Goodbudget, for envelopes shared on two phones, free
- Price: $80 a year
- Platforms: iPhone, Android, web
- Currencies: One
Goodbudget is the envelope method made for a household: fill envelopes from income, spend from them, and see on every phone what is left in each. It has taught envelope budgeting for years, with plenty of guides. The free plan covers 10 regular and 10 more envelopes, one account, two devices and a year of history, shared by everyone on one household login. Debt accounts are unlimited on both plans, with a debt snowball guide and a debt progress report.
Premium, $80 a year or $10 a month, gives unlimited envelopes and accounts, five devices, seven years of history and bank sync for US banks through Plaid. It runs on iPhone, Android and the web, and imports QFX, OFX and CSV files on the web; manual entry is the main way in.
Where it falls short: One currency, one account on the free plan, no Mac or Windows app, and its help describes it as available wherever you have internet access, with offline use not documented.
Goodbudget's own pricing page
Actual Budget, for envelopes, free, open source and offline
- Price: Free software
- Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, web
- Currencies: One
Actual Budget's default budget is the envelope method: budget the money you have into categories, and move money between them when one runs short; its docs note that this is also called zero-based budgeting. It is free, open-source software (MIT), local-first, with no trackers.
The desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux works offline out of the box and needs no server. To use it on another device you run a sync server or rent one, from about $2 a month; on a phone it is an installed web page that also works offline. Bank sync is optional, through SimpleFIN ($15 a year) in North America or Enable Banking in Europe, and it imports CSV, QIF, OFX, QFX and CAMT files.
Rules, schedules for expected bills and reports come with it; budget templates and goals are still experimental. A couple can share one budget file, and separate logins need an OpenID provider.
Where it falls short: One currency, no official phone app, and a server for more than one device.
Actual Budget's own pricing page
Qube Money, for envelopes on top of your own bank
- Price: $126 a year
- Platforms: Web stated
- Currencies: Not stated
Qube Money keeps digital envelopes, which it calls qubes, on top of the bank account and cards you already have, linked through Plaid. It no longer issues its own spending card: under its current name, Qube+, it says it is not a bank and does not hold or move your money.
Premium is $126 a year or $14 a month, and Family $189 a year or $21 a month, after a 15-day trial with no card. Its pages describe a web dashboard and do not mention phone apps, and they do not say which countries it serves.
Where it falls short: No free plan, the highest yearly price on this page, and its platforms and countries are not stated.
Qube Money's own pricing page
Aspire Budget, for envelopes in a free spreadsheet
- Price: Free
- Platforms: Google Sheets
- Currencies: One
Aspire Budget is a free Google Sheets template for zero-based envelope budgeting, in your own Google Drive and actively maintained since 2018. You choose the currency, fill categories from income and record spending in the sheet, on the web or in the Google Sheets apps.
Aspire Turbo, $5 a month after a 30-day trial that needs a payment method, is optional and adds the Aspire mobile app.
Where it falls short: A spreadsheet unless you pay for Turbo, one currency, and bank connections are not stated.
Aspire Budget's own pricing page
Buckets, for envelopes you buy once
- Price: $64 once
- Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android
- Currencies: Not stated
Buckets is sold once, for $64, with a free trial that has no time limit, and it describes itself as a form of envelope budgeting, or your own style if you prefer. The budget is a file on your computer, with no account needed, and one purchase covers every computer in the household.
It runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, with iPhone and Android apps; on 24 October 2026 its download page described the phone apps as read-only, with the iPhone app through TestFlight. Bank sync is optional through SimpleFIN Bridge, and it imports OFX, QFX and CSV files.
Where it falls short: Budgeting happens on the computer, its currencies are not stated, and a small upgrade fee is likely for version 2.
Buckets's own pricing page
Tavala, for budgets per category instead of envelopes
- Price: Free; Plus $39.99 a year
- Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, web
- Currencies: Every currency in one space
Tavala is not an envelope app, and the difference is worth stating before you try it. You do not fill envelopes from income. You set a monthly limit for everything you spend or for each category, and each budget counts down from that limit to show what is left, with a word for where it stands (on track, getting close, almost spent, over budget). Money is never moved between budgets, and the budgets do not have to add up to your income.
Each month starts at zero with no rollover: what is left in March does not add to April, and an overspend does not carry forward. The nearest thing to an envelope for later is a savings goal, a pot you fill by moving money from a wallet, which counts toward net worth but never toward what is left to spend. Safe to spend shows the money in your spending wallets minus the recurring bills due before your next income.
In return, Tavala holds every currency in one budget, each entry at its day's rate, works offline on every screen, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, a native Mac app and the web, with no account needed to start. The free plan does not end; Tavala Plus is $39.99 a year or $6.99 a month on the web for every device, every currency and a space shared with up to six people.
Where it falls short: Not envelope budgeting: no filling from income, no moving money between budgets, no rollover, monthly budgets only and no budget alerts.
Tavala pricing
