Comments on: Mvelopes vs. NeoBudget vs. Inzolo

By: suzivp

suzivp — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:52:37 +0000

I have been using Mvelopes for years (4? 5 maybe?). My debt is gone and my net worth has increased greatly. My familiarity with my money has never been better. My family consists of my husband and I, one child in college, one in high school and help we give to my mother, so the budget could be complicated but not with mvelopes. The best part is when a yearly or bi-yearly expense comes up, the money is just there, ready, sitting in the appropriate mvelope, slowly saved up. And I spend about 5 minutes a day or less dealing with it. It is simple, logical, easy….I cannot imagine being in debt again and I know with mvelopes I will never live beyond my means again or ever have credit card balances. BIG FAN!

By: Celine

Celine — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:30:16 +0000

Hi! My husband and I have been using https://www.inexfinance.com/ and I like this online personal finance software. Great functionality, easy to use tools and free access.

By: Mel Mel

Mel Mel — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 04:27:36 +0000

I like http://www.ynab.com There’s a one-time cost, an amazing support in their forums, free webinars and tutorials galore.

By: William R.

William R. — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:53:48 +0000

I like mitebudet (www.mitebudget.com), a lot like neobudget but it does it better and it’s free.

By: Envelope Budgeting for the iPhone with Ez Budget

Envelope Budgeting for the iPhone with Ez Budget — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 23:44:30 +0000

[...] to use my debit card. Because of this I’ve looked for other alternatives. I’ve tried inzolo, mvelopes, neobudget, and mint. All of them are ok, but none of them have done everything like I would want.Specifically, I [...]

By: Sara O.

Sara O. — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:50:53 +0000

My husband and I have been using Neobudget for the last two years and absolutely love it. Great customer service and software. I’ve also used Mvelopes in the past and thought it was too overpriced.

By: Mvelopes Specials

Mvelopes Specials — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:06:27 +0000

Hey Derek,
Thanks for the mention of Mvelopes. I wanted to let you know that we are currently offering any of your users a 10% discount off any of the Mvelopes.com packages and a 14 day trial to test drive the system. If anyone is interested, please go to http://www.Mvelopes.com and click “Start My Trial”. When you setup your account, just make sure to enter the promo code “10off” to get a 10% discount on any of our packages. That’s the number ten and the word “off”.

Let me know if you need any help or have any questions. Happy holidays!

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:35:54 +0000

Thanks for your article, Derek, and the helpful input from other people in the comments. I just wanted to let you know that I for one am very interested in hearing more from you about your experience with these different budget systems.

One specific question for anybody out there: I’ve heard in the past that the Mvelopes interface could be very slow and frustrating. Is that something they’ve improved?

Thanks!

By: Derek Clark

Derek Clark — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:40:07 +0000

I also had trouble importing automatically with inzolo, but i don’t mind doing it manually too much. Other than that it is pretty awesome, and since I don’t use the auto import it’s free. You can’t beat free

By: Ian Martinez

Ian Martinez — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:03:26 +0000

I’ve been using Mvelopes regularly for the past five years and can honestly say it’s worth the cost. Having looked at both NeoBudget and Inzolo, they can’t compare with the convenience and features that Mvelopes provides. Mvelopes automatically downloads online transactions and lets you match them up with any manual transactions you enter, it allows for an unlimited amount of envelopes and sub-envelopes which you can categorize, and its interface is the most intuitive I’ve seen of any of these types of applications. Also, the online forum and help section is very comprehensive.

The pricing is definitely better with Neobudget, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to set up a hierarchy for the envelopes (Eating Out and Groceries are separate blocks on a screen full of other blocks rather than being able to put both under a category or envelope called Food). The navigation is also somewhat confusing–there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to view both the envelope balances and account transactions at the same time.

Inzolo looks like it has a great interface, but when I tried to enter to automatically connect with my bank account (with Chase–one of the most popular banks in this country), it gave me numerous error messages and recommended that I add it only as a manual account. Not being able to automatically connect with my bank account is a big dealbreaker for me, so I didn’t really spend any time with it.

Mvelopes does run about $13 a month, and I wish I were cheaper. However, until I find an online application that is as robust and easy to use, I am very happy with it.