Banktivity personal finance software includes strong budgeting tools and gives you multiple options for connecting to your accounts. This program is missing some of the investment-management tools we liked in programs like Quicken and Mvelopes, but it's still a strong choice for managing your finances.
IGG Software is the developer of Banktivity, formerly named iBank 5. Updates within the current version are free, but in order to upgrade to a new version, you must first pay for an upgrade license, which is available at a discounted price.
Banktivity offers multiple options to connect with your bank, credit union, credit card or investment account. It offers a direct access service that syncs with your accounts through a real-time connection that updates transactions as they occur; however, it's one of the few companies that charges extra for this service.
Direct download is the next best option. This allows you to directly connect to your financial institution and download transactions into Banktivity. However, some banks may charge for this, so you'll want to contact your bank to verify if this is the case. Alternatively, you can manually download your account data from your bank and then upload it to the program.
You can download a companion app for your iPhone and Apple Watch, but the app isn't free. An iPad app is also available at an additional cost. The apps offer much of the same functionality as the full program, allowing you to monitor budgets and upload transactions. You can sync your mobile app to the desktop program using Banktivity's Cloud Sync system.
When you connect Banktivity to your accounts, this program automatically tags transactions. This saves you some of the time that comes with initially setting up the budget. You want to check and make sure everything is tagged correctly; you can edit the tags as needed. When we tested this program, we found the automated tagging to be accurate most of the time.
This Mac financial software allows you to pay bills online through the program. This handy tool makes the task of tracking your spending easier, since your bills are automatically considered by the program.
This Mac finance software application includes numerous reporting features, such as a net worth overview, spending reports and cash flow reports. You also get reports on any investment accounts you've added to the program. These reports are easy to use, and the graphs and charts can easily be adjusted to reflect different time periods or show information about a single category. You can export these reports to tax programs or as other common file types.
If you have investment accounts, Banktivity includes some tools to help you monitor those investments and see how they impact your overall financial picture. You can see a high-level overview of your portfolio and track the performance of various assets. However, it doesn't have the capability to compare your portfolio to the market or track fund fees, which limits you from seeing the full picture of your portfolio's value.
Banktivity personal finance software for Mac stands out for the ease with which you can connect to your financial accounts, the variety of reporting options available and for the intuitiveness of its budget setup. The program automatically tags transactions for you, which can save you time. However, you need to pay for a subscription to sync directly with your accounts, which is an extra cost that most of its competitors don't charge. It also requires you to pay for its companion apps, though most companies include them with the program for no additional charge.
