YNAB Alternatives 2026: 7 Options, 4 Free
YNAB alternatives: Actual Budget, Goodbudget, Firefly III, Empower Personal Dashboard and 3 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Personal Finance & Investing
Verdict:YNAB costs $14.99 a month or $109 a year, and its trial is 34 days with no card. It is built around a budgeting method, so the question is whether you want the method or just somewhere to log spending. If you want the method for free, Actual Budget is the closest self-hosted route: it is MIT licensed and has no paid tier, and Goodbudget's free plan lets you run envelopes with 10 regular and 10 extra ones across 2 devices. Both ask for more manual work than YNAB, and Goodbudget's bank sync costs $10 a month. Firefly III is stronger for reporting than for a monthly budget routine. Empower's free dashboard shows net worth and investments but does not walk you through assigning money. If you are happy to pay but want a different price or look, Tiller charges $99 a year and keeps everything in a Google Sheet you own, Copilot is $7.92 a month on Apple devices, and Monarch matches YNAB at $14.99 monthly. The trade-off to weigh: the free tools cost time, not money. YNAB's price buys a maintained app, bank connections and a method that people stick with, so the savings only pay off if you will actually keep a manual or self-hosted setup running. Stay if you budget well already.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual Budget | Free (Open-source app you host yourself; the repository lists no paid tier) | Web (self-hosted) | Self-hosted budgeting without a fee | Docs only |
| Goodbudget | Free (Free plan: 10 regular and 10 'more' envelopes, 1 account, 2 devices, 1 year of history); paid from $10 per month (Premium; $80 billed annually) | Web, iPhone, Android | Envelope budgeting on a free plan | Docs only |
| Firefly III | Free (Open-source personal finance manager you host yourself; no paid tier in the repository) | Web (self-hosted) | Tracking and reports you own | Docs only |
| Empower Personal Dashboard | Free (The dashboard experience and financial tools are free; separate advisory services charge fees based on assets managed) | Web | Free net worth tracking | Docs only |
| Monarch Money | Paid from $14.99 per month, billed monthly ($99.99 per year billed annually) | Web | A paid app with account aggregation | Docs only |
| Tiller Money | Paid from $99 per year, after a 30-day free trial | Google Sheets | Spreadsheet fans | Docs only |
| Copilot Money | Paid from $7.92 per month ($95 billed yearly; 1-month free trial) | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Web | Apple users who want a lower price | Docs only |
| PocketSmith | Free (Free plan: 2 accounts, 12 budgets, 2 dashboards, 6 months of projection); paid from $9.99 per month, billed annually (Foundation; $14.95 monthly) | Web | Budgeting | Docs only |
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Good fit if
- You want YNAB-style budgeting but free and self-hosted (Actual Budget is the pick)
- You want free envelope budgeting without a server (Goodbudget is the pick)
- You want your data in a spreadsheet (Tiller Money is the pick)
- You want a cheaper paid app on Apple devices (Copilot Money is the pick)
- You want net worth tracking only (Empower Personal Dashboard is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on YNAB features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
YNAB today: Paid from $14.99 per month, billed monthly ($109 per year billed annually; 34-day free trial) (YNAB pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for YNAB alternatives
YNAB has no ongoing free plan: after a 34-day trial it costs $14.99 per month or $109 per year, which works out to $9.08 a month. The only free route listed is a 365-day trial for college students who submit proof of enrollment. Trials started through third-party app stores may ask for card details. For a household that mainly wants to categorise spending, that yearly cost is the main reason to compare.
Actual Budget
Compared with YNAB: Free, MIT-licensed and self-hosted, so you stop paying YNAB's $14.99 a month. You lose YNAB's hosted sync and support, and run the server yourself; bank syncing needs a separately billed service.
Price: Free (Open-source app you host yourself; the repository lists no paid tier) (Actual Budget pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web (self-hosted). MIT (open source).
Project activity: 29.8k GitHub stars · latest release v26.10.0 (Oct 2, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted budgeting without a fee.
Goodbudget
Compared with YNAB: Free plan has 10 regular envelopes, 10 extra ones, 1 account and 2 devices. It is manual, and bank sync costs $10 a month, so it is a free but smaller way to budget in envelopes.
Price: Free (Free plan: 10 regular and 10 'more' envelopes, 1 account, 2 devices, 1 year of history); paid from $10 per month (Premium; $80 billed annually) (Goodbudget pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, iPhone, Android. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Envelope budgeting on a free plan.
Worth knowing: Automatic bank sync is US banks only and sits on the paid plan.
Firefly III
Compared with YNAB: AGPL-3.0, free, self-hosted personal finance manager. Better for tracking and reporting than for a day-to-day budgeting routine, and you handle hosting and backups.
Price: Free (Open-source personal finance manager you host yourself; no paid tier in the repository) (Firefly III pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web (self-hosted). AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 25k GitHub stars · latest release v6.7.9 (Oct 11, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Best for: Tracking and reports you own.
Worth knowing: Self-hosted, so you run the server and back up the database yourself. The repository describes it as a personal finances manager.
Empower Personal Dashboard
Compared with YNAB: Free dashboard for net worth and investments, with weaker budgeting than YNAB. It tells you where your money is, not how to assign it.
Price: Free (The dashboard experience and financial tools are free; separate advisory services charge fees based on assets managed) (Empower Personal Dashboard pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Free net worth tracking.
Worth knowing: Reviews describe it as stronger at net worth and investment tracking than at detailed budgeting.
Monarch Money
Compared with YNAB: $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, a first-week trial and no free plan. Same monthly price as YNAB, so you switch for the interface and shared budgeting, not to save.
Price: Paid from $14.99 per month, billed monthly ($99.99 per year billed annually) (Monarch Money pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: A paid app with account aggregation.
Tiller Money
Compared with YNAB: $99 a year after a 30-day trial, with bank data pulled into a Google Sheet you own. Cheaper than YNAB monthly, and flexible, but you build the budget yourself.
Price: Paid from $99 per year, after a 30-day free trial (Tiller Money pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Google Sheets. Proprietary.
Best for: Spreadsheet fans.
Copilot Money
Compared with YNAB: $7.92 a month or $95 a year with a one-month trial. Cheaper than YNAB's monthly price and a visual app, but only for Apple devices and web per its page.
Price: Paid from $7.92 per month ($95 billed yearly; 1-month free trial) (Copilot Money pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Web. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Apple users who want a lower price.
Other popular options (paid)
PocketSmith
Compared with YNAB: Free plan covers 2 accounts and 12 budgets, where YNAB has none after its trial. Foundation is $9.99 a month billed annually, and Flourish at $16.66 raises bank connections to 18 in any country.
Price: Free (Free plan: 2 accounts, 12 budgets, 2 dashboards, 6 months of projection); paid from $9.99 per month, billed annually (Foundation; $14.95 monthly) (PocketSmith pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You want YNAB-style budgeting but free and self-hosted: Actual Budget
- You want free envelope budgeting without a server: Goodbudget
- You want your data in a spreadsheet: Tiller Money
- You want a cheaper paid app on Apple devices: Copilot Money
- You want net worth tracking only: Empower Personal Dashboard
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Actual Budget, Goodbudget, Firefly III, Empower Personal Dashboard, Monarch Money, Tiller Money, Copilot Money: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from YNAB. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: YNAB, Actual Budget, Goodbudget, Firefly III, Empower Personal Dashboard, Monarch Money, Tiller Money, Copilot Money, PocketSmith. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.