The Complete Guide to Getting Started with Quicken for Windows

On the other hand, Windows users have a leg up on iOS users in terms of desktop software. Quicken’s Windows version offers more than its Mac version, most importantly its Home and Business plan. One notable difference between the two offerings is the number of users who can access the same account.

Two of the most popular options are Quicken and Intuit QuickBooks. We’ll compare key features, as well as highlight the differences between the two products to help you determine which to choose from. Users rejoice at the platform’s transparent, simple pricing structure. And thankfully, quicken bookkeeping there are subscriptions tailored to both individuals and more complex small businesses. Quicken falls in the middle when it comes to pricing compared to NeatBooks and FreshBooks, which charge $24 per month and $4 per month (after four months at $2.50), respectively.

Products

Quicken is a powerful money management tool that can help you take control of your personal finances. Track your income and expenses, set up budgets and create financial goals. It also provides easy-to-use tools for managing investments and loans.

Quicken was revolutionary when it first launched, sparking the field of personal finance apps. These days, we recommend Quicken for power users who want the most feature-rich, flexible personal finance management available. For everyone else, we recommend Simplifi by Quicken, our Editors’ Choice winner. And if you’re just getting started with personal finance, you may want to ease into it with an even more lightweight and free app, such as Rocket Money, NerdWallet, or Mint.

You don’t need to be an expert on federal or state income taxes

We carefully analyzed Quicken’s ease of use, value for the money, mobile app quality, data privacy practices, and learning curve, among other factors. Quicken Online was a free, cloud-based version of a Quicken plan offered by Intuit in the 2000s. When Intuit bought Mint, the company phased out Quicken Online. Although you can now use Quicken on the web instead of just on your desktop, there isn’t an official product called Quicken Online.

Both programs can track income and expenses, create budgets and generate reports. Other features in this section help you reduce debt, make a lifetime financial plan, track and project income taxes, and establish savings goals. These interactive tools combine fill-in-the-blank fields with sophisticated calculators and reports. They then feed your responses back to you as graphs and tables. No other personal finance app I’ve tested offers such detailed planning tools overall. Quicken answers these questions by displaying registers (that is, the line items of transactions from your connected financial accounts), charts, and lists.

Get in touch with an accountant.

If you want to do some deep digging into your finances, you should explore them. Every element of your finances is covered, including Spending, Tax, and Investing. None of the personal finance apps I’ve tested comes near to providing that kind of robust reporting. Quicken includes a whole suite of tools that help you plan financially, with budgeting features being the key ones. The software lets you create multiple budgets based on categories that you choose or that Quicken chooses for you based on your income and expense patterns.

With QuickBooks’ near real-time insights on small businesses cash flow, customers benefit from the greater visibility into credit worthiness, especially the most underserved small businesses. Improving access to capital for small businesses is a key area of focus for QuickBooks, given the impact overall cash flow has on small business survival rates. In a 2024 QuickBooks Small Business Insights Survey⁵, 40% of small business owners said the cost and availability of financing has worsened in the last year. Late payments are also a concern, with 58% of small businesses indicating they have unpaid invoices and 46% having at least one overdue by 30 days or more. If you don’t need accounting just yet, our new money solution offers banking, payments, and 5.00% APY—all with no subscription or starting fees.