A Goodbudget alternative: keep the envelopes, or keep your currencies
Goodbudget is an envelope budgeting app built for sharing a budget at home, and it tracks one currency at a time with bank sync for US banks only, so the right alternative depends on whether you are leaving the envelopes or the limits around them.
Stay with Goodbudget if the envelope method is what works for you, or you share one budget with a partner across your phones, because Hundo has neither envelopes nor a shared household budget. Switch to Hundo if you hold money in more than one currency or have outgrown Goodbudget's free plan: Goodbudget tracks one currency at a time and leaves conversions to you, and its free plan allows 1 account and 1 year of history, while Hundo keeps each account in its own currency and its free tracker has no caps.
Goodbudget is a digital version of the paper envelope system, and it has been around long enough to have a loyal following. Its strength is simple to state: a plan for your spending before you spend, shared with the people you spend with.
If that is why you use it, the method matters more than the app. So this guide starts there, because for some readers the honest answer is to stay.
How does Goodbudget's envelope method work?Link to this section
Goodbudget's What You Get page describes it plainly:
You make envelopes for all your budgeting categories - rent, groceries, eating out, date night, etc. After that, you set aside money up front in each envelope to spend based on categories and not your account balance.
Its help guide Step 4. Fill Your Envelopes says filling "moves money from your Available to your Envelopes so you know exactly how much you can spend".
Hundo does not work like that, and it is better to say so first. Hundo budgets are monthly or weekly spending limits per category, filled automatically from the categories you choose. There is no pool of money to move into envelopes, and no step where every dollar is set aside before you spend it. Someone who relies on that discipline would find Hundo looser than what they have now.
If the method is what you want to keep, stay with an envelope or zero-based app. Our YNAB guide covers apps built around giving every dollar a job, and our EveryDollar guide covers the zero-based app from Ramsey Solutions.
What is free in Goodbudget, and what does Premium add?Link to this section
Goodbudget's pricing page shows two plans.
Free Forever, at $0: 10 regular envelopes, 10 more envelopes, 1 account, 2 devices, 1 year of history and community support.
Premium, at $10 a month or $80 a year: automatic bank sync, unlimited envelopes, unlimited accounts, 5 devices, 7 years of history and email support.
Goodbudget's help article Subscribe to Goodbudget adds that automatic bank sync is for "US Banks only", and that you can ask for a refund within the first 30 days of a subscription.
The Hundo tracker is free forever, and nothing in it is capped: unlimited accounts, transactions, budgets and assets. Pro is pay what you want: $36 a year at the minimum, $72 suggested, or $8 a month, and new subscribers get a 7-day trial.
Can Goodbudget share a budget with a partner?Link to this section
Yes, and it is one of the best reasons to use it. Goodbudget's What You Get page says it syncs "your household budget across all your iPhones and Androids", so when one person spends from an envelope, the other sees it. The free plan shares across 2 devices, and Premium across 5.
Hundo does not share a household budget between users. If you and a partner run one budget together, that is a real reason to stay.
How do entries get into Goodbudget outside the United States?Link to this section
By hand, for most people, because automatic bank sync is a Premium feature for US banks only.
Goodbudget's help guide Step 5. Record Your Expenses shows how to add an expense on the web, on iPhone and on Android. On a phone, it says Goodbudget will "remember your transaction location" and suggest the payee, envelope and account the next time you are in the area.
So if you are outside the US, you are already comparing two apps where you put the entries in yourself. The questions are how fast that is, and what the app does with the numbers afterwards.
In Hundo you type the amount first and pick from suggestions ranked out of your own history, or import a CSV, TSV or Excel file with column mapping and duplicate detection. Both are free. In Pro you can also photograph a receipt, forward an email receipt, dictate, or let the assistant draft the entry for you to confirm. Hundo never asks for banking credentials, because it has no bank connection in any country. How to keep tracking by hand after the novelty wears off covers the habit side, and a tracker that asks for no bank login covers why some people prefer one.
Can Goodbudget track more than one currency?Link to this section
Not side by side. Goodbudget's help article How can I select a currency? says Goodbudget is "currency-neutral", with no currency symbols, and that because you do not pick a main currency it "works for most people, regardless of their local tender". The same article is clear about the limit:
Goodbudget is designed to track a single currency at a time. Because the app is currency-neutral, it cannot distinguish between different denominations or perform live exchange rate conversions.
If you track more than one currency, it says you "will need to do the currency conversions manually when recording your transactions".
That is where Hundo is different. Each account, asset and budget keeps its own currency, in 166 of them. Each transaction stores the exchange rate for its own date, so old months keep their old rates. Net worth reports in one base currency, and can split a change into the part that was your money and the part that was the exchange rate. What a multi-currency net worth tracker has to get right goes further, and which exchange rate to record covers a card charge in another currency.
What do you give up by leaving Goodbudget for Hundo?Link to this section
- The envelope method. Hundo's budgets are spending limits per category, not envelopes you fill.
- A shared household budget. Goodbudget syncs one budget between the people you share it with. Hundo does not share a budget between users.
- Automatic bank sync, if you bank in the US and pay for Premium. Hundo has no bank connection anywhere.
What does Hundo give you instead?Link to this section
- No caps on the free tracker: unlimited accounts, transactions, budgets and assets, where Goodbudget's free plan stops at 1 account and 1 year of history.
- Every currency, with each account, asset and budget in its own, and no conversions to do by hand.
- Assets beyond cash. Crypto, stocks, funds and precious metals are priced automatically, you value property and vehicles yourself, and IOUs are tracked per person.
- Your own AI, if you want one. Hundo publishes an MCP server, so Claude, ChatGPT or another client can read your ledger and draft changes that are only written after you confirm. It is part of Pro. How to connect one.
Goodbudget vs Hundo at a glanceLink to this section
| Goodbudget | Hundo | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan. Premium is $10 a month or $80 a year | Tracker free forever. Pro is pay what you want from $36 a year (suggested $72), or $8 a month |
| Free option | Free Forever: 10 regular envelopes, 10 more envelopes, 1 account, 2 devices and 1 year of history | The tracker, free forever with nothing capped, and a 7-day trial of Pro |
| Bank connection | Automatic bank sync in Premium, for US banks only | None. File import (CSV, TSV, Excel) is free |
| Countries | No country list. It is currency-neutral, but bank sync is for US banks only | No country list, because there is no bank connection |
| Currencies | One at a time, with no symbols and no conversion. You convert by hand | 166. Each account, asset and budget keeps its own, and each transaction stores the rate for its own date |
| Apps | Web, iPhone and Android. One budget syncs across 2 devices free, or 5 in Premium | Web app you can install as a PWA. No app-store app |
| AI assistant | Not published | Yes, in Pro |
| MCP server | Not published | Yes, in Pro |
| Budgeting method | Envelopes: set aside money up front in each envelope | Spending limits per category, monthly or weekly |
Goodbudget column checked 15 September 2026 against Goodbudget's pricing page, What You Get page and its help articles Subscribe to Goodbudget, How can I select a currency?, Step 4. Fill Your Envelopes and Step 5. Record Your Expenses.
The short versionLink to this section
Envelopes work for you, or you run one budget with a partner? Goodbudget does that well, and this page is not trying to talk you out of it.
Holding more than one currency, or hitting the free plan's limits and not wanting envelopes enough to pay for Premium? A spending-limit budget with every currency and no caps is a different tool, and it may be the one you keep opening.
Common questionsLink to this section
Is Goodbudget free?Link to this section
Yes. Goodbudget's Free Forever plan includes 10 regular envelopes, 10 more envelopes, 1 account, 2 devices and 1 year of history, and Premium costs $10 a month or $80 a year.
Does Goodbudget connect to banks?Link to this section
Only in Premium, and only for US banks. Otherwise you record expenses yourself, on the web, on iPhone or on Android.
Can Goodbudget track more than one currency?Link to this section
Not side by side. Goodbudget's help centre says it tracks a single currency at a time and that you do conversions manually, while Hundo keeps each account, asset and budget in its own currency, in 166 of them.
Does Hundo have envelope budgeting or shared budgets like Goodbudget?Link to this section
No. Hundo budgets are monthly or weekly spending limits per category, and Hundo does not share a household budget between users.