Software / App — not ‘Service’ — to categorize spending
April 28, 2023 5:39 PM Subscribe
Do not want a full-featured 'budgeting' app ; looking for something less dogmatic and setup-heavy than YNAB or GoodBudget. Prefer not to use Mint or any such service that’s basically a sink of personal data to be mined and sold between large financial services corporations. I describe what I’m looking for below the fold.
I’m looking for a program that will allow me to finely categorize my spending transactions each month so I can see them grouped together and totaled by category: $X amount for Rent, $Y amount for Gas, $Z amount for Special_Custom_Category.
1. Program or App must be for MacOS, OR, if web-based, meet the basic privacy* requirement
2. I want to be able to define as many categories as I care to; then
3. Export all my transactions from my banks etc. and import them into the program; then
4. Assign a category to each transaction / record ;
5. Have the program sum up the $$$ by category ; and
6. Ideally also be able to show each category’s percentage of the total of all transactions, in pie chart form (or allow me to export the data in a format that can easily be imported into Xcel for said pie-charting)
* Yes I realize that any data shared ‘in the cloud’ on a third party server must be assumed to be at risk of compromise or exploitation. A company with a privacy policy that says “we will not sell your data to third parties” would be fine.
I would prefer to not have to give the program my bank account login credentials so that it automatically downloads from my bank; I don’t mind being in the middle with a manual process.
I do not need any ’sharing’ feature.
I do not need to be able to use the app on my phone.
Thank you
I’m looking for a program that will allow me to finely categorize my spending transactions each month so I can see them grouped together and totaled by category: $X amount for Rent, $Y amount for Gas, $Z amount for Special_Custom_Category.
1. Program or App must be for MacOS, OR, if web-based, meet the basic privacy* requirement
2. I want to be able to define as many categories as I care to; then
3. Export all my transactions from my banks etc. and import them into the program; then
4. Assign a category to each transaction / record ;
5. Have the program sum up the $$$ by category ; and
6. Ideally also be able to show each category’s percentage of the total of all transactions, in pie chart form (or allow me to export the data in a format that can easily be imported into Xcel for said pie-charting)
* Yes I realize that any data shared ‘in the cloud’ on a third party server must be assumed to be at risk of compromise or exploitation. A company with a privacy policy that says “we will not sell your data to third parties” would be fine.
I would prefer to not have to give the program my bank account login credentials so that it automatically downloads from my bank; I don’t mind being in the middle with a manual process.
I do not need any ’sharing’ feature.
I do not need to be able to use the app on my phone.
Thank you
Someone on this site about 4 weeks ago recommended Tiller and I have become a massive convert. Requires a level of comfort with Google Sheets (or Excel, but there are fewer plugins available).
posted by matildaben at 7:47 PM on April 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by matildaben at 7:47 PM on April 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
I’m a fan of Simplifi. The only thing I’m not sure about is the connection aspect - I provide credentials to them so my transactions are auto-imported.
posted by sevensnowflakes at 9:23 PM on April 28, 2023
posted by sevensnowflakes at 9:23 PM on April 28, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:25 PM on April 28, 2023 [2 favorites]