The Future of Moneydance?
Hi All
Just a quick one, if Sean is indeed not fancying the project as suggested in another thread ( I sincerely hope that is not the case ) considering ALL the good work he has done for us, the user base, where does anyone see the project going in another direction? I would just hate to see MD vanish without a trace!!!
A well meaning, long time user.
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1 Posted by dtd on 24 Jul, 2026 08:47 PM
As the person who made the comment you are probably reacting to, Sean is definitely still "on the project"; progress has just been going slower than I've observed in the past.
MD isn't about to vanish. Sean plans a new alpha soon.
2 Posted by tonyt on 25 Jul, 2026 05:23 AM
I'm so relieved! And thanks!
3 Posted by tallywright on 05 Aug, 2026 05:52 PM
I hope it doesn't die, a lot of people would be left with no good self-hosted alternatives that could handle investments and decades of history the way MD does.
I personally have given up on waiting for a substantial update, and it may be ok for many as MD kind of pokes along. Given the recent pace of development we are in for a 2-3 years update cadence as a best case scenario, with overall design, architecture and look-and-feel firmly planted in 15-year-old (or older) patterns, migration from Java to Kotlin - if that's what's going on - notwithstanding (IMHO).
It would take a complete ground-up reengineering to move it forward to a more dynamic and contemporary posture and I just don't think it's in store here. The last major addition was a much needed integration of online update services (Moneydance+), which definitely extended usable life of the project given the certain death of OFX, albeit at the expense of a new dependency on MD proxy server infrastructure (never mind Plaid). It was certainly a departure from the idea of a completely self-hosted setup. The bottom line: if IK folds, MD+ goes with it. Critical for me.
Full disclosure: MD user from 2015, Quicken prior to that, MS Money prior to that, and my dataset reflects all of that :-). I am taking the risk of the project going into unsupported mode or completely dark very seriously and have been working on a "backup plan" with full ingest of MD data.
4 Posted by Greg on 05 Aug, 2026 09:03 PM
@tallywright - would you mind sharing your backup plan? I started migrating from Quicken last year after 30+ years but stopped as it seemed MD 2026 was not being worked on. I then looked at Gnucash and KMyMoney as alternatives and haven't quite landed yet. I'd like to move to MD and MD+/Plaid but maybe there are other alternatives now with AI
5 Posted by derekkent23 on 06 Aug, 2026 07:44 AM
I am not support staff, just a user.
Hi
I am running Alpha build 2026.0(5504) as a tester. This latest Alpha build has progressed to the stage where for some time I have been running it using my real data. I have a backup computer where I am still running 2024.4(52530) just in case.
As to when this will progress to a Beta build and finally to a release build, it depends on if the developer, Sean, wants to add more new features.
Progress is slow, but there is progress.
Have Fun, Stay Safe.
6 Posted by tonyt on 06 Aug, 2026 11:27 AM
I am interested in the backup plan too.
7 Posted by Greg on 06 Aug, 2026 02:31 PM
@derekkent23 - appreciate the update that there is progress
8 Posted by jimmyjoebobaloo... on 06 Aug, 2026 03:57 PM
As with @tallywright, I've started to become concerned with the slowing of MD updates and the confusing 2026 release notifications. I started comparing other offerings (MoneySpire is the only direct competitor I've found), but @dtd's response alleviated most of my concerns.
I think I'll have a peek at the Alpha if they're interested in some additional feedback.
9 Posted by dtd on 06 Aug, 2026 07:18 PM
The current alpha (5504) looks pretty beta to me. But I can't recommend using real data on it until Sean agrees, though a recent backup would allow you to check things out. And feedback is always welcome. Check out the new/revised reports specifically.
As for @tallywright concerns - I agree things are going much slower and it's frustrating to us volunteer testers as well. But there is no indication of stopping, just it has indeed been slow.
10 Posted by sth on 09 Aug, 2026 01:05 AM
Agree with @dtd, there is progress, and we are hoping for a beta soon. The Alpha seems to be working and I am using real data (on a second machine only) and running versions in parallel. A lot of updates to reports and finally fixed calculations! Improved security matching. A lot of annoying unexpected "features" fixed.
I haven't found any secure (ie local data only) solution. But I am not sure that a "more forward and dynamic posture" is what MD needs. Sounds like management speak. As to the graphic layout, it is functional but probably not up to the ever changing Apple eye-candy. The last thing we need is for MD to adopt Liquid Glass! :-)
Kotlin is a modern IDE and a portable language. The transition of that old code to Kotlin will be an ongoing process and that is fine. If it is functional then I have no problems with it.
If you want to let an AI write the code to handle your finances, caveat emptor!
11 Posted by dwg on 09 Aug, 2026 01:58 AM
Given the range of platforms that Moneydance runs on and what the direction is I would expect the "look" to remain fairly neutral and to not lean towards any one O/S look, such a bias would I expect puts those on a different system right off.
12 Posted by sth on 09 Aug, 2026 02:01 PM
@dwg, I agree, I wasn't suggesting that MD adopt the macOS look or even the Windows VISTA look. It was a snide comment about those comments about "look and feel" as chasing an ever moving goal post as a waste of development time.
I am more interested in how to move securities between accounts without messing up basis cost and lots as information that needs to be preserved. But I am more of a function over form kind of person with software. However, "function" includes a good UI/UX development. MD has a decent UI/UX with all the right functions easily available to the user. Sean has done a good job with that.