Personal Finance Sites: Reviews

Mint gets more recommendations in reviews than any other online personal-finance website, despite the fact that it includes advertising in the form of contextual "money-saving" offers. Most reviewers say the ads are easy… to ignore, and still give the edge to Mint.com over its main competitor, Quicken Online. Mint can track bank and credit card accounts, along with brokerage, 401(k), IRA and 529 college savings accounts. It can help manage auto loans, student loans and mortgages. Mint works by importing data from a user's financial accounts together in one location (called account aggregation) by logging onto users' account sites, downloading the data and updating it daily. Mint creates reports and sends out alerts by email and to a mobile phone. However, reviewers say that what chiefly sets Mint apart from other online finance software is its Ways to Save feature, which suggests less expensive vendors for services consumers already use, or savings vehicles with better interest rates. Despite the fact that Mint.com earns money when you sign up for these offers, users say they are genuinely useful.

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Intuit's Quicken Online has become more popular with reviewers and users since it dropped its $3 monthly fee in 2008. It has many of the same features that Mint has including account aggregation, spending reports and… email and text alerts, with a few key differences. One feature reviewers like, and that Mint lacks, is the ability to manually enter and categorize cash transactions, so that they are included in the software's analysis of spending trends. Transactions can even be added via a mobile phone. Quicken Online also has a number of forecasting tools to help you prevent overspending. Customer support is another strength; there are online forums and blogs, and an Ask the Expert feature that allows users to ask questions or seek help from a Quicken expert. Quicken Online lacks Mint's Ways to Save feature that suggests ways to save money on common expenses.

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Like Mint and Quicken Online, Buxfer aggregates accounts, creates spending reports and sends out automatic alerts. However, reviewers primarily praise its ability to create simple budgets. You can also use Buxfer to track… group spending for up to five people who live or travel together or otherwise share expenses. It creates IOUs, and group members can pay one another from the Buxfer website using Amazon Payments. Buxfer provides mobile access in a variety of ways, including an iPhone interface and Twitter. Besides IOUs, Buxfer tracks only banking and credit card accounts -- not loan, mortgage or brokerage accounts. That's why reviewers say it is best suited to college students and young people with basic financial profiles.

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