#BudgetingAlternatives #PersonalFinanceHelp #YNABAlternative
Hey budgeting enthusiasts! 🌟 So, YNAB just announced another price increase and I’m on the hunt for a more budget-friendly alternative. I’ve been loyal to YNAB for 8 years but the new $109USD per year price tag plus taxes is a bit hard to swallow. 🙄
Here are my current thoughts and questions:
– YNAB has been my go-to for years, but the rising costs are pushing me to explore other options.
– Mint and Money in Excel are no longer viable options, so I’m in need of something new.
– I’m based in Canada, so any suggestions that work well in my location?
Do any of you have suggestions for a cheaper alternative to YNAB that still offers great budgeting features? Or perhaps an Excel template that can be customized to mimic YNAB’s functionality?
Personally, I’ve heard good things about “EveryDollar” as a potential alternative to YNAB. Have any of you tried it? Would love to hear your thoughts and recommendations! 💡💸
I made my own spreadsheet when mint went away and just import the data from my credit card company and manually add the few things in my bank account. Track all investments on tab 2.
Huge fan of Actual Budget which is very similar to YNAB and it’s “free” in the sense that it’s an open sourced project now (previously for profit but founder couldn’t keep up with the demand) and if you host it locally on your server then it doesn’t cost you anything.
I pay about 10USD every 4–6 months to host the data on Pika Pods because this setup is way easier for me.
https://actualbudget.com/#features
https://github.com/actualbudget/actual
I was able to import all my YNAB data into Actual too!
You still need YNAB after 8 years? I used it for two and got everything down to a science by memory. Time to switch to a free excel file my friend
I’ve never used ynab but I’ve been using the free version of goodbudget for 3 months so far. I input everything manually on the free version. Paid version is $10/month or $80/year and will sync with your bank account
You can try Monarch Money?
I’ve used every dollar for years and love it
I use a much older version of YNAB (4) which never expires.
We use google sheets, one sheet to track our expense, the other to plan what we would like to save and save.We wanted to use YNAB – but personally didn’t want to spend the $. Our sheet for tracking is VERY in depth.
I made it myself, the other sheet I got from etsy and I merged them.
Go download an older copy of it before it wqs SAAS. Works better than the subscription version
You can buy a pencil & paper from Amazon and they’ll send it right to your house.
Jesus, just create a budget using Google Sheets.
Been using it since 2014 and guess what? It’s Free!
Pocketguard or Monarch money. Monarch is better for tracking net worth including investment accounts. I use Pocketguard. Works well with connecting and more importantly staying connected to bank accounts. Connect through blaid.
I haven’t tried this but looks promising https://lunchmoney.app/
Excel is all you really need
There are some really nice excel sheets people sell on Etsy – I bought one called Wealthplan which is well built I just hadn’t been using it much. Just cancelled my YNAB and will be focusing on this now
I got YNAB4 for free about a decade ago. Still using that free version and have saved the exe file and activation key just in case.
I still using Quicken. Stuck with them when they went to the subscription model since I was too lazy to switch. Seems like they are cheaper than YNAB now.
It’s not the same at all (it’s general-purpose accounting software), but GNUCash is free and it’s what I use.
It is clunky and its budgeting features kinda suck, but it handles any money thing you could possibly need unlike an Excel sheet (accounts receivable, multiple currencies, investments, invoices, auto-categorizing transactions, etc).
I tried Actual Budget which is a free envelope budgeting tool but I found I didn’t really need envelope budgeting. I imagine it’s great if you need to work hard to make rent and save a little money, but if you have a comfortable income and are not inclined to overspend, then I find just reviewing transactions and a monthly expense report is enough and is less effort. I also couldn’t give up things like properly tracking my investment units.
I use the free version of everydollar. It works well
If you don’t want bank tracking, 1Money app is great.
I use GNUCash. It’s freeware and more like old-school accounting software. I quite like it and it’s definitely a level above just using spreadsheets which are error-prone.