About

Moneyspan is built by Ryan Dewell in the Seattle area.

I've worked through most approaches to personal finance software. I used Microsoft Money early on — categorizing every transaction, reconciling every month, at a stage of life when I needed to know where every dollar went. Later, when things stabilized, I didn't want to look at our finances at all. Then came a phase with enough of a buffer that day-to-day felt fine, but no clear view of where things were actually headed.

At some point I caught myself thinking: what would a personal finance app for someone like Warren Buffett look like? Probably not transaction categorization.

So I built a spreadsheet, maybe one similar to what you have. Then a bigger one. Then an elaborate, fragile, multi-tab spreadsheet that was hard to share with my wife and hard to trust. That spreadsheet was the alpha version of Moneyspan.

Since 1997 I've architected platforms that help independent software companies sell their software online — first at RegNow, then at FastSpring. Moneyspan is the first Mac app I've shipped.

It's just me. No team, no investors, no plans to be acquired. I use Moneyspan every week — it's the view I always wanted but could never keep current in a spreadsheet. I plan to keep improving it indefinitely.

My teenage son uses it too, with a handful of items. Our household's file has hundreds. I wanted the app flexible enough to work at either scale.

A few things I cared about: your finances stay on your Mac, not in someone else's cloud. The app doesn't require daily upkeep. You own what you pay for. Your data is portable. The .moneyspan file is always readable, and the app exports a complete PDF statement at any time.