YNAB Too Expensive? Here Are the Best Alternatives That Actually Work

Let's not dance around it: YNAB is expensive. At $14.99/month (or $99/year), it's one of the priciest budgeting apps on the market. And if you've been a subscriber for a while, you've watched that price climb steadily — from the original $60 one-time purchase for YNAB 4, to $50/year when they moved to subscription, to $84/year, and now nearly $100.

For a tool that's supposed to help you manage your money better, spending over a hundred dollars a year on it feels increasingly ironic.

If you're reading this, you're probably in one of two camps:

1. You're a current YNAB user who's finally hit the "is this worth it?" breaking point
2. You were considering YNAB but saw the price and immediately started searching for alternatives

Either way, you're in the right place. Let's look at what makes YNAB good, where it falls short, and which alternatives give you the same (or better) experience without the premium price tag.

What YNAB Gets Right #

Credit where it's due — YNAB became popular for real reasons:

The methodology is solid. "Give every dollar a job" is just envelope budgeting with better marketing. It works because it forces you to be intentional with every dollar of income. You're not just tracking where money went — you're deciding where it goes before you spend it.

The interface is polished. YNAB looks good and (mostly) feels good to use. The web app and mobile apps are well-designed, and features like goal tracking and age of money add useful context.

The community is strong. YNAB has built a genuine community of budgeters who help each other. The subreddit, the workshops, the blog — there's a real ecosystem around the product.

So why are people leaving?

Why People Are Fed Up With YNAB #

The Price Is Hard to Justify #

The most obvious reason. $99/year is more than Netflix, more than Spotify, more than most streaming services — for an app that helps you track where your money goes. The math gets uncomfortable when you realize you're spending $100/year on a tool whose primary purpose is helping you spend less.

For individuals on tight budgets — often the people who need budgeting tools most — that price is a real barrier. And YNAB knows this. They offer a free trial, but there's no free tier. Once the trial ends, you pay or you leave.

The Complexity Creep #

YNAB has gotten more complex over the years. Credit card handling confuses new users. The reconciliation process frustrates people. Features that power users love (like loan tracking and scheduled transactions) add cognitive overhead for everyone else.

If you just want to divide your paycheck into categories and track your spending, YNAB can feel like using a Swiss Army knife to butter toast. It'll work, but you're carrying a lot of tools you don't need.

Bank Syncing Issues #

YNAB's automatic bank syncing (powered by third-party services) is one of its headline features — and one of its biggest sources of frustration. Connections break regularly. Transactions import incorrectly. Some banks aren't supported at all. And when syncing breaks, you're left manually entering transactions anyway — which raises the question of why you're paying $99/year for a feature that doesn't reliably work.

The Subscription Model Itself #

Many long-time users remember YNAB 4 — a one-time purchase of $60 that worked beautifully for years. The forced migration to a subscription model left a bitter taste that hasn't faded. Every price increase since then reinforces the feeling that YNAB prioritizes revenue growth over user loyalty.

The Best YNAB Alternatives (Ranked) #

Here's what's actually worth switching to, starting with the strongest options.

1. EnvelopeBudget — Best Overall Alternative #

Price: Free tier available; affordable paid plans Method: Envelope budgeting

If you love YNAB's methodology but hate YNAB's price, EnvelopeBudget is the most natural fit. It uses the same envelope budgeting approach — assign every dollar to a category, spend from those categories, move money around when priorities shift.

What makes it a great YNAB alternative:

• Genuinely free to start. Not a 34-day trial. An actual free tier with unlimited envelopes that you can use indefinitely.
• Simpler by design. No confusing credit card handling. No complexity for complexity's sake. You see your envelopes, you track your spending, you know where you stand.
• Fast transaction entry. Logging purchases takes seconds, not minutes. This matters more than any feature list — speed is what determines whether you stick with budgeting.
• Privacy-focused. No mandatory bank syncing. Manual entry keeps you more aware of your spending and keeps your bank credentials off third-party servers.
• Works across devices. Phone, tablet, computer — your budget stays in sync everywhere.
• Couples-friendly. Shared budgets work smoothly, so both partners see the same envelopes in real time.

The paid tier adds AI-powered insights and detailed reports, but the free version is a complete budgeting tool — not a feature-stripped teaser.

Switching from YNAB: The transition is straightforward. Your YNAB categories become envelopes. Your YNAB targets become envelope goals. The methodology is identical; the interface is just cleaner and the price is dramatically lower (or free).

Try EnvelopeBudget free →

2. Goodbudget — Best for Extreme Simplicity #

Price: Free (10 envelopes, 1 account) or $10/month for Plus Method: Envelope budgeting

Goodbudget has been around for years and sticks to the basics. The free tier works for people with very simple finances — but the 10-envelope limit is restrictive. Most real-world budgets need more categories than that.

Pros: Simple, stable, proven Cons: Free tier is quite limited; the paid version costs $10/month (still expensive); the interface feels dated compared to newer apps

Best for: Solo budgeters with very simple finances who just need a few categories.

3. EveryDollar — Best for Dave Ramsey Followers #

Price: Free (manual only) or $17.99/month for Ramsey+ (includes bank sync) Method: Zero-based budgeting

EveryDollar's free version is functional for basic zero-based budgeting. The interface is clean and the methodology is sound. The downside: it's deeply tied to the Dave Ramsey ecosystem, and the premium version is even more expensive than YNAB.

Pros: Clean interface, solid free tier for basic budgeting Cons: Premium is very expensive; heavily pushes Ramsey products; limited customization

Best for: People already in the Dave Ramsey ecosystem.

4. Actual Budget — Best for Tech-Savvy Users #

Price: Free (self-hosted) or $10/month (cloud) Method: Envelope budgeting (YNAB-inspired)

Actual Budget is an open-source app that was literally built as a YNAB alternative. If you're technical and comfortable self-hosting, you can run it for free. The cloud version costs $10/month. It's powerful but requires more setup and technical comfort than most alternatives.

Pros: Open source, self-hostable, powerful Cons: Requires technical knowledge; mobile experience is weaker; smaller community

Best for: Developers and tech enthusiasts who want full control.

5. Spreadsheets — Best for Total Control #

Price: Free (Google Sheets) or included with Microsoft 365 Method: Whatever you want

The ultimate DIY option. Google Sheets or Excel with a budgeting template gives you total flexibility. The downside is obvious: you have to build and maintain it yourself, there's no mobile app, and it's easy to make errors that break your formulas.

Pros: Completely free, infinitely customizable Cons: No mobile app, manual everything, easy to break, no shared real-time experience for couples

Best for: People who genuinely enjoy spreadsheets (you know who you are).

How to Switch From YNAB Without Losing Your Mind #

Switching budgeting apps feels scary because your YNAB budget holds months (or years) of financial history. Here's the thing: you don't need to migrate your history. You need to migrate your system.

Step 1: Screenshot Your Current YNAB Setup #

Take screenshots of your category groups, categories, and any targets/goals you've set. This is your template for rebuilding.

Step 2: Pick Your Fresh Start Date #

Choose the first of the next month. This gives you a clean break — finish the current month in YNAB, start the new month in your new app.

Step 3: Recreate Your Categories #

Set up your envelopes/categories in the new app. This is a good time to simplify — if you had 40 categories in YNAB, ask yourself if you really need that many. Most people budget more effectively with 15-25 well-chosen categories.

Step 4: Fund Your Envelopes #

When your next paycheck hits, allocate it in the new app instead of YNAB. Assign every dollar to an envelope, just like you did in YNAB.

Step 5: Cancel YNAB #

Once you've completed one full month in your new app, cancel your YNAB subscription. Don't keep both running "just in case" — that's a recipe for never actually switching.

The Real Cost of YNAB Over Time #

Let's put the numbers in perspective. At $99/year:

• Over 5 years: $495
• Over 10 years: $990
• If the price increases 10% every 3 years (as it has historically): over $1,200 in 10 years

That's a meaningful amount of money for a budgeting app — especially when free alternatives exist that use the same methodology.

To be fair, if YNAB helped you save thousands of dollars, the ROI is positive. But that ROI comes from the method, not the app. Envelope budgeting works regardless of which tool you use to implement it. You don't need to pay YNAB's premium to give every dollar a job.

What Actually Matters in a Budgeting App #

After years of watching people try (and abandon) budgeting apps, here's what we've learned matters most:

Speed of entry. If it takes more than ten seconds to log a transaction, you'll stop doing it. Everything else is secondary.

Visual clarity. You should be able to open the app and instantly know where you stand. No clicking through menus, no loading dashboards, no interpreting charts.

A method that clicks. Envelope budgeting works because it's intuitive. You don't need to understand accounting. You just need to know how much is in each envelope.

Low friction to start. A 30-minute setup process kills motivation. The best apps get you budgeting in under five minutes.

No guilt. Budgeting apps that make you feel bad about overspending are counterproductive. The goal is awareness, not shame.

Bottom Line: You Don't Need to Pay $100/Year to Budget #

YNAB is a good app. It's just not a $100/year app — not when alternatives exist that offer the same envelope budgeting methodology for a fraction of the cost (or free).

If you're looking for the closest experience to YNAB without the price tag, EnvelopeBudget is the strongest option. Same method, simpler interface, genuinely free to start. No trial period, no bait-and-switch.

Your budget should help you save money — not cost you money.

Start budgeting for free with EnvelopeBudget →