A YNAB alternative
The method you like, without the bank connection.
YNAB taught a lot of people to give every dollar a job, and it is still a very good app. If what you came for was the method — not the bank feed — Minturn Money gives you envelopes that run on your device, never ask for your bank login, and cost about half as much a year.
Free tier, no card · 14-day trial on paid · works offline
Side by side
Where the two actually differ.
Only facts we can stand behind, dated. Some rows favour YNAB, and they are here anyway.
| YNAB | Minturn Money | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual price | $109 a year | $59.99 a year (Premium) |
| Monthly price | $14.99 a month | $6.99 a month (Premium) |
| Free option | 34-day free trial | Free tier with no time limit, plus a 14-day trial of Premium |
| Getting transactions in | Direct import from select US, Canadian, UK and EU banks, or file import | You enter them. No bank login, no aggregator. Statement files can be read on Ultimate |
| Sharing | Up to six people on one subscription | A shared workspace for you and up to four others, on Ultimate ($89.99 a year) |
| Works offline | — | Yes, the whole app, on every tier |
“—” means we haven’t verified it, not that YNAB lacks it. Check each app’s current pricing before you choose.
Why no bank connection
Giving every dollar a job never needed your bank.
The habit that makes this method work is deciding before you spend. Typing a purchase in takes a few seconds, and those seconds are when you notice. A bank feed is convenient, but it turns the budget back into a record of what already happened.
- No bank credential to store, so none to leak
- No third-party aggregator between you and your money
- Nothing breaks when a bank connection drops
- Your budget lives on your device; cloud sync is optional
Available
-$46.90
Funded
$200.00
Spent
$246.90
Available
-$46.90
Ramen Bar
Aug 24
-38.40
Two Rivers Coffee
Aug 23
-11.20
Alpenglow Pizza
Aug 21
-64.20
What you get
Familiar if you’re coming from YNAB.
Everything below is in Minturn Money today. The tier is stated where one applies.
Targets and rollover
Each envelope has a monthly target. What you don’t spend rolls into the next period, so savings goals and irregular bills build up on their own.
Budget by paycheck
Weekly, biweekly or twice-monthly periods that start on your payday. Premium.
See what’s left at a glance
One bar per envelope separates spent from left, and shows overspending in its own colour.
A shared workspace
Budget with a partner or household, with roles, per-member limits and approval for bigger purchases. Ultimate.
Private by default
The budget lives in the app. Nothing of it reaches our servers unless you turn on cloud sync.
Offline first
The whole app runs on your device. Nothing waits on a network, on any tier.
Switching
Moving over in one evening.
FreeEverything here works on the free tier. Premium adds unlimited envelopes and paycheck periods; the 14-day trial lets you try them first.
- Write down your YNAB categories and their targets. They are the part of your old budget worth keeping.
- Pick a clean start date — your next payday or the 1st — instead of migrating history.
- Create each category as an envelope and fund them from the money actually in your account today.
- Run both for a month if you like. Cancel YNAB once you trust the new routine.
Questions.
Is Minturn Money the same method as YNAB?
Close. Both give every dollar a job before you spend it. YNAB calls it zero-based budgeting; Minturn Money uses envelopes, where each category holds the money set aside for it and shows what is left. If you think in YNAB categories, you already think in envelopes.
How do the prices compare?
As of October 2026, YNAB is $109 a year or $14.99 a month, with a 34-day free trial. Minturn Money Premium is $59.99 a year or $6.99 a month, with a 14-day free trial on your first subscription, and there is a free tier with no time limit. Ultimate, which adds a shared workspace, is $89.99 a year.
Who should stay on YNAB?
Anyone who wants transactions to arrive on their own. As of October 2026 YNAB imports directly from select US, Canadian, UK and EU banks; Minturn Money does not connect to banks at all. YNAB also lets up to six people share one subscription, which is more than Minturn Money’s shared workspace (you plus four others, on Ultimate).
Can I import my YNAB budget?
Not automatically yet. Most people write down their categories and monthly targets, create them as envelopes in a few minutes, and start fresh on their next payday rather than carrying old history across.
Does Minturn Money work without the internet?
Yes. The whole app runs on your device and works offline on every tier. Cloud sync between your own devices is optional and part of Premium.
Which platforms does it run on?
iPhone and iPad from the App Store, and any modern browser everywhere else — Android, Windows, Mac and Linux — where it installs as an app.
YNAB is a trademark of its owner. Minturn Money is not affiliated with or endorsed by YNAB. Competitor details are as of October 2026 and may have changed.
Every dollar a job, no bank login.
Free to start, no card. 14 days of Premium if you want the rest.
Never Summer Mountains · mark byzewski, CC BY 2.0
