Yea, Cha-Ching is a pretty slick app indeed. Not 100% positive if will end up using this in my day-to-day but so very slick and sexy it is. Oh, and it does work

So where do we go to download this sweet looking app?

I'd love to grab a copy of the beta of the app. Unfortunately, it looks like there's nothing at chachingapp.com yet.

never mind found it on macupdate

This is definitely in my top 10 for Mac app UI's. I'm going to give it a try over the next couple of weeks, but I think until it supports importing QIF and the like for online banking, I'll still have to stick with Quicken for my day to day (even though I loathe the program and only use about 10% of the features).

Cha-Ching is a gorgeous application, and has some very neat new ideas for finance tracking. I just hope that it develops into a more full-featured finance manager, because I'm been consistently disappointed with every other non-Quicken finance application on the Mac.

Quicken may have many, many, MANY problems, but it does everything I need for it to do. I'll happily ditch it the second something better comes along.

You could have just followed the link provided at the bottom of the post.

And, I suppose this is more of a version 1.5 or 2.0 thing, but it'd be cool to have secure, direct bank integration

Amen to that brother! I don't want to have to download .qif (or whatever) files from my bank, then import them, then reclassify/tag/sort/label them. Make the app download the files based on URL's and user info you give it.

Then again, I'm a bit of a dreamer ;^)

I'm surprised that a bit of eye candy can prompt the statement that "Cha-Ching comes dangerously close to one-upping Quicken." After using Cha-Ching for only a few minutes, it became clear to me that eye candy is about the only thing it has. I understand that this is a very beta release, but I don't even think it could be called finance tracking software yet. Where is the support for different types of accounts, such as investments, cash, credit, and liabilities? Where is the reporting, graphing and budgeting features? These things are essential to the point of finance tracking because they ultimately show you where your money is going. Quicken *is* a 20 year old program, and it shows its age well. Over the years, it has accrued many features that allow it to satisfy anyone from a casual user to an extreme power user. It may not be pretty, but it does well what it needs to. Also, keep in mind that it is just a port of a Windows program, so it doesn't look quite as pretty as native Cocoa apps. However, until Cha-Ching becomes something more than a pretty UI, I'll stick with Quicken.

Its interesting to note that this app was built in less than 3 weeks using 37signals' Getting Real philosophy. Its a great success story.

http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/chaching_gets_real.php

Here's a download link:

http://www.macupdate.com/download.php/22913/chaching_0.2.dmg

I wouldn't call this a Quicken Killer or even a nail. It's cute, I'll give it that. Not very useful for anything real world like investment tracking, account import from online banking, PDA integration.

Maybe I'll take a second look a little later when it's got a whole number in front of that dot.

But will it support OFX?

What they need is something equivalent to (or surpassing) Turbo Tax. It's the combo of Turbo Tax and Quicken that synergistically makes Quicken such a strong app that dominates its field.

[...] There’s a new app for OS X called Cha-Ching, and even at version 0.2, it’s looking like a promising alternative to the horrendous mac version of Quicken. Here’s hoping development goes strong on this one!read more | digg story [...]

"Also, keep in mind that it is just a port of a Windows program, so it doesn't look quite as pretty as native Cocoa apps."

Someone hasn't been paying attention.

That said, the article above really gets way ahead of itself. This app, while beautiful and hopefully a contender, isn't even playing on the same level as the current rabble of half baked OS X personal finance apps. It currently only provides that absolute bare minimum of accounting functionality. It has a *long* way to to go.

Wow, I really am having a hard time deciding if I should buy it. It's obviously a beginning app in early beta stages, but it would be nice to replace cashbox with this.
Plus saving ten buck is always nice.

It is nice and shiny, but one of the very first things I looked for was import and export functionality. Sorry, but without import this application is little more then fun eye candy.

Ugh, this program is nothing but 37signals fan boy material. Any why would anyone compare any new financial program on a mac with quicken. Quicken is about the biggest jank train wreck of a Mac program every.
This program greatly lacks major functions needed of a financial program.. But hey, I can take pictures of the worthless crap around my house. I need a financial program not a copy of delicious monster....
Give ibank a try when you get this sheep 37signals fanboy mentality out of your head and want a real financial program for the mac.

Somebody remind me again why I need pictures in a personal finance manager...

Looks pretty but I'm not even going to bother downloading it until it has a realistic feature set. There's more to an app than it's UI.

Mac users buy useless software all the time like the Delicious Library application. Delicious scans your cds and dvd barcodes using your iSight camera. Sounds cool and looks cool and the app has lots of eye candy, but in the end you just have a list of cd's and dvd's that you already know you own. Is that really useful? Not that I can tell, but people keep buying it.

This piece of software is not even usable.
I managed to add a picture with iSight. Then I could not change/edit the entry, nor add new entries. And functions are so weak that it is not even beta, not even close to alpha.

HEY! That's me in that screenshot! haha... good stuff... and indeed a beauty of an app. I'll be downloading it and giving it a shot!

I just wanted to throw another personal finance app out there that deserves a nod: Igg Software's iBank (http://iggsoftware.com/ibank/) It has a little less glitz than Cha-Ching, but it has a fairly solid feature set and is certainly worth a look.

(Note that I am NOT employed by Igg Software, and I am not recieving compensation in any way. I just really like the app)

Ken, You may not think Delicious Library is useful to you but a lot of people think differently. It's great sales are most definitely not just attributed to the fact that it looks good.

@Ken - Actually Delicious Library is very useful for those of us with very large DVD, book, or video game libraries. I for one own a couple hundred DVDs and loan them out to friends and family members all the time. Delicious Library is an attractive and easy way to keep my libraries organized and keep track of those items that I've loaned out.

While it's 'Cute', I hardly think it's worthy of the accolades you are giving it. There is NO way I would EVER trust my finances to a pre 1.0 release. I don't even think I would trust them with a 1.x release.

Quicken isn't the best. I hate how it makes you go to the web for most of the stuff. However, for now, and for a long time to come, I feel it's going to stay dominant - especially since it is included on every new Mac.

I might let my kid keep track of his bank account with it... but surely not mine.

If you want a nice alternative, without the Quicken bloat, and without the eye candy of this app, check out Checkbook from Splasm. It's a good, quick program, and does what it's supposed to do.
http://www.splasm.com/

Re: Ken - To be honest, I'm always impressed that Mac user's actually buy their software. A long time Windows user at my office just bought his first Mac and immediately came to my desk asking for cracks. WTH?

I'm pretty pleased with Cha-Ching's simplicity, but I'm definitely bothered by this swath of alpha-as-beta software that's been dropping lately. Sure it's exciting to see all these up-and-coming apps, and be able to provide feedback so early in their development cycle, but it's starting to get a little absurd.

Quicken is an awful program that has been the only (basically) option for a while on the mac. Hopefully this is the start of something better. Many people only use 10 percent of quicken anyway. Add easy downloading of bank statements and I'm there.

"quicken *is* a 20 year old program, and it shows its age well. Over the years"

Change "well" to "badly" and I'll agree with you.

"is that really useful? Not that I can tell, but people keep buying it."

Here's the thing your missing ken. YOU are one person. Other people have different needs than you. So what is not important or useful to you may be to others. That's why people keep buying it. You should have learned this concept when you were a child.

Quicken is included on every Mac, *in the US*. Quicken for Mac has been unavailable in Australia now for about 6 or 7 years

I do hope this program grows into something really good. I bought the program to give support to the guys. Before the beta was released, I got quick responses to emails in relation to another program. If anything, it shows off some great eye candy that is built into OS X

Great looking program. Easy and simple, but if I am going to use it, I need easy downloading of bank statements also! If it had that, it would be the end of quicken on my computer in a heartbeat!

This is what I've been looking for. I don't have that many bills so something as big and powerful as Quicken wouldn't suit me well. But this is basic and definitely worth a try.

I'm one of the many who really, really hates the many interface issue snad the quirks with account reckoning that go on in Quicken. Plus, my version of Quicken is 2005, so next year or the year after, I'll really want a real alternative that just works...

That said, if all your finances can be deduced into different bank accounts, you've got some larger financial issues.

Think IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), CDs, stocks, stock options, etc. ...

I get really excited when I read about these new apps, but after trying them (recently Checkbook), I end up more disappointed than with Quicken. Less confused and with higher self-esteem, but no better off and much less on top of things.

That said, Cha-Ching does beat Quicken's inventory feature. If I go out and buy an isight.

"This piece of software is not even usable. I managed to add a picture with iSight. Then I could not change/edit the entry, nor add new entries. And functions are so weak that it is not even beta, not even close to alpha."

Same here. Nothing works on my new 24" iMac...

Thank you, thank you thank you!

I've been looking for an app like this for 9 months.

ChaChing finally is the perfect explanation why anybody would need...

AppZapper

(and thanks for sponsoring PhillRyu.com Zap folks! - it was the perfect reminder)

Yeah right. Give iBank a go.

oh its got tags so its got to be amazing then.
I'd be worried about an app where they include something pointless like iSight integration yet leave out any sort of graphing (when osx can make such beautiful graphs too, so its not like they couldn't have fun with it)

@James — I'm posting the same comments I made at iusethis.com (re:tags). And yes, I understand it does/will not do everything others would have it do regardless of being beta or final. However—that does not preclude it from being a useful tool for others:
----------------------------------------------------------------

A promising start to a complete reversal of mundane and sterile finance handling.

After playing with the application and leveraging the power of keywords (a.k.a. tags) and smart drawers, I have—in very little—time created the ability for multiple accounts, statement reconciliation, and budgeting. Some of these features are forthcoming from the developers, such as a multiple accounts—according to a blogger that has spoken with "A Midnight App's" lead. For now though, I can only wonder at how it will grow and what v1.0 will bring.

I gladly paid to watch this app grow and to give an early helping hand to this talented group of designers/developers.

I will continue to experiment, and already find it very usable regardless of some noticeable bugs. Remember, this IS a beta release. I eagerly await new releases! The fun of finance is back... or rather... is finally here.

[...] Cha-Ching: The First Nail in Quicken’s Coffin? Mac alternative to Quicken (tags: osx software finance) [...]

This is perfect for me. I'm a teen and just starting to really have to crack down on how I'm spending my money. Keeping track of money is something I loathe, but with this, it really is a lot of fun.

God, I love being a Mac user. There is no other platform in existance that gets a costant stream of amazing and gorgeous applications. Thank you, Mac developers, for having an imagination and giving attention to detail!

@Rod
I bought a mac a few months ago, here in Oz, and Quicken was included. Not Pre-installed, I had to install it from the Tiger DVD, but its there. (And Ugly, and difficult to use)

I like Cha-Ching.
But, I also like stuff just cos its pretty, and hate using financial tracking software enough to not use it at all.
:)

So maybe its meant for us people that don't have a budget, don't graph their finances, and just want to keep track of who owes them money, for what, and why, and who they owe money to, for what and why.

[...] PhillRyu.com - Cha-Ching: The First Nail in Quicken’s Coffin? [...]

[...] Page Summary: We had literally dozens submitted, and even a minor ruckus once people realized none had made it as a finalist. I admit it, I’m something of an icon whore and have very specific tastes, tending not to go for more stylized icons that don’t quite fit in my Dock. But for some reason, it works, and it looks great, and the pig is just awesome. The whole process is genuinely fun, and it’s a nice contrast from the Quicken experience.read more | digg story [...]

Beautiful app? Yes.
Useful app? Not really.

There seems to be very sparse documentation and using it is not all that intuitive. I appreciate form but not at the sake of function.

I don't like to leave negative comments typically but I just had to chime in on this one.

D.