Top Free Personal Finance Software Options

You may be concerned about the limitations of personal finance software. For example, people require programs compatible with either a Mac or a PC. However, online personal finance software selections remove this concern, making your management program available through any browser, or even a mobile app. These include Quicken, Mint, YNAB, and others. However, some people are still looking for software they can download and install.

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Microsoft Money Sunset Deluxe came onto the scene free of charge. It replaced earlier versions of the software, including Microsoft Money Plus, which has been discontinued. It has some limitations such as lacking internet-supported features such as automatic transaction updates or software support. But this product does work well for those who do not need these perks and don't have a problem importing transactions using their online bank account.

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AceMoney Lite provides investment tracking support for two financial accounts, typically a checking and a credit card account. It also has options for multiple accounts with subcategories to track income and expenses. AceMoney also provides an online user community for posing questions and offering answers. To take advantage of the full version of AceMoney Lite, you will need to spend roughly $40, but this allows you to enjoy unlimited accounts.

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The Buddi personal finance software offers personal finance reports, tracking accounts, and budgeting. It does require you to manually enter the transactions because you can’t download. However, free plug-ins are available for additional features. Buddi also offers a user-friendly online manual. This software can run on Windows, Mac, and Linux computer systems. It has been translated into multiple languages and is great for those with little financial knowledge. To enhance security, Buddi allows users to encrypt financial data with a password.

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KMyMoney allows users to keep close track of their personal finances by providing a wide range of financial features and tools. The program supports multiple currencies, offers online banking support, and uses double-entry accounting principles that ensure finances are correctly maintained. Not only is KMyMoney easy to use, but it also works well for those without technical and financial knowledge.

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PL Cash enables users to prepare personal financial reports while offering support for multiple types of accounts. It also provides basic investment tracking, and because of its QIF data export feature, can import data from Microsoft Money, Quicken or other supporting software. PL Cash can store data in a plain text format, which means users can analyze their financial data on a spreadsheet.

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There are free budget spreadsheets available for those who are not necessarily interested in maintaining a full-featured financial software program. The budget spreadsheet allows you to track income and expenses in a customized way -- daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, based on your preference. It also allows you to see an overview of your budget and compare it to prior periods. It's easy to find budget spreadsheet templates online and make use of them in whatever program you're most comfortable using.

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GnuCash offers features such as income and expense tracking, bank and stock accounts, and small business accounting. This software was developed according to GAAP or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles to make sure it produces accurate reports and balances the books according to federal accounting standards. GnuCash is easy to use and can walk new users through the process of properly setting up accounts. Developers are actively improving the free software.

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Financial Fate Personal Financial planning software lets you take a look into your financial future. Users can determine if their money management habits are practical and on the right track for financial stability, or not. Financial Fate works well for those interested in long-term financial planning. You can create several reports and a year-over-year comparison of your taxes, income and expenses, assets, liabilities, and net worth.

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MoneyLine Personal Finance Software has multiple features that allow users to track spending, bank account balances for checking and savings accounts, investment account balances for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, credit card activity and account balances, and other financial activity -- all in one place. The software includes easy-to-use budgeting tools, provides easy access to your critical financial data, helps you balance your checkbook digitally, schedule recurring transactions, and more.

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