CNET Editors' review
With its depth, plethora of options, and convenient report styles, Moneydance for Mac stands out as a professional financial software. It covers everything you could want from a financial application -- multiple account support, multiple currencies, printing, filtering, and more -- all placed in a beautiful, well-designed interface. To enjoy all its features, however, you will have to buy the premium version.
Following a straightforward installation, Moneydance for Mac gives you the option to import previous databases or start from scratch. Entry creation, which in the trial version is limited to 100 entries, is easy, though a bit overwhelming at first. The app comes prepopulated with the most popular currencies, types of accounts, and expenses, but you can choose which types of prepopulated entries to show as well as create custom ones. In terms of performance, you will be impressed with Moneydance's speed and relatively low demand for system resources considering its data processing features: it consumes only around 250MB of RAM. The program's only major downside is the lack of decent mobile support. While an iOS app is available, it is nowhere near as polished and powerful as the Mac version.
If you need to track your expenses on your Mac, look no further than Moneydance for Mac. It's a full-fledged personal finance manager with a slick interface, and while it does come with a price tag, its power and flexibility definitely make up for it. That said, don't expect to use this app on your smartphone or tablet.
Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Moneydance for Mac 2014.
Publisher's Description
From The Infinite Kind:
Moneydance is an easy-to-use personal finance manager. Whether you want to organize your finances, manage your budget, track your portfolio, or just automatically balance your checkbook, Moneydance is the solution for you. Moneydance's simple interface makes tracking your finances a snap, and advanced features include online banking and bill payment, portfolio tracking, graphing and reporting, and transaction reminders.
What's new in this version:
- Fix to HTTP cookie handling and added Entrust Certificate Authority, allowing connections to Edward Jones brokerage.
- Allow bank account OFX files to be imported into investment accounts
- Quick-entry of transactions uses the correct direction (deposit vs payment) depending upon the direction of previous transactions with the same description
- Fixed behaviour of new-transaction action in investment accounts if the normal or bank register hasn't yet been selected
See all new features
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All versions:
3.3 starsout of 25 votes
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Current version:
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My rating:
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"The 2014 Update is Awful"
Version: Moneydance 2014.2 (build 943)
Pros
The major problem in the 2012 version with mortgage calculations has been fixed. Other than that, there is little improvement that I can think of.
Cons
This version is a huge memory hog. My MacBook isn't the newest, but whenever I am running Moneydance, the whole OS slows down to a crawl. As soon as I quit Moneydance, things move noticeably faster. Overall, this is NOT an improvement. I'm now looking for a replacement. I would NOT recommend this software to anyone.
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"Surprisingly basic - a real disappointment"
Version: Moneydance 2014.2 (build 943)
Pros
Unexpected flexibility setting up a budget. For example, it was easy to set up items that are seasonal or occur at very specific times of the year. Reconciling accounts was much easier than SEE's process. I was able to accurately download activity from my bank, credit card, and investment companies. EXCEPT FOR INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS, it is easy to use the "Batch" feature to re-categorize transactions or move transactions that you accidentally downloaded to the wrong account. Unfortunately, transactions for my largest most active investment account transferred incorrectly during the migration and I had no way to move them to the correct account.
Cons
1) My transfer from PC-based Quicken to Mac-based Moneydance was nothing short of a nightmare. I spent DAYS tracking down errors. Investment accounts were especially problematic, as Moneydance doesn't handle transfers with the ease that Quicken does. I have yet to figure out how to download historical prices correctly.
2) There is no ability to examine changes in net worth over time, nor can you go back and look at net worth at a particular point in time. You are pretty much limited to examining account balances as of the current date.
3) When reporting split transactions, cannot view descriptions of each line item. I don't want to go back to the original transaction to see the breakdown.
4) Employer matches 401k contribution with company stock. In Quicken, I used the "add shares" feature to account for these transactions. MoneyDance does not have this functionality.Summary
I have no confidence that the tax basis information that was so carefully monitored and recorded in Quicken is correct in Moneydance.
If your needs are limited to simply tracking banking and credit card activity, Moneydance is a viable option to Quicken. And it does a decent job of recording transactions in investment and liability accounts. But if you actually want to analyze changes in account balances and net worth or examine investment performance over time, you should be prepared to fire up Excel. -
"Dissapointed Chase customer"
Version: Moneydance 2014
Pros
At this point, none. Without switching banks Money Dance is useless.
Cons
If you bank with Chase, do not purchase this program. I cannot for the life of me get this to work with any of my accounts there. Sure you can import info from your accounts there, but the online banking feature will not hook up to Chase, and Chase does not have Money Dance on their list of authorized personal finance applications.
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"Buy Quicken instead."
Version: Moneydance 2012.2
Pros
Better than all other Quicken alternatives. In fact those alternatives are simply unacceptable to anyone who knows what they are doing.
Cons
Lacks the basic and necessary functionality found in Quicken circa 1992.
Summary
The product is not so bad as to merit the substantial effort required to swithc back to Quicken. I switched to Moneydance because at that time Quicken has not updated thier software to run on the latest Mac OS version. Now that Quicken has updated thier software there is no good reason to use any other software if starting from scratch.
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"Still lots of shortcomings, just nothing better to use"
Version: Moneydance 2011.803
Pros
- Better than other Mac Financial Software
- Accurate calculations
- Overall a strong set of features compared to other Mac software currently on the marketCons
- Bugs often go unfixed for long periods
- Feature suggestions likewise, take a long time to get implementedSummary
Really, the best reason to use Moneydance is it doesn't suck as badly as the other options out there. And yeah, that's not saying much. If I could find something better I'd use it but with MS dropping Money and Quicken having been on a steady decline, none of the other software is nearly up to par. This is better than most but I still have issues with it. Recently I reported something that they said was "one of their most common requests" and yet still the best they would give me was we "hope to fix it in a future major release". It's not even a bug that should be particularly hard to fix, and has made the software so problematic for me to use, that i'm not sure this time I'm willing to wait it out.
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"I find this program has two problems"
Version: Moneydance 2011.803
Pros
It easy to use and gives all your accounts in a viewing column
Cons
I can't sort on categories, meaning that I can't get a report for each category of expenditure. And reconciling doesn't allow me to put in the date span and thus does not literally balance. Looking for something else
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"Excellent with One Glaring Issue"
Version: Moneydance 2011.803
Pros
Fast and Accurate. Loads fast and saves fast, compared with Quicken 2007 on the Mac. Can import Quicken transactions (make sure you follow the directions). Cannot import the schedule for repeat transactions. Easy to use. Flexible scheduling of repeat transactions (e.g., 3rd Wednesday of the month)
Cons
The field, Description, in a transaction is generally used as the field to specify a payee. The field, Memo, is used to provide extra information about the transaction. The problem is with splits.
Splits allow one to break down the total paid to a payee into multiple categories. The problem is that whereas every other financial program I've looked at includes the field, Memo, in each split, Moneydance provides the field, Description, instead. When creating a report of expenditures by category, subtotaled by Payee, every description in a split becomes another payee to subtotal.
This glaring issue has been commented on Moneydance forums for years, with no result that I know of.Summary
An excellent program with a glaring omission which is a deal breaker for me as I look for a replacement for Quicken 2007 on the Mac.
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"Best checkbook replacer for Quicken"
Version: Moneydance 2011.791
Pros
Most "Quickenlike" of check book programs I looked at
Cons
It took a while to customize the checkbook because a few features were not obvious, but I eventually got it to work the way I like.
Summary
I only the check register feature. I have used (and loved) Quicken for 15+ years but had to switch because of Lion incompatibility. Getting Moneydance to work like Quicken took quite a bit of doing because how to change some of the customizable preferences is not immediately obvious. Making checkbook entries is not quite as efficient as in Quicken, butI have suggested changes to the company and would be surprised if they don't make them. Getting reports can be done more efficiently than in Quicken once you have figured out how to set them up. Meanwhile, be sure to read the manual about keyboard shortcuts.
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"MD is a viable replacement for Quicken 2007 for Mac."
Version: Moneydance 2011.791
Pros
It covers all of the features you find in Quicken for Mac. Including on line banking, bill paying. Registers mimic the paper ones. It nicely presents your bank accounts, credit cards, investments, assets, liabilities and a calendar for reminders.
Cons
On line bill paying should be initiated from reminders but are not. Importing your data from other programs will have to be cleaned up, duplication seems unavoidable. To include the reminders created from your scheduled events in Quicken.
Summary
Attentive support team at MD. With Intuit dropping Quicken for the Mac community this is the replacement. Some processes could be smoother so with some fine tuning by the developers of MD, over time, we won't miss Intuit for long.
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"Great basic finance program"
Version: Moneydance 2011.791
Pros
I don't have major needs, so while this is not as sophisticated as some and may not have much eye candy, I actually like the simplicity and straight-frowardness of it. I also love that there is an mobile app, so I can sync with my iPod Touch.
Cons
As I mentioned, the level of sophistication is not so developed, though I don't use that, so have not strong critique here. Online support might be better in other programs, too, but I have not had too much need for that.
Summary
If you are looking for a good finance program to maintain your basic finances and want one that also has an app for iPhone/iPod Touch, this is it. It is great for my daily tracking of finances. I have been using it for a couple of years and have been very happy with it.
