Moneyspire vs Banktivity: Price, Platforms and Which to Buy
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Moneyspire costs $59.99 once and runs on Mac, Windows, Linux and Chromebook. Banktivity costs $6.99 to $10.99 a month billed annually and runs only on Mac, iPhone and iPad. Buy Moneyspire if you want to own the software, share it across a mixed household, or keep your costs near $50 a year. Buy Banktivity if you live on Apple devices and want deeper investment, real estate and multi currency tracking in a native app. Both export QIF, so neither traps your data.
These two show up together because they answer the same complaint from opposite ends. People leaving Quicken on a Mac usually want one of two things: to stop paying every year, or to get a Mac app that feels like it was built for a Mac. Moneyspire is the first answer. Banktivity is the second. The trouble starts when a buyer wants both, because neither product delivers both, and the comparison sites that score them on a five star feature grid never say that out loud.
The prices below come from moneyspire.com/purchase and banktivity.com/pricing, and the export behavior from each vendor's own documentation. Both vendors run promotions, so check the figure at checkout.
Moneyspire vs Banktivity pricing: what each one costs over five years
Moneyspire sells a perpetual license for $59.99, shown against a $99.99 list price, and an upgrade license for $49.99. The purchase includes one year of Moneyspire Cloud sync, Moneyspire Connect bank sync, stock quotes and currency rates. Moneyspire's purchase FAQ now spells out what happens after that year: to keep those services running, you buy the next major version upgrade at $49.99. If you stop, the program keeps working and you import transactions yourself.
Banktivity sells three annual subscriptions. Bronze is $6.99 a month, Silver $8.99 and Gold $10.99, each billed annually, with a monthly billing option that costs more (the vendor says annual billing saves "over 20%"). All three include a 30 day free trial, which Banktivity limits to first time customers.
| Cost scenario | Moneyspire 2026 | Banktivity Bronze | Banktivity Silver | Banktivity Gold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year one | $59.99 | $83.88 | $107.88 | $131.88 |
| Five years, bank sync kept on | $259.95 ($59.99 plus four $49.99 upgrades) | $419.40 | $539.40 | $659.40 |
| Five years, no further payments after year one | $59.99, program keeps working offline | Not an option; the subscription is how you use it, though Banktivity says you can always export your data | ||
| Household | One personal license covers every computer in the household; Family License adds up to 3 people for $19.99 | One subscription covers all of your own Apple devices | ||
| Refund or trial | 30 day money back guarantee | 30 day free trial, first time customers only | ||
The Banktivity five year figures assume today's per month rates hold, and Banktivity has raised them before. Its own support article on a 2024 change says it increased "our annual subscription cost by $10 USD for the bronze and silver tiers" at renewal. That was a modest, announced increase, but it is a reminder that a subscription's five year cost is an estimate, while Moneyspire's is a choice you make one upgrade at a time.
On price alone Moneyspire wins at every tier and every time horizon. Even the most expensive way to run Moneyspire, buying every yearly upgrade to keep bank sync alive, costs less over five years than Banktivity Bronze. The question is whether what Banktivity adds is worth the gap to you, and that depends almost entirely on which devices you use and what kinds of accounts you track.
Is Moneyspire or Banktivity better for Mac?
Banktivity is the better Mac app and Moneyspire is the better Mac purchase. Banktivity runs natively on Mac, iPhone and iPad with sync across them, and it is built around Apple conventions. Moneyspire also runs on Mac, but its selling point is that the same license covers Windows, Linux and Chromebook. Pick Banktivity for an all Apple household, Moneyspire for a mixed one.
The mixed household point is not a small one. If one person in the house uses a Windows laptop or a Chromebook, Banktivity is out, because it has no Windows version and no web app, and there is no way to open a Banktivity file on either. Moneyspire's purchase FAQ says the Mac, Windows, Linux and Chromebook versions are all included in one license, and for personal use you can install it on every computer in your household. For a second or third person with their own finances, the $19.99 Family License covers up to three people.
If you are only choosing among Mac options, our wider comparison of personal finance software for Mac also covers Quicken for Mac, Moneydance and GnuCash.
Which is better for investments and real estate?
Banktivity, clearly, once you are on Silver or Gold. Silver adds downloadable stock prices, real estate tracking, customizable investment reports and amortization tables. Gold adds accounts in different currencies, downloaded exchange rates and cryptocurrency. Moneyspire tracks basic holdings and includes a year of stock quotes, but it is a household ledger first.
A brokerage account, a rental property and a mortgage are where the gap shows. Banktivity turns those into a net worth picture with the property as a tracked asset and the loan amortizing against it. Moneyspire records the same transactions but does not model them as deeply. If you also want structured research on the stocks you hold rather than just their prices, that lives outside both apps; Banktivity's job is tracking what you own and what it is worth.
Which one connects to more banks?
Banktivity advertises connections to over 14,000 institutions, and bank connections are included in every tier from Bronze up. Moneyspire Connect is bundled for the first year with a license and renewed by buying the next version. Moneyspire does not publish an institution count on its purchase page, so check your own banks during the trial or the 30 day refund window.
This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that sends them back to Quicken. The big national banks tend to work everywhere. Credit unions and regional banks are where coverage differs. Moneyspire also lets you run entirely offline and import statement files by hand, which some people prefer for a ledger they do not want connected to an aggregator at all.
Can you export your data from Moneyspire and Banktivity?
Yes, both export QIF. Moneyspire uses File, then Export QIF. Banktivity uses File, then Export To, then Quicken Format (QIF), with a start and end date, and it also exports TXF for tax software and CSV for spreadsheets. Banktivity says that whatever the state of your subscription, you will always be able to export your data.
One Banktivity detail matters to Gold subscribers. QIF files cannot carry currency information, so if you export accounts held in different currencies, Banktivity writes a separate QIF file for each currency. Plan for several files at export time if you use the multi currency features you pay Gold for.
Can I move Moneyspire or Banktivity data into QuickBooks?
Yes, through a QIF export and a conversion step, because QuickBooks does not import QIF in any edition. Export the accounts you need as QIF, convert the file to a QBO Web Connect file, and import that into QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, where it matches like a normal bank download.
This comes up when a side business, a rental or a freelance income stream grows to the point where an accountant wants it in QuickBooks. Neither personal finance app produces the double entry books, invoices or payroll a business needs. The converter at the top of this page reads the QIF from either program and writes a balanced QBO file with stable transaction IDs, so running the same file twice does not duplicate entries. A free account converts three files of up to 100 transactions each, so you can check the import in your own company file before choosing a plan. For Banktivity, the exact export and account mapping steps are on our Banktivity to QuickBooks page, and the QuickBooks import side is on QIF to QuickBooks Online.
Is Moneyspire a good alternative to Banktivity?
Moneyspire is a good Banktivity alternative for anyone whose main objection is the subscription or the Apple only platform list. It costs $59.99 once, covers Mac, Windows, Linux and Chromebook, and keeps working if you stop paying. It is a weaker alternative if you rely on Banktivity's investment, real estate or multi currency tracking.
Going the other direction, Banktivity is a good Moneyspire alternative only for a buyer who has decided that native Apple apps and investment depth are worth roughly $50 to $80 a year more. If you are still on Quicken and weighing all of this against simply renewing, our Moneyspire vs Quicken pricing comparison and Banktivity vs Quicken for Mac put each one next to Quicken Classic.
Which should you buy?
Buy Moneyspire if any of these is true: someone in your house uses Windows, Linux or a Chromebook; you want a program you keep whether or not you pay again; your accounts are checking, savings, cards and a mortgage; or you want to keep the long run cost near $50 a year. Our full Moneyspire review covers setup and the Moneydance comparison.
Buy Banktivity if everyone uses a Mac, iPhone or iPad, you track a brokerage account or a rental property, or you hold money in more than one currency. Start on the tier that matches your accounts, because Banktivity prorates upgrades immediately and lets you downgrade at the end of the billing cycle. Our Banktivity review goes through Bronze, Silver and Gold in detail.
If neither fits because you want the lowest possible one time price on Windows, AceMoney is $44.95 with future updates included, and we compare it on AceMoney vs Quicken. Whichever you choose, export a full QIF copy of your data on the first day, not the day you decide to leave.
Related reading: Moneyspire vs Moneydance, Banktivity vs Moneydance, Moneyspire vs Quicken, Banktivity reviews and cost, personal finance software for Mac, and Quicken alternatives.