Best Personal Finance Software For Mac 2024: Alternatives To Quicken

If you want to get a better grip on your money, we’ve taken a closer look at the best personal finance software for Mac of 2024 that make excellent alternatives to Quicken for Mac.

If you’ve had it with bloated, subscription based personal finance tools like Quicken For Mac, the good news is there are many alternatives available for Mac users.

The Mac version of Quicken has lagged behind the Windows version for years and even though more recent versions are an improvement, the decision to make Quicken subscription only was the final straw for many faithful users.

The good news is that nowadays there’s some financial management tools for Macs that not only do a better job of apps like Quicken, they don’t require a monthly or annual subscription to use.

We found the best personal finance tool on Mac is Empower (FREE) which blows the competition out of the water when it comes to investment tracking and stock trading assets.

Even better, it’s free to use with no subscription or commitments.

Apart from price, other reasons the finance software here are better than Quicken include:

• Mac and macOS Compatibility: All of the personal finance apps reviewed here work on Apple Silicon Macs and the latest versions of macOS unless indicated otherwise.
• Bank Syncing: Quicken is notoriously bad at syncing with bank accounts. You’ll find the apps here that support connecting to financial institutions far more reliable with more connection options. Note that Direct Connect is increasingly being phased-out by banks as a way of syncing transactions so we’ve also looked for personal finance apps that provide alternative connection options to Direct Connect.
• Mobile Support: Quicken’s mobile app is limited and nowhere near as useful as the desktop app. Most of the apps here have well designed iPad and iPhone apps which are clear and easy to use.
• Investment Tracking: The Mac version of Quicken has never been good at tracking investments or stock market gains. You’ll find software here that do a much better job of managing car loans, home loan amortization, stocks, retirement planning and more.
• Budgeting: Most of the software we reviewed make it easier to get an instant overview of your budgeting goals and targets compared to Quicken.
• Less Paperwork: By centralizing all of your accounts and bill payments with some of the tools here, you should also find that they help you if you want to create a paperless office on your Mac.
• Better Tax Tracking: You’ll also find that many of the apps here do a better job of preparing your accounts when it comes to filing taxes on your Mac.

Note that very few of these apps support connecting to banks in the UK and EU. For more on this, check out our section on UK personal finance apps.

With this in mind, here then is our list of the best personal finance apps to replace Quicken on a Mac.

1. Empower (Free)

Empower is the best personal finance software we’ve used on a a Mac and best of all, it’s actually free to use.

Empower was previously known as Personal Capital which has long been the best personal finance app for Mac users but Empower acquired it way back in August 2020.

However, it wasn’t until February 2023 that Personal Capital was finally rebranded as Empower although nothing has changed in the product itself.

Around 1.8 million people use Empower and many of them have switched from Quicken or Mint, especially those looking for powerful investment tracking.

Here’s a summary of why Empower topped our list.

• It’s free

Hard to believe but Empower is 100% free to use for as long as you want with no limitations.

Empower only charges you a small commission if you decide you want to maximize your investments via a personal consultation with one of its own Financial Advisors.

This is completely optional and not obligatory but is there if you want it.

• It syncs accounts seamlessly in one place

If you’re tired of constant bank syncing issues and problems with Quicken, Empower is a breath of fresh air.

It syncs extremely well with all major financial institutions, aggregates your accounts and makes it easy to get an overview of your finances.

This includes checking, savings, 401k, mortgage and investment accounts.

That’s because Empower uses the reliable Plaid data network platform which is far more reliable than Direct Connect which is increasingly being phased-out by financial institutions anyway.

That’s not to say that hiccups don’t happen as much depends on technical changes made by financial institutions but it’s so much more reliable than Quicken.

You can also download any transactions synced with Empower in CSV format.

• It analyzes your investments to save you money

What makes Empower different to many budgeting apps is that it also helps you save money on existing investments.

One of the ways it does this is via a fee analyzer and an investment analyzer.

For example, the retirement fee analyzer immediately identifies areas where you may be getting ripped-off or over charged with 401K admin or management fees.

The investment analyzer does the same for your investments to see where your existing investments and holdings can be diversified to improve your returns.

• It helps you plan for the future

By telling Empower exactly how much income you expect to have in retirement, Empower calculates exactly how on or off track you are.

It can also assess the impact on your 401k of major life events such as the birth of a child, illness, college fees etc.

Or it can be used to assess how your immediate finances could be improved if you get a lump sum and eliminate expensive premiums by getting an estimate on selling your life insurance policy.

There’s also a comprehensive cost of living retirement calculator which gives you useful insights into your average net worth by age.

In fact Empower is easily one the best tools for planning your retirement too.

• It’s as secure as any bank out there

Like any major financial institution, Empower is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and has to adhere to the same security standards and procedures.

What’s reassuring about Empower is that it doesn’t actually handle your log in details at all. It uses Yodlee which is a highly secure financial credentials management system used by major banks and investment institutions worldwide.

This is bank level, military grade security that’s about as secure as it gets nowadays.

Even if your account were somehow compromised, Empower doesn’t actually allow transferring of funds via the interface so they cannot be touched anyway.

There are other measures that Empower takes to encrypt and protect your data which you can read more about here.

• You can talk to a human if you want to

Sometimes an app just isn’t enough if you really want to grow your money.

Especially if you’re investing large sums, Empower allows you to consult with an Empower advisor for FREE who can make specific recommendations based on your personal situation and minimize tax liabilities.

You need a minimum of $100,000 to use this service and Empower charges a commission for it but for serious investors, this is a unique bonus of the app.

Empower obviously encourages you to use one of its Financial Advisors but there’s no hard sell if you’re not interested.

You can read more on how a free Empower personal strategy meeting works here.

• You can check your finances on the move

The Empower iOS app is one of the best personal finance apps for iPad or iPhone we’ve tried, allowing you to manage and monitor your finances wherever you are.

It’s clear, easy to use and has lots of features compared to most mobile budgeting apps.

Quicken vs Empower

	Quicken	Empower
Subscription Fee
Lifetime License
Easy To Use
All Accounts In One Place
Financial Advisors Available
Personalized Investment Strategy
Fiduciary
Smart Indexing
Mobile App
Customizable Portfolios
Tax Loss Harvesting
401k Fund Advice
Portfolio Risk Assessment
Compare Mutual Funds
Track Cost Basis & Capital Gains
Income & Expense Projection
Spending Targets
Works on M1/M2 Macs
Price	$71.88/year (Premier)	Free
		Free Account Sign Up

So what are the drawbacks to all this? Well, like any finance tool for Mac Empower is not perfect.

The biggest gripe we have with Empower is that you can’t import Quicken QIF or QFX files. This is definitely disappointing if you have years of Quicken accounts although even apps that do import Quicken files don’t usually do it very well due to the complexities of the format.

However, this is less of an issue now anyway since Quicken has removed the option to export files in QIF format from the Mac version anyway (although the Windows version of Quicken still exports to QIF).

Quicken for Mac now only exports in QXF which is a proprietary Quicken format that can’t be imported into any program. Therefore, there’s no way to import Quicken files into Empower unfortunately.

As regards importing Mint data however, you can easily do so in CSV format.

Unfortunately as well, you can’t change transaction dates in Empower. If you have a fixed payment (such as salary or pension) that posts on the 1st of every month and it falls on a weekend or holiday, the transaction will appear in Empower as the last banking day before that. This means Empower will show that you have a double payment in the same month which messes up your budget.

Finally, another slight drawback to Empower is that it doesn’t help you much at tax time.

Although there’s dedicated tax software for this, there seems little reason why Empower can’t make things easier when it comes to declarations.

Overall though, Empower not only helps you budget better but it manages your investments too and it’s so convenient to have that all in one app.

You can also open an Empower account for free to judge for yourself.

For more information, you can check out our full Empower review.

Pricing: Free

2. Moneyspire

If Cloud based apps are not your thing and you want a dedicated Mac desktop app, Moneyspire 2024 (formerly Fortora Fresh Finance) is an excellent no-nonsense personal budgeting software for both Mac and Windows.

Moneyspire doesn’t store your accounts in the Cloud, doesn’t require you to upgrade regularly or subscribe like Quicken and you can download it onto your Mac.

Even better, at the moment, Moneyspire is 40% off at just $59.99  compared to the normal price of $99.99 which is definitely a good deal for a desktop finance app on this level.

Moneyspire allows you to import QIF files from Quicken and export your accounts to QIF if you move back to Quicken at a later date.

You can also import Mint files in CSV format into Moneyspire.

If you’ve got a lot of accounts saved in Microsoft Money on Windows, Moneyspire can also import MS Money files.

Moneyspire supports online bill payments though its own free Moneyspire Connect service which is similar to Intuit’s Direct Connect service.

Moneyspire Connect supports over 15,000 financial institutions so it’s safe to say, your bank is probably supported by it.

Like many personal finance app bank syncing services, Moneyspire Connect doesn’t always work perfectly (although neither does Intuit’s Direct Connect) but this is often due to security changes on the bank side.

You may have to re-authenticate your Moneyspire Connect connection with the bank periodically but this is for security purposes.

Moneyspire Connect is free for the first year although you have to purchase an annual upgrade to Moneyspire every year (which is discounted for current users) to continue using it.

Moneyspire is a very complete alternative to Quicken which tracks bank accounts, credit cards, loans, investments and more.

You can set bill reminders, budgets and generate detailed reports and charts to monitor your outgoings and if you run a small business, you can also create professional invoices and track payments.

It can even print checks which most finance apps no longer support anymore on Mac.

One of the things we like most about Moneyspire is that it doesn’t over complicate things. It gives a very clear overview of everything from accounts and details of spending to bill reminders and budgets.

The Bill & Deposit Reminder provides a very clear overview of upcoming payments:

You can generate detailed reports and charts to see exactly where your money is going to make tax reporting less stressful and much easier.

Other useful features in Moneyspire include Balance Forecast, Reconcile Statements, Online Banking, Import & Export of Data and Cloud syncing.

Reconciling of accounts in particular is a very useful feature when it comes to budgeting.

For mobile users, there’s a free Moneyspire app for iPad and iPhone which allows you to check your account balance, edit transactions, see upcoming bills and keep an eye on how your budget is doing.

Moneyspire used to be available in different versions but has now simplified its pricing policy.

There are now only two versions of Moneyspire. The standard version for $59.99 or the professional one for $79.99 which includes invoicing.

Normally the standard version retails for $99.99 so that’s 40% off.

The impressively reliable Moneyspire Connect service is even included in the price (which previously used to cost an extra $49.99 per year) although you must purchase an annual upgrade to Moneyspire to keep using it for free.

If you do decide to purchase Moneyspire, you have a 30 day money back guarantee if you’re not happy with it.

Unlike with Quicken, updates to Moneyspire are free but major updates usually require an upgrade fee which is discounted for existing users.

Currently if you upgrade from an older version of Moneyspire to Moneyspire 2024 you can get 50% off.

You can also try Moneyspire on Mac for free if you want to see what it’s like for yourself.

You can also check our full Moneyspire review for more.

Pricing: Standard $59.99 / Pro with Invoicing $79.99. Free Trial available.

3. Banktivity

Banktivity (formerly iBank) is designed specifically for Mac and has long been one of the most popular desktop personal finance apps for macOS.

Long before Quicken for Mac, Banktivity supported things like online banking integration, bill pay, envelope and full year budgeting, loan amortization and multi-currency support.

Some of these things have now been introduced in the latest version of Quicken but Banktivity still remains an excellent home and personal accounting software for Mac.

Here are some of the things we like the most about Banktivity:

• Account Importing

Banktivity will import your accounts from Quicken, Minit and other finance software.

Although it’s not perfect, the import tool does a pretty good job and saves valuable time manually entering old accounts. You can see how this works below.

• Bank Syncing

Banktivity will automatically connect to and download transactions from your bank or other financial institution in real time.

It offers various ways of doing this with the most reliable and widely supported being Direct Access.

Direct Access is Banktivity’s own syncing service and generally works very well via Yodlee although it costs an extra $44.99 on top of the cost of Banktivity.

Other free ways of connecting are available though.

Banktivity is also one of the few personal finance apps that also supports connecting to UK and EU banks that support PSD2/Open Banking.

• Detailed & Customized Reports

The reports generated by Banktivity are very well-organized due to tags and categorization.

There are Quick Reports for instant overviews of the essentials and you can create highly customized reports for virtually any kind of spending.

• Budgeting

Banktivity supports traditional and envelope budgeting with useful setup wizards to get you going.

You can filter budgets by time frame to see exactly when you’ve gone under or over budget and set budgets for scheduled and unscheduled expenses.

• iPad, iPhone and iWatch Apps

Banktivity is designed exclusively for the Apple ecosystem with iOS apps to help you monitor and enter transactions on the move.

The apps syncs with the desktop version of Banktivity and there’s even an iWatch app with spending alerts to help keep you on budget.

Investment management has improved in Banktivity with a clear overview of your Portfolio and the ability to drill down into investment specific reports.

Previous versions of Banktivity were available as a standalone purchase with Direct Access costing extra.

However, the latest version of Banktivity 9 is subscription only but includes Direct Access as standard with the Bronze plan starting at $49.99 per year.

For investment features you’ll need the Silver Plan ($69.99 per year) and for multi-currency support you’ll need the Gold subscription for $99.99 per year.

You can find details of all Banktivity Plans here.

For a more in-depth look, you can also read our full Banktivity review.

Pricing: Bronze plan $49.99/year, Silver $69.99/year, Gold $99.99/year

4. Moneydance

Moneydance has many satisfied customers that previously used Quicken and is an excellent personal finance solution for Mac users.

Moneydance has all of the features of Quicken including online banking and bill payments, bill attachments and arguably has better investment tracking and budgeting tools than Quicken.

Moneydance is particularly good at handling investments and transactions in multiple currencies so is an excellent choice for those that hold investments or make purchases in currencies other than US dollars.

Moneydance provides a very clear overview of your finances. It gives you all the essentials such as account balances, upcoming and overdue transactions and exchange rate information.

The calendar overview is particularly useful for a quick oversight of upcoming credits and debits so you can manage your finances for that month more easily.

Moneydance can import Quicken files in QIF format although we noticed several duplicate transactions which had to be manually adjusted.

Moneydance can also import Mint files in CSV format.

Moneydance can automatically download transactions and make bill payments online to hundreds of financial institutions.

However, online banking is only available via Direct Connect and we found this can be tricky to setup in Moneydance.

Moneydance can sometimes be unreliable at retrieving bank data with Direct Connect especially from credit card accounts but it does offer an enhanced bank syncing service Moneydance+ for connecting via Plaid for an extra $4 per month of $40 per year.

However, there’s no support for connecting to bank accounts via EWC+ instead which is an increasingly popular alternative to Direct Connect being used by banks.

Investment tracking is also easier to navigate and more powerful than Quicken, with support for stocks, bonds, CDs and mutual funds among others.

You can see the total value of your investments or the performance of individual stocks and mutual funds over time. Moneydance will also download stock prices automatically in real time.

Moneydance also has some powerful reporting tools that compare favorably with Quicken and it can generate reports for any of your accounts, savings or investments.

The Moneydance iPad and iPhone apps are both free so you can manage your budgeting on the move although it’s only really useful for manually inputting transactions.

Slightly concerning though is the fact that Moneydance only syncs the Mac and iOS app via Dropbox which doesn’t feel very secure compared to Banktivity’s encrypted Direct Access features.

You can also extend its functionality with add-ons and extensions for such things as a Balance Predictor, Debt Insights and a Find and Replace extension.

The most recent version of Moneydance 2023 features a new balance adjustment feature so that you can easily sync with bank statements.

There’s also an enhanced undo feature so that you can reverse unwanted changes such as an accidental deletion or batch changes.

The register allows you to filter more precisely now too such as by a specific date to make it clearer exactly which transactions are being displayed.

Overall Moneydance is a solid financial software for Mac to replace Quicken especially if you need reliable online banking integration.

Moneydance 2022 is $69.99 from the Mac App Store with a 90 day money back guarantee and there is also a free Moneydance demo for up to 100 transactions.

Note that currently, there is a revised version Moneydance 2023 but it is not yet available in the Mac App Store. It is only available for purchase directly from the developer for $65.

You can also check out our full Moneydance review.

Pricing: $69.99 for Moneydance 2022 or $65/$9 per month for Moneydance 2023. Free trial available.

5. Copilot

Copilot is a slick money tracking application that used to be only available on iOS but now has a Mac desktop app.

Copilot looks great on macOS and can track spending, budgets, investments and net worth.

Copilot features useful daily snapshots to give you an instant overview of how your spending was on any particular day.

There are also bill reminders for upcoming payments and a well organized spending by category summary. If you fall within your budget, you can also set Copilot to carry-over your budget into the following months too.

If you mainly budget on your iPad or iPhone but want a synchronized Mac app for using it on your desktop too, Copilot is a beautifully designed personal finance app for macOS.

For those that are looking for an alternative to Mint for Mac, Copilot is also working on a data import tool that make it easy to import your Mint data into it.

Note that at the moment, Copilot is only available in the USA but there are plans to roll it out in other countries soon.

You can download the Copilot app from the Mac App Store for both Intel and Apple Silicon apps and also get it from the Copilot website.

You can read our full review of Copilot for Mac for a more in-depth look.

Pricing: $13/month or $95/year

6. Money Pro

Money Pro is a slick budgeting tool that has a simple user interface that supports budgeting, bill planning and account syncing.

Here are some of the things we like about Money Pro:

• It works on Mac, iPhone and iPad so it syncs across all device via iCloud
• Calendar view makes it easy to see when Bills are due or schedule recurring bills.
• Today view that predicts transactions that you may have not added manually based on your spending behavior
• Alerts when bills are due
• Budgeting by specific time frames including budget rollovers with a clear overview of your daily, weekly and monthly targets
• Checkbook register with support for an unlimited number of accounts including checking, savings and credit cards. You can also attach photos of purchase receipts.
• Manual account reconciliation with automatic calculation of your balance
• Importing of bank statements in OFX and CSV format
• Automatically connects to your bank and downloads transactions (Gold subscription is required for this)
• Easy to search transactions across all accounts
• Detailed monthly reports including income and expense, cash flow and projected balances
• Multiple profiles for family members and real-time notifications of overspending based on profile budgets
• Supports multiple currencies

Some of things we didn’t like about Money Pro are:

• The app itself is $18.99 which is reasonable but then many features such as bank syncing and cloud syncing require in-app purchases going up to as much as $49.99 for the Gold version.
• No envelope style budgeting
• Bank syncing can be hit and miss depending on the financial institution you’re connecting it to
• iCloud syncing can also be slow with iOS devices sometimes showing different balances to the Mac app
• No free trial

Overall though, Money Pro is an excellent personal finance app that’s well integrated with the Apple ecosystem and certainly much better than spreadsheet budgeting.

You can check out our full Money Pro review for more.

Pricing: $18.99 plus in app purchases for Plus features $11.99 and Gold features $49.99

7. Tiller

If you prefer spreadsheets as a way of managing your finances then take a look at Tiller.

Tiller is an automated spreadsheet software that automatically fills in data as you feed it with financial data.

If you use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to track your net worth then Tiller can automatically pull in the data for you from them.

Tiller is even recommended by Microsoft to those that use Money in Excel or that are Microsoft 365 subscribers (formerly Office 365).

You can use one of the many templates provided by Tiller to get started or you can start from scratch.

Tiller can be used to track pretty much any financial metric you want from your net worth to managing your budget.

Tiller does take some time to setup and use, especially if you don’t use one of the ready-made templates but it’s extremely customizable compared to Quicken as you can track anything in it.

Tiller isn’t just dry spreadsheets – it can also be used to generate reports and dashboards to make it all easier to digest and monitor your finances.

Most recently Tiller introduced a new Spending Trends dashboard to keep a track of where your money is going including dashboards for annual and monthly budgets.

The other big advantage compared to Quicken is that none of your data is stored in the Cloud with Tiller – it’s all automatically processed in a spreadsheet on your desktop.

If you’re a fan of spreadsheet budgeting then you’ll absolutely love Tiller although if you prefer the more glossy approach of Quicken it may not be for you.

You can try a 30 day free trial of Tiller.

You can also check out our full Tiller review for more.

Pricing: $79/year

8. YNAB

Although You Need a Budget (YNAB) can’t fully compare with Quicken, it’s an excellent budgeting software for those that have trouble managing their money.

YNAB claims that new users save on average $600 in their second month and around $6000 after the first year although this of course won’t be true for everyone.

Because of the way it approaches budgeting, YNAB has proved very effective at helping users to save money and get their finances in order which is made it very popular with Mac and PC users alike.

More recently, it’s now added online banking support via Direct Connect to conveniently sync and update all of your accounts and transactions in one place so you can keep tabs on your money better.

There is no support in YNAB for Bill Pay however.

Direct Connect is however increasingly being phased-put by banks in favor of EWC+ which is not supported by YNAB meaning if your bank doesn’t support Direct Connect anymore, it won’t sync with YNAB.

The developers of YNAB strive to help you manage your money more efficiently by encouraging you to use a Four Basic Rule method which can genuinely help you save money or get out of debt.

The four golden rules are:

1. Give Every Dollar A Job: Every cent is accounted for
2. Embrace Your True Expenses: Break down large purchases into monthly payments
3. Roll With The Punches: Create an overflow for the unexpected
4. Age Your Money: Deal with bills as they happen

YNAB is structured around these four principles and helps you to structure your budget accordingly.

YNAB can import bank files and transaction ledgers and can retrieve your balances from over 12,000 banks via Direct Connect (but there’s no support for Express Web Connect+).

YNAB is also one of those rare money management apps that also connects to banks in the UK and EU via TrueLayer.

YNAB does not support multiple currencies or investment tracking though so it’s not really suitable for those who have a big investment portfolio.

It does however allow you to factor mortgages and simple investments into your overall budget and gives you a very clear overview of where your money is going.

YNAB  is also one of the only personal finance apps that has an iWatch app but even more unusual, an Alexa app which can automatically check category balances or record new spending at your command.

Although YNAB can sync across all devices, note that it uses Dropbox for syncing and doesn’t offer its own Cloud syncing service or syncing via iCloud.

More recently, YNAB has also added new features such a Net Worth Calculator which clearly illustrates spending and net worth reports.

YNAB now costs $14.99 a month or $99 per year direct from the developer.

If you’re a US college student, YNAB is absolutely free.

You can also try a 34 day free trial of YNAB before deciding whether its for you or not.

If you’re struggling to make ends meet at the end of the month, YNAB is an excellent straightforward budgeting software alternative to both Quicken and Mint.

Pricing: $99/year or $14.99/month – Free Trial

9. MoneyWiz

MoneyWiz is easily one of the best value personal finance apps on the Mac App Store with the desktop app free and subscriptions starting at just $29.99 per year.

What we also like is that MoneyWiz allows you to try a free demo so you can play around with it before you decide whether its worth paying for or not.

These are some of the things we really liked in MoneyWiz:

• The interface is gorgeous – MoneyWiz is made specifically for Apple devices and it shows
• Very clear overviews over time of Net Worth, Balances, Expenses and comparisons over time
• Supports all types of accounts including everyday banking, credit card, investments, cryptos, loans (including custom loans), savings and retirement
• Automatic stock price retrieval from Yahoo Finance and CoinMarketCap
• The Mac app and iPhone/iPad app are exactly the same so there’s no missing functionality in macOS
• The syncing between maOS and iOS is far more reliable than many personal finance apps
• Likewise syncing with bank accounts works very well due to the fact you can choose from three different connection services so if one doesn’t work well, you can switch.
• MoneyWiz also supports investment tracking syncing with stock trading platforms like Robinhood
• The developer provides quick support for any issues and problems

There were a few things we didn’t like about MoneyWiz:

• All syncing features require a subscription although the cost of this is reasonable compared to other apps
• In-app live chat Help feature isn’t available in the Mac desktop app, only in the iOS version
• Syncing connections still break-down although this is often out of the hands of the developer as it’s down the the financial aggregator used (such as Plaid).

Overall, we loved MoneyWiz and think its an excellent alternative to apps such as CoPilot, Banktivity and Moneydance.

This is definitely one to watch.

Pricing: Free desktop app / Standard Subscription $24.99/year / Premium $49.99/year or $4.99/month

10. CheckBook Pro

If you’re looking for the best checkbook software for Mac then CheckBook Pro may be exactly what you’re looking for.

CheckBook Pro is a check register that’s designed to help you answer the time honored mystery “where’s does all my money go?”.

CheckBook Pro is very basic but for those that simply don’t need all the bells and whistles of most finance apps, it’s a breath of fresh air.

Here’s what we liked with CheckBook Pro:

• One of the few checkbook registers for Macs that doesn’t require a subscription to use
• Simple and intuitive to use
• Lots of video tutorials to help you get up and running
• Generates useful reports for all your accounts
• Easy to search transactions
• Includes reminders alerts for upcoming payments
• Ability to manually reconcile your accounts
• Excellent migration support from other finance apps. Imports Quicken files in QFX format plus OFX, QIF, CSV and TXT files.
• Supports check printing (Pro version only)
• It keeps your financial data offline although you can choose data syncing via iCloud too (Pro version only).

Here’s what we didn’t like about it:

• Although you can add multiple accounts, it only feels suitable for one or maximum two accounts such as a checking account and credit card.
• There’s no automatic syncing with accounts so it requires a lot of manual data entry work
• Importing and then sorting-out accounts from other financial apps also takes a long time and is tedious.

CheckBook Pro costs $19.99 with no subscription which is very reasonable for a checking app.

There’s also a slightly cheaper version called CheckBook which is $14.99 but it doesn’t include features such as iCloud syncing, check printing, account wide reporting and more precise search tools.

Pricing: $19.99 from the Mac App Store and there’s a free trial.

11. SEE Finance 2

SEE Finance 2 is designed specifically for Mac and used to be the closest thing you could get to Quicken before Intuit finally released Quicken for Mac.

Despite the launch of Quicken, the makers have continued to develop SEE Finance into a very reliable, robust and feature packed personal budgeting app for Mac.

In fact the latest version of SEE Finance 2 has been built from the ground up and is a big improvement on SEE Finance 1 (which is still available) in terms of both looks, functionality and affordability.

We found that SEE Finance 2 is one of the best budgeting software when it comes to importing Quicken QIF data accurately.

Unlike apps such as Banktivity and Moneydance, there’s less chance of duplicated transactions when importing large QIF files into SEE Finance.

Mint users can import their accounts into SEE Finance 2 in CSV format and you can also import files in QIF, QMTF, QFX and OFX format.

Investment tracking is also very well done in SEE Finance 2 with a clear and varied overview of your investments with lots of different reports.

SEE Finance 2 is also very good at handling multiple currencies with over 150 different currencies supported.

You can connect to banking institutions via Direct Connect which will automatically download transactions and import data from others.

This is easy to setup and use in SEE Finance and pretty reliable at syncing and updating account.

Note that SEE Finance 2 does not support Bill Pay though which is usually available in personal finance apps such as Quicken and Moneydance that support Direct Connect.

A bigger concern however is that Direct Connect is being phased-out by banks in favor of EWC+ for syncing which SEE Finance 2 does not support.

In which case, if your bank doesn’t support Direct Connect then you won’t be able to sync it with SEE Finance 2.

More recently there’s now an SEE Finance iOS app for iPhone and iPad that syncs with the Mac version via iCloud. It also works with OFX Direct Connection downloads if your bank supports it.

SEE Finance 2 is a massive improvement on the first version and remains a fast, reliable and slick app to manage your finances on Mac.

Note that although SEE Finance 1 is still available in the Mac App Store but we strongly recommend using SEE Finance 2 instead as it’s far more modern, includes an iOS app and is more likely to be supported by the developer in the future.

You can also try a 30 day free trial of SEE Finance.

Pricing: $24.99 – Free Trial

12. CountAbout

CountAbout is a simple but effective budgeting app that can import Quicken QIF files.

The Quicken import tool is one of the best we’ve tried and accounts are imported with very little need for manual adjustment.

CountAbout automatically downloads transactions from your bank including investment balances like 401k’s. There is no support for Bill Pay though.

CountAbout offers two subscription plans – one for $9.99 per year and a premium subscription for $39.99 per year.

The difference is that the Premium subscription includes Direct Connect which allows you to automatically download transactions from bank, credit card and investment institutions (although this is being phased-out by banks).

CountAbout is very good value for money and considerably cheaper than most apps that support Direct Connect.

If you’d like to try it out before you buy, CountAbout offers a free 45-day trial.

You can see a quick overview of what CountAbout can do below.

Pricing: $9.99/year or $39.99/year with Direct Connect

13. MoneyWell

MoneyWell is a slick, simple but effective money management software designed specifically for Mac.

MoneyWell is unique in that it uses an envelope budgeting system to help you manage your finances better.

Rather than setting targets that you either hit or miss, envelope budgeting works on the basis that any money you save or overspend is constantly adjusted to show the effect on your incoming bills.

MoneyWell also supports Direct Connect so that you can automatically pay bills from your bank account.

However, Direct Connect is being phased-out by banks and being replaced by Express Web Connect+ which as yet, is not supported by MoneyWell.

MoneyWell is clearly well thought out with some really smart interactive reports. In fact the graphs and reports in MoneyWell are some of the best we’ve seen in any budgeting software for Macs at this price.

Unfortunately, MoneyWell used to be available as a one-off purchase but like many financial management tools, has moved to a subscription pricing model of $49.99 per year or $5.99 per month.

If you ever stop your subscription, you’ll still have access to your data, be able to run reports, make amendments to transactions and even sync data but it will be limited to 200 transactions.

The latest version of MoneyWell 2024 will also add other bank connection tools other than Direct Connect such as Express Web Connect+ (EWC+) which many banks are switching to.

Although it was discontinued for a while due to syncing issues, MoneyWell Express is also available again on iPhone and iPad which allows you to check your accounts on the move.

Pricing: $5.99/month or $49.99/year

14. MoneyWorks

Finally, if you’re looking for something that can double as both a budgeting app and accounting software on your Mac, MoneyWorks might be for you.

MoneyWorks was one of the first ever finance apps for Mac and made its debut on OS X way back in 1992 – before Windows 95 was even invented.

If you’re a treasurer and use Quicken to keep track of your organization or company budget, MoneyWorks may be ideal for you as it’s designed for small businesses, organizations and accountants in mind.

MoneyWorks can import data from QuickBooks, MYOB, Xero and Greentree although it doesn’t support importing Quicken data.

MoneyWorks also doesn’t support Direct Connect, Bill Pay or EWC+ though so it’s not suitable for those that want to sync it with their bank.

MoneyWorks is however well-integrated with other business software on Mac including Daylite, FileMaker, Numbers and Microsoft Office.

If you need something that can manage payroll, CRM and POS systems on Mac, then MoneyWorks is a particularly good choice.

MoneyWorks is also generally very good at representing complex business data in graphs and produces custom reports via the MoneyWorks Gold report writer.

It’s also a good option for those that need to share their accounts with Windows-based accountants as it works on both Mac and PC.

MoneyWorks comes in 5 different versions aimed at differing sizes of business and all are available for standalone purchase or via subscription.

MoneyWorks Cashbook is completely free to use and is ideal for small organizations that need a simple financial management solution.

You can also try MoneyWorks free for 45 days.

If you’re looking for a personal budgeting tool with a focus on accounting and cashflow, MoneyWorks is a powerful solution for Mac users

Pricing: Free/$18 per month+/$274 for MoneyWorks Express/$549 for MoneyWorks Gold

Which Is The Best Personal Finance Software For Mac?

If you’re looking to maximize your investments as well as manage your budget, then Empower is still the best of the lot.

The fact that you can use it completely for free is obviously a massive advantage compared to any other personal finance tool out there.

It also just makes budgeting and maximizing your assets so easy compared to Quicken and, looks like something that’s made for Macs compared to Quicken which was originally made for Windows and later ported to Mac.

Which Is The Best Budgeting Software For Mac?

If you want something that just helps you manage your budget but don’t need investment tracking and other features, then we think You Need a Budget (YNAB) is the best budgeting software for Mac.

As the name suggests, YNAB is built specifically around helping you stick to budgets.

Alternatively, if you want something with a really slick Mac and iPhone/iPad app then Copilot has the best budgeting app for both Mac and iOS.

Which Is The Best Mint Alternative For Mac?

Mint has now shut down and been absorbed into Credit Karma which has some Mint features such as the ability to view bank accounts, transactions, spending, cash flow and net worth but crucially NOT monthly budgeting or budgeting by category.

For budgeting, we recommend using Copilot instead of Mint although it’s not free.

For investment tracking however, Empower is a far better replacement.

We found that Empower not only offers much more than Mint especially when it comes to investment tracking, but it also helps that it’s completely free to use.

For more on replacing Mint, check out our full look at the best Mint alternatives for Mac.

Which Is The Best UK Personal Finance Software?

Unfortunately, many of the best personal finance tools on Mac are for US users only, including our top choice Empower.

However, the following software are the best personal finance apps that are available in the UK:

• Banktivity: Since Banktivity 8.3, you can now download transactions from many UK/EU banks that support PSD2/Open Banking. Banktivity also integrates with Salt Edge to download transactions from many banks in the UK and EU. You can see an updated list of the banks that Banktivity supports in the UK and Europe here.
• YNAB: Since 2023, YNAB supports banks in the UK and EU via Direct Import. YNAB uses TrueLayer to connect to banks in the UK and EU although it hasn’t published a full list of which banks are officially supported.

Note that the popular Money Dashboard personal finance app is now discontinued.

Although the number of Mac compatible personal finance apps is limited for UK users, there are a few more mobile options available such as:

• Plum (Free with paid options from £1/month)
• Moneyhub (Free)
• Budget by Koody (Free/Pro version £1/month)
• Emma (Free with paid options from £9.99/month)
• Moneyhub (Free with paid options from £1.49/month)
• Snoop (Free with paid options from £3.99/month)