Kemback vs Quicken Simplifi

The verdict

Choose Quicken Simplifi if you want automatic bank sync, investment tracking with cost basis and a native Android app today, at one of the lower subscription prices among paid apps. It’s a good fit if a running Spending Plan is all the budget you want.

Choose Kemback if you’d rather not pay a subscription, you want a register you can reconcile against a statement, or you want a real envelope budget. It also suits households with more structure than one extra member: private accounts and view-only roles. The trade-off is that you import bank files until Kemback’s Plus plan brings sync, and Kemback doesn’t track investments yet.

Who Quicken Simplifi is for

Simplifi is Quicken’s app for the web and phones. It connects to over 14,000 financial institutions in the US and Canada and is built around the Spending Plan: your income, less bills and subscriptions, with what’s left adjusting as you spend. It adds projected cash flow, savings goals and investments with cost basis and performance, which many budgeting apps leave out.

The price is $6.99 a month, billed annually, and Quicken offers new members a lower first-year rate when they order directly. There’s no free trial, but there is a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can share Simplifi with one additional member, who needs their own Quicken ID but not their own subscription. Bill pay isn’t included.

Who Kemback is for

Kemback is for people who want Quicken-style accounting depth in a free, shared, browser-based service. The Free plan includes unlimited accounts and transactions, a register with splits, linked transfers and cleared and reconciled status, and statement reconciliation that locks reconciled transactions so last year’s numbers stay put. Rules rename payees and set categories, and new transactions wait in a review inbox.

Like Simplifi, Kemback looks ahead: bills and recurring transactions on a calendar, a warning when a bill or subscription goes up, safe to spend, a 90-day projected balance and savings goals.

Budget style: a Spending Plan or envelopes

The biggest everyday difference is how the budget works. Simplifi’s Spending Plan starts from income and subtracts your bills and subscriptions, so the main figure is what’s left to spend. That’s light to maintain.

Kemback asks you to choose. In category mode you set a monthly plan per category and compare spending against it. In envelope mode every dollar of income is assigned to an envelope before you spend it. You can switch at any time without losing anything, because both modes use the same data.

Depth versus convenience

Simplifi is stronger where convenience matters: transactions arrive on their own, it runs natively on iPhone and Android, and it tracks investments. Kemback’s iPhone app is in beta and works offline for accounts, the register and the budget; Android and Windows are in development.

Kemback is stronger where precision and sharing matter: reconciliation, a full register, and a household where each person signs in with a role (owner, editor, viewer or advisor) and can keep accounts private. The Free plan covers two people; Plus is planned for up to six.

Moving from Quicken Simplifi to Kemback

Kemback has no dedicated Simplifi wizard, but Simplifi’s CSV export gets your transactions across:

1. In Simplifi’s web app, export your transactions as a CSV file. If the file covers several accounts, split it by account in a spreadsheet first.
2. Create a free Kemback account.
3. Import each CSV file into its account. Kemback’s column mapper lets you say once which columns hold the date, amount, payee and memo, and can save that mapping for next time.
4. Categories don’t come across in a CSV import, so add rules that rename payees and set categories; they apply to future imports too. Then check each account’s balance against your bank.

From then on, download OFX, QFX or CSV files from your bank to keep Kemback current. Kemback skips anything it has already seen, so overlapping date ranges don’t create duplicates. If you also have an older Quicken Classic data file, the Quicken switching page shows how to bring that history across from a QIF export.

Bottom line

Simplifi is the more convenient app today, with sync, investments and native phone apps at a modest price. Kemback is free, deeper on the register and on household sharing, and offers envelope budgets. Automatic sync is coming with Plus, which isn’t on sale yet; there’s a waitlist on the pricing page.

Questions

Is Kemback a free Quicken Simplifi alternative?

Yes, for budgeting and tracking. Kemback's Free plan has no time limit and includes budgets, a register, bills, reports, rules, import and export. It doesn't have automatic bank sync or investment tracking yet, and Simplifi has both.

Can I move my Simplifi history to Kemback?

Yes. Export your transactions as a CSV file from Simplifi's web app, then import it into Kemback, matching the date, amount, payee and memo columns once with the column mapper. Categories don't come across in a CSV import, so rules fill them in. Check each account's balance against your bank afterwards.

Does Kemback have something like Simplifi's Spending Plan?

Kemback's closest feature is safe to spend, with a 90-day projected balance based on your bills and recurring transactions. For the budget itself you choose envelope mode or category mode, and you can switch between them without losing anything.

Can more than two people share Kemback?

Kemback's Free plan covers a household of two, each with their own sign-in. Plus is planned for up to six people, and it isn't on sale yet. Simplifi shares with one additional member.

Is Kemback made by Quicken?

No. Kemback is an independent product and isn't affiliated with Quicken Inc. Quicken and Simplifi are trademarks of Quicken Inc.