Stewart, I agree that Intuit has always treated its Mac constituents as unwanted step-children. I agree that you pretty much have to choose between downloading your transactions and manually entering them in Quicken for Mac—it’s either/or. Manual entries lead to annoying duplicates if you also download your transactions. Quicken Deluxe 2018 - 24-Month Membership For Windows & MAC. PC/Mac Download 1-Year Subscription + 2 Bonus Months Amazon Exclusive by Quicken. Quicken 2019 for Mac imports data from Quicken for Windows 2010 or newer, Quicken for Mac 2015 or newer, Quicken for Mac 2007, Quicken Essentials for Mac, Banktivity. 30-day money back guarantee: If you’re not satisfied, return this product to Quicken within 30 days of purchase with your dated receipt for a full refund of the purchase price. If you are looking for the ebook Quicken home and business 2018 user manual in pdf form, in that case you come on to the correct website. We presented complete version of this book in txt, doc, DjVu, ePub. I used Quicken 2007 for home and business (Windows version) for 10 years. Tried the upgrade to 2011 but went back to 2007 version as new features were just complications. Now we have switched to Mac computers and bought 2017 Quicken for Mac. Hugely disappointed, can’t even print a reconciliation statement along with the illogical interfaces.

Quicken was traditionally known as one of the best personal finance software options for desktop users. However, the Mac version had traditionally lacked the features found in the PC version, and that was disappointing to many users. While last year's version was a big improvement, it still wasn't there for everyone.

After using Quicken for Mac 2019 for several weeks, we're happy to see that Quicken has continued the improvements over prior years. It's not as robust as we'd like to see yet, but it's definitely been moving in the right direction.

So, how did Quicken for Mac 2019 do? Honestly, it's an incremental improvement over 2018. But we like the direction it's going, and if you can get a great deal on pricing (which you typically can on Amazon or when they have a sale), it could be worth it.

• Incremental improvements over 2018 version
• A great mobile app with seemless sync across platforms
• Price is still a concern, but if you can find a great deal, go for it

Key Features Of Quicken For Mac 2019

Quicken For Mac continues to build on the many traditional features that Quicken users expect. As always, it comes with great spending tracking (compared to other online options like Mint and Personal Capital), it has investment tracking, and budgeting.

For 2019, they have improved the usability of the platform, but the navigation is still a little challenging. Even after using Quicken for about a week, I still find it hard to get to different reports. It's not intuitive.

They also improved the web interface for Quicken. If you don't want to use the desktop software, and prefer a web version (like what you get with Mint), you can have that now. But I prefer the app over the web version.

Here's what the home screen looks like:

Instead of being under reporting, most of the things you'll care about are actually available by clicking on the 'Acccount' sidebar - for example, your income and spending isn't viewable under 'Reports', but it's actually visible under 'Banking'.

Here's an example:

Here's another example. One silly thing that's missing is having income and expenses together on one page. I think there is a report you can run, but there's no easy to access dashboard that compares your income to your expenses (except in the mobile app, which is odd).

Quicken for Mac dramatically improved their investment tracking for 2018, but this is one area that didn't continue to improve into 2019.

There are still issues here. When I imported my accounts, some positions transferred the cost basis, while others didn't. Not a huge deal, but very odd. Also, it's still missing key reports that I valued in the Windows version - most notably the asset allocation and ability to play with your allocation in the program.

See the investment screen here:

Also, Quicken touts that you can now see investment performance, but it consistently showed 'N/A' for every account. My guess is that Quicken calculates this in the program, versus using historical data. That is a good thing in that you get a real snapshot of your performance, but a bad thing in that you need the Quicken app to consistently update to make it happen.

Here's what the screen looks like:

If you check the comments below, you can find other frustrating experiences with the investing tracking in Quicken for Mac. It has so much potential, but it's just not there yet.

Quicken 2019 Mobile App

The Quicken 2019 for Mac mobile app is probably my favorite feature that has been improved. This app has existed since the last few versions, but I found it glitchy years ago and gave up on it. For this review, I started using it again, and it's actually a bit more user friendly than the desktop version.

Here's the home screen of the mobile app:

As you can see, you get your account balances and recent transactions right at the top of the page. You can link this with Quicken's new credit card, and easily categorize your transactions on the go. It then seamlessly syncs with the desktop version.

One of the features I love on the mobile app, which is missing in the desktop version, is easily being able to see your income and expenses against each other.

Here's what that looks like:

I don't know why this can't just be included on the main page. There's also something funky up with the net income over time graph... maybe a glitch?

The pricing for Quicken For Mac 2019 continues to be a focus point for most users. Quicken changed their pricing model last year to a subscription-based model, instead of a one-time fee. I see this as both good and bad.

It's bad, because many Quicken users kept their software for years, and never upgraded. For users, this was fine - because you could avoid bad rollouts like Quicken for Mac 2017. However, to continue to receive updates and banking information, you had to update every few years anyway or Quicken would cut you off.

It's good, because my hope is with more recurring revenue, Quicken can continue to improve their software and ensure banking connectivity.

Quicken For Mac 2019 has three price points this year. I think 90% of users would benefit simply using the Deluxe version, which is $49.99/yr at full price.

Here's what the pricing looks like:

It's hard to say if Premier is worth the huge additional price. I think Deluxe is the best value, for the added features of investment and loan tracking. But I've never used BillPay, and I highly recommend that most people don't use a service like BillPay because not only does Quicken charge more, but many banks charge for the service as well.

Note: For Windows, there is also a Home and Business version. However, we think most consumers with a small business would benefit more from using a tool like Quickbooks, versus using Quicken Home and Business.

Special Promotional Pricing

As you probably already know, Quicken is notorious for running promotional pricing all the time. Recently, they were offering 40% off their prices - which I think is a fair price for the product.

I would have a hard time paying $49.99 per year for Deluxe, but paying $29.99 per year makes much more sense - especially considering that I would typically upgrade every 2-3 years, this aligns much better with the pricing I'd expect.

However, in our search for deals, we found that Amazon.com is offering a 14-month subscription of the Deluxe version for $38.49 (which is 30% off full price). Given the $49.99 price is $4.17 per month, Amazon's deal is $2.75 per month. Still not as good as Quicken's own sale, but the second best deal we've found.

Check out the deal on Amazon here.

Quicken World Mastercard

Another interesting product/feature that Quicken launched this year is the Quicken World Mastercard. The Quicken credit card provides real-time transaction notifications in the Quicken mobile app, and offers integration with Quicken for Mac desktop.

This card also gives you a free year of Quicken Deluxe when you spend at least $500 in the first 90 days. If you already have a subscription, you'll get a 1 year extension.

The card offers 2x rewards points on all your qualified spending, and has no annual fees.

Given that this card is really about integration with Quicken, we're surprised that you don't get Quicken free every year as long as you spend at least $500 per year. Otherwise, all the rewards are on par or below the other top rewards credit cards out there.

Pros And Cons Of Quicken For Mac 2019

As you can see, there are some definite improvements in Quicken for Mac 2018 versus the prior year. However, it's still not perfect and it still has a lot less features than you'll find in the Windows version.

Pros:

• Great mobile app to compliment the desktop version
• Improved Loan Tracking
• Spending Tracking Categories and Reporting

• Poor Navigation And Not Intuitive
• Still Lacking Some Key Investment Features Like Asset Allocation
• New Subscription Pricing Isn't Worth It At Full Price

Final Verdict

The final verdict is that we're giving Quicken for Mac 2019 four stars. As I've been using it more and more, I'm actually liking it more than many of the free online money management tools out there. This is especially true since the mobile app has become much more useful.

However, for those that want desktop software, AND if you can get it at a discounted price, Quicken for Mac is a much better piece of software than before.

​Have you tried Quicken for Mac 2019? What are your thoughts?

Quicken For Mac 2019

• Product Cost - 60
• Ease Of Use - 83
• Tools And Features - 90
• Customer Serivce - 85

Summary

Quicken Users Manual 2018

Quicken For Mac 2019 has continued to improve on what’s been working and has an even better mobile app experience.

If you're looking to replace Quicken, you're in the right place.

For years, Quicken was the name in personal finance software.

But let's accept reality – Quicken breaks a lot. It doesn't sync your accounts randomly, you have password problems, screens that should appear are blank, and it's just not a great experience anymore. Sometimes it feels like they're just getting you to buy the newer version, right?

Quicken was once the most popular and powerful personal finance management software out there.

But Quicken isn't what it used to be. It's hard to innovate a platform built in 1983. Back then, cell phones were bricks (if you could afford one) and apps were what you ordered at a restaurant. Quicken has faced a lot of technical issues and its support is meh at best. (if you own Quicken for Mac, you know this headache first hand)

In 2010, Intuit acquired Mint for $170 million. In 2016, Intuit sold Quicken to private equity firm H.I.G. Capital. That tells you something.

Look:

If you're tired of Quicken, its support and sync issues, and want a suitable free alternative or replacement – we have some options.

Here are some of the best Quicken alternatives available:

Our Best Picks

15 Best Quicken Alternatives:

1. Personal Capital – free financial dashboard and wealth planner
2. Tiller – spreadsheet automation to bring it in house
3. You Need a Budget – best in class budgeting tool & mindset
4. CountAbout – can import data from Quicken
5. Pocketsmith – a budget planner and projector
6. Mint – ad-supported budgeting tool
7. Status Money – compare your situation with your peers
8. Banktivity – native Mac application
9. MoneyDance – not cloud-based
10. EveryDollar – follows Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps
11. GoodBudget – follows envelope budgeting method
12. GnuCash – open-source and free
13. DollarBird – date & calendar based budgeting
14. MoneyWiz – freemium app with cryptocurrency support
15. PocketGuard – freemium budgeting focused app
16. Wally – completely free budgeting app

1. Personal Capital

If you're a long time user of Quicken, you're beyond the “help me build my budget” phase.

If you're more interested how your investment account is performing and less interested in just knowing how much you're spending on groceries, Personal Capital is a great Quicken alternative (but it'll also pull your credit card transactions so you will know how much you spent on groceries if you want!).

Personal Capital is a full-featured, free, personal finance management tool that focuses on helping you with investing.

It has a powerful mobile app (also means it's a cloud-based service) that replicates the web experience. They're free because some users pay them for their wealth management services (optional). They are not stuffed with advertisements like some other free tools. You can read my full review of Personal Capital.

Why it is a good alternative to Quicken: It's better than Quicken because it's updated, has a rich set of tools for investment and retirement, and it has a budget and expense tracking component. It's a website and not a software application, there's no software to download and patch or update (ugh) – that's all done automatically.

I am a fan of their retirement planner, a tool that helps you project your future financial needs and whether you'll get there. It's worth checking out.

One other vote of confidence for this Quicken replacement is their CEO – Bill Harris. He was formerly the CEO of Intuit and PayPal. You know he has the leadership skills to dominate in this space and the ability to lead teams to build financial systems that are top notch (the rest of the leadership team is very impressive in their own right!).

What could be better? The budget and expense tracking are good but it's not as old as Quicken, so it's not as developed as Quicken. I don't find it to be a negative because it works for me, but people with really complicated budgets may find it limiting.

(since you access it with a browser, it is compatible with Mac OS!)

2. Tiller

One of the most popular personal finance tools out there is a little software application known as Microsoft Excel.

People love spreadsheets.

You can customize it, tweak it, and get it tailored to exactly what you need. The only downside to spreadsheets is how you need to pull the data yourself… and who really wants to do that? Quicken was great back in the day when there weren't nearly as many sync issues because it pulled the data for you.

There's a solution:

Welcome Tiller – a $4.92 a month service (after a free 30 day trial) – that pulls your data for you and puts it into a Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel document.

You can start with one of their free templates or build your own, but after the initial work you'll have a fully automated spreadsheet tailored to what you need. You can use this to track your net worth, set a budget, or anything else you can imagine. (see our review of Tiller)

Why it is better than Quicken: Quicken is now cloud-based so if you want to avoid putting your data into the cloud, going with a spreadsheet is your best option. Tiller makes it possible for you to get automation AND keep your data locally.

3. You Need a Budget (YNAB)

You Need a Budget is one of the best budgeting software tools available.

Think of it like Mint with a personality and a philosophy.

YNAB's philosophy revolves around four rules:

1. Give Every Dollar a Job
2. Embrace Your True Expenses
3. Roll With The Punches
4. Age Your Money

Those four pillars form the foundation for a budgeting app that has helped many people transform their financial lives.

If you're looking to transition to a financial tool that will help you (as in help you make the change, not just record expenses), you should take a look at YNAB.

Quicken Mac 2018 Manual Review

Why it is better than Quicken: Quicken only tracks your budget, YNAB does that AND helps you build a budget that meets the demands of your life and your savings needs. If you want to change the way you budget, while still tracking it, YNAB is your solution.

YNAB is not an entire personal finance management suite – it focuses on budgeting and only budgeting. You won't get investment tools, retirement planning, or wealth management. It's strictly about building, maintaining, and transitioning into the budget you want.

4. CountAbout

The founders built CountAbout to be a Quicken alternative. Founded in mid-2012, it is one of the only personal finance apps that will import data from Quicken (and Mint!). If you're looking to transition away from Quicken but worry about losing all your data, you can feed it your Quicken file and it'll populate itself. That'll make the transition far less painful!

Like Quicken, CountAbout isn't free but it costs $9.99 for the Basic subscription and $39.99 for Premium subscription. The Premium subscription includes automatic transaction download. A subscription model means you have complete data privacy and you won't get annoying ads like with Mint.

Why is it a good alternative to Quicken? CountAbout has a lot of similar features to Quicken’s: split transactions, recurring transactions, attachments, budgeting and more.

CountAbout is web-based, with multi-factor account security, so you don't have to download a program onto your computer, and there's no need to deal with unwieldy syncing issues – all you need is a web browser. And with CountAbout’s iOS and Android apps, your financial information is always at your fingertips.

Check out the key features (reminds me a lot of Quicken):

• Imports data from Quicken and Mint
• Thousands of financial institutions
• Multi-factor login protection
• Android and iOS apps
• Category customization (add, delete, rename)
• Tags (add, delete, rename)
• Reporting for Account balances
• Reporting for Category activity
• Reporting for Tag activity
• Report exporting
• Attachments

• Individual Account QIF importing
• Budgeting
• Running register balances
• Account reconciliation
• Graphs for Income & Spending
• Recurring transactions
• Investment balances by Institution
• Memorized transactions
• Split transactions
• Description renaming
• Invoicing

5. Pocketsmith
Pocketsmith is a freemium budgeting tool that uses calendars and the concept of “event-based budgeting.” Being calendar based means that rather than viewing your transactions as merely a long list of transactions, the calendar helps you understand when those transactions are happening and if they are doing so on a regular basis. This helps inform you about your spending and one of the more visual ways, when compared to others on this list.

It's freemium with the Basic option giving you 12 budgets, 2 accounts, and the ability to project 6 months into the future. If you upgrade to the Premium level, which is $9.95 per month or $7.50 when you pay annually, then you get automatic transaction importing (you can still do it manually if you wish) as well as categorization of spending. You also get unlimited accounts and projection out to ten years. The Super, which is $19.95 per month or $14.16 when paid annually, gives you unlimited accounts and 30 years projection.

We do have a promotion code for Pocketsmith, gives you 50% off the first two months of Premium – make sure to enter the code 50OFFPREMIUM-5G7T to get 50% off the first two months.

Learn more about Pocketsmith

6. Mint

You might have heard of these guys since they're now owned by the same company that once made Quicken.

Intuit acquired them in 2010 and that's the reason why they shuttered Quicken Online shortly thereafter.

Later, Intuit sold Quicken to H.I.G. Capital and that's when you knew the end was near!

Why it is a good alternative to Quicken: Mint is free and very powerful on the budgeting and expense tracking side. They do not have much to help you with investment and retirement savings, which I think you'll find is a huge limitation as you get older. The goal of Mint was always to be a budgeting app and with that in mind, they do a very good job.

If you are sick of Quicken and focus entirely on expense tracking, Mint is a good Quicken alternative. It, like Personal Capital, is cloud-based so there's no software to download, patch, or update. If you have investments and want to manage those, Mint will not be able to adequately fulfill your needs.

7. Status Money

Status Money is a free cloud-based budgeting tool that lets you compare your finances with people around the United States.

It offers all of the tracking functionality of these other tools, will always be free, but adds the comparison component so you can see how you are performing against your peers and against the National Average.

Your peer groups are set by your age range, income range, location (location type), credit score range, and housing status (own, rent). This ensures you are getting a true apples to apples comparison and you aren't compared with someone in another age group, different cost of living, or life phase.

You can also build custom groups too if you feel you're in a special situation not captured by basic demographic information.

8. Banktivity

Built specifically for MacOS, Banktivity is a personal finance money manager that will import data from Quicken so you don't lose anything in the transition process. It'll do everything you want in a personal finance app, including budgeting, track spending, schedule and pay bills, monitor your investments (including real estate), and pull data from financial institutions.

It also has some powerful reporting options that, if you're a report junkie, you will probably really enjoy building, tweaking, and rebuilding. All this is also possible across iOS devices too with seamless mobile synchronization.

It is not free, it costs a one-time fee of $69.99 but there is a 30-day trial (no credit card required).

9. MoneyDance

MoneyDance is not as well known as some of the other alternatives I've listed but I wanted to mention them because they're one of the few money apps that doesn't rely on the cloud. If you are concerned about your data being stored online, this solution is an alternative that keeps your data local to your computer.

You can still link your accounts online, so they pull your transactions in automatically, but they only store them on your computer. You can enter transactions manually if you didn't want to link your accounts.

MoneyDance looks and feels like a checkbook, with the check register for transactions, but has charts and tables for reporting. It does budgeting but can also track your investments as well, albeit not as feature rich as others.

MoneyDance is free to download and try but it costs $49.99. The free version has all the features as the paid version. The free version's limitation is that you can only enter 100 manual transactions.

10. EveryDollar

Have you heard of Dave Ramsey?

Many folks swear by his approach and EveryDollar is built with that in mind. His approach takes into account human psychology, rather than relying solely on math, and explains why it is so effective. It also explains why ideas like the debt snowball work so well, we need to work with our biases and tendences if we hope to succeed. EveryDollar is a budgeting tool affiliated with Dave Ramsey's group, the Lampo Group.

Much like YNAB, it's a budgeting tool that uses the principles of zero-based budgeting.

In zero-based budgeting, you assign every dollar to a category (or job, in YNAB parlance). It's a level of rigor that can be refreshing or restricting, depending on your personality. The app itself is beautiful, available on your smartphone, and there is both a free and paid version. The paid version costs $129 a year.

(paid version offers phone support and automated transaction importing… which is a big time saver; otherwise, you must manually enter the data)

11. GoodBudget

GoodBudget is a free budgeting app based on the envelope budgeting method. Envelope budgeting is when you set aside a prescribed amount for each category of spending, then spend it down each month.

It's one of the most popular money management techniques in personal finance. The envelope refers to the manual method of managing these types of budgets where you put the money into an envelope. When you run out of money, you either borrow cash from another envelope or you make do.

GoodBudget adds technology to the mix and will synch up bank accounts to help track your income and your spending. You set the amount for each category and then watch as your spending nears the limit each month. It's available for both iOS and Android phones.

12. GnuCash

GnuCash is a free open-source accounting software that, if you're willing to put into the work, can replicate a lot of the Quicken experience for those who are willing to scale the learning curve. It features double-entry accounting (every transaction must debit one account and credit another), which is effective but will require an adjustment if you're not used to it.

It offers a lot of the functionality of Quicken like splitting transactions, categorizing transactions, managing multiple accounts, schedule transactions, and reporting that includes all kinds of charts and reports (balance sheet, P&L, portfolio valuation, etc).

The big benefit is that it does budgeting as well as investments. It's not strictly a budgeting tool.

Lastly, it offers QIF importing, so you can import your Quicken files, plus OFX (Open Financial Exchange) protocol. So you can pull in your data if your bank offers you the ability to export transactions.

13. Dollarbird

Dollarbird is another personal finance app with an eye towards collaboration and a monthly calendar. You synchronize your accounts (banking, brokerage, and credit cards) with Dollarbird and they build a schedule of future income and expenditures to help with planning. Dollarbird also offers a 5-year financial plan that lets you establish longer-term financial goals and track your performance against them.

The innovation they bring to the table is the idea of calendar-based money management. You can collaborate with other people (partner, family, or a team) to manage a team budget, though the collaborative piece requires the Pro version ($39.99 / year).

14. MoneyWiz

Of all the alternatives on this list, I know the least about MoneyWiz despite them being around since 2010. They support practically every operating system you can imagine – everything from Windows to Android to iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad – and it'll synch them in real time.

It's a powerful budgeting tool that integrates with 16,000+ banks in 51+ countries – which includes cryptocurrencies if you're in that investment class. If importing from your financial institution concerns you, you can manually enter data as well and it works just as well. For budgeting, you can work with their categories (which are multi-level) or add your own (and subcategories). You can split transactions, bulk edit, tag, and create powerful reports. It won't pay your bills for you but does have notification features.

It's a freemium product with the free version that has all the functionality minus synching across multiple devices and automated transaction downloads. For that, you need to buy the Standard ($49.99) or Premium ($49.99/yr or $4.99/mo).

15. PocketGuard

PocketGuard is a fairly simple budgeting app that links your credit cards, checking and savings accounts, investments, and loans all in one place. It has a complete picture (or at least what you tell it) of your finances but its strengths is in the budgeting – how it updates and categorizes your spending as it happens and looks for opportunities to save. Using your spending, it also builds a personalized budget based on your data as well as the goals you set for yourself.

They have a free version and a Plus version. The free version has all that you need for tracking your expenses and keep an eye on them. Plus gives you the opportunity to add your own categories, track cash transactions like income and bills. Plus costs $3.99 per month or $34.99 per year.

16. Wally

Wally is the last app on the list because they only handle budgeting. Most people who start using Quicken often do so to help understand their own spending. It isn't until your savings start growing that the investment portion becomes a bigger and bigger piece of the financial picture.

If that describes you and budgeting is what you care the most about, Wally may be for you. It's a beautifully designed app that helps you track your spending and understand your budget. Users have reported a few hiccups with the interface but if you get over the learning curve, and are OK with not having automatic transaction downloads, it's worth a try.

It is free though, which is why they can't offer automatic transaction downloads. One could argue that manually entering them puts you closer in touch with your spending.

One of these will make a fine replacement for Quicken.

Common Questions about Quicken Alternatives

What happened to Quicken Online?

Intuit created Quicken Online to try to compete with Mint. Near the end of 2009, they gave up and acquired Mint.

Afterward, they opted to shut down Quicken Online and sold the entire Quicken unit to H.I.G. Capital in 2016. Quicken Online no longer exists.

Quicken does have an online experience, something they've only recently created, but it's not free and it's playing catch up.

What is the best non-cloud-based Quicken alternatives?

Some of the best tools out there are cloud-based. Personal Capital, Mint, and many on this list store your information online. If they are somehow compromised, they potentially could leak your data. They have a lot of security protocols in place to prevent this type of thing but nothing is 100% safe. The ones that do not store your data in the cloud are less powerful but … they don't store your data in the cloud.

Moneydance Personal Finance, which is included in the list above, is one alternative that is a local program and stores your data locally. It still has the functionality of pulling data from hundreds of financial institutions so it will still save you some time.

Tiller is a tool that integrates with a Google Sheet (which is cloud-based) and Microsoft Excel (which local). They do store some of your information since they have to get the credentials to pull your data but it's not like other services that contain the credentials and the data.

What is a good accounting software alternative to Quickbooks?

Quicken Handbook Pdf 2018

I haven't used Quickbooks and I'm not familiar with the world of accounting, but GnuCash is often cited as a powerful and free alternative to Quickbooks and Quicken.

It has a lot of features present in accounting software, like double-entry accounting and small business accounting, but many folks have success using it as a personal accounting software package. It's a software program you download and install locally, which means it's not cloud-based, and it's completely free.

Which of these Quicken alternatives work on Mac?

Any cloud-based alternative will work on the PC and a Mac. It's cloud-based so they work in your browser, which makes them operating system agnostic.

Quicken Mac 2018 Manual Download

If you want a piece of software designed specifically to run on Macs, Banktivity is your best option. It's one of the few personal finance applications built specifically for the MacOS and it has the richest feature-set. Most importantly, especially if you use an iPhone or iPad, it seamlessly integrates among the three.

Banktivity is your best option. It's one of the few personal finance applications built specifically for the MacOS and it has the richest feature-set. Most importantly, especially if you use an iPhone or iPad, it seamlessly integrates among the three.

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