Tools

I've used Morningstar to track and analyze various investment portfolios for over 20 years. Recently, they launched what is called Morningstar Investor. It's an updated and refreshed version of the company's old portfolio tracker. Unfortunately, the new Morningstar Investor is expensive ($34.95/month or $249/year). As a result, many have reached out to me asking what other tools I'd recommend. So in this article, we'll explore some of the best alternatives to Morningstar for managing and optimizing your investment portfolio.

Why Look for Alternatives to Morningstar?

As I mentioned above, I've used Morningstar for 20 years or more. The company offers arguably the most information about mutual funds, ETFs and stocks that you'll find anywhere. The downside is that its old Portfolio Tracker showed its age.

While I was comfortable with this 1990s user experience, many were not. And there were two other downsides. First, you needed to pay for a Premium Morningstar subscription to get access to all the great data, including Morningstar's popular X-Ray tool. Second, you could not sync brokerage accounts to the tool.

Enter Morningstar Investor. It attempts to solve two of the three drawbacks of the old system. First, it updated the look and feel of the portfolio tracker.

Second, you can now sync your brokerage accounts or add investments manually. I've tested the sync feature with major brokerage firms, and it's worked for me.

The one downside, however, is that it still costs a lot of money. For a lot of investors, there's simply no need to spend the money to track their portfolio. (For those who are willing to spend the money for the enhanced features, I think Morningstar is a solid option.)

So with that, let's check out the alternatives, many of which are free.

Morningstar Alternatives

1. Empower (Personal Capital)

I've used Empower to track my portfolio since it was first launched more than a decade ago. The tool does a lot more than just track a portfolio. It is a comprehensive financial planning and investment management platform. It offers a wide range of tools and features in a user-friendly interface. The free service includes portfolio tracking, analysis, retirement planning, and budgeting tools.

Key Features

• Account aggregation: Syncs and tracks multiple financial accounts in one place, including retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, credit cards, bank accounts, and home values.
• Investment checkup: Analyzes your portfolio and provides personalized recommendations.
• Retirement planner: Assists with planning and monitoring your retirement savings and building a spending plan once you retire.
• Fee analyzer: Identifies the fees in your investment accounts and projects the costs of those fees over time.
• Cash flow analyzer: Provides a comprehensive view of your income, expenses, and net worth over time.

Pros:

1. Comprehensive financial planning and investment management platform, offering a wide range of tools and features.
2. User-friendly interface makes it easy for both beginner and experienced investors to navigate.
3. Free service includes portfolio tracking, analysis, and budgeting tools.

Cons:

1. Doesn't offer the same amount of data and analysis you'll find with Morningstar
2. Empower will contact you to offer their free portfolio analysis, although you are not required to accept their offer to use the tool.
3. Limited customization options compared to some other platforms.

2. Google Sheets

Google Sheets is highly customizable, allowing you to create a portfolio tracker tailored to your needs. It is free to use and accessible from any device with internet access. Integration with external sources, such as Yahoo Finance, is possible for importing data. To that end, and with the help of a friend, I've built a free Google Sheets Investment Tracker.

You can check it out here.

Key Features

• Free
• Data Control: You have complete control of your data
• Data import: Uses Google Finance functions to pull in price, expense ratio and other data on mutual funds, ETFs and stocks.

Pros:

1. Highly customizable, allowing you to create a portfolio tracker tailored to your needs.
2. Free to use and accessible from any device with internet access.
3. Integration with external sources using Google Finance functions

Cons:

1. Requires more manual input and maintenance compared to other platforms.
2. Can be time-consuming to set up and optimize.
3. Lacks the advanced analysis tools available on dedicated investment platforms.

3. Stock Rover

Stock Rover is a comprehensive platform focused on in-depth research and analysis. It offers stock screening, portfolio analysis, and comparison features. Stock Rover provides a wealth of information and data, but it does come at a cost. And although I've used Stock Rover for years, there's still a steep learning curve. That's in part due to the wealth of information the tool provides.

As noted above, Stock Rover is not free. You can choose from one of four plans (the free plan is not listed below):

Except for the most expensive plan, Stock Rover costs a lot less than Morningstar. It also offers more. For example, it has built in portfolios you can use (e.g., Bogleheads' 3-Fund Portfolio, Rick Ferri's Portfolio). You can also sync your accounts to Stock Rover.

In the end, I think Stock Rover is a better option than Morningstar if, and this is a big if, you are willing to learn how to use the tool and have a need for the wealth of data and analysis it offers. If not, Morningstar Investor is easier to use.

Key Features

• Stock screener: Offers a powerful stock screener to help you find potential investment opportunities.
• Portfolio tracking: Provides comprehensive portfolio tracking and performance analysis tools.
• Customizable alerts: Sends notifications based on your chosen criteria, such as price targets or earnings announcements.
• Research reports: Delivers in-depth research reports on various stocks and industries.
• Comparison tools: Allows you to compare stocks, ETFs, and portfolios side by side.

Pros:

1. Comprehensive platform focused on in-depth research and analysis.
2. Offers stock screening, portfolio analysis, and comparison features.
3. Provides a wealth of information and data for informed investment decisions

Cons:

1. Can be overwhelming for beginner investors due to the extensive features and tools.
2. Requires a paid subscription for full access to all features.
3. Lacks some of the personal finance and budgeting tools found in other platforms.

4. Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo! Finance offers a comprehensive suite of financial news, stock quotes, and market analysis. The platform includes a free portfolio tracking tool with the ability to link your investment accounts. That's the good news. The not so good news is that the user interface is a jumbled mess. It helps if you use an ad blocker.

I've included it in the list because it's free, offers excellent data, and integrates well with financial news. Note that they also offer Yahoo Finance+, but at a cost of over $350 a year.

Key Features

• Portfolio tracking: Provides a free portfolio tracking tool with the ability to link your investment accounts.
• Financial news: Offers comprehensive financial news and market analysis.
• Stock quotes: Delivers real-time stock quotes and historical data.
• Stock screener: Filters stocks based on various criteria to help identify potential investment opportunities.
• Watchlists: Enables you to create and manage watchlists for monitoring specific stocks.

Pros:

1. Offers a comprehensive suite of financial news, stock quotes, and market analysis.
2. Free portfolio tracking tool with the ability to link your investment accounts.
3. Integrates with Yahoo Finance news

Cons:

1. Investment analysis tools are more basic compared to other platforms.
2. Interface can be cluttered with ads and promotions.
3. Occasional syncing issues with investment accounts.

5. Quicken

When it comes to portfolio tracking, Quicken probably isn't the first tool that comes to mind. I've included it, however, because it will track your portfolio and of course provide a full suite of budgeting tools.

You can enter investments manually or connect Quicken to your retirement and brokerage accounts. I've tested both the PC and Mac versions of Quicken and successfully connected accounts. There can be issues from time to time, but they are usually because of the particular broker, not Quicken.

Quicken is a paid application. It requires an annual subscription for access to all its features. In addition, the user interface is outdated, at least on the PC version. The Mac version has a more current user experience.

Key Features

• Comprehensive financial management: Combines budgeting, investment tracking, and bill management in one platform.
• Portfolio analysis: Provides a variety of tools for analyzing your investment portfolio.
• Tax planning: Assists with tax planning and preparation, including generating tax reports.
• Synchronization: Syncs with multiple financial institutions and brokerages for seamless account management.

Pros:

1. Long-standing reputation and wide range of personal finance and investment management features.
2. Offers detailed investment tracking and reporting capabilities.
3. One-stop solution for managing your entire financial life.

Cons:

1. Requires a paid subscription for access to all features.
2. Its interface is a bit outdated and not as user-friendly as other options.
3. Occasional syncing issues with investment accounts.

6. Fidelity Full View

Fidelity Full View offers a unified view of your financial situation across multiple institutions. It provides detailed investment tracking and analysis features. The platform is available for free to Fidelity customers.

Full View is powered by eMoneyAdvisor, a tool used by many advisors. I've used both eMoneyAdvisor and Fidelity Full View. They both track your portfolio, showing you your balances and asset allocation. They also both suffer form outdated user interfaces and limited analysis tools (advisors have access to far more features in eMoneyAdvisor than do retail investors, unfortunately).

Key Features

• Account aggregation: Syncs with various financial institutions for a consolidated view of your accounts.
• Portfolio analysis: Provides tools for tracking and analyzing your investment portfolio.
• Asset allocation: Offers insights into your portfolio's asset allocation and diversification.
• Budgeting: Helps you create and monitor budgets based on your financial goals.

Pros:

1. Offers a unified view of your financial situation across multiple institutions
2. Provides detailed investment tracking and analysis features
3. Available for free to Fidelity customers

Cons:

1. Limited to Fidelity customers, which may not suit everyone
2. Lacks some of the customization options found in other platforms
3. Portfolio analysis options are limited

7. Ziggma

Ziggma is a portfolio tracker I just recently tested. Its interface is as busy as Times Square on New Year's Eve (see below). You can connect your brokerage accounts to download your investments. It offers analysis options, but most of them require a paid subscription. I have found Ziggma's customer support to be timely and responsive.

Key Features

• Intuitive interface: Offers an easy-to-use platform with robust analytics tools.
• Personalized recommendations: Provides tailored investment recommendations and alerts.
• Stock and ETF analysis: Delivers in-depth stock and ETF analysis with a proprietary scoring system.
• Portfolio monitoring: Enables tracking of your investment portfolio's performance.
• Custom watchlists: Allows you to create custom watchlists for stocks and ETFs

Pros:

1. Intuitive interface with robust analytics tools for tracking your investment portfolio
2. Allows for personalized recommendations and alerts
3. Offers a mix of free and premium features

Cons:

1. Advanced features require a paid subscription
2. Lacks some of the budgeting and personal finance tools found in other platforms

8. Portfolio Visualizer

Portfolio Visualizer is an online tool that offers a wide range of portfolio analysis and optimization features. It is particularly useful for investors who want to dig deep into their portfolios' performance and asset allocation. While not as user-friendly as some of the other alternatives, Portfolio Visualizer offers a robust set of features for those looking to perform more in-depth analysis.

The downside is that you must use the paid version to save your portfolio. The cost starts at $19/month. I've had the Basic paid version for a couple of years now. While I don't use it to track my portfolio, I do use it to save and analyze Lazy Portfolios, such as the 3-Fund Portfolio.

Key Features

• Backtesting: Allows users to analyze the historical performance of a portfolio based on specified asset allocations and rebalancing strategies.
• Asset Class Analysis: Provides data and analytics on various asset classes, including stocks, bonds and commodities.
• Portfolio Optimization: Provides tools for optimizing a portfolio based on modern portfolio theory, which seeks to maximize expected return for a given level of risk.
• Monte Carlo Simulation: Provides tools for simulating the future performance of a portfolio under different market conditions.
• Retirement Planning: Includes features specifically designed to help plan for retirement, such as withdrawal analysis.
• Asset Correlation: Analyzes the correlation between different assets or asset classes in a portfolio, which can help to inform decisions about diversification.
• Savings & Withdrawal Rates: Allows users to see how different savings and withdrawal rates could affect the growth and longevity of their portfolio.
• Periodic Table of Investment Returns: Visualizes the annual returns of different asset classes in a format similar to the periodic table of elements.

Pros:

• Comprehensive Tools: It offers a wide range of tools for portfolio backtesting, asset allocation, and investment analysis
• Data: The platform provides a wealth of data on different asset classes and investment factors
• Easy-to-use Interface: The website's interface is user-friendly and makes complex analysis accessible to non-professional investors.
• Portfolio Optimization: This is a useful feature that helps in constructing a portfolio that maximizes return for a given level of risk.

Cons:

• Limited Assets: While Portfolio Visualizer includes data for a wide range of asset classes, it might not include every single investment that an individual might hold in their portfolio.
• Historical Focus: The platform focuses heavily on historical data and past performance, which, while useful, is not always indicative of future results.
• Learning Curve: Despite its user-friendly interface, some of the more complex features might have a steep learning curve for those without a background in finance or investing.
• Cost: Only paid subscribers can save and track portfolios

9. Sharesight

Sharesight features comprehensive reporting tools, including automatic dividend tracking and capital gains tax reporting. It supports multiple currencies and exchanges, making it suitable for international investors. The platform offers benchmarking features to compare your portfolio performance against market indices. However, the free version has limited features; advanced features require a paid subscription.

Key Features

• Portfolio performance tracking: Monitors your investment portfolio's performance, including capital gains and dividends.
• Tax reporting: Generates tax reports to simplify tax planning and filing.
• Dividend tracking: Tracks dividend income and automatically adjusts for reinvested dividends.
• Benchmarking: Compares your portfolio's performance against chosen benchmarks.
• Integration: Syncs with various brokerages and financial institutions.

Pros:

1. Comprehensive reporting tools, including automatic dividend tracking and capital gains tax reporting.
2. Supports multiple currencies and exchanges, making it suitable for international investors.
3. Offers benchmarking features to compare your portfolio performance against market indices.

Cons:

1. Free version has limited features, and advanced features require a paid subscription.
2. Lacks some of the personal finance and budgeting tools found in other platforms.
3. Interface may not be as user-friendly as some other options.

10. EquityStat

EquityStat is a web-based tool designed to help investors track and manage their investment portfolios. The tool offers a range of features that enable users to monitor their investments and analyze performance.

Key Features:

1. Portfolio Tracking: EquityStat allows users to track their investment portfolios in real-time. Users can import data from various brokerage firms and banks, and the tool will automatically update the portfolio with the latest market data.
2. Performance Analysis: The tool provides users with various performance metrics to analyze the performance of their investments. Users can view their portfolio's return, risk, and volatility, and compare it to benchmark indices.
3. Asset Allocation: EquityStat offers users a visual representation of their portfolio's asset allocation. Users can see the distribution of their investments across various asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, and cash.

Pros:

1. Easy to Use: EquityStat is easy to use and offers a simple, intuitive interface.
2. Customizable: The tool offers a range of customization options to suit individual investment needs.
3. Comprehensive: EquityStat offers a range of features to help users monitor and manage their investment portfolios.
4. Free: EquityStat is currently free.

Cons:

1. Limited Brokerage Integrations: The tool currently only supports a limited number of brokerage integrations.
2. Limited Historical Data: The free version only provides users with limited historical data, which may not be sufficient for some investors.
3. Limited Portfolio Analysis: The tool does a great job tracking performance, but offers little in the way of in-depth analysis.

Overall, EquityStat is a comprehensive tool that offers a range of features to help investors track and manage their investment portfolios. While it has some limitations, the tool's easy-to-use interface, customization options, and investment ideas make it a valuable resource for investors of all levels.

Finding the Right Alternative for Your Needs

As you consider the various alternatives to Morningstar, carefully weigh several key questions:

1. Data: Do you want to sync brokerage accounts to a tool or enter the data manually?
2. Privacy: How does the tool protect and use your data?
3. Features: Are you looking just for a portfolio tracker, or do you also want a tool that can handle your budget and financial planning?
4. Cost: Will you consider a paid tool, and if so, how much are you willing to spend?

Conclusion

While Morningstar is a popular choice for tracking investment portfolios, it may not be the perfect fit for everyone. With a variety of alternatives available, you're sure to find a platform that meets your needs and preferences. Whether you're looking for a simple, user-friendly option or a more advanced tool with in-depth analysis features, there's an alternative to Morningstar that can help you manage and optimize your investment portfolio.

Quicken was once the go-to budgeting tool. I used it when it was first released in the 1980s. Today, it's been eclipsed by apps that enable you to manage every aspect of your finances, often for free. Here are the best Quicken alternatives to consider as near 2023.

Editor's Top Picks

Of all the options out there to replace Quicken (and Mint for that matter), three stand out among the rest:

1. Personal Capital–Now Called the Empower Personal Dashboard (Empower bought Personal Capital 2020), it's still free and comes with the a robust set of features unmatched by other alternatives. It easily handles budgeting, net worth, cash flow, retirement investments and taxable investments. It also comes with excellent tools, including a retirement calculator, investment fee analyzer and investment portfolio analyzer. Personal Capital can now even track Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and thousands of other tokens. It's the tool I use every day.

2. Tiller–If you are a diehard spreadsheet fanatic, Tiller is the answer. It integrates with Google Sheets and can connect your bank accounts and credit cards. It also offers daily email updates to track your spending. You can try it free for 30 days, then it's $79 a year. I've used it for the past two years and love it.

YNAB (You Need a Budget): For those who want to focus exclusively on budgeting (no investments), then YNAB is an ideal choice. It does budgeting as well as any app available today, and its community is second to none. While I no longer use YNAB, I did for years and found it to be an effective budgeting tool.

Top Quicken Alternatives

1. Personal Capital (Empower)–Editor's Choice

Empower is the clear winner when it comes to finding a substitute for Quicken. It's free and it offers tools to manage every aspect of your finances. With Empower, you can link just about every financial account you have–checking, savings, credit cards, retirement accounts, investments accounts, HSAs, and even your home (via Zillow).

Once linked, Empower's financial dashboard offers valuable insights into your finances. As an example, the tool enables you to–

• Track your spending by category
• Estimate when you can retire
• Calculate the cost of your investments
• View the asset allocation of your portfolio
• Generate a net worth statement
• Get alerts when bills are due
• Evaluate your investment portfolio
• Save for emergencies
• Track Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and thousands of other tokens without giving access to your crypto wallet.

I've used Empower for years. It's the only option that in my opinion can handle every aspect of my finances, from budgeting to investing to retirement planning.

I've written a detailed review and guide of Personal Capital that you can check out.

2. Tiller Money–Best Spreadsheet Budget Tool

I don't know how they do it, but Tiller Money has figured out how to turn a Google Sheet into a dynamic budgeting tool. You link your bank accounts and credit cards to Tiller's Google Sheet tool, and it automatically downloads all of your transactions. From there you can create budgets, categorize spending and generate reports.

I've been using Tiller for about two years for both my personal budget and my small business budget. Tiller is ideal for those who love working with spreadsheets. I will caution you that setting up Tiller can be a bit daunting. The good news is that they have videos to walk you through each step. If I can do it, you can do it.

One thing to keep in mind is that you must manually categorize each transaction. For some, this is a show-stopper. They want the convenience of tools like Personal Capital that automate this process. For others, they would prefer to categorize transactions themselves. It forces them to look at each entry, understand how they spent money, and then properly categorize the expense. Tiller does offer an auto-category tool that you can use to automatically categorize transactions based on the description.

With Tiller, you can also have your transactions downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet. This is an ideal approach for those who don't want to keep their financial data in the cloud.

There is no right or wrong here. It comes down to preference. You get a 30-day free trial. After that Tiller costs $79 a year.

3. Monarch Money–Best for Couples

Monarch Money shares many of the features in the apps listed above. You can connect all your accounts, including investment and loan accounts. Once connected, Monarch syncs your accounts to generate your net worth. The app enables you to see all your transactions in one place, set financial goals, and customize your financial dashboard.

Monarch is ideal for couples because of its collaboration features. Invite someone to your Monarch account with a separate login. They can view your data and connect their own accounts. This feature is particularly useful for couples that keep separate accounts, but want to understand their combined financial picture.

Try Monarch Money for free for 7 days, then as little as $7.50 a month.

4. You Need a Budget (YNAB)–Best for Basic Budgeting

YNAB is ideal for those looking just for a budgeting tool. In my view, there is no better app when it comes to creating a budget. YNAB's interface is similar to a spreadsheet. The tool makes it easy to budget by category based on the money you actually have in the bank.

One of YNAB's core principles is to give every dollar a job. You do that by deciding how you'll spend every dollar that enters your checking account. As with other tools, you can connect your bank accounts and credit cards to YNAB. This allows for real-time updates so that you can track your spending throughout the month.

YNAB doesn't have the rich feature set offered by Personal Capital. That's particularly clear when it comes to investing. For those who don't want to track investments, however, YNAB is a good option.

It's not free, however. You can try it free for 34 days. After that it costs $14.99 a month or $99 a year for the annual plan. The cost is the biggest downside to YNAB.

5. PocketSmith–Best for Calendar Budgeting

PocketSmith started out as a calendar to plan upcoming income and expenses. Today, it's a full-fledged budgeting app. You can synch your accounts with PocketSmith. Once synced, you can track your budget and you're net worth. You can also see your income and spending in a handy calendar view.

One stand-out feature is PocketSmith's auto-budget tool. It can create a budget for you based on past spending. It also has a cash flow feature that maps income and spending by date range.

While there is a free version of PocketSmith, it requires manual data entry. To get automatic bank fees, you'll need to pay at least $9.95 a month, or $7.50 a month when paid annually.

6. CountAbout–Imports from Quicken or Mint

If you have a lot of data in Quicken (or Mint), CountAbout may be the budgeting tool for you. It has a feature enabling you to import data from Quicken or Mint.

CountAbout enables you to download transactions from your bank and customize both income and expense categories. You can even attach receipt images to expense transactions. You can set up recurring transactions and generate financial reports.

For the features you get, the cost is very reasonable. The basic plan costs just $9.99 a year (not a month). If you want automatic downloading of bank transactions, the cost is $39.99 a year.

7. Moneydance–Traditional Budgeting Software

With so many apps going online, Moneydance takes a different approach. You download Moneydance software rather than use it online. Once downloaded, the software works much like you would expect.

You can download banking transactions into the software and initiate bill pay. The software automatically categorizes expenses based on how you categorize them. In other words, it learns from your use of the program.

It offers a dashboard (shown above) that summarizes your finances all in one place. It can also generate reports and graphs to give you a visual perspective of your money. It comes with a mobile app, can track your finances, and can alert you when bills are due.

It costs $49.99 and is available for both Mac and Windows.

8. EveryDollar (now Ramsey+)–Best for Dave Ramsey Fans

For those Dave Ramsey founds out there, EveryDollar may be a good substitute for Intuit's Quicken. Now the first thing to point out is that EveryDollar ain't cheap. After a 14-day trial, you'll pay $99.99 a year (down from $129.99). If you want to pay month-to-month, the cost is $12,99 per month. For this reason, it's not high on my list. Still, I know that some folks are passionate about Financial Peace University.

You can sync your bank accounts with the tool, set up budgets, and track spending. The budgeting app works on both computers, smartphones and tablets. It also comes with Dave's educational materials, enabling you to take online course and join virtual groups.

9. Banktivity–Designed for Macs Only

Banktivity is the budgeting app specifically designed for Macs. It offers features that enable you to organize and track all of your finances. You can group accounts and reports, and organize the dashboard in a way that works best for you.

Banktivity enables you to follow an envelope budget. This can be ideal for those living paycheck-to-paycheck.

You can import transactions from your bank and sync data across all of your Mac devices. Banktivity also tracks investments and offers account-level reporting. You can try Banktivity for free for 30 days. After that they offer three plans ranging in price from $4.16 to $8.33 a month (billed annually).

10. GnuCash–Best for Small Businesses

For those who tracked business income and expenses with Quicken and a reluctant to move up to Quickbooks, GnuCash may be the answer. It uses double-entry accounting, ideal for businesses and accounting nerds, like me. It tracks investments, schedules transactions, and generates reports and graphs.

11. Mint–Best Mobile App

I used Mint when it first came out more than a decade ago. Today, many are looking for Mint alternatives, including several of the apps listed here. Still, Mint is a worth consideration if you are replacing Intuit's Quicken. It's free, for starters. It's easy to link your accounts and track your spending. It includes a budget planner and credit score tracker. Of course, there are great Mint alternatives as well.

12. GoodBudget–Best for Envelope Budgeting

I'm old enough to remember the envelope method of budgeting. My mom used it. When the money in the grocery envelope ran out, we stopped going to the grocery story until payday (seriously). Today, the envelope budget is still a smart way to manage money for those living paycheck-to-paycheck. If you want a digital version of the time-tested budgeting system, give GoodBudget a try.

Goodudget is an app based on the envelope system. You can sync and share your budget, and set goals to save for big purchases. It also has tools that let you track and payoff your debt.

Quicken Alternatives FAQs

Whatever tool you choose, the key is to pick one that works for you. For me, that's Personal Capital (Empower). One or more of the above Quicken alternatives, however, should suit the needs of most looking to better manage their money.