The next major version of ClearCheckbook, version 5, is launching on August 15, 2020!

The switch to version 5 will take place on Saturday August 15, 2020 at 10pm EDT (7pm PDT) and will require us to take the site offline during the upgrade. We wanted to give you as much heads-up time as possible so you can plan for the site being offline. The iOS and Android apps will also be affected since the server won't be available for syncing. You will still be able to add transactions via the app, they just won't sync or show up until the upgrade has been completed.

Development of version 5 has been taking place behind the scenes for over a year now and we're extremely excited to finally be able to release it. We want to say thanks to everyone who has been using and testing version 5 over the last several months.

For a list detailing many of the updates and new features that will be available with v5, check out our The Next Big Update for ClearCheckbook - Version 5 blog post.

The version 5 beta site will remain operational until we make the upgrade. If you want to check out version 5 before it launches, you can learn more here: ClearCheckbook v5 Beta Testing

Thanks!

The main focus of 2019 has been on rewriting ClearCheckbook for our latest update, but we also hit some big numbers and milestones.

ClearCheckbook Version 5 had been taking most of our time this past year and we hope to have it launched soon. You can check out the full blog post for more information about what new features and updates this will bring. In short, the version 5 upgrade has completely rewritten ClearCheckbook for the latest versions of frameworks and programming languages the site is built around. This will help make updates faster and easier in the future.

ClearCheckbook hit a big milestone in 2019 and surpassed 400,000 registered users with a half a million users set firmly in our sights. Our users also added over 18 million transactions during the year which brings the total number of transactions we're tracking to around 112 million!

This growth and activity has also brought with it a few hiccups along the way. We've experienced some site lagging and slowdowns this year and have worked on mitigating this by doubling our database memory and increasing the number of CPUs the site has access to during high traffic times. We will continue to monitor traffic and site speeds and adjust these metrics as needed but we're very optimistic this will address a lot of the slow response times.

We also want to thank everyone who supports ClearCheckbook by upgrading to ClearCheckbook Premium. You're helping us to keep improving the site and keep the site running smoothly. We've never received any money from investors, advertising or any other means aside from ClearCheckbook Premium upgrades, so thank you again! If you haven't upgraded, you can always help us by spreading the word about ClearCheckbook to family, friends and coworkers.

Here's to great things coming to ClearCheckbook in 2020!

Brandon OBrien
Founder, ClearCheckbook.com

The current version of ClearCheckbook (v4) was built on code and technologies from around 2009. While we still adhere to the latest in security and privacy measures, many of the frameworks and software versions we're using are getting old and will soon stop being supported. We've run into several cases where we want to implement a new feature or tool but are limited by our older code not being supported.

About a year ago we started planning a huge upgrade that will put ClearCheckbook on the latest frameworks with better infrastructure for future-proofing the site and apps. Our goal was to keep the front facing website (what you see and interact with on a daily basis) the same, all while taking advantage of the new framework to optimize speed, performance and security.

We’re finally at the point where we’re beginning testing of ClearCheckbook v5 on the same hosting platform the site is currently running on. We’ll be running v5 through a whole slew of testing over the next few months to make sure it’s ready for you to use.

Aside from having to rewrite the backend of the site, we’ve also taken this opportunity to add several new features, tools and updates.

New Features:

• ‘Trusted Devices’ feature in conjunction with 2 factor authentication


• Asset tracker - Manage and track assets such as homes, vehicles and other tangible assets.


• Account Text Reports - reports similar to the Category text reports but for accounts.


• Payee Text Reports - again, reports similar to the Category text reports but for payees.


• Dark CSS theme - ClearCheckbook can be switched into dark mode to make it easier on the eyes


• Net Worth Reports - See how your net worth has changed over the past 2 years with this new report.


• ClearCheckbook Knowledge Base - We've rebuilt the Help / Support section to make a much more informative Knowledge Base with screenshots and much more detailed instructions on how to use the site.

Updates / Bug Fixes:

• Auto-complete updated to show more information (such as which account/category will be auto-filled)


• Ability to disable auto-complete auto-fill features so it only fills the text


• Manually enter ‘last price’ for investments that aren’t automatically updated


• Hide suggestions in the Import auto-categorization tool


• Reminders will post deposits before withdrawals


• Payee beta reports - ability to sort by sum column


• Monthly Summary - fixed bug that was preventing accounts and categories from showing up alphabetically


• Transaction History tool - link to view the current transaction so you can see what changed


• Debt snowball - additional payments can now have a date associated with them


• Reconcile tool - you can now edit or delete reconciliations


• Separate withdrawals and deposits sums in a reconciliation report


• If you change the number of transactions to view per page on the register, that setting is saved instead of resetting each time you log out.


• Profit & Loss report - updated colors to make it easier to identify positive and negative numbers


• Latest Transactions gadget - selection to view only transactions for a specific account


• You can now categorize transfers when creating them


• Updated how the 'lost password' form works to make it more secure


• Budgets - you can now see a breakdown of how the amount spent is being calculated


• Payee reports - export to CSV functionality


• 2FA bypass - allows you to have a bypass code sent to a trusted contact method in case you can't access your authenticator app


• Investment Portfolio - autocomplete for symbol and note fields in Add Investment form


• Income Budgets - show the amount differently if you generate more income than the budget limit


• Debt Snowball - you can now see how much you've paid toward principal and interest for each budget by expanding the history


• Debt Snowball - you can now see which snowball methods will save you the most money or be paid off the fastest


• Ability to assign all No Account transactions to an existing account from the search results page


• Made it easier to delete all No Account transactions


• Ability to quickly delete all expired reminders


• Ability to turn an existing transaction into a recurring transaction


• Tweaks + Bug fixes - Over 45 small tweaks and bug fixes to help make the site perform as expected

We’ve also greatly optimized and reduced the number of database calls made from each page load. This will help dramatically speed up the response time of the website.

As mentioned earlier, now that we’ve got the new version running on the same hosting platform as ClearCheckbook currently is, we’ll be doing our own internal testing. After we’re happy with that we’ll be asking for some beta testers to run the new code through its paces and look for any issues we might not have come across. We’ll keep you updated on progress as it goes on!

Updated on August 5, 2020 to reflect more updates and feature additions

We're happy to announce the launch of our ClearCheckbook Affiliate Program today. This program rewards you with 10% of the premium membership upgrade price for any user you get to join ClearCheckbook.

When you become an affiliate, you will receive a unique URL that you can send out. Once a user registers after clicking on your link and then upgrades to ClearCheckbook Premium, you'll be eligible for 10% of their upgrade and all subsequent renewals. We provide you with a dedicated affiliate dashboard where you can track all of the users who have signed up through your Affiliate URL.

In order to be paid out, a user you've brought to the site and who has upgraded must have let the membership go through one cycle. This means if they sign up for a monthly membership, you will need to wait one month before that membership counts toward your account. All payments will be made by either a mailed check (US residents only) or via Paypal.

This has been in use by a few users in the past but it's something that we wanted to make available to everyone. If you have any questions about the ClearCheckbook Affiliate Program, please let us know!

For more information and to sign up, please check out our ClearCheckbook Affiliate Program page.

The price of our ClearCheckbook Premium upgrade will go up $1 per month starting on March 24, 2017. All existing Premium members will be grandfathered into the existing price.

We introduced the ClearCheckbook Premium Membership upgrade over 8 years ago, back in December of 2008 when the site was less than 3 years old. Since then we've grown more than we ever imagined. Along with the tremendous growth and keeping up with the latest technologies comes ever more costs associated with running a site as large as ClearCheckbook.

Since our launch in 2006 we've never taken a single penny of outside investment money which is something we're rather proud of. Every cent we've earned and used to build, host, develop and maintain ClearCheckbook and our associated apps has been made by those of you who have opted to upgrade to ClearCheckbook Premium. ClearCheckbook wouldn't be here today if it weren't for those with a ClearCheckbook Premium upgrade, and for that we thank you.

While the ClearCheckbook bank account has funds to keep the website hosted and operational for years to come, that isn't good enough in today's technological landscape. We need to keep up with the ever changing mobile environment and make sure our mobile apps are up to the same standards as the website. Mobile app development doesn't come cheap and we want to make sure we're able to keep our apps updated more regularly and get more of the features you want added to them.

With the recent re-launches of both the iOS and Android apps this has become more apparent to us than ever. Those apps were originally designed when the mobile landscape was much different than it is today. Our apps were meant to be a quick reference for checking your balances and budgets and to make it easy to add transactions on the go. We've discovered that as smartphones have gotten faster and cell providers have increased their connection speeds, people want more out of the app than the simple interface we currently provide.

In addition to the mobile apps, the act of keeping ClearCheckbook running smoothly as growth explodes is an endeavor with ever increasing costs and complexities. Those of you who have been with us for many years might remember some of our big growth spurts that resulted in site down-time or long load times. We want to make sure these issues remain "things of the past," and that means upgrading hosting plans and hardware long before it becomes a critical necessity.

All that being said, the new costs to upgrade to ClearCheckbook Premium will be as follows:

• $5 - 1 month membership
• $15 - 3 month membership
• $27 - 6 month membership (save 11% vs. monthly)
• $52 - 12 month membership (save 15% vs. monthly)

Raising the price of the membership wasn't an easy decision but this will help us stay innovative and give you a much better experience both on mobile devices and the website itself.

Like we said above, all users with an existing ClearCheckbook Premium upgrade as of March 24, 2017 will be grandfathered into the existing rates. If you're currently a free user and want to upgrade with the existing rates, you'll need to upgrade between now and March 24. You can learn more about ClearCheckbook Premium and how to upgrade here: https://www.clearcheckbook.com/premium/info.

If you're already a ClearCheckbook Premium member, we recommend updating your billing information to ensure your membership doesn't expire, causing you to lose your grandfathered status. To update your billing information, click on Settings at the top right side of the page and then click on Manage Your Premium Membership. There will be a link in the green box at the top of the page to update your billing information (auto-renew must be enabled to update your billing information.)

Again, I'd like to extend my deepest thanks to our ClearCheckbook Premium members. You are the life-blood of the site and your continued patronage to ClearCheckbook has made the site what it is today.

Thanks,

Brandon O'Brien
Founder / CEO
ClearCheckbook.com