Managing your money is essential to planning for your future. However, a survey conducted in 2019 showed that 64% of Americans would retire with less than $10,000 in their accounts. Expense tracking can help you stay on top of financial management and planning.
This is where accounting software comes in. It is excellent for owners of mid-size businesses and also for managing personal accounts. In this blog post, we will compare two popular financial management tools that can help you stay on top of your monetary goals and expenses, whether you are a business owner or an individual.
Mint vs. QuickBooks? Let’s compare their features to determine which one is better for you!
What is Mint?
Mint is a free money manager. It is a personal financial management website and mobile app that helps you track your personal finances, stay on top of your savings goals, and track your monthly transactions without hassle. It is a product of Intuit, the parent company of QuickBooks.
Mint has a large user base, with more than 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store. The user reviews are also mostly positive. While there will always be some dissatisfied people, most of the users on their forums will agree that Mint helps them manage their personal capital and expenditures.
Did you know that only 32% of American households follow their budget plans? That means that 68% of us struggle with managing our finances and are likely living paycheck to paycheck.
If you fall in the category of people living from paycheck to paycheck, which almost 125 million Americans are guilty of, then Mint could really be beneficial to you. It is free and your personal data is safe – since Intuit, the parent company, has existed since 1983. You can connect your credit card accounts, track credit scores, and reach your financial goals with discipline and the help of Mint.
What Features Does Mint Offer?
Below are some reasons why Mint is prevalent in today’s personal finance management market.
All-Round Income Tracking
More than 50% of Americans have more than one bank account. If you fall into this category, it would be easier to manage your finances with the help of a personal management website or app. With Mint, you can connect all of your accounts for one comprehensive view of your finances.
The credit card monitoring feature can help you keep track of your spending and interest charges. You can also track and monitor your income and expenditures through the organized segments provided. This makes accounting easier and more fun.
Calculators
With Mint, you don’t have to do the math yourself because there are calculators for almost everything. The financial budget planner easily solves equations, while other calculators help figure out your weekly expenses, interest rates, and credit card payout amounts. These helpful additions assist you with managing your financial transactions and bring you a step closer to your retirement goals.
Financial Goal-Getters
When you have an electronic assistant, it is undoubtedly easier to save money and work towards a financial goal. Mint encourages you to create as many accounts as you want for your long and short-term goals.
What is QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is a leading financial management and accounting software suite. It offers small and medium-sized business owners tools that help with the financial management aspect of their business. It includes software for inventory, payroll, tax filing, bank account tracking, expense management, accounting, and much more.
What Can You Expect From QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is a business accounting software that simplifies accounting operations for businesses. It has many uses, including gauging business performance and overseeing the financial aspects of critical business operations for small to mid-size businesses.
Financial Management Tools
Whether or not you went to business school, you can use the financial management tools on QuickBooks to make day-to-day accounting activities easier. From the payroll management features to those that aid in the creation of templates and other project management tools, you will agree that this is one software every small business needs.
With the QuickBooks desktop version, you can also stay on top of your business expenses, invoice management, and electronic payments. Furthermore, it is cloud-based software, so you can access your business finances on the go.
Inventory Management
Activity tracking and inventory management are also available features that ensure you stay organized with your business books. QuickBooks is ideal accounting software for the management of small businesses.
You can use the invoice history to generate a cohesive inventory tracking technique. But the Inventory Valuation Summary report is the feature especially in charge of helping you track the number of products and the estimated value. It also takes care of sales tracking for you.
Customizable Invoices
You can create customizable invoices with the QuickBooks software to make payments more manageable and trackable. Each invoice can be sent via email with links to access the desired payment platform easily. You can create the template you want for your client, whether for billable hours or product quantity.
Invoice processing is immediate, and you can save the information for referral later. There are other invoice processing tools that you can use, courtesy of QuickBooks.
Tax Filing
Uncle Sam will always take his share, so let’s not forget how taxes and small or growing businesses co-exist. However, it can get confusing when you must do the math yourself and you can even mix up some numbers.
So, you can use QuickBooks tax filing tools to take care of the sales tax or other tax categories your business is subject to, such as a value-added tax. Tax reporting is an additional feature that customers revere.
Track Income and Expenditures
When comparing Mint vs. QuickBooks, there is one thing they have in common, which is their financial tracking service. This service keeps track of your income and expenditures, so you can see exactly where your money is going. Intuit includes advanced financial tools to help you stop living paycheck to paycheck, along with helping you manage your business.
You can import transactions, automatically categorize transactions, track bills, organize transactions, and use reminders to avoid late payment charges.
Business Reporting
Do you want to keep track of your business performance? QuickBooks makes it easy by keeping all your business information and data in one place. It is also well-categorized for later reference.
You can generate past information or business history because the software records your information and keeps it safe on the cloud. The financial aspects of your business earnings can also be stored and recovered for accounting purposes. You can easily create customizable reports with the software as well.
Mint vs. QuickBooks
The key difference between Mint vs. QuickBooks is their real time application, i.e., who uses them? Below we will dive into more details about the differences between Mint and QuickBooks.
Subscription Fees
Mint is a free app and website. You don’t need to pay to use its services or track your personal finances. It has everything you could need to stay on top of financial accounts connected to your account.
On the other hand, you pay $5.10, $7.80, or $10.80 monthly, to use QuickBooks’ services. The most expensive plans include the most services.
User Base
Mint is financial accounting software that is especially for individual or personal use. It provides just about every tool you need to stay on top of your personal finances, what you earn and spend, and your saving goals.
Meanwhile, QuickBooks has been designed for use by accountants or business owners, and the accounts are typically optimized for access by three to five users. It also has more complex tools to simplify accounting for your business finances and activities.
Reports
The report options provided by Mint vs. QuickBooks are different – one is more detailed. This is because personal finances often have fewer intricacies than business finance management, so reports provided by QuickBooks offer more choices than what you’d get from Mint.
Conclusion
Mint and QuickBooks no doubt provide accounting solutions for personal finance and businesses. You can keep track of your personal financial activities with Mint, and you don’t have to pay for the service.
On the other hand, QuickBooks will help your business run smoothly but you will pay eight to ten dollars a month for the service.
FAQs
1. Is Mint the Best Budgeting System?
Customer reviews would agree that Mint is the best budgeting system for personal finance management. It has been ranked the best free budget app for 2022 because of the numerous features that help you better manage your finances.
2. Is Mint Good for Bookkeeping?
Mint is a personal finance software, so it was designed for limited applications. Therefore, only a small business would profit from using the website and app.
