Best Tools for Tracking Small Business Cash Flow and Personal Finances in 2026

Managing small business cash flow while keeping personal finances on track can feel like running two separate financial lives. If you’re self-employed, freelancing, or running a small business, you’ve likely felt the friction of bouncing between apps, spreadsheets, and bank portals trying to get a clear picture.

We built Quicken Business & Personal to solve exactly this problem — bringing business and personal finances together in one place. But we also know that one tool doesn’t fit everyone. In this guide, we cover our products alongside other options on the market so you can find the right fit for your situation.

At a glance: how these tools compare

†Introductory annual rate for the first year. Regular price is $7.99/mo for Quicken Business & Personal and $5.99/mo for Quicken Simplifi, billed annually. *Billed annually. Prices are in USD, verified as of March 2026, and subject to change.

Best overall: Quicken Business & Personal

Best for: Small business owners and self-employed professionals who want business cash flow management and personal finance tools in a single app.

Quicken Business & Personal is a cloud-based web and mobile app that brings business and personal finances together with clean separation between the two. Mark each account as business or personal, and the app automatically downloads and categorizes every transaction into the right place. The result: one dashboard for your business, one for your personal life, and a combined view when you need to see the full picture.

Business cash flow features

• Invoicing with built-in time and expense tracking — Add clients, projects, and billing rates. Log hours and tag billable expenses as you go. When it’s time to bill, one click creates a complete invoice with all unbilled hours and charges included.
• Online payments through Stripe — Offer clients multiple ways to pay by linking a Stripe account to your invoices, helping you get paid faster.
• Payables and receivables tracking — See billed and unbilled hours, outstanding invoices, and paid invoices at a glance.
• Financial reports — Built-in reports include profit and loss, cash flow statements, and balance sheets. Reports can be customized with tags, categories, time ranges, and cash or accrual accounting methods.
• Tax-ready reporting — Auto-generated Schedules C, E & F provide line-by-line totals for tax preparation. All reports can be exported for your accountant.
• Support for multiple businesses — Manage up to 10 different businesses within a single subscription.

Personal finance features included

Quicken Business & Personal includes all the features of Quicken Simplifi, our personal finance app:

• A dynamic Spending Plan that shows what’s safe to spend and what’s ahead
• Projected cash flow that forecasts balances weeks or months in advance
• Investment tracking with Time-Weighted Return (TWR) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) metrics
• A retirement planner with up to 15 adjustable variables for scenario modeling
• Savings goals built directly into the monthly spending plan
• Connections to more than 14,000 financial institutions
• Credit score tracking and custom financial reports

Pricing

Quicken Business & Personal starts at $3.99 per month for the first year (billed annually), then $7.99 per month. A 30-day money-back guarantee is included. Unlike some competitors that charge separately for each business, Quicken covers up to 10 businesses in one subscription.

What reviewers say

PC Mag called Quicken Business & Personal “Top-notch finance tools with some business smarts” and “Good option if you want to manage both your and your company’s financial matters in one place.”

“This is a way more useful way of thinking about cash flow as a business owner.” — Natalie M., Quicken Business & Personal customer

Other tools worth considering

Depending on your needs, these personal finance apps and business cash flow tools may also be a good fit.

Quicken Simplifi

Best for: People who want a personal finance app that shows what’s ahead, not just what already happened.

Quicken Simplifi is built around forward-looking personal finance. Its projected cash flow feature forecasts future balances up to a year in advance, showing upcoming deposits, payments, and potential shortfalls. A dynamic Spending Plan, savings goals, investment tracking with TWR and IRR metrics, a retirement planner with up to 15 adjustable variables, and connections to more than 14,000 financial institutions round out a comprehensive personal finance toolkit. Simplifi does not include business finance features; for those, Quicken Business & Personal adds full business management on top of everything in Simplifi.

• Pricing: $2.99/month for the first year (billed annually), then $5.99/month. 30-day money-back guarantee included.
• Recognition: Named Best Overall Personal Finance & Budgeting App by PC Mag, Editors’ Choice (2024). Named Best Budgeting App Overall by Engadget (2024). Named Best Budgeting App for Beginners by Kiplinger (2024).

Monarch Money

Best for: Collaborative budgeting and net worth tracking with a partner or spouse.

Monarch Money is a financial management platform that consolidates bank accounts, credit cards, loans, investments, and real estate into one view. It connects to more than 13,000 financial institutions and includes budgeting, cash flow visualization, investment performance tracking, net worth monitoring, and goal-setting.

A standout feature is its collaboration tools: partners and spouses can share access at no extra cost, making it a practical choice for households that manage money together. Monarch also includes subscription tracking and customizable financial reports.

• Pricing: $99.99/year ($8.33/month) or $14.99/month. 7-day free trial available.
• Recognition: Named a top budgeting solution by Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and USA Today (2024).

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

Best for: Hands-on, zero-based budgeting with an emphasis on building better money habits.

YNAB is built around one core principle: give every dollar a job. Its zero-based budgeting approach asks you to allocate every dollar of income to specific categories before spending, making each financial decision intentional. Features include budget management with expense categorization, bank account integration, goal setting, multi-device sync, and educational workshops.

YNAB focuses on behavioral change around spending rather than passive tracking, which appeals to people who want disciplined, hands-on control of their money.

• Pricing: $109/year ($9.08/month) or $14.99/month. 34-day free trial, no credit card required.
• Recognition: Named Apple’s App of the Day (March 2026).

Empower

Best for: Investment monitoring and retirement planning alongside basic budgeting.

Empower’s platform includes financial planning tools such as a retirement planner, net worth tracking, budgeting and cash flow analysis, portfolio analysis, a savings planner, and debt paydown tools. The platform serves over 19.5 million users and administers $2 trillion in assets.

Empower also offers wealth management services for portfolios of $100,000 or more, which include access to a personal financial advisor, tax optimization, and custom portfolios. The financial planning tools are available as part of the broader platform.

• Pricing: Visit empower.com for current pricing. Wealth management requires a $100,000 minimum.

PocketGuard

Best for: Simple spending guardrails that show what’s safe to spend right now.

PocketGuard centers on its “In My Pocket” feature, which calculates how much money is available to spend after accounting for bills, savings, and necessities. It connects to more than 18,000 financial institutions and includes 70-plus custom spending categories with customizable spending limits and real-time alerts.

Additional features include debt payoff planning, subscription tracking, bill negotiation through a Billshark partnership, and net worth tracking.

• Pricing: PocketGuard Plus costs $74.99/year ($6.25/month) or $12.99/month. 7-day free trial available.

Cash Flow Frog

Best for: Small businesses that need dedicated cash flow forecasting connected to their accounting software.

Cash Flow Frog is a specialized cash flow forecasting platform that connects directly to your accounting software and generates forecasts automatically. It supports rolling forecasts up to 12 months on the Essentials and Standard plans and up to 36 months on the Pro plan, what-if scenario planning, planned-versus-actual tracking, and customer insights that rank clients by sales and payment punctuality.

Integrations include QuickBooks Online and Desktop, Xero, Sage Intacct, Zoho Books, FreshBooks, and Excel. The platform focuses exclusively on cash flow — it does not include personal finance features.

• Pricing: Essentials plan starts at $23/month. Standard plan is $31/month. Annual billing saves 20%.
• Reviews: Rated 4.8 out of 5 on Capterra.

Float

Best for: Agencies, consultancies, and growing businesses that want visual cash flow forecasts tied to their accounting software.

Float creates visual cash flow forecasts by syncing automatically with Xero, QuickBooks, or FreeAgent. Features include scenario planning, budget tracking, and forecast views by day, week, or month. The Scaling tier offers forecasts up to 36 months and supports up to 8 scenarios.

Float is designed for businesses that need forward-looking cash visibility alongside their existing accounting setup. It does not include personal finance features.

• Pricing: Plans start at $50/month (Early), $85/month (Growing), and $115/month (Scaling). 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

Wave

Best for: Freelancers and solopreneurs who need free accounting and invoicing.

Wave offers a free Starter plan that includes double-entry accounting, income and expense tracking, invoicing, and financial reporting for a single user. The Pro plan, at $19/month, adds automated bank imports, unlimited receipt OCR, guest collaborator access, and unlimited user seats.

Wave serves over 350,000 small businesses and targets freelancers, solopreneurs, contractors, and consultants. It provides solid foundational accounting but does not include cash flow forecasting or personal finance tools.

• Pricing: Starter plan is free. Pro plan is $19/month.
• Reviews: 4.5-star Google rating from over 1,400 reviews.

Trends shaping financial tools in 2026

Several shifts are changing what people expect from financial software:

• Predictive intelligence over passive tracking. The bar has moved past showing where money went. Users expect apps to forecast where money is going and flag potential problems in advance. Projected cash flow and scenario modeling features are increasingly standard in both business and personal finance tools.
• Unified platforms over app stacks. Small business owners and self-employed professionals are moving away from juggling separate apps for accounting, budgeting, invoicing, and investments. Tools that combine business and personal finance management in one place reduce blind spots, save time, and provide a clearer picture of overall financial health.
• Automation reducing manual work. Automatic transaction categorization, real-time bank syncing, and auto-populated invoices are reducing the hours people spend on financial housekeeping. For small business owners, that time savings translates directly into more hours available for their actual work.
• A fast-growing market of independent workers. According to McKinsey, 36% of employed Americans now identify as independent workers, up from 27% in 2016. The U.S. Treasury reported an average of 430,000 new business applications per month in 2024, 50% more than in 2019. This growing market is driving demand for financial tools that are right-sized for small businesses — capable enough to manage cash flow and taxes, without the complexity and cost of enterprise software.

Frequently asked questions

What app can manage both business and personal finances in one place?

Quicken Business & Personal is designed for small business owners and self-employed professionals who want to manage business cash flow, invoicing, and tax reporting alongside personal budgeting, investment tracking, and retirement planning in a single app. It starts at $3.99 per month (billed annually) for the first year, with a regular price of $7.99 per month.

How much does small business cash flow software cost?

Pricing varies by tool and scope. Quicken Business & Personal, which combines business and personal finance management, starts at $3.99 per month. Dedicated business cash flow forecasting tools like Cash Flow Frog start at $23 per month, and Float starts at $50 per month. Wave offers a free Starter plan for basic accounting and invoicing.

Can I track investments and business cash flow in the same app?

Quicken Business & Personal combines business cash flow management with personal finance tools that include investment tracking with performance metrics such as Time-Weighted Return (TWR) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). This combination of business and personal finance tools in a single app is a core part of its design.

What features should I look for in a cash flow tracking tool?

Key features to consider include automatic transaction categorization, cash flow projections or forecasting, invoicing and payment tracking, integration with your bank accounts and accounting software, customizable financial reports, and whether the tool also covers personal finance needs if you are self-employed or run a small business.

Is there a free tool for small business cash flow management?

Wave offers a free Starter plan that includes accounting and invoicing for a single user. For more comprehensive cash flow management with features like forecasting, scenario planning, and detailed financial reporting, paid tools such as Quicken Business & Personal, Cash Flow Frog, and Float offer additional capabilities.

About Quicken

Across its desktop and cloud products over four decades, Quicken has served more than 20 million customers managing over $2.4 trillion in wealth. Quicken products include Quicken Simplifi for personal finance management and Quicken Business & Personal for small business owners and self-employed professionals who need business and personal finance tools in one place.