If you’ve never heard of Banktivity, it is essentially an alternative for Quicken for Mac. Banktivity helps Mac users pay bills, manage/track spending, budget, and track investments. It’s compatible across multiple Apple devices and has powerful tools to help Mac users get control of their financial life.
Some of the features they have include a setup assistant and allows you to convert any Quicken (qif) files right into Banktivity with a relatively simple process. Keep in mind though, conversions are going to be frustrating regardless.
Keep reading to learn more about Banktivity and whether or not it is the right budgeting program for you.
How Does Banktivity Work?
You make Banktivity as difficult as you need. A few clients depend on it carefully for individual fund planning, helping them to remain on track. Others incorporate their business funds and additionally track their ventures to utilize the full abilities of the program.
Banktivity makes it to some degree easy to begin. Regardless of whether you import your transactions from Quicken (Windows or Mac) or you start without any preparation, the setup assistant will help you start. Regardless of what direction you start, you’ll need to connect your qualified bank account to create reports and start planning.
Remember that Banktivity only works as hard as you do. As it were, you’ll have to classify or potentially label every exchange and run reports as you need them. A favorite component of numerous clients is the “Snappy Reports,” which are basic summaries of your present spending. This can give you a bird’s-eye perspective on what you have accessible to spend, avoiding overspending.
While you should take a shot on a desktop to begin, you can likewise download the Banktivity application for your iPhone or iPad and have synchronized data over all gadgets. The drawback, however, is the absence of reporting capacities on the application. You should depend on your desktop for reports, however the application allows for entering transactions anytime, anywhere.
What Are The Fees?
Banktivity 6 for Mac Computers starts at $64.99, but comes with some extra fees if you want extra features. For example, if you want automatic account updates from your bank or you want to use the app, you’ll pay an additional fee.
One of the downsides of this app is that they are not transparent about the actual cost about their “Direct Access” plan. If you’re on iPhone or iPad, you can head to the app store to see the cost of the app because they each have separate fees.
Reasons We Like Banktivity
- Sync your information across your Apple devices to budget on the go. This is a great feature because it allows you to enter your transactions anywhere you are. If you wait until you get home, you might forget to add it. This app helps you work around that.
- See different screens side-by-side. In Banktivity 6, there is a feature called “Workspaces” that allows you to see screens side-by-side. For example, you can put your personal budget next to your business budget all in one screen.
- Customize reports as you need. All you have to do is select which transactions you want to see and click “Report On” to get a customized report. You also have the option to save it or refine it further based on your budgeting needs.
- Tag your transactions. Sometimes expenses overlap in categories. For example, you go grocery shopping while on vacation. Technically, it ends up in the grocery category. However, you want to see it as a part of your vacation budget. If you tag the expense “vacation,” you’ll see it in both categories.
- Pay your bills directly through Banktivity. Despite the fact that merchants and numerous online banks offer online bill pay, a few people like to do it through their planning programming. Banktivity 6 offers the capacity to timetable, pay, and track your bills as long as your bank offers the best possible OFX association.
- Track investments alongside your budget. While some other competing software programs are only for budgeting, Banktivity offers investment tracking as well. View your portfolio and see current stock quotes all in one program.
- Banktivity offers private cloud syncing. With the data you have on Banktivity stored on your own private cloud, you will have access to all of this information real-time on any of your devices. This includes your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
- Plan for unscheduled expenses. Rather than sticking to the same bill schedule month after month, you can enter unscheduled expenses, such as birthday gifts, or medical bills, in the appropriate month. Banktivity will then reflect those expenses accurately as you enter those months. Some users call this the “envelope method.”
- Sum up as many transactions as you want quickly. Banktivity 6 allows you to select your desired transactions and see the running total at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. You don’t have to run reports and manually add—it’s done for you.
- Banktivity has a powerful “Find” function. On the off chance that you regularly look for a specific exchange in your budgeting program, you’ll appreciate the “Find” feature. Basically scan for an exchange by watchword or sum, and Banktivity will show you the exchanges that match the criteria. From that point, you can make alters or even change the exchange inside and out.
Reasons You May Want To Look Elsewhere
- You need a newer Macintosh to use the program. In order to use Banktivity 6, you must have the latest Mac operating system, Sierra 10.12 or newer. The program is not compatible with any older operating systems.
- The portfolio categorization isn’t useful. While you can track your investments, the program categorizes them by security type. For example, all of your bonds are categorized together and all of your stocks are in another category. Veteran investors would prefer to see their portfolio grouped as sectors, such as large cap and small cap categories.
- You have to manually update your transactions if you don’t pay for Direct Access. Although there is a way to work around Direct Access, paying for the service offers the most convenient results. Without it, you can download your bank transactions and upload them manually. This takes more time and effort in what should be a seamless process.
How It Compares
Quicken: As mentioned above, Banktivity is an alternative to Quicken, a service that has frustrated Mac users. Since Quicken is now a subscription-based service, you must pay annually. It offers the same services as Banktivity except for the side-by-side screen feature that many users like.
Moneydance: Banktivity and Moneydance offer similar features. However, what makes Banktivity standout is there “Workspaces” feature. Moneydance also doesn’t offer the “unexpected expenses” budgeting system that Banktivity offers. However, this app does work on Windows and Mac computers.
 |
 |
Bottom Line
For a lower cost, you can get Banktivity, which is a budgeting software that is similar to Quicken. If you have a Mac, this software is the way to go, and you don’t have to pay an annual fee.
If you list more posts like this, check out our Best Cashback Apps and Cashback Shopping Portals. Also learn more ways to earn Credit Card Bonuses!
Leave a Reply