I’ve used Quicken since the beginning — back when floppy disks were floppy and “the cloud” meant a thunderstorm. I even worked for the company that invented bill pay, the folks who were early investors in Intuit. We had an application, maybe a private-label version of Quicken, with bill pay embedded. Users scheduled payments and transmitted them via modem. Yes, a modem. The screeching, beeping symphony that ferried your rent and electric bills to their digital destinies. I’ve been on the bleeding edge of finance software since the days of acoustic couplers, and let me tell you: it was … noisy.
For decades I didn’t know what to replace Quicken with. I poked my head out of the Windows foxhole now and then, but every alternative looked like an abandoned fast-food restaurant: a faint smell of grease, a promise of service, and tumbleweeds blowing through the feature set.
Then came the Win10 retirement — Microsoft politely nudged me, “It’s time to move on.” I said, “You’re right. But not in the direction you expect.”
So I hobbled together a newer Dell micro PC — basically a turbo lawnmower for computing — and retired my two ancient Win10 laptops. I don’t plan to look back. I’d need binoculars anyway.
Enter Linux Mint. I was up and running within the hour. Mint greeted me like an old friend who only wants a little disk space in exchange for sanity and speed.
Then came KMyMoney, the quiet cousin at the finance software reunion — the one everyone overlooks because they’re too busy being yelled at by Quicken.
Let me tell you: KMyMoney floored me.
It didn’t just replace Quicken — it held the door open, carried my bags, and offered me sweet tea. The interface felt familiar, like it had been secretly reading over my shoulder for 25 years. Within minutes, I was downloading accounts, reconciling like a champion, scheduling transactions, and wondering why in the world I’d chained myself to Windows for so long.
If Mark Twain kept a checkbook — and I imagine he did, probably bouncing a few checks along the way — he’d appreciate the honesty and simplicity of KMyMoney. No drama. No subscription nags. No frozen updates. No “renew now or watch your budget catch fire.”
Linux Mint + KMyMoney gave me a retirement plan from Windows.
Now I manage my money without a corporation breathing down my neck. I’m not saying KMyMoney cured my arthritis or improved my fishing, but my computer boots faster, and my blood pressure dropped five points.
If you’re still orbiting Quicken, consider this your sign. Life’s too short for subscription nags, software with attitude, and operating systems that need constant therapy.
KMyMoney didn’t just impress me — it made me laugh at how long I put up with anything else. And trust me, I’ve watched finance software evolve from screeching modems to auto-transmitting bill pay. If I can leave Quicken behind, you can too.