The Best Free Personal Finance and Budgeting Software

Managing your money successfully includes keeping a close eye on your expenses. One way to do that is to take advantage of free software and services. Free personal finance software can be surprisingly robust, helping you track spending, create and manage budgets, and run reports.

Whether your computer runs on Windows or macOS (or even Linux) or you do all your budgeting on your phone, you'll find a no-cost selection below for tracking your finances and planning for the future.

You can complete your financial toolset with free personal tax preparation software to keep more of your money in your pocket.

Mint

Mint is a free online budget planner from Intuit, the makers of TurboTax and Quickbooks. This app brings all of your financial data together, showing you an overview of your budget, spending, bills, and credit score. You can create your own budget, set goals and reminders, and sync your data between web and apps. Security is enhanced by encryption and multi-factor authentication. You can also use Mint to track your investments and portfolio.

Access Mint via the web or phone apps for iOS and Android.

GnuCash

GnuCash is desktop software; its features include tracking bank accounts, stocks, income, and expenses. GnuCash is based on double-entry accounting for balanced books and you can run a number of reports to see your financial data. GnuCash also offers small-business accounting tools that let you manage customers and vendors, handle invoicing and bill payment, and even payroll.

GnuCash is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, BSD, and Solaris. There is a companion app for Android that will let you track expenses on the go and later import them into the desktop software.

AceMoney Lite

AceMoney Lite bills itself as the best Quicken alternative. You can manage your budgets, track your finances in multiple currencies, keep an eye on your investments and analyze your spending habits. You can also do online banking. As this is the lite version, you're limited to two accounts; the full version supports unlimited accounts.

AceMoney Lite is compatible with Windows and Mac OS X.

Empower (Formerly Personal Capital)

Empower offers free financial software for tracking investments and planning for retirement, in addition to its tools for cash flow, spending, budgeting and net worth. Empower's focus is on investments, showing you the performance of your portfolio over time and helping you make decisions for the future, so its budgeting components aren't as robust as other software.

If you're not an investor or prefer fine-tuning your budget to getting the broad view, Empower may not be the best fit. However, if you want to save for college or retirement, its free tools will show you whether you're on track.

Empower can be accessed via the web or apps for Android and iOS.

Buddi

budgeting software
Westend61 / Getty Images

Buddi is an open-source budget software that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems and has been translated into multiple languages. Buddi can encrypt financial data with a password, and it's designed to be easy to use even if you have no financial background.

Features include budgeting, tracking accounts, and personal finance reports, but you will have to enter transactions manually. Free plugins add more features, and the online user manual is easy to read and use.

Buddi is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Free Budget Spreadsheets

pearbudget home page
pearbudget.com

If you don't need fully featured personal financial software and you're just concerned about keeping a budget, there are some great free budget spreadsheet templates you can use with Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc or Google Sheets. Just download and open them in your spreadsheet software to get a handle on your cash flow.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the best way to track personal finances?

Apps and budgeting software make it easy to categorize your spending so you can see when and where your money is going—at a glance. Knowing these patterns is the first step toward changing your behavior to start saving more.

Is personal finance software safe?

Go with trusted brands, and you can expect the same types of firewalls and encryption that you'd expect from a banking website. It's often the human who does something risky rather than a flaw in the software.

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