Alternatives to YNAB
A subscription budgeting app built around zero-based budgeting, where every dollar is assigned a job. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
YNAB
A subscription budgeting app built around zero-based budgeting, where every dollar is assigned a job.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as YNAB.
Actual Budget
Envelope budgeting that keeps your data on your own device and syncs between machines without a company in the middle.
Actual Budget is free, MIT-licensed, local-first envelope budgeting that syncs through a server you run, with a web app instead of native mobile apps.
EveryDollar
A zero-based budgeting app from Ramsey Solutions for planning a monthly budget and tracking spending.
EveryDollar from Ramsey Solutions also uses zero-based budgeting, is freemium with a free account to start, and is listed as a web app only.
Goodbudget
An envelope budgeting app for the web, Android and iPhone that syncs budgets across a household.
Goodbudget uses envelope budgeting shared across a household on web, Android and iPhone, with a free tier and transaction import requiring Premium.
Monarch Money
A subscription money app that connects your accounts to track spending, budgets, net worth and goals.
Monarch Money is a paid subscription that connects accounts for automatic categorization and adds net worth tracking and free shared access for a partner.
Buckets
A private envelope budgeting app that keeps finances on your own computer, sold for a one-time price.
Buckets offers private envelope budgeting kept on your own computer for a one-time price covering the household, with no subscription but closed source.
Copilot Money
A paid personal finance app for tracking spending, budgets, investments and net worth on Apple devices and web.
Copilot Money is a paid app for macOS, iOS and web with automatic transaction organisation and investment tracking, but no Android or Windows app.
Lunch Money
A web-based budgeting and spending tracker with multi-currency support, bank syncing and a developer API.
Lunch Money is a paid web budgeting app with strong multi-currency support, bank syncing, a rules engine and a developer API.
PocketGuard
A budgeting app that links your accounts and shows what is left to spend after bills.
PocketGuard is a paid app that shows what is left to spend after bills and goals, with less hands-on effort than YNAB's assign-every-dollar method.
Also worth comparing
These listings name YNAB as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Emma
A budgeting app that connects your bank accounts to track spending, bills, subscriptions and savings.
YNAB replaces Emma's spending overview with a hands-on zero-based budgeting method, requires a subscription after the trial and runs on web, Android and iOS.
PocketSmith
A budgeting and cash-flow forecasting service that projects account balances into the future.
YNAB is a paid zero-based budgeting service on Android, iOS and web that assigns every dollar a job instead of forecasting future balances.
Quicken Simplifi
A subscription budgeting app from Quicken that tracks spending, savings goals, investments and net worth.
YNAB is a paid zero-based budgeting service on Android, iOS and web that asks you to assign every dollar actively, with extensive learning material.
Rocket Money
A budgeting app that finds your subscriptions, helps cancel them and tracks monthly spending.
YNAB is a paid zero-based budgeting service on Android, iOS and web that takes more active effort than Rocket Money's low-setup approach.
Tiller
A service that feeds bank transactions and balances into your own Google Sheets or Excel spreadsheets.
YNAB is a subscription zero-based budgeting app on Android, iOS and web, trading spreadsheet flexibility for a structured method with extensive learning material.
Toshl Finance
An expense tracker and budget app for Android, iOS and the web with multi-currency support.
YNAB swaps expense tracking for a zero-based budgeting routine on Android, iOS and web, with a subscription required after the free trial.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Splitwise
An app for splitting shared bills and tracking who owes whom among friends, housemates and groups.
Honeydue
A mobile finance app for couples to track shared money, bills and expenses together.
Firefly III
A self-hosted personal finance manager with budgets, categories, rules and a lot of reports.
