Leaving YNAB? First work out whether it is the method or the app
People leave YNAB for four different reasons, and the right replacement depends entirely on which one is yours. A straight guide - including when the answer is another envelope app, not us.
YNAB is a good product with a devoted following, and it deserves one. Its method - give every dollar a job, and only budget money you actually have - has pulled a lot of people out of a hole.
It is also $109 a year, or $14.99 a month, and a lot of people leave. They leave for four quite different reasons, and the right replacement depends entirely on which one is yours.
We make one of the alternatives, and for one of those four reasons it is the wrong one. That reason comes first.
Reason 1: you love the method and hate the priceLink to this section
If "give every dollar a job" is what changed your finances, you do not want a different kind of app. You want the same method for less.
Hundo is not that, and we are going to say so plainly. Our budgets are spending limits per category - "£400 on groceries this month, and here is how close you are". There is no pool of unassigned money to allocate, no "ready to assign" figure, and no zero-based discipline. Someone who loves YNAB's method would find that a step backwards.
What you actually want is Actual Budget. It is built on the same envelope method - its own site says you "can only budget cash you have on hand" - and it is free and open source. It even has bank sync, through GoCardless in the EU and UK and SimpleFIN in the US and Canada. The trade is that you run it yourself, or pay someone to host it.
If that describes you, stop here. That is your answer.
Reason 2: the method feels like a second jobLink to this section
This one is rarely talked about, because it sounds like a personal failing rather than a product problem. It is not.
Zero-based budgeting works because it demands attention. Every dollar has to be placed, every overspend has to be covered by moving money from somewhere else, and a month where you do not keep up leaves a mess to reconcile. For people who thrive on that, it is the point. For a lot of others it becomes a chore they eventually stop doing - and a budgeting app you have stopped opening is worth nothing.
If what you actually wanted was simpler - know what you spend, get warned before a category runs over, see your net worth - then a spending-limit budget is not a lesser version of YNAB. It is a different, lighter tool, and it may be the one you will still be using in a year.
That is what Hundo does. Budgets are monthly or weekly caps filled automatically from the categories you choose, with nothing to allocate.
Reason 3: you hold more than one currencyLink to this section
This is where the difference is sharpest, and it is not a matter of opinion.
YNAB's own guidance on multiple currencies is to keep them apart. Its support article says:
When adding accounts to your plans, make sure all accounts in a plan use the same currency. Every account in your primary plan should be in your primary currency. Every account in your secondary plan should be in your secondary currency.
So a euro account and a dollar account live in two separate plans, and there is no single view of what you are worth across both. For someone who earns in one currency and spends in another, that is a structural problem, not a missing button.
Hundo was built around the opposite assumption. Over 160 currencies, each account, holding and budget in its own, a transaction allowed to be in a currency its account does not hold, and the exchange rate recorded for the day it happened rather than today's. One net worth figure, in the currency you think in - and the net worth chart tells you how much of the change over any period you pick was the exchange rate rather than your money.
There is a longer piece on what multi-currency has to get right, including four questions to ask of any tool.
Reason 4: you are outside the regions it imports fromLink to this section
YNAB offers direct bank import for selected banks in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, and file import everywhere else. If you are outside those regions, you were already typing or importing by hand - and paying a subscription for the privilege of a method.
Hundo has no bank connection anywhere, so this is not an advantage in the way bank sync would be. It is just that nothing about Hundo assumes you are in a supported country, because there is no list of supported countries. Entries are typed, photographed, forwarded to your own receipts address, imported from a file, or drafted by an AI and confirmed by you.
What Hundo costs, and whyLink to this section
The tracker is free forever, and nothing in it is capped: unlimited accounts, transactions, budgets, assets, net worth and reports. It is not a trial.
The paid part is the AI - connecting your own Claude or ChatGPT to your ledger. It is pay what you want: a year is $36 at the minimum and $72 suggested, or a flat $8 monthly. Every amount unlocks everything.
The honest trade-offsLink to this section
Before you move two years of history anywhere, be clear about what you would lose:
- No bank sync. YNAB imports automatically in the regions it supports. Hundo never does.
- No zero-based budgeting. If the method is what worked for you, see Reason 1.
- No YNAB community. YNAB's education and community are genuinely excellent and there is nothing equivalent here.
Pick by reasonLink to this section
| Why you are leaving | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Love the method, not the price | Actual Budget |
| The method became a chore | Hundo, or any spending-limit budget |
| You hold several currencies | Hundo |
| Outside YNAB's import regions | Hundo |
| You want your own AI reading your numbers | Hundo |
The worst outcome is swapping one app you have stopped opening for another. Pick the one that matches why you left, not the one with the longest feature list.
Checked 11 September 2026 against YNAB's pricing page and support documentation, and Actual Budget's site. Prices and features change; the linked pages are the authority.