What Expense Tracking Software Do You Use?

psyren89 on 22/01/2019 - 01:03
Last edited 22/01/2019 - 12:38

Since 2013, I've been using Expense Manager to keep track of most of my money going in and out. Over the years, I've poked around at moving to other apps or services, but found them all lacking or annoying in some way.

Lately, the app has been irritating me to no end and I'm looking to move to another app. My problem lies in finding an alternative - I've tried about a dozen results from a Google Play search and they were all poorly designed, hard to use, or lacked features (or in Mint's case, unavailable in Australia).

My requirements are:

  • Free (might consider a one-off payment, but I'm loathe to pay for a subscription)
  • Manual input required (some apps only synced with bank accounts)
  • Import required (gotta bring over 6 years' worth of data via CSV)
  • Able to track category, payee/payer, account type (i.e., cash, credit card, Paypal), and a comment
  • Needs an Android app (or at least a mobile-friendly web interface)

Any suggestions?

Financial

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 22/01/2019 - 01:12

    If you are with commbank I find the commbank app allows pretty good tracking and expense categories.

    Sometimes I just don't want to know what I'm spending money on though.

    • dust on 22/01/2019 - 09:41
      +1

      Sometimes I just don't want to know what I'm spending money on though.

      To be fair most questionable transactions are done via cash.

      • theguyrules on 22/01/2019 - 12:22
        +1

        My dealer takes EFTPOS

  • RonT on 22/01/2019 - 04:31

    Not sure whether it will satisfy all your requirements but you can try Andromoney. It also can sync with iOS.

    • psyren89 on 22/01/2019 - 12:16

      Recently tried to migrate over to this, found it abhorrent to use (and one other reason that escapes me at the moment).

  • mskeggs on 22/01/2019 - 06:30
    +1

    The way I ended up keeping track is to pay myself a small cash allowance once a month that is untracked, and pay everything else via card/bank. I then look over statements monthly. In our house, this is to keep track of individual discretionary spending, but it is very easy to also split things up via categories.
    On the rare occasion I need to pay a large sum in cash, I make a separate atm withdrawal so it is visible as a separate transaction.

    This approach has the benefit of not requiring any input effort, just a monthly review.

  • kahn on 22/01/2019 - 07:11
    +4

    Have you tried The Wife 1.0?

    • LikeMike on 22/01/2019 - 08:09
      +5

      I wouldn't advise that version. Myself and 50% of others usually have to uninstall it. Too buggy, expensive program to begin with and leaves the registry permanently corrupt

      • nocure on 22/01/2019 - 10:19
        +6

        Even after uninstalling mine still left a virus…

  • cainen on 22/01/2019 - 08:51
    +6

    I use YNAB. It's not free but it's an excellent budgeting and expense tracking tool once you understand the methodology. It ticks all your other requirements.

    • ShortyX on 22/01/2019 - 11:16

      Another vote for YNAB.

      We've been using it since 2011 and it's great.

      • inertia8 on 22/01/2019 - 19:09

        Same here, since Jan 2014. Still using the classic version and happy.

    • oO0Dam0Oo on 22/01/2019 - 12:11

      Love YNAB been using it for 5 years now. Every dollar gets a job :)

    • tellhimhesdreaming on 22/01/2019 - 12:53
      +1

      Another vote for YNAB, it's also entirely free if you're a student - so you could always game that aspect if you're entirely loathe to purchase the subscription.

      TBH it was cheaper when I first subscribed, now it's a bit hard to swallow if you haven't used it before and seen the benefits.

    • psyren89 on 23/01/2019 - 13:25

      YNAB is overkill for my needs - I really just need the ability to record expenses. I have no issues with budgeting, but the ability to see my expenses by category is useful.

  • [Deactivated] on 22/01/2019 - 08:51
    -1

    Ynab is what I have just started using.

    It is a monthly fee but you get what you pay for.

  • burningrage on 22/01/2019 - 09:52

    I used Ms Money Deluxe with Cloud hack. It is free and excellent and quite heavy duty. Because of the cloud hack, I can edit it on the go. However, the cloud hack can only work on desktop which is wonderful for me because if you use Surface Pro or something like that, it is effectively portable. You cannot however, use MsMoney on your mobile phone as there is no Android/IOS apps on it.

    I have been using it for more than a decade.

    I bought YNAB simply because I am curious about it. YNAB is good but lacks one important thing, reporting which is what Ms Money is excellent at the expense of nimbleness (YNAB opens in seconds whilst MsMoney opens in 1/2 minute on SurfacePro). It is also expensive. About AUD$10 a month but there is a 4 months trial on it on StackSocial.

    Ms Money ticks all of your requirement except the last one if you don't like surface pro.

    • oO0Dam0Oo on 22/01/2019 - 12:13

      Ynab does reporting. What kind of report are you looking for?

      • cainen on 22/01/2019 - 13:45
        +1

        There is also a Chrome extension called Toolkit for YNAB which has pretty good reporting tools and a few other features that improve the overall usability of YNAB in your browser.

      • inertia8 on 22/01/2019 - 19:11

        Classic ynab has some basic reports. Income vs Expense, pie charts of outgoings based on payee or budget category/sub category, basic net worth chart etc.

        Ie it will help you see when you have bought too much from The Colonel or Ronald..

  • nep on 22/01/2019 - 10:27

    In ios Daily Budget app is also good. It is available in android also I think.

  • myusername on 22/01/2019 - 10:52
    +1

    The Mrs

  • tsunamisurfer on 22/01/2019 - 11:39

    I am old school and every goes through the card(s). Then monthly exports to Excel for tracking.

  • knobbs on 22/01/2019 - 11:46
    +5

    Pocketbook

  • Dismo on 25/01/2019 - 09:39

    My Expenses. Open source software, encrypted database with the wife and my phone's synced over Dropbox. http://www.myexpenses.mobi/en/

    • psyren89 on 25/01/2019 - 22:28

      Do you use the Google Play build or the FDroid build? I'm curious to know how the FDroid build does billing.

      • Dismo on 26/01/2019 - 10:27

        We use the Google Play build with an Extended key each for synchronisation. I'm not sure how the FDroid build processes payments I'm afraid, sorry!

  • [Deactivated] on 26/01/2019 - 18:21
    +4

    People here are failing to grasp the difference between expense tracking and budgeting.

  • tgpraveen on 27/01/2019 - 21:02

    Pocketbook or MoneyBrilliant are two mostly free apps in AU market.

  • psyren89 on 21/02/2019 - 00:17

    Update: tried Andromoney and Wallet by Budget Bakers, both were bad.

  • eswes on 27/02/2020 - 13:42

    Have you tried Goodbudget? I've only started using it a few months ago but it seems like it might tick most of the boxes above?

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