What is YNAB?
YNAB, short for You Need A Budget, is a budgeting app built around a plan for every dollar: you decide what each one is for before you spend it. It has about 62,000 ratings on the US App Store, averaging 4.8. It connects your bank accounts, imports your transactions, tracks goals and debt, and syncs between devices. One subscription can be shared with up to 5 people.
Why do people look for a YNAB alternative?
Mostly two things:
- The price. After a 34-day free trial it's $14.99 a month or $109 a year in the US. There's no free plan.
- The bank connection. YNAB is built to link your accounts and import transactions. Some people would rather not give a budgeting app access to their bank, or simply want to type in what they spend.
None of that makes YNAB a bad app. But if you want a budget without a yearly bill or a bank login, there are smaller apps that do the core job.
What do these alternatives do differently?
All four are made by indie makers, and none asks for a bank login: you add your income and spending yourself. They each take a different view of what a budget is. Monthly plans around your fixed bills, Tracky uses envelopes, Kelo watches bills and subscriptions before they're charged, and Soldi tracks every expense across wallets. Monthly is free with nothing to buy; the others have free features and paid upgrades.
In short
- Monthly: Budget Planner: best for a free budget built around your bills
- Tracky: Simple Budget Planner: best for envelope budgets
- Kelo: Expense Tracker & Budget: best for bills and subscriptions
- Expense Tracker - Soldi: best for tracking every expense
How do they compare with YNAB?
| App | Free | To pay | Bank login | Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YNAB (for comparison, not listed here) | 34-day trial | $14.99/mo or $109/yr | Connects your accounts to import transactions | Needed |
| Monthly | Everything, no in-app purchases | Nothing | None | None; entries stay on your device |
| Tracky | The main features | Premium in-app purchases from $1.99 to $49.99 | None | None; iCloud sync |
| Kelo | Your first recurring expenses and unlimited one-time ones | $4.99/mo or $29.99/yr | Never | Not stated; sync is a Premium option |
| Soldi | Free to download, no ads | $3.99/mo, $29.99/yr, or $69.99 once | None mentioned; you add transactions yourself | Not stated |
Which apps are good YNAB alternatives?
- Monthly: Budget PlannerFor knowing what's left after rent and bills, without logging every coffee.
Add your income and recurring expenses once, and Monthly uses their schedules and due dates to work out what's left each month, yearly insurance included. You can roll leftovers into next month, plan one-time costs and check it all from a widget.
Good
- Free, with no in-app purchases, ads or sign-up
- Your budget month can start on payday
- Separate households and accounts, CSV export
Keep in mind
- No cloud sync: entries stay on one device
- Needs iOS 26.1
- Doesn't track every purchase, by design
- Tracky: Simple Budget PlannerFor envelope budgeting: split your money into groceries, fuel, hobbies and see what's left in each.
You create a budget, divide it into envelopes, and add expenses as they happen; Tracky calculates what remains in each. Budgets can be monthly or one-off, like a trip, and recurring ones can be reused.
Good
- No sign-up and no bank account needed
- iCloud sync across your devices
- Widgets on the Home and Lock Screen
Keep in mind
- Unlimited budgets, envelopes and expenses need Premium
- Several Premium purchases are listed, so check the price in the app
- Kelo: Expense Tracker & BudgetFor seeing your bills and subscriptions before they're charged.
Kelo puts subscriptions, bills and everyday spending in one place and, with Premium, warns you before every charge. It shows how much leaves your account each month and year, and when. One-time expenses are unlimited for free.
Good
- No bank login, ever
- Weekly, monthly, quarterly or custom billing cycles
- Premium can log Apple Pay payments by itself
Keep in mind
- Free covers your first recurring expenses only
- Budgets by category, alerts and sync need Premium, $29.99 a year
- Expense Tracker - SoldiFor tracking every expense and income across categories and wallets.
Soldi is a money manager for logging income and expenses, setting budgets by day, week, month or year, and seeing where it all went in bar and pie charts. It handles recurring transactions, several currencies and costs you split with friends.
Good
- No ads
- Categories, subcategories and multiple wallets
- Shared expenses and a list of who owes you
- A lifetime purchase, $69.99
Keep in mind
- Its App Store page doesn't say which features are free and which need Premium
- Every transaction is added by hand
How do you choose between them?
- You want it free, and your bills matter more than small purchases: Monthly.
- You like envelopes for groceries, fuel and fun: Tracky.
- Subscriptions and bills keep surprising you: Kelo.
- You want to log every expense, across wallets: Soldi.
- You want your bank linked and transactions imported: stay with YNAB.
When should you stay with YNAB?
Stay with YNAB if:
- you want your bank transactions imported, not typed in
- you want YNAB's method, goals and debt plans in one place
- you share money with a partner or family: one subscription covers up to 5 people
- you'd rather pay for a complete system than keep a budget by hand
How did we pick these apps?
Every app here is listed on Launch Indie Apps, so a person reviewed it before it went live. We chose the ones that do YNAB’s main job, and checked each one’s prices, account and storage on its App Store page and its maker’s site on October 28, 2026. The order is ours, not a ranking by votes or downloads, and makers can’t pay for a place on this page.
Common questions
How much is YNAB?
$14.99 a month or $109 a year in the US, after a 34-day free trial. YNAB says no credit card is needed for the trial when you sign up on its site; app stores may ask for one.
Is there a budget app that doesn't connect to your bank?
All four here work without a bank connection: you add your income and spending yourself. Kelo puts it plainly: no bank login, ever.
Is there a free budget app with no subscription?
Monthly is free, with no in-app purchases, ads, subscription or sign-up. Tracky's main features are free too, with paid Premium extras.
Sources
- YNAB pricing, YNAB (checked October 28, 2026)
- YNAB, App Store (checked October 28, 2026)
- Monthly: Budget Planner, App Store (checked October 28, 2026)
- Tracky: Simple Budget Planner, App Store (checked October 28, 2026)
- Kelo: Bill Organizer & Budget, App Store (checked October 28, 2026)
- Expense Tracker - Soldi, App Store (checked October 28, 2026)