Quicken 2018 for Mac Launches With Online Bill Management, New Subscription Service

Monday October 23, 2017 7:00 AM PDT by Juli Clover
Quicken today announced the launch of the 2018 version of its popular finance and budgeting software for the PC and Mac.

Quicken 2018 introduces access to online bills from more than 11,000 companies, all of which are integrated into a streamlined bill and payment dashboard. The bill management center is designed to let Quicken users manage all of their bills in one place, with features like downloading PDFs of each bill.


The software also includes expanded investment capabilities with more specific lot tracking and a more customizable portfolio view, along with new loan tracking features that include "what-if" loan analysis.
"We are always listening to customer feedback and the 2018 releases of Quicken reflect the balance of new features and refinements to existing capabilities that we know our users want," said Eric Dunn, chief executive officer of Quicken. "With our latest products, Mac offerings are more robust, our interfaces are more intuitive, and our new membership program ensures that customers always have the latest and greatest Quicken without the pain of manually upgrading."
Quicken 2018 for Mac offers Mac users access to Quicken Starter, Quicken Deluxe, and Quicken Premier for the first time, allowing Mac users to choose the best Quicken software to meet their financial needs. Previously, these separate versions of Quicken were limited to Windows users.

The software offers different features depending on version, with Deluxe and Premier offering features for creating budgets, creating multiple savings goals, and tracking loans and investments. Premier offers investment evaluations, tax reports, and automatic updates to estimated home value.

With this change also comes a shift to a subscription-based service. Instead of purchasing upgrades each year, Quicken customers will automatically receive the latest version of Quicken as long as a membership is maintained, with one and two-year memberships available.

All of the 2018 versions of Quicken will include 5GB of cloud storage for Quicken backups provided through Dropbox.

Quicken 2018 Starter is priced at $34.99 for a one-year membership and $49.99 for a two-year membership, while Quicken Deluxe is priced at $49.99 for one years and $79.99 for two years.

Quicken Premier, the highest tier software available for Macs, is priced at $74.99 for a one-year membership and $119.99 for a two-year membership.

Tag: Quicken
90 comments


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jblagden
11 months ago
I think this continual push towards software subscriptions will only push people further from proprietary software and closer to open-source software.
Rating: 13 Votes
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furi0usbee
11 months ago
Ironic... an app to track all your wasteful subscription spending.... noice. When I see the word subscription, I immediately begin to look elsewhere. With all the subscription backlash, there is bank to be made for devs who create good software that many of us simply want to pay once for, and not forever, regardless of all the bad updates or loss of features an app may experience along the way.
Rating: 8 Votes
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KazKam
11 months ago
Dammit, another ******* subscription. I was waiting for Quicken 2018 to upgrade my Quicken 2015.

Looks like I'll be on 2015 for quite a while or switching to a different ledger.

I hope this subscription trend/experiment of the past few years fails soon. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I refuse to rent music or software.
Rating: 7 Votes
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rtrueman
11 months ago
Remember folks, this is a new company and not Intuit. I don't like the subscription model either, but I found that I'm updating Quicken every year anyway (my choice and YMMV). I've found the new Mac product to be very good, albeit with some disparity with the Windows version. It was good enough for me to move from Parallels/Quicken for Windows to Quicken Mac a couple years ago and I've not looked back. I believe there is/was a trial and I'd recommend taking another look.

Rob
Rating: 6 Votes
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nt5672
11 months ago
With Quicken's lock in and lack of export tools, there is no way I would ever get my data back into Quicken. This is a company that has proven, for Apple users at least, that they are all marketing and taking your money, but not much in the way of delivery. Function always lags behind or fails to work. Long periods without updates. And now, don't pay the annual fee and you will no longer be able to access your data. Not for me.
Rating: 6 Votes
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picaman
11 months ago
I moved to Banktivity (formerly iBank) years ago when the Mac version of Quicken was effectively orphaned by Intuit. I’ve been very happy ever since. Good software with good support.
Rating: 4 Votes
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jblagden
11 months ago

Is it finally fully compatible with Windows versions/Accountants ?.

That's an excellent question, one for which I unfortunately do not have an answer. I have never understood why Quicken doesn't use the same version on both operating systems. Two programs which are from the same company and serve identical functions should be able to use the same formats.
Rating: 4 Votes
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BaldiMac
11 months ago

After years of using Quicken 2007 (or so), I moved onto Quicken 2017 for the Mac and I love it. The best part is being able to download the reports from the banks and investment firms (which costs them money). What used to be torture - balancing my credit card account, now takes minutes.

But what I did not realize was that my purchase of this software would last for only a year. If I had known that, I never would have purchased Quicken 2017 in the first place. For me to pay, essentially, $4/mo for this feature, is too much. I try very hard to stay off the hook from these companies and buy once - hold for a long time. All the monthly payments add up (Internet, Netflix, cell phone, etc.). As someone who cut the cord to save cable subscription, I do not want to add one back, even this small.

I will be making a choice to pay the $4/mo, go back to the old way of balancing my checkbook, or look into some of the alternatives listed by others.

Perhaps I am overstating it by saying I feel betrayed, but I never would have signed on if it had been disclosed that the software would have to be updated annually.

Quicken 2017 is supported through April 30, 2020.
Rating: 4 Votes
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wlow3
11 months ago
Quicken was already effectively subscription based software in that if one did not update on the third year of ownership they would cut you off from being able to download data. I think a lot of people waited till the third year to update. Now this moves it to every two years, but at least you also get the interim year update. If you’re savvy enough to find a promotional offer, it might not be too much of a hit.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Jax44
11 months ago
Is it finally fully compatible with Windows versions/Accountants ?.
Rating: 3 Votes
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