Connect your bank in the United States and Canada
If you bank in the United States or Canada, you can connect accounts through Plaid and let transactions arrive on their own. Access is read-only: Tavala can see, never move, your money.
Read-only, through Plaid
You sign in with your bank on Plaid's screen, not ours. Tavala receives transactions and balances and stores the connection token encrypted on the server.
Only the countries we can serve well
Bank sync is available in the United States and Canada. Everywhere else, Tavala is a manual tracker by design, with quick capture built for it.
Up to two years of history
A new connection imports up to 730 days of transactions, so reports are useful from the first day.
Cards, loans and investment balances
Checking and savings accounts, credit cards and loans. A credit card or loan can become a debt in the payoff planner with its balance kept current. Investment accounts show a balance, not holdings.
Transfers counted once
A transfer between two connected accounts is paired so it never shows as spending.
Bank connections are an add-on for Tavala Plus subscribers, charged per connection and only after the bank has connected.
Optional, paid, read-only
Tavala starts without a bank and works fully without one. A bank connection is an add-on to Tavala Plus for banks in the United States and Canada, made through Plaid. You sign in on your bank's own screen in Plaid's window, never in Tavala, and Tavala never sees your bank password. The connection is read-only: Tavala can see transactions and balances and can never move money.
It is charged separately because each connection costs money to run, and pricing it per bank keeps Plus itself cheaper for the many people who never need one. On the web it is $3.99 a month or $39.99 a year per bank, on top of Plus, charged only once the bank has connected, so searching for your bank in Plaid's window costs nothing.
What a connection brings in
The first import goes back as far as the bank allows, up to 730 days. After that, new transactions arrive on their own. Checking and savings accounts become spending wallets; cards and loans become debt wallets, so they appear as what you owe and can join the payoff planner. Investment accounts are tracked by balance only, without holdings or trades.
Tavala never deletes or overwrites a bank entry by itself. A row that looks like one you typed shows Possible duplicate with Merge and Keep both; a row that matches a move between your own wallets offers to file it as a transfer, which counts once. The amount, date and wallet of an imported entry are the bank's; the category is yours and stays yours when the bank updates the row.
The opposite question: which app does not need my bank
Many people search for a budget app precisely because they will not link a bank. Tavala is that app by default: quick capture in one line, any currency, offline, no account to start. The connection is there for the people who want it, in the two countries where Tavala can serve it well, and nowhere is it required.
What one connection is
One connection is one login at one bank. Prices are the web prices, on top of Tavala Plus.
| You connect | Connections | On the web |
|---|---|---|
| Checking, savings and a card at one bank | 1 | $3.99 a month or $39.99 a year |
| Your personal and your business login at the same bank | 2 | Twice that |
| A bank in the UK or the EU | Not availableTrack it by hand, in any currency | - |
Bank connections in other apps
Which countries each app connects in, whether a connection is required, and what it costs.
| What | Tavala | YNAB | Monarch | Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank connections | Optional add-onBanks in the United States and Canada, through Plaid, $3.99 a month per bank | IncludedSelect banks in the US, Canada and 18 European countries, UK included | Included, at the coreUS and Canada only, 13,000+ institutions | Included, at the coreUS-based accounts only, through Plaid and Finicity |
| Start without an account | YesAn account adds backup and sync | NoSign up for the trial | NoA subscription service | NoA subscription service |
| Currencies | Every currency in one space155 currencies and 96 cryptocurrencies; 2 per space on the free plan | One per planIts advice for several: a separate plan for each | No conversionShows every amount as $; USD or CAD accounts advised | USD only"does not convert foreign currency transactions" |
| Price | Free; Plus $39.99 a yearor $6.99 a month on the web | $109 a yearor $14.99 a month; 34-day trial | $99.99 a yearor $14.99 a month (Core); Plus $199.99 a year | $95 a year$13 a month in the App Store; 1-month trial |
Questions about bank sync (US and Canada)
- Can I connect a bank in the UK or the EU?
- Not at the moment. Bank sync is available in the United States and Canada. Tavala works fully by hand everywhere else.
- Can Tavala move money or make payments?
- No. The connection is read-only. Tavala never has the ability to initiate a payment or transfer.
- What happens if I disconnect a bank?
- The imported transactions stay in your ledger. Tavala stops receiving new ones and the connection on Plaid is removed.
- Does the bank country or my country count?
- The bank's. A US or Canadian bank account can be connected wherever you live; a bank elsewhere cannot, and is tracked by hand.
- How many banks can I connect?
- Tavala Plus holds up to 10 bank connections, each charged separately.
- What happens to imported entries if Plus ends?
- The connections end with Plus and every imported entry stays as an ordinary entry. Nothing is deleted.
Go further
- No bank linkingEverything Tavala does with no bank at all.
- Private by designWhat Plaid receives, and what nobody does.
- PricingPlus, the bank add-on and the Group pass.
- Tavala vs MonarchBank-linked in two countries, or usable everywhere.
- What a connected bank importsA connected bank brings in transactions and balances for the accounts you chose. See how imported entries look, what you can edit and how pending ones settle.
- The bank connection add-onBank connections are an add-on to Tavala Plus, priced per bank and charged only after the bank connects. What it costs, how paying works and what ends it.
Also in Tavala
- Ask Tavala AI AgentQuestions answered from your ledger, and changes you confirm.
- Multi-currencyThe rate from the day you paid, kept on every entry.
- Offline-first and privateEvery screen works with no connection and no account.
- Shared spacesOne ledger for up to six people, each on their own phone.
- Budgets, bills and forecastWhat is left, and what is safe to spend before pay day.
- Debt payoffSnowball or avalanche, and the month you are debt-free.
- Trips and projectsA trip or a project kept apart from everyday spending.
Start with what you spent today.
There is no account to create and no card to enter. Pick your currency, add what you paid, and Home shows what is left.