YNAB
Mint
HomeBank
GnuCash
Monarch
Money Manager Ex
Quicken
Actual Budget
Zeroed
Goodbudget
Actual Budget
EveryDollar
GnuCash
HomeBank
Mint
Money Manager Ex
Zeroed is a local-first, zero-based (envelope) budgeting app for people who want their financial data to stay theirs. Your budget lives on your device, encrypted with AES-256 — no company servers, no account, no tracking. Optional sync uses your own Google Drive, so even backups never touch a third party.
Instead of fragile bank connections, Zeroed imports transactions from CSV and PDF statements with a universal parser (OFX, QFX and QIF are also supported), plus an OCR receipt scanner for cash spending. It follows the classic zero-based method: give every dollar a job, roll categories over month to month, and reconcile against real statements. Goals, debt payoff planning, net worth tracking, scheduled transactions and spending reports are built in.
Pricing is a one-time purchase with a 34-day fully unlocked free trial (no card required). If the trial ends, the app switches to read-only — your data stays viewable and exportable forever, never held hostage.
Available on Windows, Android and macOS, with iOS in review. Built by Stillware Ltd, a small UK studio with a published no-subscriptions, no-surveillance manifesto.
YNAB ZeroedZeroed's answer:
Zeroed is a zero-based (envelope) budgeting app you buy once and own forever: $19.99 founder price until 14 Feb 2027, then $39.99, with every 1.x update included. It is local-first by design. There is no account, no company server and no telemetry; your data is AES-256 encrypted on your own device, and optional sync goes through your own Google Drive. Instead of bank linking it imports CSV, PDF, OFX, QFX and QIF statements from any bank, plus OCR for paper receipts, and it works fully offline on Windows, Android and macOS.
Zeroed's answer:
If you like the YNAB method but not a subscription or a cloud account, Zeroed is the closest thing: the same give-every-pound-a-job workflow (envelopes, month-to-month rollover, goals, debt payoff planner, bills calendar, net worth and reports) for a single payment, with all 1.x updates included. Privacy is structural rather than a policy: there is no Zeroed server holding your data, so there is nothing on our side to breach or shut down. The 34-day trial is fully unlocked with no card, and after a trial the app stays read-only forever, so your data is never held hostage.
Zeroed's answer:
People who already budget by hand or in a spreadsheet and want the zero-based method without renting software; privacy-minded users who will not hand bank logins to a third-party aggregator; and households on Windows and Android (macOS available, iOS in review) who want the same budget on every device without a company in the middle. Typical users have left YNAB or Mint over price or data concerns.
Zeroed's answer:
Stillware Ltd is a small UK studio built on a published manifesto: no subscriptions, no telemetry, local-first software you own. Zeroed is its first product. It started because the popular budgeting apps had moved to $10-plus a month and required handing bank logins to third-party aggregators, while the free alternatives had been discontinued or filled with ads. Zeroed keeps the proven zero-based method and removes the rent and the surveillance. Version 1.3.0 (2026) added the Today view, bills calendar, goals, debt payoff planning, net worth tracking and OFX/QFX/QIF import.
Zeroed's answer:
Based on our record, YNAB seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.
Clickable link: https://ynab.com I'm a huge fan of You Need A Budget, it was instrumental in giving me control over my finances. It feels like a superpower to see all my money in one place and not care which bank account the dollars actually reside. Also makes it easier to take advantage of various offers (Credit card or things like HYSA) since I know all the records will live in YNAB and I have full control... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
You'll be going into a tight budget time, so get a really good system in place. If you don't have that you love already, I recommend YNAB (youneedabudget.com). It's envelope based and is really good for planning ahead for irregular expenses and for "rolling with the punches" if something comes up. It works differently than traditional monthly budget, so take time to use all the resources to learn the system. ... Source: about 3 years ago
I also said in a comment below, I use YNAB to track my financial life. This strategy only works if you have enough confidence in your finances to know that if I gave you a card with 100k credit limit, you would never spend more on it than what you have in your bank and has been budgeted for. If not, I cannot overstate how important it is to get your budget in order beforehand. There’s zero money saved if you pay... Source: about 3 years ago
If you aren’t already giving every dollar you make a job, earning more money will only get you so far. Check out YNAB, read all the free content about learning to plan and budget. Source: over 3 years ago
Track it by hand or in software. I started out with just a spreadsheet, but since then moved my whole budget to YNAB (youneedabudget.com), where you track all your individual savings goals as well as how your money will be used to cover regular (and irregular) expenses. Now the whole plan is in one place, and covers everything from how much is set aside for gardening supplies for this summer to the big... Source: over 3 years ago
Mint - Free personal finance software to assist you to manage your money, financial planning, and budget planning tools. Achieve your financial goals with Mint.
Goodbudget - A home budget app based on the envelope budget system. Available on the web, Android, and iPhone.
HomeBank - Free, easy, personal accounting, for everyone
Actual Budget - Robust and simple budgeting that works
GnuCash - A personal and small-business financial-accounting software, licensed under GNU/GPL and available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BSD, and Solaris.
EveryDollar - Budgeting and expense tracking app