I thought I had finally found a substitute for Quicken Essentials for Mac

Moneywells strength are the envelope budgeting method, the companion iPhone app, which has so far sync’d flawlessly, and the direct download capability. Also, account balances are listed in the left-hand pane next to each account. This is a nice touch.

The major problem with Moneywell is the somewhat difficult to navigate and tedious user interface. A big problem is that transactions downloaded via direct download are not matched automatically with existing transactions. There is a window which identifies duplicate transactions, but its operation is counterintuitive. A bigger problem for me is that I like to see both past transactions and scheduled transactions in a single window, so that I get a sense of upcoming cash flow issues. I don’t think that Moneywell provides for a single-window approach.

My 3 primary requirements for personal finance software are direct download, an easy to use and intuitive interface, and sync’d mobile app. Moneywell does well in the first and third, but fails in the second. For that reason, I will probably not continue using Moneywell.

Sean Jay SD about MoneyWell