Forbidden Finance · Comparison
Forbidden Finance vs Quicken Simplifi
Quicken Simplifi is a subscription-only web and mobile app from Quicken Inc. (the 1984 personal-finance brand, spun out of Intuit in 2016), built around a "Spending Plan" that projects what is left to spend after income, bills, and goals. There is no free tier.
Quicken Simplifi is best for: Budget-priced US/Canada users who want solid tracking with investments included.
Facts about Quicken Simplifi were checked against their published pages in August 2026; every cell links its source. Spot something out of date? Tell us at support@403fin.io and we'll fix it.
At a glance
| Dimension | Forbidden Finance | Quicken Simplifi |
|---|---|---|
| The basics | ||
| Price | Free tier forever; paid plans $4.99–$14.99/mo. No free trial — 30-day money-back guarantee on web purchases. | No free tier, no trial. $3.99/mo promo billed annually (regular $6.99/mo billed annually); 30-day money-back guarantee.↗ |
| Business model | Subscriptions only. No ads, no data sales, no cross-sells. | Paid subscription; no in-product ads. CCPA disclosure acknowledges "sale"-classified sharing of IP/hashed email to ad partners and personal info to card/bank partners (opt-out available).↗ |
| Security & privacy | ||
| Data selling & ads | We never sell user data, share it with advertisers, or build behavioral profiles for third parties. | Discloses CCPA-defined "sale": IP address + hashed email to advertising partners, and personal information to credit-card and bank partners for offers — with an opt-out.↗ |
| Bank credentials & tokens | Bank credentials never touch our servers (entered with regulated aggregators); sensitive tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage. | 256-bit encryption in transit; one-way read-only connections; credentials encrypted and stored by the aggregation partner.↗ |
| Encryption inside the database | Sensitive financial fields are sealed under encryption keys unique to each account before they reach the database; keys live in a separate key service. Amounts are aggregated in memory after decryption, so financial values never need to sit readable in the database. | Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Database-level isolation | PostgreSQL row-level security enforces per-account isolation inside the database engine itself. | Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Deletion & export | Self-serve: 30-day recovery window, then permanent deletion and destruction of the account’s encryption keys. Full data export on every tier. | Full dataset deletion via support request or CCPA route; CSV export is web-only and drops splits, tags, and notes.↗ |
| Sign-in security | Passkeys, authenticator-app (TOTP) MFA, biometric unlock, session management. | Quicken ID "Secure Login" — codes by email or phone. Authenticator-app TOTP / passkeys: not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Security testing & audits | Built by a founder with a professional penetration-testing background; an independent, human-led penetration test is scheduled ahead of full launch. Not yet SOC 2 certified — we say so plainly. | Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08) — no certification, audit, penetration test, or bug-bounty program named.↗ |
| Features | ||
| Bank sync | US & Canada via regulated aggregators (daily + updates when your bank reports changes); UK/EU via bring-your-own open-banking connections; CSV & JSON import. | Multiple aggregators (Plaid, Finicity, Intuit connections) across 14,000+ institutions; nightly refresh; CSV import.↗ |
| Budget methods | All 8 methods: 50/30/20, Pay Yourself First, Zero-Based, Envelope, Kakeibo, FIRE, Values-Based, Custom. | One model — the Spending Plan (income minus bills, planned spend, goals); no named methods like zero-based or envelope.↗ |
| Investment tracking | Brokerage connections with holdings, activity & cost basis (Pro+); per-lot detail and tax-lot CSV export (Premium). | Holdings, cost basis, market value, and portfolio performance included; holdings editable only in manual accounts. No per-lot/tax-lot detail documented.↗ |
| Multi-currency | 1 / 3 / 10 / unlimited currencies by tier, with exchange-rate conversion. | One currency at a time (USD or CAD); mixing them "may cause balance discrepancies."↗ |
| Partner / household | 1 partner (Pro) or up to 5 users (Premium). You choose exactly which accounts to share; partners work in a shared budget while each also keeps a private budget; connection slots can be lent. | Share with one additional person at no extra cost; full all-or-nothing access to the shared space.↗ |
| Platforms | Web (installable PWA), iOS, Android. Android direct download available today; app-store listings Coming Soon. | Web, iOS, Android; no desktop app (Quicken Classic is a separate product).↗ |
| Open source / self-host | Proprietary, not self-hostable. The exit stays open: full data export on every tier. | Proprietary, no self-host.↗ |
Security, side by side
We compare only what Quicken Simplifi publicly documents. "Not publicly documented" means exactly that — it is not an accusation, and plenty of solid engineering never makes it to a marketing page. Here's what each side is willing to put in writing.
What Forbidden Finance puts in writing
- Data selling & ads: We never sell user data, share it with advertisers, or build behavioral profiles for third parties.
- Bank credentials & tokens: Bank credentials never touch our servers (entered with regulated aggregators); sensitive tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage.
- Encryption inside the database: Sensitive financial fields are sealed under encryption keys unique to each account before they reach the database; keys live in a separate key service. Amounts are aggregated in memory after decryption, so financial values never need to sit readable in the database.
- Database-level isolation: PostgreSQL row-level security enforces per-account isolation inside the database engine itself.
- Deletion & export: Self-serve: 30-day recovery window, then permanent deletion and destruction of the account’s encryption keys. Full data export on every tier.
- Sign-in security: Passkeys, authenticator-app (TOTP) MFA, biometric unlock, session management.
- Security testing & audits: Built by a founder with a professional penetration-testing background; an independent, human-led penetration test is scheduled ahead of full launch. Not yet SOC 2 certified — we say so plainly.
The full story, including what we're NOT certified for, is on the Security & Privacy page.
What Quicken Simplifi documents
- Data selling & ads: "You may direct Quicken to not sell your personal information as defined above." Opting out of marketing offers "will prevent marketing-related sharing."↗
- Bank credentials & tokens: 256-bit encryption in transit; one-way read-only connections; credentials encrypted and stored by the aggregation partner.↗
- Encryption inside the database: Encryption at rest for stored Simplifi data, per-user keys, and any SOC 2 / third-party certification are all not publicly documented.↗
- Database-level isolation: Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Deletion & export: After a subscription lapses, "your data remains stored on the servers but you won’t be able to access it unless you renew."↗
- Sign-in security: Quicken ID "Secure Login" — codes by email or phone. Authenticator-app TOTP / passkeys: not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Security testing & audits: Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08) — no certification, audit, penetration test, or bug-bounty program named.↗
Where Quicken Simplifi is a better fit
An honest comparison cuts both ways. If these match what you need,Quicken Simplifi is a fine choice — we'd rather you pick the right tool than churn out of the wrong one.
- Price-first shoppers with US/CAD-only needs: at the $3.99/mo promo (billed annually), Simplifi undercuts our Starter tier while including investment tracking that we gate to Pro.
- Very broad institution coverage: over 14,000 institutions across several aggregators reduces the odds your bank is unsupported.
- Forward-looking cash flow and retirement projections ship in the base subscription.
- Household sharing with one person costs nothing extra (we gate partner sharing to Pro).
- Connected investment accounts refresh with market values and a performance view (TWR/IRR) in the base price.
Trade-offs to know about Quicken Simplifi
- No free tier — unusable without paying
- One currency at a time (USD or CAD); mixing causes balance discrepancies
- CSV export drops splits, tags, and notes; data persists on servers after you lapse
- No certification, audit, pen test, or bug bounty publicly documented
Why pick Forbidden Finance over Quicken Simplifi
Shipped today
- A free-forever tier — Simplifi cannot be used without paying.
- Honest exit: full export on every tier and deletion with key destruction, versus an export that drops splits/tags/notes and data that persists after your subscription lapses.
- Real multi-currency with conversion; Simplifi is one currency at a time.
- All 8 budget methods versus the single Spending Plan model.
- Documented security posture: per-account database encryption, RLS, passkeys, and a scheduled independent pentest — Simplifi documents none of the equivalents.
- 30-day money-back guarantee on web purchases instead of a trial that auto-converts.
On the way
- Flexible budget periods — pick your own start date and frequency, or alternate phases: run a 6-month budget, or three high-income months followed by three lean ones, the way contractor income actually works Coming Soon
- AI-powered insights (privacy-gated, on open models) Coming Soon
- API access Coming Soon
- MCP connector for AI assistants Coming Soon
- Dedicated FIRE planning tools Coming Soon
- Debt payoff tools Coming Soon
Unshipped features stay labeled until they're real — that's the same honesty rule the rest of this page runs on.
Switching from Quicken Simplifi?
Export your data from Quicken Simplifi, then bring it in with Forbidden Finance's CSV & JSON import — available on every tier, including Free, so you can test-drive with your real data before paying anything. The help docs walk through imports step by step.
Common questions
Simplifi is $3.99/month promotional or $6.99/month regular, billed annually, with no free tier — you can’t use it without paying. Forbidden Finance has a free-forever tier; its paid ladder runs $4.99 to $14.99/month billed monthly with no annual contract. Both offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
No — one currency at a time, USD or CAD, and Quicken warns that mixing them may cause balance discrepancies. Forbidden Finance supports multiple currencies simultaneously with exchange-rate conversion.
Quicken’s docs state your data stays on their servers but becomes inaccessible unless you renew; removing it requires a support request or a CCPA deletion. Forbidden Finance keeps your data viewable within your tier’s window on downgrade to Free, and deletion is self-serve with a 30-day recovery window followed by permanent deletion and key destruction.
Quicken’s California privacy disclosure acknowledges two CCPA-defined "sale" categories: sharing IP address and hashed email with advertising partners, and sharing personal information with credit-card and bank partners for offers — both with an opt-out. Forbidden Finance shares nothing with advertising or card partners, on any tier.
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