Capitally vs Snowball Analytics: Review and Comparison

As your investment portfolio grows, so does the complexity of tracking it. What starts with a few stocks in a single brokerage account can quickly evolve into a mix of ETFs, international shares, cryptocurrencies, and perhaps even alternative assets like real estate or private equity. The simple spreadsheet that once worked wonders now feels like a chore.

This is where modern portfolio trackers come in. Today, we're comparing two European solutions that promise to solve this problem: Snowball Analytics and Capitally. While both aim to give you a complete picture of your investments, they take fundamentally different approaches—especially when it comes to privacy and the types of assets they can handle.

Snowball dashboardCapitally dashboard

Quick Overview: Two Approaches to Portfolio Tracking

Snowball Analytics follows the path of automation. Connect your accounts through their partner Yodlee, and watch as transactions flow in automatically. It's the "set it and forget it" approach that works well if your assets live in mainstream brokers and banks.

Capitally, on the other hand, puts you in the driver's seat. No automatic connections here—instead, you upload your broker statements manually. More work? Initially, yes. But this approach brings unexpected benefits, especially for investors with complex portfolios and privacy concerns.

Here's a comprehensive comparison to help you understand the key differences at a glance:

Asset Coverage: Tracking Your Entire Wealth Portfolio

Traditional Investments Work Well on Both Platforms

When it comes to stocks, ETFs, and bonds, both platforms deliver. They track dividends, handle stock splits, and calculate performance metrics. Snowball even adds a "Dividend Rating" system to help you identify stable income producers.

The real test comes when you venture beyond traditional securities.

Alternative Investments: Where Flexibility Matters

Let's say you own a rental property in Munich generating €2,000 monthly income. In Snowball Analytics, you can create a custom asset for the property and manually update its value. You can even log the rental income as "dividends." But that's where the sophistication ends. The platform doesn't understand that this is real estate—it can't categorize it by property type or location, and there's no specific handling for rental income versus dividends.

Capitally treats real estate as a first-class citizen. You can track the property value, rental income (labeled as such, not disguised as dividends), and even the mortgage against it. The platform understands that rental income behaves differently from dividends, affecting how it appears in your income forecasts and tax calculations.

This philosophy extends to other alternative assets. Private equity stakes, closed-end funds, art collections, or P2P loans—Capitally lets you define custom categories, regions, and sectors for any asset. You're not forced to fit square pegs into round holes.

Liabilities: The Other Half of Net Worth

Here's where the platforms diverge completely. Snowball Analytics doesn't track liabilities at all. If you have a mortgage, business loans, or margin debt, you're back to spreadsheets for your complete net worth picture.

Capitally embraces liabilities as part of your financial reality. That €500,000 mortgage on your rental property? Track it alongside the asset. Using margin in your brokerage account? The platform handles negative positions naturally. You can even analyze metrics like debt ratio and see how leverage affects your returns.

This matters more than you might think. A property worth €800,000 with a €500,000 mortgage contributes €300,000 to your net worth, not €800,000. For leveraged investors or anyone with significant debts, seeing only assets gives a dangerously incomplete picture.

Multi-Currency Support and International Investing

Both platforms handle multiple currencies, but the depth differs significantly. Snowball converts everything to your chosen base currency for reporting. Simple and clean, but it obscures an important detail: how much of your returns came from currency movements?

Capitally separates capital returns from currency returns. That US stock position that gained 15%? The platform might show you gained 10% on the stock itself and 5% from USD appreciation. For international investors, this breakdown is invaluable for understanding true performance and making informed decisions about currency hedging.

The platforms also differ in currency flexibility. Snowball supports major national currencies for reporting. Capitally goes further, supporting thousands of cryptocurrencies and even custom tokens. If you're paid in a startup's tokens or hold exotic cryptocurrencies, you can track them properly.

Snowball asset pageCapitally asset page

Data Import: Manual Control vs Automation

Snowball's automated syncing sounds appealing. Connect your accounts once, and new transactions appear automatically. For mainstream brokers and banks covered by Yodlee, this works reasonably well, though the level of detail varies. Some connections provide full transaction history; others just show current balances.

But automation has its limits. Smaller European brokers, international accounts, or alternative investment platforms often aren't supported. The quality of imported data may also fall short for tax purposes—automated feeds sometimes miss cost basis information or mix up transaction types.

Capitally's manual approach initially seems like more work. You export statements from your brokers and upload them to the platform. But this "limitation" becomes a strength for complex portfolios. Every major broker provides detailed statements, and Capitally can import from dozens of them, recognizing transactions, fees, and taxes accurately.

The platform's custom importer truly shines for non-standard sources. Let's say your private equity fund sends quarterly statements in their own format. In Capitally, you create a custom importer once, mapping their columns to transaction types. Next quarter, just upload the new statement—the platform remembers your mapping. Try doing that with automated syncing.

For data quality, manual imports win hands down. Broker statements are official records suitable for tax filing. Automated feeds? Not always. When tax season arrives, you'll appreciate having authoritative source data.

Snowball returns overviewCapitally returns breakdown

Performance Analysis and Reporting

Both platforms calculate essential metrics like Money-Weighted Return (MWR) and Time-Weighted Return (TWR). Both offer asset allocation views and income tracking. But the depth and flexibility vary considerably.

Snowball provides numerous pre-built reports. Want to see your dividend income by month? There's a report for that. Asset allocation by sector? Another report. These work well for standard analysis, but you can't customize them much or save modified versions.

Capitally takes a different approach with what it calls the "portfolio explorer"—imagine a pivot table merged with charting tools and extensive filtering. Want to compare the performance of your European real estate against US stocks, but only for positions held longer than two years? You can build that view, save it, and pin it to your menu for quick access.

This flexibility extends to benchmarking. Snowball lets you compare against major indices, with up to three benchmarks depending on your subscription. Capitally allows any asset as a benchmark—including custom ones or portions of your own portfolio. You could benchmark your active stock picks against your index fund holdings, for instance.

Tax reporting shows another philosophical difference. Snowball tracks dividend withholding tax but doesn't calculate capital gains. Capitally includes capital gains calculations with customizable tax rules. You can even model different tax scenarios to optimize your selling decisions.

Snowball category allocationCapitally category allocation

Portfolio Strategies and Planning

The platforms take different approaches to helping you implement and maintain investment strategies. Snowball Analytics offers more structured strategy tools—you can define target allocations across categories, use their rebalancing calculator to determine what to buy or sell, and even backtest different asset allocations using historical data. Their goal-planning feature lets you set a target portfolio value or passive income level, then calculates the probability of achieving it based on your contribution schedule and expected returns. It's particularly useful for FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) enthusiasts who want to model different scenarios.

Capitally currently focuses more on analysis than strategy implementation. While you can examine your current allocation across any dimension and identify imbalances, there's no built-in rebalancing tool or formal strategy templates. However, the platform's flexibility shines for testing ideas—you can create separate projects to model different strategies without affecting your main portfolio. Think of it as a sandbox where you can experiment with "what if I had invested differently" scenarios. According to the roadmap, more dedicated strategy tools are coming, but for now, investors seeking structured portfolio strategy features will find Snowball more complete.

Is Snowball Analytics Safe? Understanding Data Privacy and Security

When you're tracking significant wealth, security isn't just a feature—it's fundamental.

Snowball Analytics takes a conventional approach. Your data is encrypted during transmission and storage, and they offer two-factor authentication. However, there's a crucial detail: to enable automatic syncing, you share your banking credentials with Yodlee, a third-party data aggregator. This means your login details pass through another company's systems. While Yodlee is a established player in financial data aggregation, this setup means you're trusting two companies with access to your financial accounts.

Capitally took a radically different path. It implements on-device, end-to-end encryption where your financial data is encrypted on your device using a key derived from your password. This key never leaves your device. The result? Even Capitally's own employees cannot see your financial data. It's like having a personal vault where you're the only one with the key.

Both companies host their servers in Europe, which means GDPR protection. But the fundamental difference remains: with Snowball, your decrypted data exists on their servers for processing. With Capitally, all calculations happen on your device.

For high-net-worth individuals or anyone handling sensitive financial information, this distinction matters. It's the difference between trusting a company to protect your data and making it mathematically impossible for them to access it in the first place.

User Experience and Platform Access

Snowball offers native mobile apps alongside its web platform. The apps are optimized for mobile use, though they don't include every feature from the web version. It's great for checking your portfolio on the go.

Capitally takes the progressive web app (PWA) route. The same interface works on desktop and mobile, and you can install it like a native app. More importantly, it works completely offline. On a flight? You can still analyze your portfolio. This offline capability isn't just convenient—it's another privacy feature, ensuring your data stays on your device.

Interface customization also differs. Snowball provides a clean, fixed interface that's easy to learn, although the amount of screens is pretty big. Capitally lets you customize most things—create custom views, modify menus, choose which metrics to display. It's more complex initially but molds to your workflow over time, especially as the amount of screens to master is much smaller.

Pricing and Value Comparison

Snowball's tiered pricing starts free but limits you severely—one portfolio with 10 holdings and limited features. The Starter tier ($7.99/month) removes most restrictions, while Investor ($14.99/month) and Expert ($24.99/month) add more portfolios and features. Annual billing provides a 1 month free.

Capitally's two-tier annual pricing seems simpler. The Sailor plan (€8/month) allows one project with up to 50 assets—plenty for most individual investors. The Navigator plan (€13/month) jumps to five projects with unlimited assets. Importantly - both include all features; the only differences are capacity limits.

For complex portfolios, Capitally often provides better value. That €130/year Navigator plan costs less than Snowball's Expert tier while offering unlimited assets and deeper functionality. However, if you need automated syncing and prefer monthly billing, Snowball's flexibility might justify the higher cost.

When to Choose Capitally as a Snowball Analytics Alternative

Capitally excels for investors who value control and privacy above convenience. If your portfolio includes significant alternative assets—real estate, private equity, art, or P2P loans—Capitally's flexible asset handling makes it the clear choice. The same applies if you use leverage or need to track liabilities for a complete net worth picture.

The platform particularly suits investors comfortable with technology who enjoy diving deep into their data. That powerful portfolio explorer rewards exploration, revealing insights that pre-built reports might miss. For tax optimization, the ability to model different scenarios and track cost basis properly also gives Capitally an edge.

Privacy-conscious investors will appreciate the end-to-end encryption. If you're managing significant wealth or simply prefer keeping financial data private, Capitally's architecture provides peace of mind that traditional platforms cannot match.

When Snowball Analytics Might Be the Better Choice

Snowball Analytics shines for investors who prioritize convenience and automation. If most of your assets sit in mainstream brokers supported by Yodlee, automated syncing saves time and ensures you're always viewing current data. The pre-built reports cover common analysis needs without requiring customization.

The platform particularly suits passive investors focused on traditional assets. If you primarily hold stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds, Snowball's streamlined approach may be all you need. The native mobile apps also provide a better on-the-go experience for quick portfolio checks.

For beginners, Snowball's gentler learning curve and free tier make it an accessible starting point. You can test the platform with real data before committing to a paid plan.

The Verdict: Choosing Based on Your Investment Philosophy

These platforms reflect different investment philosophies. Snowball Analytics embraces the "easy and automated" approach that works well for traditional portfolios. Connect your accounts, review pre-built reports, and trust the system to keep everything updated.

Capitally embodies the "powerful and private" philosophy. You maintain control over your data, customize everything to match your needs, and gain capabilities that automated platforms can't match. Yes, it requires more initial setup, but complex portfolios demand sophisticated tools.

For investors with diverse holdings—those rental properties, private funds, and art collections we mentioned earlier—Capitally is the stronger choice. Its ability to properly categorize any asset, track associated income streams, and include liabilities provides the complete picture that sophisticated investors need.

Privacy tips the scales further toward Capitally. In an era of data breaches and increasing surveillance, keeping financial data under your sole control isn't paranoid—it's prudent.

However, if your investments live primarily in mainstream brokers and you value automation over flexibility, Snowball Analytics delivers a solid solution. Its automated syncing and polished reports suit investors who prefer simplicity.