Buxfer

• Demo account
• Great features
• Wide variety of currencies

Buxfer offers a live demo account for you to play around with before you decide whether or not you want to sign up. It helps you visualize how you might use Buxfer. When you do set up your Buxfer account, you have the option to log in with one of your other accounts (Google, Yahoo, Facebook, or Microsoft) if you like, which makes signing up extremely speedy. The dashboard has a clean design: it looks good and it loads quickly. Buxfer is a personal finance website that offers many good free features and two upgraded paid plans. The following are some highlights of Buxfer we like:

• Live demo to test the software before you sign up
• Customizable tags to personally categorize expenses
• Website optimized for use on mobile devices
• Email commands to send requests to account
• Forecasting to project net worth
• Shared expenses with other Buxfer users
• Send payments online
• International access with worldwide banks

You can also jump into creating a budget immediately if you already have a feel for what you're spending. You can create your own custom "tags" (Buxfer calls their categories "tags," but that terminology incorrectly implies that you can apply multiple tags to any expense. Rather, Buxfer only allows one tag per budget item so the tags actually function more like "categories.") Tags can add a bit of fun to your budget because you can be creative, e.g., categories like "food-n-drinks" or "mom-is-awesome." You can choose any one of a wide variety of currencies in which to display your account balances - including Bitcoin. Buxfer also offers forecasting capabilities, to predict your net worth based on your spending patterns. Buxfer is available worldwide. It works with any bank internationally, and supports over 130 currencies and 60 languages. Although Buxfer doesn't have dedicated mobile apps, they do provide mobile-optimized versions of the site:

• iPhone/Android
• Blackberry & Others

Buxfer even offers the capability of sending requests to your accounts via a set of email commands. You can add an expense, split expenses with friends, or check your balance even if you only have an email connection. One of Buxfer's most unique features is the ability to share expenses with other Buxfer users. This would come in handy for roommates, party planning, or any other situation where multiple people need to be accountable for payments. You can also send payments online to settle your debts with friends.

• No help pages or tutorials
• Limited free plan
• No mobile app

Buxfer falters a bit in the details. Starting up your budget can be intimidating if you've never done it before and there are no tutorials or help pages to guide you. You're really on your own - from coming up with expense and income categories to estimating the amounts you need. Compounding this problem (and others) is that you cannot search the Help Center: you must rely on their FAQ categories to find what you're looking for. Although most Free Plan users won't bump up against the limit of 5 budgets, they probably will experience the frustration of only being able to add 5 accounts or 5 bill reminders since many people would require a higher limit on these items. Buxfer has no dedicated apps customized by platform and some people might feel more comfortable with apps from a security standpoint than they do about mobile websites.