moneyStrands Free Online Budgeting and Money Management Software
The last in my series of online budgeting evaluations, moneyStrands, provided by Strands Labs, Inc. (developed social recommendation and personalization technologies), combines a modern approach to personal finance with widget style designs, and a personalize virtual spokesperson, Monica. Its a secure and free online tool, and auto-imports your accounts.
Rating: 
Pros:
- Customizable dashboard for RSS feeds and other interests
- Printable PDF summary (I love this feature, even though simple, a lot of other tools don’t allow you to print!)
- iPhone App
- Personalized recommendations
- Ability to customize your categories
- Community options to share and discuss with others, compare your spending with other people that have similar habits to yours
Cons:
- For the way my mind works, it was hard to know what some of the icons were for, and how to find what I was looking for
- A lot going on, too much information unrelated to budgeting, saving and investing. Why would I want to have retail offers if I am interested in saving and budgeting? This product must be geared at a demographic that wants more than just money management
- In my opinion, the boxy widget style design is not as user friendly as other tools such as Mint or Thrive
Overall, moneyStrands has a lot of functionality for a free tool that may appeal to many people. For me personally, I am not interested in the format of thier special offers for retail stores, credit cards, or tips and I don’t particularly like the design of the widget format, or the icons that they use. I want SIMPLE and to the point, and this interface does not offer that.
For Your Reference: Here’s another nice review and how to:
http://personalfinancesoftwarereviews.com/moneystrands/
Check it out for yourself and see what you prefer.
