YNAB, for the method, taught, with bank import
- Price: $109 a year
- Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, web
- Currencies: One per plan
YNAB is built around one rule: give every dollar a job when it arrives, before you spend it. Targets set what each category needs for spending and savings goals, a loan planner shows how much interest and time every extra dollar toward a debt saves, and its guides and workshops teach the habit, which is a large part of what you pay for. Reports include net worth, spending breakdowns and age of money.
Direct Import covers select banks in the US, Canada and 18 European countries, including the UK, and file import takes CSV, QFX, OFX and QIF on the web and iPad. Up to six people share one subscription, each with their own login. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch and the web, and advertises offline access.
It is $109 a year or $14.99 a month after a 34-day trial with no card; college students get a year free.
Where it falls short: No free plan, one currency per plan (its advice for several is a separate plan for each), and no desktop app.
YNAB's own pricing page
EveryDollar, for the Ramsey plan, free by hand
- Price: $79.99 a year
- Platforms: Web, iPhone, iPad, Android
- Currencies: US dollars only
EveryDollar is Ramsey Solutions' zero-based budget, and the one here that says so most plainly: plan where every dollar goes before you spend it, so income minus expenses equals zero. It is built to go with Ramsey's personal finance program.
The free version keeps the whole budget, with unlimited categories, sinking funds, split transactions and a shared household budget, as long as you type spending in. Premium, $79.99 a year or $17.99 a month after a 14-day trial for new users, adds bank connections through Mastercard Connect and Plaid.
It runs on the web, iPhone, iPad and Android, but the mobile apps and Premium are available only within the United States, and it supports only US dollars. Outside the US, it is the web version alone.
Where it falls short: US dollars only, the phone apps and Premium are for the United States, and it is tied to one personal finance program.
EveryDollar's own pricing page
Actual Budget, for zero-based budgeting, free and open source
- Price: Free software
- Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, web
- Currencies: One
Actual Budget's default budget is envelope budgeting, which its docs say is another name for zero-based budgeting: you budget the money you have now into categories, and move it when a category runs short. It is free, open-source software (MIT), local-first, with no trackers, and a tracking budget is there if you would rather not assign every dollar.
Rules rename and categorise transactions, schedules hold expected bills and income, and reports cover cash flow, net worth and spending. Budget templates and goals exist but are still marked experimental in its docs. It imports CSV, QIF, OFX, QFX and CAMT files, and YNAB data: YNAB4 directly, and current YNAB through a JSON file from YNAB's API.
The desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux works offline and needs no server; syncing between devices needs one you run or rent, from about $2 a month, and on a phone it is an installed web page. Bank sync is optional and set up by you: SimpleFIN ($15 a year) in North America, Enable Banking in Europe.
Where it falls short: One currency, no official phone app, and a sync server to run or rent for more than one device.
Actual Budget's own pricing page
Aspire Budget, for zero-based envelopes in a spreadsheet
- Price: Free
- Platforms: Google Sheets
- Currencies: One
Aspire Budget is a free Google Sheets template for zero-based envelope budgeting, actively maintained since 2018, with the data in your own Google Drive. You choose the budget's currency, assign income to categories in the sheet and record spending there, 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. For someone who wants the method, likes spreadsheets and does not want another subscription, it costs nothing.
Where it falls short: A spreadsheet rather than an app unless you pay for Turbo, one currency, and bank connections are not stated.
Aspire Budget's own pricing page
Tavala, if zero-based is not what you want
- Price: Free; Plus $39.99 a year
- Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, web
- Currencies: Every currency in one space
Tavala is not a zero-based budgeting app. It is here for the reader who tried the method and found it too much, and it works the other way: you set a monthly limit for everything you spend or for one category, and each budget counts down to show what is left, with a word for where it stands (on track, getting close, over budget). Nothing asks you to assign income first. Safe to spend takes the money in your spending wallets and subtracts the recurring bills due before your next income.
Budgets are monthly, start at zero each month and do not roll over, so money left in March does not add to April. Savings goals hold money set aside for later, outside what is left to spend, which covers some of what sinking funds do in a zero-based budget.
It is a private, offline-first personal finance app for iPhone, iPad, Android, a native Mac app and the web, in any currency, 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 currency, every device and sharing with up to six people.
Where it falls short: Not zero-based by design: no assigning income to categories, no rollover of unspent money, no budget alerts, and monthly budgets only.
Tavala pricing
