Tavala vs Cashew

Open source, and where your data lives

Cashew's code is public under GPL-3.0, so anyone can read what it does with your data. Tavala's code is not public; instead, its privacy policy lists every provider that receives anything. Both apps keep your records on the device and start with no account.

The difference is the sync. Cashew backs up and syncs through your own Google Drive, so no developer's server holds your budget. Tavala syncs through its own database in the European Union (Ireland) once you create an account, and before that it sends nothing at all.

The sharing question

This is the biggest difference. Cashew has no shared budgets: its own answer is to share one Google account, and it says it supports no other way of syncing. Tavala shares a space with up to six people, each with their own account and device, as part of the owner's Tavala Plus; the people who join never pay, and each person can keep private spaces nobody else sees. A Group pass ($4.99 once, bought in the apps) opens one space to six people for 60 days without Plus. In a shared space every member sees and edits everything, and entries do not show who added them.

Getting spending in

Cashew has no bank sync. It adds a transaction from another app's notification or an SMS message, from Apple Pay through Shortcuts on iPhone, or from a CSV file or a Google Sheet. Tavala's bank connection is an optional add-on to Tavala Plus, for banks in the United States and Canada, read-only through Plaid, at $3.99 a month per bank. Everywhere else you type what you paid in one line (amount, currency, date and category), in any of six languages. Tavala imports no CSV of transactions; the one file it reads is a CSV of debts.

AI

Cashew can add transactions with AI, through Gemini or Apple Intelligence. Tavala's assistant, Ask Tavala, answers questions about your money and can make a change you ask for, and it is off until you turn it on. It works out the figures on your device: your question and the names it needs go through Tavala's servers in Ireland to OpenAI, or to Anthropic for a hard question, while the amounts and notes in your entries are never sent. The free plan has one question a day.

Devices

Cashew is on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web; its App Store listing does not include the Mac, and its web app has no Pro. Tavala has native apps for iPhone, iPad and Android, a native Mac app with the menu bar and keyboard shortcuts, and the web, with every screen working offline. The Mac App Store listing is not public yet: Tavala runs in your browser today, with the same ledger.

Price and currencies

Cashew is free, and Cashew Pro is $1.49 a month, $11.99 a year or $19.99 once in the US App Store, billed separately on each platform; Cashew does not list what Pro adds. Tavala is free to start and Tavala Plus is $39.99 a year or $6.99 a month on the web for every device, so Tavala costs more.

Both add accounts in several currencies into one total at daily rates, with your own rate when you want it. Every Tavala entry keeps the rate of its own day. Tavala's free plan holds 2 currencies per space and syncs one device; Plus lifts both limits.