINT ROCKS!!! i can easily see where my spending is going. i can easily see where i am overbudget and what’s left to save. i can see my retirement accounts grow (and shrink!). they will send you email alerts when you are overbudget and let you know when certain big payments (mortgages, credit card bills) are due. they let you know how you compare with others in your geographical area. they also let you see how your investments compare to the indexes.
bob April 14, 2009 at 9:06 am: thanks for sharing pochax –

oh and Tyler – you are right – good point
John April 14, 2009 at 10:37 am: Well Written!nice piece of work with lot of useful information…it helps thank
fife April 14, 2009 at 1:18 pm: Excel isn’t free, but spreadsheets can be through software or services like OpenOffice or Google Docs thankfully. So yea, Excel is just one interface.

My experience has been limited to building custom spreadsheets for my budget, monitoring my outstanding loans, gas/car performance, etc.

Other than paper and pencil, spreadsheets have been a quick and easy way to put together a budget for me. I like that spreadsheets offer customization, but they can require a lot of time to construct.

Based on the comments already left, I’m now considering looking into Google docs for an easy to access budget.
George April 15, 2009 at 7:44 pm: While it’s not free, Fortora Fresh Finance is a great personal finance manager. It’s very easy to learn and use, and has all the features most people need. And best of all it’s available for both Mac and Windows. See it at http://www.fortora.com
serene.x@netspend September 20, 2009 at 7:22 pm: i agree with Nikki , Yodlee is a great tool…. thanks for sharing