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Which is better, Zaim or Money Forward ME?
When searching for budgeting apps, you might find yourself wondering, "Which is better, Zaim or Money Forward ME?"
Both services allow you to link your bank accounts and credit cards to automatically manage your money flow.
However, when you actually compare them, you'll see that they are suited for slightly different uses.
To summarize briefly,
| Type of Person | Suited Service |
|---|---|
| Wants to keep a simple budget | Zaim |
| Wants to link multiple financial services for free | Zaim |
| Wants to prioritize receipt scanning and budgeting features | Zaim |
| Wants to manage banks, cards, and securities all in one place | Both |
| Wants to track asset fluctuations in detail | Money Forward ME |
| Wants to manage investments and asset formation as well | Money Forward ME |
| Wants a multifunctional asset management tool | Money Forward ME |
However, this is not a discussion about "Zaim is superior" or "Money Forward ME is superior."
The point is to choose based on what you want to manage.
Differences between Zaim and Money Forward ME
First, let's take a look at the major differences.
Zaim offers not only a budgeting feature for daily records but also the ability to link banks, credit cards, securities, and points.
Currently, Zaim allows an unlimited number of financial service integrations for free members, supporting over 1,300 financial services.
On the other hand, Money Forward ME can also link banks, credit cards, securities, and points to manage budgeting and assets all together. It is officially described as a "budgeting and asset management tool."
In essence,
Zaim = only budgeting
Money Forward ME = only asset management
is not an accurate distinction anymore.
Both services are compatible with budgeting and asset management.
Which to use for free?
There are quite a few differences when compared here.
Zaim allows basic budgeting features for free.
For financial services such as banks and credit cards, free members can link an unlimited number of accounts.
On the other hand, as per the current official information regarding Money Forward ME, free members can link up to 4 financial services.
If you want to link more accounts, a paid plan like the Standard Course is required.
The Standard Course costs 540 yen per month via web payment and 590 yen per month via app payment. The free version allows data viewing for 1 year in the past and is limited to linking 4 accounts.
Therefore,
"I just want to start budgeting for free."
In this case, you could try Zaim.
Features of Zaim
Zaim is a user-friendly service for those wanting to manage their daily budgeting.
It provides functions for inputting and analyzing budgets, automatic linking of banks and cards, and receipt scanning to help record daily transactions.
You can use basic budgeting features for free.
Moreover, allowing unlimited integrations for free members is a significant feature.
However, not all functions are free.
For example, the "Assets" screen that allows you to check total asset changes is premium-only. You can link bank and securities accounts to check on changes in total assets and the unrealized gains and losses of stocks and mutual funds.
Zaim Premium costs 440 yen per month or 4,378 yen per year when applied online. Via the app, it's 480 yen per month or 4,800 yen annually.
Features of Money Forward ME
Money Forward ME is suitable not only for budgeting but also for those who want to see their total assets in one view.
By registering bank accounts, credit cards, securities firms, and points, balances and expenditures can be automatically imported for management.
In the asset screen, you can view:
- Deposits in banks
- Financial assets like stocks
- Points
- Liabilities like credit cards
You can see this information all together. It's also possible to check the breakdown and fluctuations of assets using graphs.
Especially if you have:
"Several bank accounts,"
"Using a securities account too,"
"Multiple credit cards,"
you might find the benefit of being able to check your asset status on one screen.
Additionally, a "Asset Formation Advanced Course" emphasizing investments and asset creation is also currently available.
Comparison of Zaim and Money Forward ME
In summary, it comes down to the following:
| Comparison Items | Zaim | Money Forward ME |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Use | Free | Free |
| Budgeting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bank/Card Linkage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Securities Accounts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free Linkage Count | Unlimited | 4 |
| Asset Management | ✓※ | ✓ |
| Asset Fluctuation | Premium | ✓ |
| Investment/Asset Formation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Receipt Scanning | ✓ | ✓ |
| Paid Plans | Available | Available |
| Suited Usage | Budgeting + Money Management | Budgeting + Asset Management |
※Zaim's asset screen is premium-only.
If you are a budgeting beginner, which should you choose?
If you are using a budgeting app for the first time, the most important thing is not "how high-functioning it is."
Whether you can continue using it without strain is key.
If you set detailed rules at the beginning, the actual input process can become cumbersome.
For example, if you establish rules like:
"Classify receipts in detail every time,"
"Input every time you use cash,"
"Perfectly classify every expenditure,"
it might lead to burdens halfway through.
Thus, it is recommended to initially link banks and credit cards to increase the parts that are automatically recorded.
What about those who are investing?
If you are investing, you might want to confirm not just "how much you spent each month," but also include:
- Bank deposits
- Stocks
- Mutual funds
- Securities accounts
- Credit cards
- Points
and check how much you have in total.
For this purpose, the asset management functions of Money Forward ME come into play.
On the other hand, Zaim also supports linking securities accounts, and with the premium version, you can check asset fluctuations and unrealized gains and losses.
Hence,
"I am investing, so I must use Money Forward ME"
is not a necessary conclusion.
It is advisable to compare the asset management functionalities you need and decide accordingly.
So, which is better, Zaim or Money Forward ME?
If you are struggling to choose, considering it this way may help clarify your decision.
People Who Might Choose Zaim
- Want to use it primarily for budgeting
- Want to start for free
- Want to link multiple banks and cards
- Want to scan receipts for recordings
- Want to simply grasp the money flow
In particular, the fact that free members can link an unlimited number of financial services is a significant feature of Zaim.
People Who Might Choose Money Forward ME
- Want to consolidate budgeting and asset management
- Want to manage multiple financial institutions in one place
- Want to check securities accounts alongside
- Want to track asset fluctuations
- Want to manage investments and asset formation as well
- Are okay with using a paid plan if necessary
Money Forward ME's feature of being able to manage not only banks and cards but also securities firms and points is noteworthy.
Budgeting apps are surprisingly important even after "recording"
Once you start budgeting with either Zaim or Money Forward ME, you might accumulate the following types of files:
- Budget CSV files
- Documents for tax returns
- Bank and securities account statements
- Images of receipts
- Photos of receipts
- An Excel file summarizing asset status
- Graphs or screenshots of budgets
As long as you are managing them yourself, there’s no problem, but when you want to:
"Show them to your family,"
"Send them to your accountant,"
"Transfer from the computer to your smartphone,"
"Send multiple receipts at once,"
the issue of how to transfer files arises.
In such cases, using a file uploader rather than attaching a large number of files to an email can be convenient.
If you want to share budgeting files, consider UploadF
For that purpose, a free file uploader like UploadF (uploadf.com) is useful.
UploadF can be used from both PC and smartphones, allowing files to be uploaded via drag and drop.
You can upload up to 100 files simultaneously, and simply by sharing the URL generated after upload, you can share files. It also supports password settings and individual file deletions.
For example, you can use it to:
- Send budget Excel files to family
- Transfer CSV data from PC to smartphone
- Send images of receipts all at once
- Share documentation for tax returns together
When handling images, online OCR or image editing, blurring, trimming, and resizing functions can also be utilized before uploading.
You can also share multiple images or files by zipping them first.
However, when sharing files containing sensitive personal information like bank account numbers or addresses, be sure to restrict the information to only what is necessary and handle it with care.
Conclusion
Both Zaim and Money Forward ME are convenient services for budgeting and money management.
To broadly categorize:
Want to use simply centered on budgeting → Zaim
Want to manage not just budgeting but entire assets → Money Forward ME
This way of thinking may be clearer.
However, currently, Zaim also supports securities accounts, and free members have unlimited financial service linkages. In contrast, Money Forward ME allows linkage of up to 4 services in the free version.
Thus, instead of simply thinking "Zaim is budgeting" and "Money Forward is asset management,"
Consider what you want to manage
What extent you want to use for free
How many financial services you want to link
It's better to choose based on these factors.
Additionally, as you continue your budgeting journey, situations where you want to pass on "budget management files" such as receipts, CSVs, Excel files, or PDFs will also arise.
In those cases, a file uploader like UploadF, which doesn’t require membership and is free to use, can be handy.
Once you have organized your "money" with a budgeting app, why not easily share necessary documents as "files" using UploadF?
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