What is the best Alternative to Quicken after 2020 (Non Subscription)

[ShokWaveRider]

As we know Quicken Desktop, Stand Alone, Non Subscription is being discontinued. From What I can read QFX downloads will not work after that. I was wondering what the best Windows Desktop Alternative is.

I would basic functionality such as; Quicken to conversion, QFX Support (DL from financial Institution), and NW, Expense etc. Reports. Other than general Financial stuff, that is really all.

Moneydance comes to mind. I do not want a cloud or web based version.

Please do not try to convince me that cloud or web based systems are bullet proof as I am DEAD set against cloud versions for a good reason, even if it be old school.

During my most recent w*rking years (pre 2010), we marketed stand alone and cloud based Document Management Systems and I know how easily the data streams (at the time) were easily hacked and interpreted and redirected. As a result I store nothing of value on any cloud based system, and never will regardless of what technology is in place. If it was not approved by all my Nuclear NRC compliant customers, I cannot in good mind use them myself. They stored All proprietary data in local or remote facilities and only non mission critical data in the cloud.

 

[cathy63]

What features are you looking for? There is no single piece of software that can replace everything Quicken does, but most people don't use all the Quicken features, so tell us what you use it for and maybe we'll come up with something.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

What features are you looking for? There is no single piece of software that can replace everything Quicken does, but most people don't use all the Quicken features, so tell us what you use it for and maybe we'll come up with something.

Updated OP.

 

[zinger1457]

I'm working on transferring all my Quicken account data to an Excel spreadsheet, about 95% complete. All my online accounts can be exported to a csv file so it's a matter of copying any updates into the Excel table I have setup for each account. Can also export individual Quicken accounts into a csv file for any old data you no longer have online access to. Quicken has a lot of features I don't need or use, with Excel I can present and summarize the data exactly how I want to see.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

All I really use is the QFX download (Manually not Auto) from all my accounts, then I check each one to make sure it is legit.

I do like the NW calculation and one account is Canadian, and general end of year reporting of expenditures by category.

 

[OldShooter]

Last fall I spent maybe 10 hours trying to move my Quicken data (thousands of transactions) to MoneyDance. Their import tools are just not robust enough for this. The biggest problem was duplicated transactions, hundreds of them, that had to be spotted and fixed. I finally gave up because I still have a non-subscription Quicken that I can use until the end of this year.

Six months ago, MoneyDance seemed to be the best option and it probably still is. Next fall I am hoping against hope that their import tools will be better, but my expectation is that I will start fresh with them and not try/not be able to bring in my old data. I'll start with them on 1/1/20 so I have the tax year covered.

I did test the MoneyDance brokerage and bank account online update features and they seemed to work OK.

Intuit has always been a slimy company and the guys running the spun-out Quicken are the Intuit crew, so I have no trust. A subscription model decouples the revenue from product upgrades and improvements, so I'm sure the new guys will make lots of money. But not from me.

 

[Spock]

If a Fidelity user, would Full View be secure enough for you?

 

[Uncle Lumpy]

I plan to continue to use Quicken Deluxe 2012, just without any of the "online" conveniences. I never used their BillPay as I just use the online bill paying feature of my bank. Once or twice per month I take 20 minutes or so to manually update all of my investment asset prices. In other respects Quicken performs for me as it always has. I plan to continue to operate like this "manually" using Quicken because it isn't far removed from how I've always used Quicken.


Lumpy

 

[gauss]

GnuCash is free, multi-platform and open-source.

It seems to work for logging and categorizing transactions and reconciling statements.

It is more of a true double-entry accounting system than quicken.

On the other hand, it did have some lacking features when I tried it such as calculating IRR figures to calculate returns on portfolios.

I think there may be extensions written by third parties to provide this.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I plan to continue to use Quicken Deluxe 2012, just without any of the "online" conveniences. I never used their BillPay as I just use the online bill paying feature of my bank. Once or twice per month I take 20 minutes or so to manually update all of my investment asset prices. In other respects Quicken performs for me as it always has. I plan to continue to operate like this "manually" using Quicken because it isn't far removed from how I've always used Quicken.


Lumpy

How do you get transactions from your accounts? Do you do it manually?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

GnuCash is free, multi-platform and open-source.

It seems to work for logging and categorizing transactions and reconciling statements.

It is more of a true double-entry accounting system than quicken.

On the other hand, it did have some lacking features when I tried it such as calculating IRR figures to calculate returns on portfolios.

I think there may be extensions written by third parties to provide this.

Can you Xfer your accounts form Quicken (QFX)?

 

[calmloki]

We continue to use Quicken 2006. We don't use billpay, we don't download transactions, we do use it as a long term record of our spending and deposits. I'm sure there are some advances in newer versions, but this has worked for us through many rental buildings, lots of property loans, lots of credit cards and banks and multiple accounts and properties. It gets daily use. No real need to fix what isn't broken - so can you find a Quicken version that won't die in 2020?

 

[gauss]

Can you Xfer your accounts form Quicken (QFX)?

Memory is vague on this, but I think I was able to figure out a conversion path -- at least for bank accounts.

I was coming from Quicken 98, however.

There is still no threat of Quicken 98 going to any type of subscription model, so you may also wish to have a look at the old stuff.

-gauss

 

[steelyman]

My current license for Quicken will expire in 2020. It was until recently on “subscription” but you can turn off that auto-renewal, just like you can with something like Netflix.

Unless something drastic/unexpected happens, in 2020 I’ll look for the best current price and purchase a new license.

When I compare the cost to my hourly salary while working, it doesn’t seem to justify spending hours of my time to create some workaround.

 

[bobandsherry]

For $30/yr (or less) I'm sticking with Quicken. Life's too short to deal with half solutions and try to covert years of data and jump through various hoops and then find that support is lacking in whatever your next application is. Penny wise and pound foolish.

If I were to deal with something, I'd look seriously at the sunset version of Microsoft Money. It's free and pretty decent. But, for me, if I waste an hour trying to convert to something just to save $30/yr, I've wasted too much time. [emoji3]

 

[pb4uski]

+1 with steelyman.... I have Quicken 2017 and the automatic import functionality will sunset on April 30, 2020.

I use GnuCash for our lake associations books and it is ok as a simple double entry bookeeping system... and it is free... but Quicken is much better IMO. I recently checked out Moneyspire but the lack of investment tracking would be an issue for me.

I may look at MoneyDance, but given the utility that I get out of Quicken $2.92/month for a 24 month subscription isn't a horrible price to pay.

 

[Katsmeow]

I personally use the subscription version of YNAB. I understand you don't want to use cloud based which is fine. But, it might make a difference if there was a cloud based solution where there was no secure data stored in it. I personally manually enter transactions. Outside of YNAB I download transactions from one account to OFX and then just drag the data into YNAB. For me the only data that I store in YNAB cloud is my account transactions. I do not use their direct download abilities unlike how it is done with Quicken (I did try out Quicken recently). In fact, if I had my bank account in X bank, I could in YNAB name the account something like Checking and if someone somehow got access to my YNAB data they wouldn't even know where I had my account.

For me since I don't store anything in YNAB that could give anyone access to any of my accounts (I don't put in account numbers, etc.). Basically to someone getting access to YNAB they would have the equivalent of my check register without any information about where the account was. So that doesn't bother me. If it did bother me then I would create my own Excel spreadsheet and just manually enter the data.

 

[Uncle Lumpy]

How do you get transactions from your accounts? Do you do it manually?

I manually balance things at the end of the month (or when I download the PDFs of the credit card statements). It only takes a couple of minutes per account and I feel "closer" to the data so as to notice any abnormalities. I've never used the automatic download of account data feature in Quicken even when my Quicken versions had that capability. I didn't like the idea of Intuit having the information necessary to access my accounts--I've always been a little paranoid in that way.


Lumpy

 

[rpguy4]

Old School - Still using MS Money. I manually download all my transactions in Quicken format. I use it just to track my expenses. This link talks about some alternatives, and a few already mentioned here in this thread : https://www.thebalance.com/when-replacing-microsoft-money-1293812

 

[Cat-tirement]

I manually balance things at the end of the month (or when I download the PDFs of the credit card statements). It only takes a couple of minutes per account and I feel "closer" to the data so as to notice any abnormalities. I've never used the automatic download of account data feature in Quicken even when my Quicken versions had that capability. I didn't like the idea of Intuit having the information necessary to access my accounts--I've always been a little paranoid in that way.

This sounds much like my philosophy and approach as well. Beginning this year I switched from Quicken 2007 to the current (subscription) version, though I don't use any online connected features. I even use Little Snitch (an enhanced firewall) to make sure Quicken (or anything else) doesn't make any outside connection or "phone home" unless I allow it.


If I do decide to stop my Quicken subscription for some reason, I will still be able to continue my last version for a significant time since an inactive subscription only disables online features not local ones.

 

[tulak]

I moved to Moneydance a few years ago, from Quicken and before that, from MS Money.

All of these programs have their quirks. I’m happy with Moneydance , especially the ability to write my own python scripts, which I realize is not for everybody.

The only problem you may have with Moneydance is downloading quotes. They were using Yahoo and ever since that went away, it seems like it’s flakey. But I really don’t know, since I wrote my own script to automatically import quotes. Something to keep in mind if you try it out.

 

[cathy63]

The first thing you should know is that Quicken 2019 is not a cloud-based product.

https://www.quicken.com/support/quicken-subscription-membership-faqs

Please note that while Quicken is now a subscription product, it has not changed to a web-hosted/cloud-based product. Quicken will remain a desktop program and your data will continue to be stored on your computer. Quicken has a cloud sync feature if you would like to use the Quicken Mobile App or Quicken on the Web, but this is optional.

So if your primary concern is that you don't want your data stored online, the most straightforward solution is to upgrade to the latest version of Quicken and keep using the regular download mechanisms.

If you don't want to upgrade, then you will be able to continue using the QIF import feature. Only the QFX import feature is subject to sunsetting. There is a tool that can convert downloaded QFX files to QIF here: https://www.propersoft.net/products/qfx2qif

 

[ShokWaveRider]

The first thing you should know is that Quicken 2019 is not a cloud-based product.

https://www.quicken.com/support/quicken-subscription-membership-faqs


So if your primary concern is that you don't want your data stored online, the most straightforward solution is to upgrade to the latest version of Quicken and keep using the regular download mechanisms.

If you don't want to upgrade, then you will be able to continue using the QIF import feature. Only the QFX import feature is subject to sunsetting. There is a tool that can convert downloaded QFX files to QIF here: https://www.propersoft.net/products/qfx2qif

Thanks, I do realize that q19 is not cloud based, just subscription based. Some of the choices from other suppliers are though. I a not interested in those.

I do thank you also for the conversion link.

 

[easysurfer]

When I used to use Quicken (many moons ago), the only real portion I used is the budgeting portion. Eventually, Quicken outgrew me so I ended up getting a program (Windows only) called Budget Advisor from a company called "The Other Software Company". I always figured that name was a way of naming Intuit, but not really naming them.

Fast forward, and "The Other Company" is no longer around. But I still use the program for my budgeting and and happy with it. Works well for me.

Software to buy once, keep as long as you want. What a novel concept .

 

[bobandsherry]

Fast forward, and "The Other Company" is no longer around. But I still use the program for my budgeting and and happy with it. Works well for me.

Software to buy once, keep as long as you want. What a novel concept .

Guess the "other" company found they couldn't survive with their model.

Quicken obviously does more and is constantly making updates in the background to keep their download functions working as financial institutions and other sources make changes. If Quicken just folds up then within a short period of time the users would find the software failing to work. That's really my concern.