When a spreadsheet is enough
A spreadsheet, in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers, is flexible and free. It works well if:
- You have a single account and few transactions a month.
- You enjoy building your own formulas and charts.
- You only want a monthly summary, with no forecasts.
Where spreadsheets fall short
As your accounts and transactions grow, problems appear:
- Time: you have to copy or paste your bank transactions and tidy them up by hand.
- Errors: one broken formula or duplicated row skews every total without you noticing.
- Mobile: recording an expense on your phone is awkward, so it gets left for later.
- Forecasts: working out how the month will end with upcoming bills takes complex formulas.
- Security: a file with all your finances ends up on your disk, in your email or on a shared cloud drive, often without a password.
What a personal finance app adds
A good app automates the repetitive part and leaves you the part that matters: deciding.
- All your accounts, cards and cash together, with up-to-date balances.
- Bank statement import in a few clicks.
- Categories, budgets and goals ready to use.
- Scheduled bills and income you won’t forget.
- Future balance forecasts and reports without having to build them.
- Access from your phone and computer, with your data in sync.
What to check before choosing an app
- Privacy: be wary of free apps that make money from ads or selling data. Check where your data is stored and whether you can export it.
- Bank access: some apps ask for your online banking username and password. If you’d rather not share them, choose an app that lets you import files.
- Security: two-step verification, encrypted connections and backups.
- Exit: you should be able to download all your data in open formats, such as CSV, and delete your account whenever you like.
- Cost: a clear price with no lock-in beats a free model full of surprises.
Our recommendation
If your spreadsheet works for you and you keep it up to date, carry on. If you haven’t updated it in months, or you want forecasts and budgets without spending hours on them, try an app for a few days with your real data and compare.
How Calers helps
Calers is an ad-free personal finance app that never asks for your bank login: you import statements in CSV, Excel, QIF, OFX, QFX or MT940. It includes budgets, goals, debts, scheduled transactions, balance forecasts and reports, works in the browser on your phone and computer, and lets you export everything whenever you want. You can try it free for 7 days, no card needed.
Do it with Calers Import and export Bring in bank transactions and take them out anytime
