Balance Puts Your Bank Account Details in Your Mac’s Menu Bar, Tracks Your Bills With Customizable Notifications
Mac: Keeping track of your personal finances is always a bit tricky, but Balance is a Mac app that’s in the menu bar that gives you a summary of your bank accounts and lets you set custom rules for transaction notifications.
If this all sounds a little familiar, it might be because it looks like the now defunct Mint QuickView app, but Balance has a little more to it. The Balance Transactions tab displays a chronological list of recent transactions that is fully searchable using a number of parameters such as dates, categories, amount, etc. This is much better than searching your bank statement on your bank’s website. There is also an Insights tab that shows you where you spend the most money, such as the grocery store or Amazon.
The Notification tab is perhaps the most useful. Here you can set up the rules and you will be notified if they are followed. This includes bank charges, fees in excess of a certain amount, fees of a specific category, and more. So, for example, you can set it up to be notified of any payment in excess of $ 100, or any banking commission, or even something like a payment related to public transportation.
As far as security is concerned, Balance doesn’t actually hijack any of your credentials. Instead, it uses a third party service called Plaid . This should ensure that your accounts are as secure as if you were logging into them from the bank’s website. However, this service has a downside: Balance is a bit pricey and operates on a subscription model to cover costs. That’s $ 4.99 per month, or $ 50 per year for five accounts. Ten accounts cost $ 9.99 per month or $ 100 per year. The app is free on the Mac App Store, but there is no trial period if you just want to check it out (although, according to one developer, it’s coming soon). Personally, I’d also like to see a cheaper monthly option for one or two accounts, as this is probably the niche most of us fall into.
However, Balance is a well-designed app and if you need to keep track of accounts, it works great. Balance requires less effort than full-fledged accounting software like Mint, but is easier to use than digging through your bank’s website, which should suit the needs of many people.
Balance (free / by subscription) | Mac App Store