After a week of anticipation, the new Mac finance app, Cha-Ching, has finally left beta and been released as 1.0
Cha-Ching offers some cool features, including smart folders, an automatic Bill Manager, and a very attractive interface. Cha-Ching also allows you to access your bank’s website from within the program, and even download transactions and import them without ever even touching a web browser.
Personally, I find that the Quicken 2006 bundled with my Mac to works better for me, as it supports securities (stocks, bonds, etc.) and auto-downloading of transactions. Still, I think that for most people, the $40 Cha-Ching will work just fine.
Personally, I didn't like Cha-Ching for the time I used it.
It doesn't have automatic downloading of transactions, which means you have to input each and every transaction you made that day. If you miss a day or two and you try to download the list from your bank's website, it just causes tons of overlaps.
If I was organized enough to keep track of every transaction, why would I need personal accounting software?
I tried this out and imported my Quicken data without a problem (aside from dozens of blank entries), but a glaring omission is no apparent reconciliation function. Too bad, because I hate Intuit like you wouldn't believe.