Bento is an attractive and simple list manager that integrates neatly with Address Book and iCal. It has a zero learning curve because, well, there is nothing to learn for lack of features. It has an unbeatable price tag, but for the same money you could ask yourself: is this it?

Bento is a list manager, not really a database. Its interface is uncluttered, and its set of themes is distinctly better that Office's idiot offerings. It has live connections to Address Book and iCal, and you can connect the database with Mail. It automatically lays out fields, and has a table function. It even has decent scriptability.

But that really is it. It has no real calculation fields (being able to concatenate text or do 4th grade math is not "calculation") which lack even a rudimentary IF function, it has a checkbox field that holds only one value, and its layouts and tools are hamfistedly uncustomizeable.

My background is as a 20-year FileMaker veteran from Nashoba times. My personal database needs are however getting further removed from FileMaker Pro's expanding feature set and associated price tag. I am in the market for an alternative, but Bento is not it.