Track expenses in more than one currency
If you earn in one currency and spend or save in another, most trackers either ignore the difference or quietly re-convert your history every time rates move. Tavala keeps the rate from the day you paid on every entry.
Totals, budgets and reports use the kept amount, so a past month never changes after the fact. The rates are examples.
Pick the month.
The rate is locked the day you pay
When you add an 18 euro taxi in Lisbon, Tavala fetches the rate for that date and shows both amounts. Months later the entry still says what it cost you then. Rates are a daily table from Exchange Rate API, with crypto prices from CoinGecko.
One main currency, as many wallets as you need
Each space has a main currency for totals and budgets. Wallets keep their own currency: a US checking account, a euro account back home, a peso cash wallet for the trip. Net worth adds them up in your main currency.
Transfers between currencies count once
Moving money from your checking account to your euro account is a transfer, not spending. Tavala pairs both sides so nothing is counted twice.
155 currencies and 96 cryptocurrencies
Every ISO currency in circulation is available, 155 of them, plus 96 cryptocurrencies kept separate from fiat so a wallet never mixes the two.
A free account can use two currencies at a time in each space you own. Tavala Plus opens all 155 currencies and 96 cryptocurrencies. Joining someone else's space is free on any plan.
Why the rate has to stay on the entry
A tracker that re-converts your history at today's rate rewrites what you spent. If you paid 1,200 denar for a taxi when it cost €19.51, that is what it cost, whatever the denar does next month. So Tavala uses two rules. An entry keeps the rate of the day you saved it, for good: spending, income, budgets and reports read that locked value. Wallet balances, net worth and What's Left are converted again at today's rate every time you look, because that is what the money is worth now.
An entry in a currency other than its wallet's keeps three amounts: the amount you typed, the amount charged to the wallet, and its value in your main currency. Editing the note or the category never touches them. Changing only the amount keeps the rate the entry had. Changing the date, the wallet or the currency looks the rate up again.
Where the rates come from, and when to type your own
Regular currencies come from Exchange Rate API, published once a day, with a second public source filling the few it lacks. Coins come from CoinGecko, refreshed every six hours. Everything is stored against the US dollar, so a pair such as euro to denar is worked out through it. Each entry is labelled with what it used: Live rate, Estimated (nearest date) when there was no rate for that exact day, or Manual rate.
These are reference rates, not your bank's. A card, an ATM or a transfer service may give you a different rate or add a fee, so when the statement matters, type the rate you actually got for that one entry. There is no global rate setting on purpose: a manual rate belongs to the entry it describes.
Rates work offline too. Your device keeps the last seven days of rates for every currency and about 400 days of history for the currencies you use, and a new install starts with a snapshot of regular-currency rates built into the app.
Typing an amount in another currency
In the capture bar, put the currency next to the amount as a symbol or a code: taxi 1200 MKD, €12.50 lunch, lunch 12.50 USD. A chip starting with ≈ shows what the wallet will be charged before you save. Codes in capitals are always understood; in lowercase, the twelve most common ones (USD, EUR, GBP, MKD, JPY, CHF, CAD, AUD, PLN, DKK, NOK and SEK) and the currencies you already use are understood too, so that 12 pen stays a note about a pen.
Any wallet takes any currency. Paying in yen from a euro account never needs a yen wallet, and on the free plan it never costs one of your two currencies: the limit counts the currencies your wallets are held in, per space, not the currencies you spend in.
Crypto beside cash, not mixed into it
The 96 coins work as a wallet's currency, as an entry's currency and in recurring payments. A coin wallet is updated by hand and valued at today's price in net worth. A coin cannot be your main currency, and budgets, debts and trip amounts stay in regular currencies, so a price swing never changes what your groceries budget says. A wallet in a currency with no rate yet is left out of net worth and listed beside What's Left instead, for example "+ 0.5 BTC in other wallets".
One month in four currencies
A person paid in euros, renting in pounds, paying with a US card now and then, and taking a taxi in Skopje. Their main currency is the euro. Rates other than the denar are example rates for illustration.
| Entry | Typed as | Rate kept on the entry | Counts in totals as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary1 Oct, Current account (EUR) | +€3,200.00 | Same currency | +€3,200.00 |
| Rent2 Oct, UK account (GBP) | -£950.00 | 1 GBP = 1.15 EUR (example) | -€1,092.50 |
| Groceries5 Oct, US card (USD) | -$84.20 | 1 USD = 0.9225 EUR (example) | -€77.67 |
| Taxi12 Oct, Current account (EUR) | -1,200 MKD | 1 MKD = 0.01626 EUR | -€19.51 |
How other budgeting apps handle a second currency
The rows that decide whether an app works for money across borders, as each vendor documents them.
| What | Tavala | YNAB | Monarch | Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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" |
| Exchange rates | Automatic, kept on each entryDaily reference rates, or your own rate per entry | No conversionYou work out the exchange rate for each transfer | None"does not perform any currency conversion" | NoneForeign amounts arrive as the provider's USD |
| Works offline | Every screenChanges sync when you are back online | Advertised"even offline!" on its features page | Not stated | Not stated |
| 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 |
Questions about multi-currency
- Does Tavala work with currencies that are not on the usual lists?
- Yes. All 155 ISO currencies in circulation are available, including the Mexican peso, the Indian rupee, the Philippine peso and the Nigerian naira, with a daily rate for each.
- Can I change the rate on an entry?
- Yes. The rate is filled in for you from the day you paid, and you can overwrite it with the rate your bank or exchange office actually gave you.
- What happens to old entries when the exchange rate changes?
- Nothing. Each entry keeps the rate from its own date, so your history and your past budgets do not move when today's rate does.
- Does the free plan limit currencies?
- A space you own holds wallets in two currencies at a time on the free plan, and Tavala Plus holds every currency. Spending in a third currency from an existing wallet is never blocked: typing taxi 1200 MKD into a euro wallet works on the free plan.
- Can a cryptocurrency be my main currency?
- No. Your main currency is a regular currency, because budgets and totals are kept in it. Coins can be a wallet's currency or an entry's currency, valued at today's price in net worth.
- What happens if I change my main currency later?
- Totals switch to the new currency, and past entries are re-valued at the rate on each entry's own date, so your history stays accurate. Wallets keep their own currencies and balances.
Go further
- Net worthWallets in every currency, added up at today's rate.
- Trips and projectsA trip in its own currency, apart from everyday spending.
- Expense trackerType the amount and the currency in one line.
- Tavala vs YNABEvery currency in one budget, or one plan per currency.
- Budgeting for expatsThree households across currencies, worked through.
- Budgeting for freelancersPayouts in dollars and euros, a tax pot, one salary.
Also in Tavala
- Ask Tavala AI AgentQuestions answered from your ledger, and changes you confirm.
- 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.
- Bank sync (US and Canada)Read-only import from US and Canadian banks, through Plaid.
- 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.