How’s your price range wanting? Are your investments rising towards your objectives? How about that debt payoff plan?
In case your first response to those questions is “I do not know…” don’t fear, there’s an app for that. A number of, truly.
Getting a transparent image of your funds doesn’t should be onerous, and Private Capital and Quicken are two of the perfect apps that may assist you keep organized (and sane) whereas placing collectively a monetary plan. However the two apps are designed for very completely different customers.
Private Capital vs. Quicken Abstract
Private Capital | Quicken | |
---|---|---|
Price | Free for app customers; paid accounts obtainable for advisory companies | $41.88-$119.88 relying on the model |
Budgeting Options | Fundamental budgeting with bills damaged down by class | Create a number of budgets with limitless expense classes
Set financial savings objectives Calendar/fiscal yr budgeting |
Funding Options | Retirement Planner and Payment Analyzer
Entry to licensed monetary advisors (paid service) |
Monitor portfolio values over time (Deluxe)
Tax planning (Premier) Entry to Morningstar’s® Portfolio X-ray® instrument (Premier) |
Out there By way of | Internet app + iOS and Android | Desktop app + iOS and Android |
Buyer Service | Telephone + in-person assist at native places of work | Telephone assist, stay chat, and group boards |
About Private Capital
Private Capital is a free app that was launched in 2011, and was not too long ago acquired by monetary companies supplier Empower.
Some options of the app embody:
- Easy budgeting and spending overview
- Automated monitoring of monetary accounts
- Retirement planning
- Funding evaluation
- Financial savings objectives
- Web value tracker
- Money administration account with as much as $1.25M FDIC insurance coverage
Private Capital customers with a $100,000 web value (or increased) additionally obtain customized portfolio administration companies, together with entry to a devoted, licensed monetary advisor.
Private capital is on the market on-line and as a cell app for each Android and iOS telephones.
Learn extra: Do You Want a Monetary Advisor?
About Quicken
Quicken is likely one of the oldest budgeting and expense monitoring platforms round, providing a downloadable desktop software since 1983. Quicken remains to be obtainable as a desktop software for each Mac and Home windows, in addition to a companion app for iOS and Android gadgets.
Quicken presents a complete suite of cash administration instruments, together with:
- Superior budgeting instruments with detailed stories
- Full-service invoice pay
- Debt monitoring, administration, and planning
- Automated monitoring of monetary accounts
- Tax planning
- House & property administration
There are a number of variations of Quicken obtainable as a subscription, with completely different options for every model. Subscriptions are billed yearly.
Charges
Private Capital is a free app that doesn’t cost any charges. Private Capital does, nonetheless, supply a premium funding administration service by way of Private Capital Advisors, which fees an property underneath administration (AUM) payment for portfolio administration, beginning at 0.89%. Private Capital advisor companies are solely obtainable to shoppers with $100,000 of investable property (or extra), with payment reductions obtainable to shoppers with extra funds to take a position. Right here’s the payment breakdown:
Property Below Administration | Annual Payment |
---|---|
$100K-$1M | 0.89% |
$1M-$3M | 0.79% |
$3M-$5M | 0.69% |
$5M-$10M | 0.59% |
Over $10M | 0.49% |
Quicken presents a subscription service, billed yearly, with a number of variations of its software program obtainable. Every model presents entry to completely different options, with a give attention to completely different buyer wants. Right here’s the pricing/characteristic breakdown of the completely different variations of Quicken software program:
Quicken Plan | Annual Price | Options |
---|---|---|
Starter | $41.88 | Month-to-month budgeting, automated expense monitoring, invoice administration, export to Excel |
Deluxe | $59.88 | Further options: Debt Discount Planner, set financial savings objectives, annual/fiscal yr budgets, web value tracker |
Premier | $83.88 | Further options: Funding tax planning, Morningstar’s® Portfolio X-ray® instrument, property values from Zillow, Precedence assist entry |
House & Enterprise | $119.88 | Further options: Schedule C & D tax planning, enterprise and rental property administration instruments |
Private Capital vs Quicken: Options
Budgeting
Private Capital has fundamental budgeting performance, and is designed extra for monitoring and analyzing your spending relatively than full-control budgeting. You possibly can join your monetary accounts and Private Capital will routinely kind your transactions into spending classes, and present you a easy pie graph that particulars the place your cash is being spent.
You possibly can edit these class names, and edit particular person transactions as effectively, however you can’t set a price range for every class. As an alternative, you may set a month-to-month spending purpose, and Private Capital will assist you observe your progress all through the month. Once more, the budgeting instruments are fundamental, however if you happen to merely need a spending tracker that exhibits the place your cash goes, it will get the job finished.
Quicken, however, is an in depth and complete budgeting software program with a variety of options together with:
- Automated categorization
- Customized financial savings objectives
- Capability to create a number of budgets
- Fiscal yr budgeting
- Funds recommendations primarily based on spending historical past
- Limitless spending classes
- Monitor recurring bills
- “What if” evaluation
Quicken’s month-to-month monetary overview
Quicken is a extra “hands-on” budgeting expertise with highly effective customization options that provide you with extra management over your month-to-month monetary planning.
Winner: Quicken, by a mile. Whereas Private Capital presents the fundamentals, Quicken is a full-fledged budgeting instrument that may be personalized to suit your life-style and spending wants.
Debt Administration
Whereas Private Capital doesn’t supply any debt administration instruments, you may observe your loans and bank cards by connecting them on the platform. This lets you see the stability of every debt account over time, however that’s it.
Quicken has a complete debt planning instrument referred to as the “Debt Discount Planner,” obtainable on the Deluxe plan or increased. The instrument routinely finds your debt balances, debt rates of interest, and minimal funds, and places collectively actionable payoff plan situations primarily based on the entire quantity you wish to pay towards your money owed every month.

Quicken’s Debt Discount Planner
A “debt-free date” is projected primarily based on the varied debt particulars and the way a lot you may put towards the plan on a month-to-month foundation, and the instrument will show your projected curiosity financial savings as effectively.
Winner: Quicken, as its Debt Discount Planner presents an in depth plan for debt payoff.
Invoice Pay
Private Capital doesn’t supply direct invoice pay companies, however does embody reminders that warn you of upcoming payments. These reminders are routinely set primarily based in your recurring bills out of your linked accounts, and so they can’t be adjusted. This characteristic is a bit clunky, and the lack to take away payments that don’t exist any longer is a bit cumbersome.
Quicken means that you can add and observe payments inside its software program, set alerts for cost dates, and get notifications for when a invoice has been paid. It additionally means that you can instantly make invoice funds by way of your linked checking account, and may submit “test pay” requests that immediate your financial institution to mail out a test in your behalf (obtainable in Premier plans or increased).

Quicken’s invoice pay characteristic
Winner: Quicken presents way more complete invoice pay companies and planning than Private Capital.
Funding Monitoring
There are a variety of funding monitoring & evaluation instruments obtainable on Private Capital’s free platform, together with:
- Breakdowns of your complete funding holdings throughout all linked accounts.
- Historic views of your funding balances over time, by account.
- Overviews of every funding’s efficiency, with the flexibility to match to different asset lessons.
- A full breakdown of your funding asset allocation by asset class.
- A breakdown of the U.S. funding sectors inside your portfolio.

Private Capital’s Funding Checkup instrument
Quicken presents some funding monitoring options for Premier and House & Enterprise plans solely, together with:
- Automated funding monitoring, together with charges and returns
- Asset allocation (Home windows solely)
- Inventory watch lists
- Entry to funding evaluation instruments from Morningstar
- Funding tax planning
- “Lifetime Planner” instrument for retirement planning
Winner: Private Capital presents very detailed funding monitoring and evaluation instruments at no cost, whereas Quicken presents much less instruments with a excessive price.
Retirement Planning
Each Private Capital and Quicken have retirement planning options, permitting you to guage your total monetary plan and create “what if” situations to see how financial savings charges and main purchases can influence your plan.
Two of Private Capital’s standout options are the Retirement Planner and the Retirement Payment Analyzer. The Retirement Planner presents an evaluation of your present funding holdings and pairs it along with your financial savings plan and (projected) social safety revenue to let you recognize if you happen to’re on observe for retirement.
The Retirement Payment Analyzer routinely detects the annual charges paid for all related funding accounts, exhibiting the impact of these charges over your lifetime, and evaluating with nationwide averages that can assist you see if you happen to’re overpaying.
Along with the various funding evaluation and planning instruments obtainable with its free model, Private Capital additionally presents paid wealth administration companies for accounts with over $100,000 obtainable to take a position. This full-service monetary planning agency offers customers 1-on-1 entry to a licensed monetary advisor, with the flexibility to create a customized monetary plan, and hands-off portfolio administration.
You possibly can be taught extra about Private Capital’s funding monitoring and retirement planning options by studying our full Private Capital evaluation.
Quicken presents a “Lifetime Planner” instrument that means that you can enter your monetary particulars and mannequin completely different future situations, exhibiting projected monetary outcomes. You possibly can set objectives for retirement, shopping for a home, or school financial savings, and the planner will assist present how your saving and spending habits will influence these plans. The instrument isn’t totally automated, and does require a little bit of enter from customers, however may help you set collectively a plan in your cash.
Winner: Private Capital presents way more capabilities for retirement planning (at no cost), in addition to a paid full-service monetary planning agency obtainable to shoppers with over $100K to take a position.
Person Interface
Private Capital is a completely on-line platform with a feature-rich cell app, providing you with an intuitive overview of your funds and investments. The cell app presents notably easy views and may be very simple to navigate.
Quicken, however, is a desktop software (no internet app obtainable), requiring downloading and putting in the software program in your PC or Mac. Its consumer interface gives a easy image of your spending habits and classes. The cell companion app is, sadly, very restricted, and doesn’t supply the identical options obtainable on the desktop model.
Winner: Private Capital is the higher of the 2 consumer interfaces, providing a extra seamless expertise, with an intuitive cell app that provides you all of the options obtainable on the internet model.
Assist
Each Private Capital and Quicken supply assist over the cellphone throughout enterprise hours, in addition to a complete assist heart with detailed “” articles and entry to electronic mail assist.
Private Capital presents cellphone assist Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to six p.m. PT, and in-person assist at considered one of eight native places of work positioned in California, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, and New York.
Quicken presents cellphone assist Monday – Friday, 5 a.m. to five p.m. PT, in addition to stay chat assist seven days every week, from 5 a.m. – 5 p.m. PT. There may be additionally a group discussion board obtainable 24/7 for help from different Quicken customers.
Winner: Tie. Each Quicken and Private Capital supply complete assist techniques and cellphone assist to speak to a stay human.
Private Capital vs. Quicken Professionals and Cons
Private Capital Professionals
- Free for fundamental stage
- Wide selection of funding and retirement planning instruments
- Payment analyzer helps spotlight hidden investing charges
- Constructed-in money administration account
Private Capital Cons
- Restricted budgeting and debt administration options
- No invoice pay obtainable, and alerts are a bit clunky
- Monetary advisors solely accessible to customers with $100K+ web value
Quicken Professionals
- Tried-and-true budgeting software program
- Actionable debt payoff plans
- Complete invoice pay options
- Extremely customizable
Quicken Cons
- Comparatively restricted funding and retirement planning options
- Cell app very restricted
- Desktop model have to be downloaded (no internet app)
- Prices as much as $119.88 per yr, with no free model obtainable
Who Ought to Select Private Capital?
Private Capital is good for customers who need entry to free funding evaluation and planning instruments. With a built-in payment analyzer and retirement planner, you may shortly stand up to hurry in your progress towards retirement, and lower out pointless charges out of your portfolio. The budgeting instruments aren’t nice, however if you happen to merely wish to observe your spending in numerous classes, Private Capital will try this routinely.
Get began with Private Capital right here.
Who Ought to Select Quicken?
Quicken is a robust cash administration app that could possibly be notably helpful for these trying to change their monetary habits or repay long-term debt. With the flexibility to fine-tune your price range down the penny, create a number of lively budgets, and think about exhaustive spending stories, it’s ultimate for detail-oriented customers who need a fully-customizable suite of budgeting instruments and options.
As a downloadable desktop software program product, Quicken is greatest for customers that love to do their monetary planning on their laptop, with the cell apps being extra of an adjunct than a primary characteristic. Mac software program limitations make Quicken a greater match for Home windows customers.
Get began with Quicken right here.
Abstract
Private Capital might be higher for a majority of customers who need a easy, free instrument to guage their investments, with non-compulsory entry to paid portfolio administration. It’s most likely the perfect free investing app obtainable immediately.
Quicken is extra suited to budget-conscious customers who need full management of each greenback they’ve, and may gain advantage from the flexibility to handle their enterprise and private funds multi functional software program bundle. The month-to-month price doesn’t appear value it until you’re a small enterprise proprietor or actual property investor who wants extra complete monetary instruments.