ALMOST

A weekend of work, and real gaps remain.

Zero-based budgeting: every unit of money gets assigned a job before it is spent, with accounts reconciled against the bank and overspending resolved by moving money rather than ignoring it.

Promptfree, for everyone, and the only version there is
Build me a zero-based budget over statement imports. Bank connections are out of scope and that is the trade.

STACK
- Astro with a Node adapter, SQLite via better-sqlite3, installable as a progressive web app
- CSV and OFX import; no aggregator, no credentials stored anywhere

THE METHOD, ENFORCED BY THE DATA MODEL
- Money exists in accounts; budget categories hold assignments, not money
- Available in a category equals assigned minus spent, carried forward monthly
- To-be-budgeted must reach zero; the interface shows it constantly and never hides it
- Overspending is resolved by moving money between categories, and every move is a recorded transaction

IMPORT
- Map columns per institution, saved as a profile per account
- Match on date, amount and a normalised description to avoid duplicates on re-import
- Anything unmatched goes to a review queue rather than being guessed

RECONCILIATION
- Enter the statement balance; the app finds the set of uncleared transactions that reconciles it, or says it cannot
- A reconciliation locks the transactions before it, and unlocking is recorded

TRANSACTIONS
- Split across categories, transfers between accounts as one linked pair, never two independent rows
- Append-only: a correction is a new row referencing the original

REPORTS
- Spending by category by month, and net worth over time from account balances

Include a README on the import mapping, the duplicate rule and the reconciliation algorithm.

What you lose

  • Bank connections across thousands of institutions, which is the entire recurring cost
  • A budgeting method taught well enough that people change their behaviour
  • Apps on every platform with fast entry at the till
  • Reconciliation that catches the transaction you forgot
  • Support and education, which is a surprising amount of what is being bought

If you would rather not build

  • Copilot Money — paid, US only, strong automatic categorisation

The escape hatch

open source · no votes, no paid placement

Actual Budget

$0

Local-first zero-based budgeting with optional sync you host yourself.

actualbudget/actualfree · open source

Firefly III

$0

Self-hosted personal finance manager with rules, budgets and reports.

firefly-iii/firefly-iiifree · open source

Why this verdict

our own opinion · changed only by a person

56/100

Verdict kinda at 56: the budgeting model is a data model and a weekend gets it right, which is more than most personal finance builds manage. Bank connections cost real money every month, and the discipline the method teaches is not something a build hands you.

History

tracked since 9 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten

Interest · last 30 days

Nothing recorded yet. This chart fills in once the page has visitors, votes or prompt copies — it will not draw a flat line to look busy.

Questions about YNAB

answered from the record above

Is YNAB free?

No — the plan we track is $14.99 a month. Subscription at $14.99/month or $109/year; there is no free tier beyond a trial.

Can you replace YNAB by building your own?

ALMOST. A weekend of work, and real gaps remain. Replacement score 56 out of 100, build time a weekend. Read what you lose before you decide.

How much does YNAB cost?

$14.99 a month on Subscription — $179.88 a year. Recorded 9 Aug 2026.

What do you lose by replacing YNAB?

Bank connections across thousands of institutions, which is the entire recurring cost; A budgeting method taught well enough that people change their behaviour; Apps on every platform with fast entry at the till; Reconciliation that catches the transaction you forgot; Support and education, which is a surprising amount of what is being bought. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to YNAB?

Yes: Actual Budget, Firefly III. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.

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