Koku

This app has been discontinued since fall of 2014.
See developer's statement here:

http://www.fadingred.com/koku/

This software worked great for simple syncing of financial data between Mac and iOS devices. Fading Red sh*tcanned this software without much fanfare, and now I'm stuck migrating to a solution that is compatible with iOS 8 and newer versions of OS X.

Not a review. Just wanted to point out that Koku 2.5.3 has been available since July 29, 2013. A review: Since the developers decided to take away the ability to mark transactions as either cleared, pending or reconciled it is hard to take this program seriously. Any financial/banking program should allow the user to treat transactions for what they are, transactions. All banks realize this. Every other financial application realizes this. What is it with the folks behind Koku? This is a serious shortcoming. Also, one of the bragging points on the Koku web pages points out the very eye-catching reports. The user cannot save a PDF of a report, export them or print them in any form other than copying and pasting into a spreadsheet program. I suppose you could take a screen shot as the developer suggested I do. I suggested that they write the code to behave like any other program and provide for the ability to print. Oh well, perhaps this is only important to me. Koku is very slow to load on my Mac, but this could be a problem that only I experience. However, no other program that I use suffers from this. At any rate, Koku has so very much potential. It is a shame that the developers feel that taking away financial tracking features and provided brightly colored tags and charts is the way to go.

I read yesterday on Daring Fireball that this was on sale for 50% off and the iPhone version too. But it isn't true. I hate that tactic and won't buy when this happens.

I was in need of a simple personal finance app to oversee what I spend. Other applications I've seen were big, complicated, ugly and chart/report hippies. I've sold to Koku's idea of simplicity, tags, quick entries and simple graphing approach. After using it for some time I've understood that I've done the right choice. When you start to enter your expenses you instantly fall in love with the application. Bit by bit it builds your financial picture and since the tags are selected by you, program also morphs according to your needs and becomes a bit more personal than a personal finance application. I can strongly recommend Koku to anyone who wants a casual yet extremely powerful and intuitive personal finance application with a beautiful interface.

Okay, this app has received some negative reviews but I looked past the negative reviews and downloaded the app. I have pretty much tried every single finance app made for os x so I do have a good basis for it's flexibility and what it contains that others don't and what other money apps have that koku doesn't. Koku goes for the simple route of handling finances. I don't download my bank statements for use in any finance app so I can not comment on that aspect although I do know from the preferences that QIF files can be imported. I have picked to have Koku as my main finance app because I use the app for quick entry as I stated above. Well I was very surprised to see that Koku is fully applescriptable. No other finance app I have found is scriptable so that is a big deal, the app can be customized more than any other app due to AS support. I have tried, just to name a few: Money, Moneywell, iBank, Squirrel, Profit Train, iCompta, Checkbook pro, and Fortora Fresh Finance, Invoice3 etc... Pretty much every finance app that comes out I try. None of the apps I listed above have AS support and the few developers that I emailed had no plans of implementing it or adding the quick entry features I was looking for. Very happy that Koku had AS support I emailed the developers and asked for some clues on writing a simple script that would allow me to add whatever I wanted w/o having to have Koku running all the time. After a few very nice email exchanges they wrote an applescript that did everything I asked for and more... and I was not even a paying supporter at the time. I do not know of two many small dev companies that would cater to a persons requests who doesn't even own the app and hasn't sent a dollar their way. I can't say enough about how great the customer service is over at fadingred. The app is being developed and any questions I asked or I read here have been answered and if it was a bug report, the bug has been addressed. This is not crippledware or even shareware in idea that the full version app expires in a certain amount of time or a limited amount of transactions can be listed. Nothing is restrained except that you can only work with/setup one account until you buy the app. It is beyond me how this application can have two stars. It never claimed to do everything, but in reality it is just as powerful, extremely easy to use, and if you do run into a problem or have a request they will entertain the idea and from my experience implement what you want. The developers customized the application for me and even wrote me a complete applescript so I could perform the actions I wanted at no charge and I had not even bought a license. Customer service even had the decency to email me and ask how everything was running and if I had any other requests. An unprovoked follow-up; I have never had a company, even for apps which cost $100+ go to the lengths that fadingred did to please and optimize my workflow and listen to my requests. I highly recommend that you take a look at this software for yourself and then determine if it deserves it's current rating. Remember that when a new version of any app here at MU is posted old messages pertaining to older releases remain. I do believe this is why the app has only two stars. Instead of complaining about a problem here, email the company and see the response. If your still unsatisfied then I believe it is proper to post your complaint here or at any version site as that is why these sites exist. Summary: The only finance app I have found that has applescript support, complete support, not just basic deposit/withdrawal; everything can be added and that includes comments, tags, everything the app follows pretty much. Great customer service, they fulfilled my requests above and beyond and I had not even bought the app yet. The app is not crippled in any way. Koku does not expire and your not limited to a certain number of transactions or tags etc... the only drawback is you can only have one account... you can try everything from that one account before you decide to fork out the cash for the app. I recommend that everyone check out this app and if you don't like it then delete it but try the app. I looked past the two star rating and now it is my favorite app by far. Also, if you see something not there like a feature, email them and you will be surprised how friendly, prompt, and helpful they are in fulfilling your feature request or bug fix, of which I have not found one in the current version.

This is a beta release at best, I tried the trial and there are several noticeable and quite bad bugs which make it somewhat unusable, such as problems with importing OFX files and not being able to tag more than one transaction at a time. It does look like however that given some time and work this program could develop into something superb as the user interface is fantastic and shows a lot of promise compared to other similar programs. There is a big need for a good financial management program for the mac, hopefully this will become it given time.