Best Mac Software.com is a simple list of applications that will make almost every Mac user really, really happy. We aren't trying to be a complete We made this page to be a handy reference for all the folks who are buying new Macs and don't know about all the great stuff that doesn't come pre-installed.
Read on for our detailed analysis of each app Gone are the days of waiting for a printed bank account statement to drop through your letterbox, or making a visit to your local branch to move some money between accounts. We now have more control of our money than ever before.
But that convenience could, for some, mean disorganisation, reckless spending, borrowing and debt. Applying poor money management techniques to your personal accounts is one thing, but doing the same to your small business funds could be disastrous. And while we can't help you to be sensible – that's on you – we have selected ten personal finance software solutions that can make a difference to the way you think and act with your capital. Take your pick of these services and use them to stay on top of your money. A good overview will help you control your spending, grow your balance, and ensure you've always got enough in reserve to keep the taxman happy. If you're looking to keep your business books with a bit more detail, check out our guide to the.
Dashboard is outdated Price: $74.99 (around £57) per year Available for Windows, MacOS Probably the biggest name in personal accounting, is well-aged and feature-packed and – whisper it – starting to feel a bit out of date. So much so that parent company Intuit recently sold the rights to the software to a private equity firm in order to concentrate on its more modern properties like Mint.com and TurboTax. The latest version of Quicken released this year now includes 5GB of secure online backup with Dropbox, free Quicken Bill Pay and expanded custom reporting.
At the time of writing, the company is also offering a lower price for the first year of $44.99 (around £35) instead of $74.99 (£57) for those who sign up to the Premier plan. The Premier edition is perfect for managing personal finances, business accounts and investments in one place provided you're in the US – it's not so hot for UK users, being geared more towards American finance options. It neatly links transactions between your accounts – so transferring from savings into a current account is one entry, with a 'from' and a 'to' rather than a pair – and provides various budgeting and prediction tools to help you stay on track. Click to get.
Not suitable for those outside the US Price: Free, fee-based Available for on desktop and mobile primary function is to track your investments, assets and savings, rather than specifically looking after your current accounts. Are your assets working for you? Are you on course for a comfortable retirement? What can you do to be better off? Plug everything in and you'll be able to see the big picture of your finances. Personal Capital offers specific advice and statistics based on your goals and your current standing, but access to human financial advisors is where the company makes its money.
While anyone is welcome to use its website, you can only access advisory services if you have an account minimum of $250,000 (around £190,000), and there's an annual fee (of between 0.49% and 0.89%) to pay if you want your assets managed – this is lower than most financial advice services. UK customers will probably want to steer clear – Personal Capital is geared towards US investments like IRAs and the 401k – but for those State-side this could be the perfect way to grow your wealth. Reporting options are limited Price: Free/From $1.99 (£1.50) per month Available online An online service that's not slathered in effects and colours, does a good job of presenting your finances in a clean, professional manner. It cutely brags about the fact that it's currently helping its users manage almost two trillion dollars in funds, so it's got a solid user base behind it. You don't have to give Buxfer your exact banking details if you're uncomfortable doing so – you can opt for offline manual syncing with your bank account instead – but if you do trust it, there's a layer of high-level encryption to protect your data and the company is regularly audited. We like its budgeting tools best of all – the visual reporting is very strong, and the fact that it doesn't force you into predefined categories and instead allows you to tag expenditures however you see fit means Buxfer should fit nicely into most people's banking lives.
The free version gets you five budgets, accounts and bill reminders, the Pilot version ($1.99 per month - around £1.50) adds on automatic tagging and bank syncing, the Plus version ($3.99 per month - around £3) gives you unlimited budgets, and the Pros version ($4.99 per month - around £3.80) includes online payments, advanced forecasts and more besides. Limited features Price: $83.99 (around £64) per year Available on desktop and mobile Just in case you need to be told explicitly what to do, along comes - short for You Need A Budget. Because, hey, if you don't want to spend every single penny you have and more, you absolutely do need one. And perhaps you have more money than you thought?
YNAB's primary mission, as you might expect, is to help you curb overspending and avoid living from paycheck to paycheck. Stick to the program, temper your spending appropriately, and eventually YNAB will see you spending last month's money rather than that which you've just earned. It's quick to install, supports the majority of transaction information downloadable from banks, and appropriately configures itself for personal or small business use by changing its monetary categories depending on your needs. If you get off track, YNAB – which is reasonably forgiving and understanding for a bit of software – will tell you what you need to do to get back to where you need to be. You'll have to make sacrifices, but if it's guidance you need, this sets itself apart from the likes of Quicken.
Doesn't support account tracking Price: From $4 (around £3) per month Available on desktop and mobile There are various philosophies of budgeting. One time-honoured technique is the envelope budgeting system: splitting your funds, as they arrive, into various envelopes marked for specific purposes, never dipping into an envelope to spend cash on anything other than its designated use.
You don't need savings to start budgeting this way, just willpower and, er, envelopes. Without a whole host of bank accounts you're not going to be able to apply this technique effectively to digital money, but using is a good way to at least put a representation of your sectioned-off income in front of you. Designate an envelope for working capital or savings and you can grow your personal wealth or business funds surprisingly quickly. Anything you don't spend in an envelope stays there, giving you more to play with in your next pay cycle. There's no longer a free version of Mvelopes (although you can try it for free with a 30-day trial) but the basic plan for $4 (£3) a month should be adequate for most people, offering management of unlimited accounts and envelopes.
It's intuitive to use, and there are mobile apps for Android and iOS, essential for taking a peek inside your envelopes when it comes time to pull any money out of them. Can be a bit tricky to navigate Price: £35 (around $46) Available on web, desktop or to download for Windows UK readers will be pleased to know that unlike most accounting software, this is produced by a British company – not that other apps are terrified of good old Pound Sterling or anything, but it's slightly easier to put your financial trust in home-grown software, and its support for data from UK banks is very strong. Is more than happy to support worldwide currencies, and in fact does a solid job if you're working simultaneously with more than one, offering balances in multiple currencies rather than rounding them off into a single total. It's also good for keeping track of everything, allowing you to scan receipts with its mobile app and import them later on.
It's not the prettiest software around, and it's slightly more awkward to use than many of its more refined cousins, although Banktree does produce very neat reports which you can break down by time, or by payee. It may be worth experimenting with the free trial before you choose to invest in this one. Easy to use Price: Free Available for iOS and Android This iOS/Android app doesn't try to reinvent the banking world or offer anything truly ground-breaking, but it is perhaps one of the most useful money management tools out there. Hook up every one of your UK bank and credit card accounts and you'll be able to see each of your balances in a single place with a single login. That in itself is enough for us to recommend it.
But there's more – will track your spending, offering you an overall pie chart depicting your spending on loans, consumables, transport and the like. There's an at-a-glance overall balance, showing exactly how much money you have available across all of your accounts, and you can compare this to the previous month's figure to show how well you've been managing your funds. That's a great motivator.
It's super-safe, too: Money Dashboard locks down your login with an equivalent level of security to that of your bank, and it's completely read-only – your money isn't going anywhere. No Android app Price: $49.99 (roughly £38) Available for MacOS, Windows and Linux Made primarily for Mac users (but also out on Windows and Linux), is a desktop money management package with a very neat single-window interface. Load it up and you'll get an instant view of your finances, upcoming bills, recent expenses and more. Click an item in the left hand sidebar and the main content changes to reflect it. Its reporting features are quite strong if not spectacular to look at, and one of Moneydance's most useful sections is its account register. If you're old-school and once managed a cheque book, this operates on a very similar principle.
There's also an iOS app for logging transactions on the go, which later syncs with the software on your desktop. Unfortunately for UK users, Moneydance doesn't support the connection protocols used by UK banks, so you'll need to download your transaction history manually to keep on top of it and revert to your bank's own app to move money around. US users, however, are well covered. Have to subscribe to make the most of it Price: Free Available for iOS, Android The stuffiness of money management can negatively affect some. We've certainly been in the position of not wanting to even look at a spreadsheet full of depressing numbers.
Boils it all down to a series of circular pots – drag coins from your current account, and you can allocate them to all of your spending needs. We wouldn't exactly say it makes money management fun, but it's cute at least. Coinkeeper is free to download and try, although you'll need to shell out for the $1.79 (roughly £1.40) per month subscription option to really make the most of it and budget effectively. It's brilliant for keeping track of your expenses, and don't be fooled by its frivolous looks – you'll be able to see at a glance where your money is going, and export your data in a CSV file to use in virtually any other finance app or spreadsheet. Layout can be messy initially Price: Free Available online Provided by This Is Money – an offshoot of the Daily Mail – is both a good way to keep track of the stocks and shares you own, and a great way to see if you'd make it as a market investor without risking any capital. Updated every few minutes, it contains info on all London-listed shares and UK-based funds, and even lets you track money put into alternative assets like wine and art. When your individual investments are set up, be they real or virtual, you'll be able to see what top brokers are saying about the stocks you've picked, get an overview of exactly where your money is allocated, and track the performance of your stocks over time.
Basically everything you'd need for a play portfolio. If you're funnelling a lot of cash into shares though, you might be better off employing the services of a broker or investment manager and using this tool only for at-a-glance monitoring.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been running the bookkeeping through Quicken for Home and Business. This is a enhanced version of Quicken with some basic small business features — invoices, accounts receivable, etc. It’s easy to use, and although I get no respect from my accountant, it served my purposes well. When I made the switch from PC to Mac several years ago, I was in mid-financial-year, so I bought a copy of Virtual PC for my Mac; this lets me continue to run Quicken for Home and Business, albeit in a somewhat glacial fashion, as Virtual PC has to constantly pretend to be a PC, which makes it quite slow. In recent years my aforementioned accountant has been pressing me to move to a more adult bookkeeping solution, mostly because when I hand over the Quicken data dump at the end of each year they have to expend considerable manual efforts slurping the data into their Big Accounting System. There is also some apparent discomfort with the lack of “double entry” features, which I believe is related more to addiction than to real practicality, but I’ll play along.
And so, yet again, I’m looking for some basic accounting software for Mac OS X. That works in Canada. And imports digital data from my credit union. And that I can save files from that my account can import.
And those four features seem not to exist in any software I’ve been able to find. QuickBooks was an early favourite. There’s no specific Canadian version, but they claim that the U.S. Version supports unique Canadian features like the GST. But then I read. And made a couple of calls to Intuit (the company that makes QuickBooks) and found (a) that the U.S.
Version for the Mac I would be forced to use won’t output data that can be imported into the Canadian PC version my accountant would be using and (b) that the U.S. Version doesn’t support import of Canadian financial institution data and (c) that “support” for GST isn’t exactly elegant. So now I’m trawling for recommendations from others: are you keeping your accounts on a Mac in Canada?
Are you happy? If so, what software are you using? “if you can’t beat them, buy them!” Yes, I’d like to beat them.
Intuit has dropped their support for Macs in Canada, after we all dropped big dollars for their software. An Apple rep said that it just wasn’t profitable “enough”. Quickbook Accounts for Mac is really an excellent program. However, it’s not multi-user as they claim it is—or if it is, you have to pay them $60 a phone call to find out how.
Not sure they’ll answer that anymore now that it’s not supported, at least in development. MultiLedger has been recommended by an Apple dealer: It’s buck-ugly though, and likely not as straightforward as QuickBooks. And so, we keep looking. There appears to be very little (though I’ll check out Liquid Ledger). It looks like Quickbooks 2006 for Mac will support what Peter (and I) need.
It can export data for Windows, supports Canadian taxation and is compatible with Canadian banks. Are these not the sore points from the original post? I don’t have it yet and I haven’t found exact instructions for the tax setup, but there’s a clear list of Canadian banks supporting Quickbooks (including Mac support) as well as a pictorial and video demonstration of the Export for Windows feature. My biggest concern prior to reading the original post, was the possibility of surpassing Quickbooks’ database limitations. Ok, scratch my comments Those features are “supposed” to work but I see either through poor implementation or outright bugs, they don’t (for a lot of people). I think the solution may very well be to run the Windows version — either through dual-booting a new Intel Macbook Pro or through an emulator or virtualization (it’s not going to be the slug it was when running VPC on a PPC Mac). There are online solutions for accounting as well, but the only ones I’ve ever looked at were ones a friend was investigating.
They ended up with a contract of $7000+ per year for the service. Not my cup of tea. March 31, 2006 (just before my 60-day return-it expires) I receive a letter from quickbooks: Dear “valued” customer (emphasis mine): We are discontinuing QuickBooks Accounts for Mac in Canada. I just bought this program, discovered that the payroll doesn’t work unless you pay $150/year for it, and it doesn’t account for GST properly at all. In other words, it was a shoddy workaround in the first place, which they are now discontinuing.
I’m searching too: a not too large, but complicated company with multi-warehouses and payroll. I refuse to bow to IBM, but oh boy is this frustrating! The problem is not the Quickbooks, MYOB or Quicken packages in Canada, it is Intuit. I am not sure why someone has not sued them for all their false promises and lack of support. I personally refuse to ever buy an Intuit supplied product ever again. They buy up exclusive rights to market the products in Canada only to pull the product 6 months later for Mac users sighting “too few sales”. It is pretty obvious they buy the rights, knowing they will continue with the Windows versions and shelf the Mac versions and illuminate another competitor in the process.
I have tried to use the US versions and “Canadianize” them with their instructions and my accountant’s help, but the solution is very clunky and the GST remittance reporting is nonexistent. I hope Apple follows Microsoft’s lead with the Great Plains product and buys up a developer so it can release a proper accounting package for the Canadian market. I only wish I knew where to send my comments to Apple Canada. I feel all of your pain.
I am running a Canadian Mac user and I feel all alone — until now. I am still running our company on MYOB AccountEdge Canadian Version 2. I manually enter all the payroll — getting all the tables from the Canada Revenue site. I was considering buying the US Version of MYOB and trying to work around the US tax stuff and enter in my own Canadian rates and manipulate the system to work, but I downloaded the trial version and I’m not sure it will be easy to do.
The MYOB I’m using now is still running very well on Mac OSX, but the problem is what will happen one day it doesn’t. In the meantime I am crossing my fingers as to something being available in the future for Macs!! Intuit screwed us Royally. And then, by discontinuing Quickbooks for Canada, screwed many again. Someone at Apple needs to help us Canadians!!! Not sure if you’re still looking, but in case this helps anyone else, my company switched from MYOB to Moneyworks some time ago.
The maker, Cognito, is a New Zealand company but their software automatically customizes itself to a number of different countries, including Canada. It’s a little on the pricey side, I think about C$600 though there are no annual subscriptions and the don’t seem to ding you for every silly upgrade. Support is free, but mostly email or forum-based for Canadians (we did call once, and it only cost the long distance fees), but we’ve had relatively little need of it anyway.
Probably the biggest bonus for us was that Cognito gave our Accountant a free version of the software so that he could work on our files — with his Windows workstation! After reading the first page I have to agree. I have been running Multi Ledger and giving my accountant hard copy.
We have a Power mac G-3 and have just purchased a new 20 ” I Mac. My multi ledger will run on the old computer and do what I need and then some, but will not work on my new computer. Thanks Sreve I am going to look into. Good luck to all and thanks. I think someone is missing the mark.
I think that there is real need for software that will run of our computers and the accountant can read on there’s. I’m reviewing the MoneyWorks Express package (it’s around $350CDN) which is much cheaper than the Gold package and basically lacks network ability so for the single user small business owner, it should be sufficient. It looks pretty straight forward and appears to handle the GST & PST ok. The GUI looked a little overwhelming at first with all their arrows (workflow) and such but once you play with it a little, it’s starting to make sense. Apparently there’s an easier way to use it rather than this ‘Navigator’. Haven’t got that far yet.
One question for anyone already using it. My GST is filed monthly and PST quarterly.
I saw the preference to use both taxes and to set the tax cycle for the GST, but nothing to set the tax cycle for the PST. Is this possible? I am still using MYOB 8 in Classic mode on my OSX based G5 and have been looking into MYOB First Edge out of the USA but can not seem to find a downloadable trial version for testing purposes.
Anyone know where to download it as a trial? Nice to find the multiledger software but as someone mentioned above — what an ugly interface. If it works though, that is what counts (little pun there). Visiting the Moneyworks site and am impressed! They even have a download trial version and a Canadian specific link. They have my vote already.
Let’s hope the software works. I ended up with Moneyworks Express from Cognito. I’ve been converting my MYOB over to it as of January 1st since that seemed like the best time. I haven’t tried exporting accounts or anything and have been setting it up from scratch. (I find I can learn more about the program this way).
So far, it’s going quite smoothly. It’s a little different and some of the terminology is different as well, but easy enough to learn. I’m enjoying it and there are some nice features, like cash flow projection, that I’m really finding useful. I think once I get the hang of it, it will be even easier to use than ‘the other one’.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it I guess. I’ve had the same version of MYOB for years now. I tried to upgrade to the OS X quickbooks but like someone else said it wouldn’t do payroll so I sent it back. It was a huge fight and I can’t remember if I ever go my money back. My new book keeper is great, she suggested trying an OS X version of accounting software again, because I designed a payroll calculator with Filemaker Pro that works well. And she can do the T4’s by hand once a year. I googled and came up with this forum.
Looks like my best bet is to stick with what I have, even though it’s the only program I have that has to open classic to run. RAHIM I use Daylite extensively. It’s a great package especially when combined with DMI to integrate Mail with the Daylite. Regarding MoneyWorks I like it so much that I bought the company!! Just kidding but I am now an official Reseller. So if anyone wants more info or to make a purchase, just let me know.
MoneyWorks won’t do payroll, but version 5 is coming out in the next week or two with many upgrades, especially for Canada. The reason I switched from MYOB was exactly because it ran only in Classic.
When my G5 needed a new power supply and was in the shop for almost 2 weeks (the supplies were on backorder), I couldn’t run MYOB on my Intel iMac since Classic is no longer an option. So, if you ever upgrade to one of the new Intel Macs, MYOB won’t do you any good. Something to consider especially if you only have the one system. I am still using Simply Accounting for Mac (which has not beeen supported for many years). I have a translator which converts it to windows simply accounting V7.0 for my accountant.
I have been sticking to Classic supporting macs, so I could continue to run it forever. Unfortunately, this year new cheques require a different format for printing dates on cheques. Is there a patch for this, or am I required to run windows on a new mac and “simply” for windows?
I tried running Simply 7.0 for windows under virtual PC 8 years ago, but couldn’t stomach windows. The only thing MoneyWorks doesn’t do is payroll calculations.
But check on the Contact page of my website — I’ve got a link there for a company that does online payroll processing. Apparently they keep much better tabs on updates to payroll than most of the software companies, so you’re always current.
Maybe that, matched with MoneyWorks to do your actual accounting will be a good fit. And it definately handles GST & PST. You can even setup extra tax codes for PST exempt, HST, or even Zero rated to cover all the possible tax configurations you may need.
I’ve just downloaded the Moneyworks Express demo, and am so far very impressed. WAY more functionality than Quicken, which I was using before. My business needs don’t require all the features that MoneyWorks Gold has, so Express will be just dandy for me. As a Mac user in Canada, I am so relieved to see that this software just does what it says it does, including keeping track of taxes (already set up for Canadian users, including provincial differences for GST, PST, and HST, plus it’s configurable to your own particular needs). Getting the most out of this software will take a little time to learn, since it is so feature rich, but it’s actually fun to use, so I look forward to it.
(BTW, I’m using a MacBook Pro/Intel Core Duo/OSX 10.4.8.). PATRICIA you can download a trial of MoneyWorks at and there’s a comparison of the three ‘models’ and Canadian pricing. If you’ve been doing payroll calculations manually, then you’ll feel comfortable with MoneyWorks too. And you can create recurring transactions so you don’t have to re-key everything each time period. Only change the hours/deductions etc. That change from period to period. LIS I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
I’ve been using Express since Jan 1 and still finding new ways to gather and display information. It’s very flexible in that regard and at times can be overwhelming but the basic functionality of what’s important (getting your bookkeeping DONE!) is very easy and even enjoyable.