A few months ago, I knew I needed a new computer to replace my aging PC, on which I have been using Quicken for years (most recently Quicken Deluxe 2009). I wanted to get a Mac. All that held me back was losing Quicken, even though I hate Intuit's upgrade practices and the way they make new versions less functional (i.e., Quicken Deluxe used to analyze investments, no longer does so - now you have to buy Premier). I was leery of Mac Essentials (and now that it is out, it sounds like 99% of users hate it). So, I checked for alternatives that would work on the Mac. iBank looked good, and everyone said it was pretty, but deeper reviews and comments indicated it lacked functionality. I tried SEE Finance, too, and could see that it was promising but not yet there.

Then I tried Moneydance on my PC in parallel with Quicken. The transfer of files from Quicken went ok, some issues, but not too hard to resolve. The first download from banks created many duplicate transactions, but as I had reconciled all prior transactions, it was pretty easy to look at the new unconfirmed transactions and delete the duplicates, usually be selecting all and deleting all. A few issues with MD remembering one password, but that is about it. And MD's prompt responsiveness on these boards was lightyears ahead of any help for Quicken. Simply amazing.

Meantime, Quicken Essentials for Mac debuts, and I'm reading Intuit's community section on it and thinking no way will this work for me. So, I keep running MD and Quicken in parallel on my PC. As I do, I find I like MD better - I understand what it does and why (although I have not yet mastered budgets or reports). My PC is about to die, but I've become comfortable enough with Moneydance, that I am 98% sure I will get the Mac. I can do everything I need on MD and the support is just fantastic (especially compared to what I have been used to from Intuit).

So, on Friday, I got the Mac. I downloaded MD for Mac, emailed my data file to myself from the PC, reentered my online passwords, and was up and running in about 5 minutes. I bought the license the next day. I won't look back, and I am so pleased.

Although Quicken Deluxe said it had reports, many of them pulled data from who knows where, and did not use data consistently across different reports. And there were stupid things, like in budget mode, where Quicken counts things like dividends reinvested in my 401(k) account as income to me (abstractly, I guess it is, but it is not income I will receive and pay taxes on until I retire and is certainly not part of my budget). As mentioned above, the 2009 program had less functionality than the 2002 program.

I am still getting used to MD's reports, and I suspect they could be better, but they are not bad and, for the most part, I understand (or see how to understand) what data is being included and what is not.

So, thank you Moneydance - the software is very good, the support even better and now I have my Mac!

I cross-posted this in the switching from Quicken category, but wanted to also include it under the praise category.