PC Magazine just gave three stars to Quickbooks Online edition. It seems to be a big improvement over that magazine’s 2001 review of online accounting software. In that review, a very Web 1.0 Netledger earned 4 stars and an editor’s choice. Since then, though, Netledger has been replaced by Netsuite, a full feature CRM package that competes with salesforce.com.
So, what are the competitive options for online personal or small business accounting? ePeachtree offers solutions starting at $150/year and only slightly more attractive than my bank’s website. Back in 2000. Juno Accounting is another aged-looking application starting at $330 per year.
There doesn’t seem to be much more for the individual. I found Chipcount ($26/year), fnCentral, mVelopes ($100/year), and ExpMan (not accepting new users).
A quick Technorati search yields one mention for Chipcount, 168 or so for mVelopes, and nothing relevant for ExpMan.
Frankly, I’m surprised. I’d expect in this always connected mobile world there would be more companies pushing simple online accounting or personal financial management software. At the very least where are all the bloggers looking for it? On the other hand, this could be a case of competing against “Excel and Post-Its”. I’ll be reviewing Chipcount and mVelopes over the next few weeks from a Web 2.0 usability perspective. In the meantime, please share your experiences with this sort of software.
