Quicken 2017 for Mac is here and may finally be the Quicken that Mac users have been demanding for years with a fully functional Bill Pay, new interface and enhanced reporting features.
Nov 29, 2018 Quicken Mac 2018 is a glorious flaming waste of time if you want a semblance of tracking investments. I have been using Quicken Mac since 2004. I have diligently been forced into upgrading purely because mac has improved with time and no longer can run older versions of Quicken. I am now on the 3rd round of customer service calls. I would like to explore the new options, including using web-based, but not before reading some kind of manual that explains Quicken 2017 for the Mac, and how I can replicate the way I use Quicken 2007. I keep looking for one on Amazon, but only Windows manuals are available. For example, here is a review of the latest available manual.
After many years of having to endure an inferior product, Quicken for Mac is now finally much closer to the Windows version although shortcomings still remain.
The fact that Intuit recently sold Quicken to H.I.G Capital in March has definitely breathed new life into a woefully neglected product by Intuit who were unable or simply unwilling to bring Quicken for Mac up to speed with the Windows version leaving many Mac users switching to alternatives such as the excellent and free Personal Capital.
With more investment in the Mac version and a new dedicated Quicken for Mac product manager however, the new owners seem to be putting more effort into Quicken for Mac. After the disappointment of Quicken 2015 and Quicken 2016 on Mac, Quicken has delivered a Mac version of Quicken that’s considerably closer to the Windows version so here we take a closer look at Quicken 2017 for Mac.
What’s New In Quicken 2017 For Mac?
In a nutshell, the most significant improvements in Quicken 2017 for Mac can be summarized as:
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- The introduction of a fully functional Quicken Bill Pay like in the Windows version of Quicken
- A Modernized and Standardized Interface comparable with the Windows version
- Enhanced Budgeting (12 month budgets, although this was also introduced in an update to Quicken 2016), Investment and Reporting features
- A More Powerful Mobile App
We’ll now look at these improvements and some of the shortcomings that still remain in more detail.
Quicken Bill Pay Is Finally Here
After Mac users were let down by a lite version of Bill Pay in Quicken 2016 for Mac, it seems that the new product development team at Quicken have finally listened to the complaints of Mac users and added a fully functional Quicken Bill Pay for Mac in Quicken for Mac 2017. Bill Pay is arguably the most requested feature in Quicken for Mac after it was inexplicably removed from Quicken 2007 for Mac and for that alone, will be worth the upgrade for many users. The enhanced Bill Pay in Quicken 2017 for Mac means that Mac users can finally pay their bills from most banks within Quicken, including small and regional banks.
The Bill Payment Services are provided by the same handlers as on Windows – Metavante Payment Services – and Bill Pay works just as well on Mac as on Windows now. Quicken Bill Pay on Mac also allows you to transfer funds between accounts at the same bank and pay all of your bills, just as on Windows. Note that there are bound to be some banks and institutions that still don’t work with Quicken Bill Pay (some may also charge application approval fees) but this is often due to problems on the bank’s side and not Quicken so you should always check with your financial institution first to make sure it is supported. Quicken claims to be supported by 14,500 different financial institutions though so it’s safe to say, you should be fine. Even when it is supported, you should still be careful with it when making bill payments as payments can fail for no apparent reason without any kind of notification and it’s often hard to work out if the problem is on the bank’s side or Quicken’s side.
Note that Quicken Bill Pay isn’t free as you must pay subscription for it. Quicken Bill Pay currently costs $9.99 per month for the first 20 payments with every 5 payments after that charged at $2.49 per batch. Quicken Bill Pay also includes Direct Connect Bill Pay (which was already included in Quicken 2016 for Mac) and supports around 450 financial institutions.
New Interface
The most notable visual change to the Quicken 2017 for Mac interface is not only a fresher, newer OS X style look but it’s now consistent with the Windows interface. Before, switching from Quicken for Windows to Quicken for Mac was more confusing than it should be, partly due to the fact that the interfaces were quite different. As a result, it’s now much easier to migrate between platforms.
For example, this is how the new look Quicken 2017 for Mac Home tab looks:
And this is the same screen on Windows:
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Quicken 2017 also looks sharper than previous versions of Quicken too, partly due to the fact that it’s finally been optimized for high resolution displays also.
In general, Quicken 2017 does a much better job of bringing all of your essential data together in one place via the Home tab than previous versions. It’s now easier to see the state of your checking, savings, credit cards, investments, retirement, loans in one place. All of this information is updated in real time as Quicken updates it from your financial institutions.
While Quicken has definitely made the interfaces on Quicken for Mac and PC more similar however, the range of features is still not the same on Mac as it is on Windows (more on this later). In addition, the Mac interface still isn’t as easy to customize as on Windows – simple dragging and reshaping of reports and transactions is very limited compared to Quicken for PC.
Importing Files
The first thing you’re likely to want to do after installing Quicken 2017 is import a file. You can import data from previous versions of Quicken including Quicken For Mac 2007 – 2016, Quicken Essentials, and Quicken for Windows. However, this isn’t all plain sailing depending on the version of Quicken you want to import from.
When you start Quicken 2017 for the first time, you’ll be presented with the import options: Start a new account from scratch, Quicken 2015 & 2016 for Mac, Quicken Essentials, Quicken Mac 2007, Quicken Windows or a .QIF file from another financial software for Mac.
If you’re importing from either Quicken 2015 for Mac or Quicken 2016 for Mac, you should have no problems. Just make sure all your accounts are up to date in either Quicken 2015 or Quicken 2016 and Quicken 2017 will automatically convert and import your accounts in their entirety and accurately. If you’re importing from Quicken Essentials, Quicken 2017 will also import everything including all accounts, transactions, tags, budgets, bill reminders, investing accounts etc. However, since Quicken 2017 for Mac has supports considerably more features such as more detailed investment tracking of lots as well as holdings), it may be easier to start from scratch and then re-add investing accounts manually.
Importing from Quicken 2007 is another story however. Although most account data will import, budgets and transaction attachments do not. There are also features that were part of Quicken 2007 that aren’t part of Quicken 2017 that will not import including loan amortization schedules, home inventory, emergency records data, explicit lot assignments and securities watch lists. The absence of loan amortization schedules in Quicken 2017 is a particularly disappointing oversight as it seems crazy that you can’t easily track something as simple as mortgage repayments or car loans in a personal accounting software for Mac as big as Quicken. In addition, at the end of the import you’ll need to reestablish all of your online banking downloads by going to “Accounts > Setup transaction download”.
There are even more issues when importing Quicken for Windows 2010 files or higher. All account data will import except budgets and transaction attachments. And again, features that are not part of Quicken 2017 for Mac including loan amortization schedules, home inventory, emergency records data, explicit lot assignments, securities watch lists, address book and lifetime planners won’t import. Quicken has confirmed that ESPP and Incentive Stock options will transfer but only as a standard holding without tax related information such as strike prices. In addition, Quicken Windows Rental Property Manager users won’t be able to import property specific data (tenants, rents etc) and Quicken Windows Home and Business will not be able to import business specific invoicing data. And finally, as with importing Quicken 2007 data, you’ll need to re-establish online banking downloads manually again.
Confusingly, if you buy Quicken 2017 from the Mac App Store you will need to convert Quicken for Windows files first on a PC and convert from a Quicken Data File (QDF) to QXF format before you can import them into Quicken 2017:
Finally, the QIF import feature is for if you want to import your accounts from other personal finance apps such as Banktivity, Microsoft Money or Moneydance. You simply need to export it in QIF format first and then import it into Quicken 2017 (if you’re interested in running MS Money on your Mac by the way, you can find full instructions how to get Microsoft Money on Mac here.)
Whichever method you choose for importing, it can take a while depending on the size of your accounts but you can expect something in the region of around one minute for every year of accounts you are importing. You should always make sure the accounts you are importing are up to date and always check the account balances afterwards to make sure they are the same.
In general, the import tool works efficiently with some manual cleanup needed but as you can see, it very much depends on which software you’re importing from. The inability to import certain things from Quicken for Windows either due to technical issues or simply because those features are not available in Quicken 2017 for Mac is disappointing and will no doubt infuriate some users.
Connecting Accounts Online
The next thing most people do is connect Quicken to their bank account. Quicken connects three ways depending on the system your bank supports: Quicken Connect (Express Web Connect on Windows), Direct Connect and Web Connect. The good news is that also seems to have been significantly improved in Quicken 2017. There is a slight difference between each method though as you can see below:
Previously, connecting to and downloading data from financial institutions could either be highly unreliable or resulted in messed up account ledgers, broken connections and general headaches. We tried with a SunTrust account and syncing was surprisingly smooth and credit card, savings and current accounts downloaded and synced with Quicken 2017 correctly. You will have to do some manual renaming of accounts but in general, the online bank account syncing compared with previous versions works far better. However, we’ve heard mixed reports for Wells Fargo but the good thing is that the Quicken for Mac team are proving surprisingly responsive at investigating and fixing issues with specific banks (see the “Updates To Quicken For Mac 2017” section below).
Spending
Quicken 2017 categorizes transactions and makes it easier to see where your money is going. You can choose to view spending by category or over time to help you keep tabs on where your cash is being spent. Spending year-on-year comparison reports were one of the most requested features in Quicken for Mac and they’ve now finally been added in Quicken 2017. Quicken also tries to help soften the blow of bills via Bill Reminders which show you the impact of of forthcoming bills before you get them to help you make sure you’ve got enough funds to cover them or avoid late fees or overdraft costs. One other neat addition to Quicken for Mac is the Spending Cloud which shows via words where the majority of you’re money is going – the bigger the word appears in the Spending Cloud, the more money you are spending on it. Useful if you just want to see what’s costing you the most without needing to see the amounts or dates of transactions. You can also setup Spending Alerts which are triggered when a large purchase or certain balance has been reached to make you more aware of spending in real time. These appear at the top of your Dashboard and can also be sent to you via email. It’s also now possible to use tags and categories to filter spending reports and see sub-totals for those tags and categories which hasn’t been a feature of Quicken for Mac since Quicken 2007 for Mac. Quicken 2017 also now allows you to export category and tax summary reports to CSV.
Investing
Investment tracking has been enhanced in Quicken 2017 for Mac allowing you to organize and optimize your investment portfolio with more detailed, lot-level investment tracking. You can quickly see your investment transactions and realized gain and view a Schedule D report to see short-term or long-term profit and losses. The ability to view Portfolios by statement date (Portfolio time machine) was missing from Quicken 2016 and is another addition to the 2017 edition. In Quicken 2017 for Mac, you can also sync your investment holdings to the Quicken mobile or tablet app to see your portfolio and monitor changes throughout the trading day. If you need to, you can still download holdings, balances, and transactions in Quicken 2017.
You can sync your online investment accounts with Quicken 2017 for Mac but we do recommend checking whether your investment institution supports it. For example, investment house T Rowe Price does not support Quicken for Mac because it requires betters support for single-mutual fund accounts.
Budgeting
One of the other most wanted features in Quicken 2016 was 12 month budgeting. This was another inexplicable abscence from Quicken 2015 for Mac and Quicken 2016 for Mac but has finally been added to Quicken 2017. The 12-month budgeting tool helps you to setup a realistic 12-month budget based on your spending history. You can then tweak and customize your budget and set budget goals until you’re satsified with something you think you can stick to. The Budgeting tool will then track your progress throughout the year and you can check it any time to see how you’re doing via the Quicken mobile app.
Report Types
There are several new report types in Quicken 2017 for Mac compared to previous versions of Quicken on Mac and the reporting capabilities have been enhanced. Most reports you can filter by account, category, payee, date and tag (called “classes” in Quicken 2007 for Mac) and then save your customized reports. Reports possible in Quicken 2017 include:
- Account Summary
- Activity Last Month
- Activity This Month
- Calendar (with reminders, transactions, and balances)
- Cash Flow/Projected Balanced Forecast Chart
- Category Summary Report (Spending by category)
- Tag Summary Report (Spending by tag)
- Year over year category, payee and tag comparison reports
- Net Income Graph
- Net Worth Over Time report
- Payee Report
- Spending Cloud Report
- Spending Over Time
- Tax Schedule reports (Schedule A, B, C, D). You can also add customized categories for any other federal tax schedule, such as Schedule E.
Although some account “views” are not included as “reports” in Quicken 2017, you can choose different views to reveal things such as a 1 month and 12 month budgets as well as an Investment Performance views to show portfolio value, cost basis, and gains. You can generate reports from any day of the year via the Quicken calendar too.
Quicken 2017 Goes More Mobile
Quicken 2017 features an upgrade to the free Quicken Mobile App for both iOS and Android. The iOS mobile app works on iOS 8.0+ and Android 3.0+ – Blackberry but Windows Phones are not supported. Any new transactions or changes you make on your mobile device are still automatically synced with the desktop version but users now have slightly more detailed account information at their fingertips. Editing data is still extremely limited compared to the desktop app although you can still take photos of receipts and sync them with the desktop app. The Quicken mobile app is probably most useful for tracking investments and transactions or searching transactions, checking, savings and credit card purchases on the go.
For the first time, you can also now see a full history of your transactions when you sync data with the desktop version of Quicken 2017. This is particularly useful for investment holdings as you can sync them to see your portfolio and monitor trading fluctuations and movement throughout the day.
Finally on iOS, Quicken has also introduced fingerprint ID in the mobile app for faster and more secure access. In fact, security in general has been enhanced in all Quicken 2017 products with two factor authentication introduced.
Despite these improvements, the Quicken mobile app is still very limited whether you’re a Mac or Windows user. Basic information such as cash flow and credit card transactions are better organized and accessible but other useful data such as scheduled transactions and loan data is still not accessible for some reason.
What’s Missing?
There’s no doubt that Quicken 2017 for Mac is a step forward but frustratingly, it still lacks behind the Windows version in terms of features. There are several financial features still missing compared to the Windows version too, most of which we highlighted earlier when looking at problems importing Quicken for Windows files into Quicken 2017 for Mac. The most notable missing features include debt reduction and savings plans, portfolio analysis, investment tax analysis, loan amortization schedules, forecasting, lot management, multi-currency support and some budgeting features. There’s still no QuickMath, basic profit and loss or balance sheet reports available and investment reports, IRR, ROI and investment allocation views are all missing. There’s also a lack of automated features compared to the Windows version such as automatic reconciliation, automatic backups and automatic linking of online bills so that you can easily see the due date and amount due in Quicken. Finally, although it’s not an essential feature, you still can’t access
It’s hard to understand why many of these quite basic features still aren’t part of the Mac product, especially something as essential as loan amortization in a personal finance software such as Quicken. Another shortcoming for home owners is that Quicken for Windows users get automatic updates of their home values, which gives a more up-to-date overview of their net worth whereas Mac users don’t since home valuation isn’t part of the product. It is possible that Quicken will add these features via updates to Quicken 2017 for Mac over the next few months as Quicken are at least allowing Mac users to vote on features they’d like to see added to Quicken 2017 for Mac.
Quicken product availability in general for Mac users still remains very limited however and it’s hard to see that changing anytime soon. Windows users can also use Quicken Premier, Quicken Home & Business and Quicken Rental Property Manager alongside Quicken 2017 but none of these program are even available to Mac users.
If you do encounter a problem with Quicken 2017, the good news is that they’ve finally provided phone support. Previously, Quicken for Mac help was online Live Chat only and notoriously poor. The fact that you can now speak to someone (based in the USA too) is long overdue and shows that Quicken has again listened to the deluge of complaints from Mac users about previous versions. You can contact Quicken support on 1-888-311-7276 Mon–Fri 5am-5pm PST.
How To Get Quicken 2017 For Mac
Quicken 2017 for Mac was originally launched on the Mac App Store for $74.99 although due to strong competition from Amazon, Quicken slashed 40% off until January 10th 2017. It’s now back at it’s original price of $74.99 from the Mac App Store but the good news is you can get it from Amazon for as little as $43.71 although it’s frequently out of stock.
Note that if you buy the Mac App Store version, due to technical limitations you’ll have to convert Quicken Windows files first on a PC before you can import them whereas the Amazon version does not have this restriction. The Quicken mobile app for iPad and iPhone is still free.
Note that if you buy the Mac App Store version, due to technical limitations you’ll have to convert Quicken Windows files first on a PC before you can import them whereas the Amazon version does not have this restriction. The Quicken mobile app for iPad and iPhone is still free.
Although there is no Quicken 2017 for Mac free trial, you do get a 60 day money back guarantee if you’re dissatisfied. Quicken promise free feature updates until September 2017 (after which presumably you’ll have to update to Quicken 2018) and free support and security updates up to April 2020. You can also install one purchase of Quicken 2017 on three different Macs under the same license. The system requirements for Quicken for Mac are OS X 10.10 Yosemite or higher including OS X 10.11 El Capitan and OS X 10.12 Sierra. Note that Quicken for Mac is the only version of Quicken available for Mac: Quicken Starter Edition, Quicken Deluxe, Quicken Premier, Quicken Home & Business and Quicken Rental Property Manager are all Windows only products.
Updates to Quicken for Mac 2017
In previous releases of Quicken for Mac, bug fixes and updates to the product were few and far between but since the takeover by H.I.G. Capital, updates to Quicken for Mac 2017 have been much faster. In fact within a few months of the original release, Quicken for Mac 2017 was already updated with fixes and new features, most of which have been demanded by users.
Update 4.3 was released a few months after the release of Quicken 2017 for Mac and included:
- Custom report drill down: Click on numbers in a custom report to see the transaction details that make up that number.
- 12-Month budget printing& currency: Basic 12-Month budget printing plus ability to set currency.
- Transfer shortcut feature: Brought back from Quicken 2007 for Mac and already in Quicken for Windows. Allows you to enter a transfer in the category field by typing a bracket “[“. Enables you to hide the Transfer field so it doesn’t take-up space.
There were also some bug fixes including a schedule transaction bug fix, report payee filter fix, custom report bug fixes and bug fixes that caused double counting of cash accounts in investments.
More recently, the latest update to Quicken 2017 on Mac (Update 4.4.1) was released and now includes:
- New Transaction Sidebar Indicator: After updating connected accounts, a blue dot now appears on the sidebar, next to all accounts on the sidebar that have new transactions.
- Auto-Backup: Much demanded feature to backup files (five at a time) to a designated location after logging out of the app. You can’t choose how many backup copies yet though.
- Orange Pencil Fix: You can mark items in orange pencil as removed and delete them.
- Export or Copy Reports: You can now export or copy the comparison or summary report to a spreadsheet which makes it a bit easier to analyze the data or print it.
- Deactivate Auto-Opening Splits: Ability to turn off auto-opening of splits in the registers or the reconcile screen.
- Report Comparison Customization: You can now more easily compare the current and previous period including quarterly and monthly.
- New Total Column: The summary report now has a much demanded Total column.
This was closely followed by a critical 4.4.2 update on January 13th 2017 in anticipation of an update to Quicken cloud to ensure continued compatibility with Quicken for Mac. The latest update was a bug fix update 4.4.3 on 25th January 2017 including a fix for a non-standard character problem with online bill payments. However, it should be noted that Cloud syncing can still be temperamental on Mac with Quicken sometimes unable to setup syncing for accounts:
In general, the rapid speed at which Quicken has rolled-out these free updates to Quicken on Mac seems like an encouraging and long overdue effort by the company to finally start responding to Mac users with the same level of support that Windows users already enjoy. Note that those who purchased Quicken from Amazon or direct from Quicken will be able to get updates quicker than those who purchased via the Mac App Store which has to approve all updates before pushing them to users. You can read the full update history and release notes of Quicken 2017 for Mac here.
To get a good overview of the most important features, functions and updates covered in this Quicken for Mac 2017 review, we recommend also watching the video below.
And Finally: Is Quicken Moving To A Subscription Payment Model?
One final thing to be aware of is that Quicken 2017 could be the last version of Quicken that you can buy with a one off payment in the USA. The Canadian version of Quicken 2017 was released shortly after the US version and is exactly the same but with the crucial difference that it is subscription payment only. In addition, Quicken stated in the FAQ for the product that all future Quicken products will be subscription payment only although after a substantial outcry from the Quicken community, it later revised this to specify it was referring to Quicken Canada products only. The FAQ does go on to state however that if Canadian users don’t renew the subscription every year, they will no longer be able to update their accounts using Quicken and the application will become read only on both Mac and PC.
This is obviously an important move that Intuit has quietly slipped into the Canadian version and it remains to be seen whether it will be rolled out in the US version. There has been a considerable outcry by Quicken users about this move and you can read more about Intuit’s decision to make future versions of Quicken subscription payment only here. If this is a deal breaker for you, check out our guide to the best Quicken for Mac alternatives as there are some excellent equivalents to Quicken on Mac such as the free version of Personal Capital.
If after reading this you still want to use the Windows version of Quicken on your Mac, then also check out our article on ways to run Windows on Mac.
It seems the change in ownership of Quicken has finally delivered Mac users a product that compares more favorably with the Windows version. However, it still lags behind Quicken for Windows in some areas and we're still waiting for equality with the PC version. However, the changes and enhancements to Quicken 2017 for Mac show that the new owners are moving in the right direction. You can get Quicken 2017 for Mac from the Mac App Store for $74.99 or from Amazon for around $43.71.
- Finally includes Quicken Bill Pay
- Fresher, Standardized Windows Interface
- Enhanced 12 Month Budgeting & Investment Reports
- Some Windows Features Still Missing
- Importing From Quicken For Windows Not Complete
- Mobile App Still Limited
4.0Overall Score
If you’ve finally had it with the Mac version of Quicken, we’ve taken a closer look at the best Quicken alternatives for Mac of 2019.
Quicken for Mac has lagged behind the Windows version for years and even though Quicken 2019 was an improvement, the decision to make it subscription only was the final straw for many faithful users.
The good news is that nowadays there’s some great personal finance software for Mac that not only do a better job, they don’t require a monthly or annual subscription to use.
Some of the apps featured here are even FREE like the excellent Personal Capital which blows Quicken out of the water when it comes to investment tracking and requires no subscription or commitments.
Apart from price, other reasons the apps here are better than Quicken include:
- 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.
- 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. You’ll find software here that do a much better job of managing car loans, home loan amortization, stocks, retirement funds and more. For a more specific look at investment apps, check out our look at the best investment software for Mac.
- 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.
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With this in mind, here then is our list of the best alternatives to Quicken for Mac in order of ranking.
1. Personal Capital (Free)
Personal Capital is a superb tool to manage your finances and best of all, it’s actually free to use.
If you already use Intuit’s other budgeting tool Mint (see review later), you’ll really like Personal Capital because it’s got the same feel but with far more powerful investment management features.
Around 1.8 million people use Personal Capital and many of them have switched from Quicken, especially those with investments.
Here’s a summary of why Personal Capital is such a great replacement for Quicken.
- It’s free
Hard to believe for a personal finance software worth its salt but Personal Capital is 100% free to use for as long as you want with no limitations.
Personal Capital 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 syncing issues and problems with Quicken, Personal Capital 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 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 Personal Capital in CSV format.
- It analyzes your investments to save you money
What makes Personal Capital 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 Personal Capital exactly how much income you expect to have in retirement, Personal Capital 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 a free 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 Personal Capital is easily the best retirement planning software for Mac available.
- It’s as secure as any bank out there
Like any major financial institution, Personal Capital is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and has to adhere to the same security standards and procedures.
What’s reassuring about Personal Capital 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, Personal Capital doesn’t actually allow transferring of funds via the interface so they cannot be touched anyway.
There are other measures that Personal Capital 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, Personal Capital allows you to consult with a Personal Capital advisor 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 Personal Capital charges a commission for it but for serious investors, this is a unique bonus of the app.
Personal Capital obviously encourages you to use one its Financial Advisors but there’s no hard sell if you’re not interested.
- You can check your finances on the move
The Personal Capital 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 Personal Capital
Quicken | Personal Capital | |
---|---|---|
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 | ||
Price | $74.99/year (Premier) | Free |
Free Account Sign Up |
So what are the drawbacks to all this? Well, like any finance tool for Mac Personal Capital is not perfect.
The biggest gripe we have with Personal Capital 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 2019 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 2019 files into Personal Capital unfortunately.
Unfortunately as well, you can’t change transaction dates in Personal Capital. 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 Personal Capital as the last banking day before that. This means Personal Capital will show that you have a double payment in the same month which messes up your budget.
Finally, another slight drawback to Personal Capital is that it doesn’t help you much at tax time. Although there’s dedicated tax software for this, there seems little reason why Personal Capital can’t make things easier when it comes to declarations.
Overall though, Personal Capital not only helps you budget better but it manages your investments too and it’s so convenient to have that all in one app.
For more information, you can check out our full Personal Capital review.
You can also open a Personal Capital account for free to judge for yourself.
Pricing: Free
2. Moneyspire
If Cloud based apps are not your thing and you want a dedicated Mac desktop app, Moneyspire 2018 (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 $29.99 compared to the normal price of $49.99 which is definitely a good deal for a desktop personal finance software for Mac on this level.
You can import QIF files from Quicken and likewise, export your accounts to QIF if you move back to Quicken at a later date.
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 via both Direct Connect and its own Moneyspire Connect service both of which are free to use.
Moneyspire Connect supports over 15000 financial institutions so it’s safe to say, your bank is probably supported if Direct Connect doesn’t work for any reason.
Like many personal finance app bank syncing services, Moneyspire Connect doesn’t always work perfectly but this is often due to security changes on the bank side.
Generally, you’ll probably find Direct Connect more reliable although that isn’t without its problems too.
Moneyspire is a very complete alternative to Quicken on Mac 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 and you can see how it works below.
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 and there’s now just one version of Moneyspire for $29.99 which includes Direct Connect access.
Normally it retails for $49.99 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).
If you do decide to purchase it, you have a 60 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.
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:$29.99 (40% off – normally $49.99) – Free Trial
3. Banktivity
Banktivity (formerly iBank) is designed specifically for Mac and has long been one of the most popular desktop replacements for Quicken on Mac.
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 2018 for Mac but Banktivity still remains an excellent personal finance app for macOS.
Here are some of the things we like the most about Banktivity:
- Account Importing
Banktivity will import your accounts from Quicken 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 although it costs an extra $44.99 on top of the cost of Banktivity. Other free ways of connecting are available though.
- 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 sync with the desktop version of Banktivity and there’s even an iWatch app with spending alerts to help keep you on budget.
Investment management isn’t Banktivity’s strong point but there is a separate free Banktivity Investor app (formerly iBank Investor) which syncs investment data specifically.
So for example, you can see all of your holdings with the current gains or losses in real time with data pulled from Yahoo Finance.
Banktivity 6 costs $64.99 but you must pay an additional $44.99 per year for Direct Connect access.
You can also try a 30 day free trial.
For a more in-depth look, you can also read our full Banktivity review.
4. Moneydance
Moneydance has many satisfied customers that previously used Quicken and is an excellent desktop equivalent to Quicken on Mac.
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.
Manual For Quicken For Mac 2017
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 especially from credit card accounts and there’s no enhanced online bank connection service that you can pay extra like with Moneyspire and Banktivity.
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.
Overall Moneydance is a solid financial software for Mac to replace Quicken especially if you need reliable online banking integration.
Moneydance is $49.99 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.
You can also check out our full Moneydance review.
Pricing: $49.99
5. Mint
Mint is owned by Intuit the makers of Quicken and is basically a free, lighter and less powerful version of Quicken.
The biggest difference between Mint and Quicken is there is no automatic online bill pay feature in Mint so if this is a deal breaker for you, move on.
Mint has improved a lot over the years and has faced less criticism than Quicken, partly because it doesn’t cost a cent to use.
Quicken Business For Mac
In fact many people use Mint for day-to-day budgeting alongside Personal Capital to manage their finances.
Mint is all about getting your money in order and is based around three things:
- Budgeting: Mint will automatically suggest a budget for you based on your income and goals. You can factor in one off expenses and of course recurring monthly costs.
- Bill Tracking: All your bills are clearly labelled and managed in one place. You can see when bills need paying and set alerts to let you know before they’re overdue.
Quicken Replacement For Mac
- Credit Score Analysis: Mint performs a free credit score analysis if you verify your identity. It also gives you recommendations on how you can improve it.
- Spending Summary: You get a weekly summary of where your money has gone. This is useful for seeing which areas you’re spending most in and is handy to compare month-by-month. Mint will also alert you to unusual or large transactions.
- Spending by Category: Mint can also categorize transactions to make it clearer where you spent your money. If you’ve ever looked through your bank statement and can’t understand the codes and jargon used for certain transactions, this is useful. It also separates ATM withdrawal amounts from ATM withdrawal fees so you can see just how much your spending in charges and other hidden fees.
- Investment Tracking: The investment tracking features in Mint are very basic and certainly nothing like the financial tools in Personal Capital but for 401(k) accounts, mutual funds and IRAs it gives a basic overview.
Mint also has one of the best mobile apps out there for budgeting. The Mint iPad and iPhone app looks good, gives a clear overview of your finances and is easy to navigate.
The biggest problem you”ll encounter with Mint is connecting to banks to update your accounts.
Like many personal finance apps, Mint can take time to update your balances and transactions and can be affected by changes made by your bank to the way third-party apps communicate with it.
Sometimes this means you have to delete an account in order to reconnect it and the problem with this is that you lose your account history in Mint.
It’s also important to note that although Mint and Quicken are both Intuit products, there is no integration between Quicken and Mint. They are completely separate products.
Overall however, as a more basic free alternative to Quicken, Mint is an excellent budgeting tool for Mac users.
Pricing: Free
6. 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 in terms of both looks, functionality and affordability.
We found that SEE Finance 2 is one of the best personal finance software for Mac 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. You can import files in QIF, QMTF, CSV, 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 however that SEE Finance 2 does not support Bill Pay.
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 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: $39.99 – Free Trial
7. YNAB
Although You Need a Budget (YNAB) can’t fully compare with Quicken, if it’s mainly budgeting you use Quicken for, it’s definitely a contender.
YNAB claims that new users save on average $200 in their first month and more than $3000 by month nine 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.
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:
- Give Every Dollar A Job: Every cent is accounted for
- Embrace Your True Expenses: Break down large purchases into monthly payments
- Roll With The Punches: Create an overflow for the unexpected
- 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.
Note that there’s no support for Direct Connect or Bill Pay though.
YNAB also does not support multiple currencies or investment tracking 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.
YNAB now costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 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 alternative to Quicken.
Pricing: $49.99/Year – Free Trial
8. CountAbout
CountAbout is a simple but effective budgeting app that can import Quicken QIF files and Mint 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.
CountAbout is very good value for money and considerably cheaper than most personal finance software that supports Direct Connect.
You can see a quick overview of what CountAbout can do below.
Pricing: $9.99/year or $39.99/year with Direct Connect
9. MoneyWell
MoneyWell is a slick, simple but effective Quicken alternative 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.
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 at this price.
Unfortunately, there’s no longer a mobile app though. MoneyWell Express was the mobile version of MoneyWell but was discontinued in early 2018 due to syncing issues.
MoneyWell costs $72.60 but you can also try it for free.
Pricing: $72.60 – Free Trial
10. 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 or Bill Pay 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 Quicken alternative with a focus on accounting and cashflow, MoneyWorks is a powerful solution for Mac users
Pricing: Free/$18 per month+/$249+
Which Is The Best Quicken Alternative For Mac?
If you’re looking to maximize your investments as well as manage your budget, then Personal Capital 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 it also looks like something that’s made for Macs compared to Quicken which was originally made for Windows and later ported to Mac.
Considerations When Replacing Quicken
The best Quicken alternative for you really depends on your specific needs. Some people need things like Bill Pay and Online Banking while others are more focused on investments.
To help you in your decision though, here’s a checklist of features to bear in mind when deciding which Quicken replacement to choose.
You can see whether the application you’re interested in supports these features by checking the comparison table above.
- Online Banking Integration
This is essential for those that want their accounts to be regularly updated with real time bank transactions.
Direct Connect (known as QFX in Quicken products) is the standard method that most banks support although increasingly, users are finding it very unreliable.
Sometimes this is not an application’s fault and is due to changes made by banks on how third party software connects to them.
Some banks such as Citibank have even dropped support for Direct Connect in favor of their own proprietary system instead.
As a result, some applications such as Moneyspire, Banktivity and Moneydance have developed their own version of Direct Connect although this usually costs extra.
However, Moneyspire’s reliable Moneyspire Connect service is now included for free in the price of the product which makes it a very good deal indeed.
Note that some banks may levy a small charge for connecting your account to a third-party app via Direct Connect so it’s always wise to check with your financial institution first.
- Bill Pay
It’s important to be aware that just because an app supports online banking, doesn’t necessarily mean it supports Bill Pay.
Bill Pay enables an application to automatically pay your bills to help keep on top of them.
Of course, you can do this easily by setting up a Direct Debit with your bank for things such as utility bills but Bill Pay enables your finance app to track them more easily.
- Account Reconciliation
Not all personal finance apps allow you to reconcile accounts manually.
This is essential if you’re trying to manage a budget but get payments that fall on the first of the month but it happens to be a weekend or holiday.
In such cases, many apps will automatically enter the transaction on the last previous banking day and there’s no way to change this.
- Encrypted Connections
When it comes to security, remember that any connection made between finance apps and your bank are only as safe as the application accessing it.
Make sure that the application takes security seriously and uses encrypted connections to your bank to prevent unauthorized interceptions.
A few apps such as Personal Capital add an extra layer of protection by not actually storing your financial credentials but managing access via specialized encrypted service Yodlee.
This is also used by many financial institutions and adds an extra layer of protection to your data.
- Investment Tracking
This is essential to track loans, assets, stocks, shares and bonds etc.
One of the big gripes Mac users have with Quicken is that it doesn’t do a good job of tracking basic things like car loans or home loan amortization (although fixed interest rate tracking was introduced in Quicken 2017).
Alternatives such as Personal Capital, Banktivity and Moneydance all feature robust investment tracking as standard.
- Mobile Apps
If you like to manage your money or check accounts on the move, make sure the software you choose has a mobile app.
Most apps that have a mobile app sync accounts with your iPhone or iPad although many are limited in functionality and don’t allow you to make many transactions. Some user their own servers to sync while others offer syncing via iCloud.
If you like to take photos of receipts and invoices to sync with your Mac later, make sure this feature is supported.
- Quicken Import Support
If you want to import your Quicken accounts into another application, you can easily do so by exporting them into QIF format.
Unfortunately, Quicken 2019 has removed the option to export files in QIF format. It 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 2019 files into any personal finance app anymore but earlier versions of Quicken can.
Note that not all personal finance software supports QIF importing so if this is important to you, make sure you can migrate from Quicken easily.
Note that no Mac personal finance app will import Quicken files 100% perfectly – there will always be some manual correction necessary.
- Multiple Currencies
For those that travel a lot or that deal with foreign transactions regularly. The Mac edition of Quicken is still lagging behind when it comes to multiple currency transaction support.
Those that imported foreign currency accounts into Quicken 2018 for example found that they were suddenly converted to dollars.
Make sure foreign currencies are supported if you do a lot of trade abroad to avoid some major headaches when importing data.
- User Profiles
If you share the software with a partner, other members of your family or colleagues, support for creating multiple profiles is very useful.
It allows you to track spending and create budgets for each individual member whilst also preserving the privacy of each user.
Some financial software only allows one user per license and some don’t support more than one profile so bear this in mind if you’re intending to use the program with other.
We hope this article has helped you be more informed when choosing a replacement for Quicken on your Mac.
This is by no means a definitive list of programs to replace Quicken with on your Mac. There are other options (examples include LiquidLedger and moneyGuru) but we haven’t included them as most are now very dated and can’t compare to the latest version of Quicken anymore.
If you have any other questions, experiences or suggestions regarding the software featured here, let us know in the comments below.
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