I've tried 12 portfolio trackers over 5 years—here's what actually works and what's overengineered
Every year or so I get frustrated with my current portfolio tracker and try something new. At this point I've been through enough of them to have opinions. Here's my honest assessment of what's out there.
What I need from a tracker:
Before getting into specific tools, here's what I actually care about:
Accurate cost basis tracking (including DRIPs, splits, spin-offs)
Multi-account aggregation (I have 5 accounts across 3 brokers)
Dividend income tracking and projections
Performance vs benchmarks
Mobile access that doesn't require re-entering everything
Ideally: automatic sync with brokers, but I'll do manual if it's reliable
The ones I've used extensively:
Google Sheets (manual): Where I started and honestly where I've returned multiple times. Pros: Complete control, can build exactly what I want, free, never goes out of business. Cons: Manual entry is tedious, no automatic price updates without add-ons, easy to make formula errors that corrupt your data. I have a template I've refined over years that does 80% of what I need. Happy to share if anyone wants it.
Portfolio Performance (desktop app, free): This is a German-developed open-source tool that's genuinely excellent for serious investors. Handles complex transactions (spin-offs, mergers, rights issues) better than anything else I've tried. The learning curve is steep—took me a weekend to set up properly—but once configured, it's powerful. Cons: Desktop-only, no cloud sync, interface looks like it's from 2005. But the actual functionality is best-in-class.
Sharesight: My current primary tool for tax reporting. It's designed for Australian/NZ/UK investors and handles CGT calculations properly, including same-day and 30-day rules. The dividend tracking is excellent—shows upcoming payments, yield on cost, income by month. Cons: The free tier is limited to 10 holdings. Paid tiers get expensive. US investors might find it less tailored to their needs.
Stock Events (mobile app): I use this purely for dividend calendar tracking. Shows upcoming ex-dates and payment dates across my portfolio. Simple, does one thing well. Not a full portfolio tracker.
Yahoo Finance portfolio: Free, syncs across devices, decent charting. But the cost basis tracking is unreliable, especially for anything complex. I've had it randomly reset cost bases or miscalculate after stock splits. Fine for casual tracking, wouldn't trust it for tax purposes.
Personal Capital / Empower: Good for net worth tracking across all accounts (including property, cash, retirement). Less good for granular stock-level analysis. The free tier pushes you toward their advisory services, which is annoying. I use it for the big-picture view but not for portfolio management.
The ones I tried and abandoned:
Mint: Not really designed for investment tracking. Fine for budgeting, poor for portfolios.
Delta: Crypto-focused. Stock support feels bolted on.
Seeking Alpha portfolio: The portfolio tool is secondary to their content. Works okay but nothing special.
Morningstar Portfolio Manager: Actually decent functionality but the interface is clunky and it feels neglected compared to their other products.
My current setup:
Sharesight for the official record (tax reporting, dividend tracking)
Portfolio Performance for deep analysis (performance attribution, what-if scenarios)
Google Sheets for custom views and projections
Stock Events for dividend calendar alerts
Yes, this is ridiculous. But no single tool does everything well.
What I wish existed:
A tool with Portfolio Performance's functionality, Sharesight's dividend tracking, automatic broker sync, and a modern interface. I'd pay £200/year for this. It doesn't seem to exist.
What do you use? Anyone found something that does it all?
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