YNAB
- Best for: Hands-on budgeters who will check in several times a week
- What Sets It Apart: Budgets only money you already have, not income you expect, and covers up to six people on one subscription
- Features: Automatic transaction imports from select U.S., Canadian, UK, and EU banks, or file imports and manual entry; targets by week, month, year, or date; loan planner; spending and net worth reports; web, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Apple Watch apps
- Price: $14.99 a month or $109 a year, plus tax where it applies; 34-day free trial with no credit card on YNAB’s site; free year for college students
- Pros: Budgets only money you have; plans for irregular costs with a set amount each month; loan planner; spending and net worth reports; no ads, and doesn’t sell your financial data
- Cons: No free plan; daily upkeep; automatic imports reach only select banks; the same method works free in a spreadsheet
Subscribe to YNAB if you’ll plan where every dollar goes before you spend it and check in several times a week, since the $109 a year pays for itself once YNAB helps you cut $9.08 a month of spending. If you want spending tracked without that routine, a free budgeting app suits you better.
YNAB says new users save $600 in their first month on average, without saying how it measured that, but you need to cut only $9.08 a month of spending to cover its $109 annual price. It runs on zero-based budgeting, in which you decide what each dollar you have is for before you spend it, so it suits budgeters who will check in several times a week.
Key Features
- $14.99 a month or $109 a year, plus tax where it applies, after a 34-day free trial with no credit card needed on YNAB’s site
- A free year for college students who send proof of enrollment
- Automatic transaction imports from select U.S., Canadian, UK, and EU banks, or file imports and manual entry
- Targets that show what to set aside for a bill or goal each week, month, or year, or by a date you choose
- One subscription for up to six people, each able to keep separate budgets or share them
Pros
- Budgets only the money you already have, so no plan counts on a paycheck that hasn’t arrived
- Plans for irregular costs, like insurance premiums, with a set amount each month
- A loan planner that shows the interest and time an extra payment saves
- Spending and net worth reports
- No ads in the app, and YNAB says it doesn’t sell your financial data
Cons
- No free plan once the trial ends, and subscriptions renew automatically
- Upkeep that YNAB puts at a couple of minutes a day approving transactions and 5 to 10 minutes budgeting each paycheck, once you’re set up
- Automatic imports reach only select banks, and an outage brings no refund or extra time
- The same method works free in a spreadsheet, so the price buys syncing and convenience
YNAB is worth $109 a year for budgeters who will plan every paycheck and check in several times a week, since the method saves money only while you keep it up. Anyone who wants spending tracked with nothing to keep up is better off with a free budgeting app that sorts transactions on its own.
Learn more about YNAB or see how it compares to the best budgeting apps.
YNAB
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