The best budget apps that don't link your bank (2026)

Most budgeting apps want to connect to your bank, usually through a data provider such as Plaid. Plenty of people would rather not: they don't want to hand over a login, they pay in cash, their bank isn't supported, or they simply want to look at each purchase as they record it. The apps below all work without a bank connection. Some offer one as an option and some never do; we say which.

Everything we say about another app comes from its own website, help center or App Store page, read on October 6, 2026, and listed in the sources at the end. If we couldn't confirm a detail there, we left it out. Sorayli is our app, so we've ranked it by the one job it does best, not at the top.

01The short list

1. 1Goodbudget: best for envelope budgeting, free on web, iPhone and Android.
2. 2EveryDollar: best for a zero-based monthly plan, with manual entry free.
3. 3YNAB: best if you'll pay for a full method and import bank files yourself.
4. 4Sorayli: best for recording each line of a receipt, cash, and spending in other currencies.
5. 5Wallet by BudgetBakers: best for many accounts and currencies, tracked by hand on its free tier.
6. 6Spendee: best for simple cash wallets on a phone, at a low price.
7. 7Toshl: best for typing expenses fast on phone and web, with exports.
8. 8A spreadsheet: best if you want complete control and no app at all.

The order follows how often each need comes up, not a score. Pick by the job, not the position.

02Compared side by side

03Goodbudget: best for envelope budgeting

Goodbudget puts the old cash-envelope method on your phone: you fill envelopes for groceries, rent or fun, and spend from them. The free plan gives you 10 regular envelopes and 10 more for goals and annual costs, 1 account, 2 devices and 1 year of history. Premium, at $10 a month or $80 a year, removes those limits, adds 5 devices and 7 years of history, and is the only plan with automatic bank sync, for US banks only.

Without sync, you type transactions in or import QFX, OFX or CSV files you download from your bank, and you can export your transactions as CSV. It runs on the web, iPhone and Android.

Drawbacks: the free plan's 1 account and 2 devices are tight for a couple, and nothing reads a receipt for you. Pick it if the envelope idea already makes sense to you.

04EveryDollar: best for a zero-based monthly plan

EveryDollar, from Ramsey Solutions, is built around giving every dollar of the month a job before the month starts. The free version lets you create a monthly budget with unlimited categories, enter and track transactions by hand, split a transaction across categories, set up sinking funds and set due dates for bills, on a computer, phone or tablet.

Premium costs $79.99 a year or $17.99 a month, after a 14-day free trial, and adds the bank connection, custom reports, CSV export, coaching and a net worth projection. If you stay on the free version, manual entry is the whole system.

Drawbacks: exporting your data needs Premium, and the monthly price is steep. Pick it if you like planning the month on paper first and want that plan in an app.

05YNAB: best if you'll pay for the full method

YNAB is the best-known zero-based budget. It has no free plan: it costs $14.99 a month or $109 a year after a 34-day free trial. Its Direct Import supports select US, Canadian, UK and EU banks, and YNAB's help center covers using it without: typing transactions, scheduling regular ones, and importing files from your bank.

Drawbacks: the price, and a method that takes a few weeks to learn. Pick it if you want to plan every dollar and you'll do the bookkeeping. Our Sorayli vs YNAB comparison goes through the differences in detail.

06Sorayli: best for receipts, cash and other currencies

Sorayli never connects to a bank, on any plan. You photograph a receipt and it reads the shop, the date, each line with its price, discounts, tax and the total, then files every line under its own category. Purchases without a receipt are typed in, and you can import a CSV file. Each purchase keeps the currency you paid in and is converted to your own at a daily rate. How receipt scanning works.

Here is a cash receipt from a corner shop, the kind a bank-linked app never sees at all:

Scanned, that becomes five purchases in three categories, $12.15 of it food. The Free plan includes 10 scans and 10 AI questions a month, 2 budgets with alerts, and unlimited typed entries; Pro is $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year. Compare plans.

Drawbacks: card purchases without a receipt still need typing, and there are no account balances. Pick it if much of what you buy comes with a receipt, or in cash, or in another currency.

07Wallet by BudgetBakers: best for many accounts and currencies

Wallet describes a completely free tier for people who track by hand, with bank sync on Premium, which it says connects to over 15,000 institutions. It supports several currencies with automatic exchange rates, lists receipt scanning and storage among its features, imports CSV, XLS or OFX files, and runs on iPhone, Android and the web. Premium is sold monthly, yearly or for life; its App Store page lists in-app purchases from $5.99 to $49.99.

Drawbacks: its pages don't say whether its receipt scanning reads the items or only stores the photo, and the app is built around bank sync. Pick it if you juggle several accounts or currencies and may want sync later. More in our Wallet by BudgetBakers alternative page.

08Spendee: best for simple cash wallets

Spendee organizes money into wallets and lets you add cash expenses by hand, with a picture or location on each one. Its free plan includes 1 cash wallet and 1 budget. Plus costs $1.99 a month or $14.99 a year for unlimited wallets and budgets and shared wallets; Premium is $5.99 a month or $35.99 a year. It can also connect to supported banks, and it supports several currencies.

Drawbacks: one wallet and one budget on the free plan, and its pricing page says budgets are still coming to the web. Pick it if you want a cheap, simple phone app for cash. See our Spendee alternative page.

09Toshl: best for fast entry on phone and web

Toshl says you can add an expense or income in 4 quick taps, in any currency, on Android, iOS or its web app. The free plan has 2 financial accounts, 2 budgets, file import and CSV export. Pro adds unlimited accounts and budgets, PDF and Excel exports, repeating entries and up to 4 receipt photos per entry. Automatic bank sync is only on its Medici plan. Its pricing page shows a 30-day free trial but not the prices.

Drawbacks: the useful extras sit behind Pro. Pick it if speed of entry matters most. Our Toshl alternative page compares it with Sorayli.

10A spreadsheet: best for complete control

A spreadsheet costs nothing, links to nothing and does exactly what you build. Five columns are enough: date, shop, what it was, category, amount. Add a tab per month and a SUMIF per category. The cost is time: every purchase is typed, and a 20-line grocery receipt is 20 rows or one lump sum.

11How to choose

• You want to plan the month before it starts: EveryDollar free, or YNAB if you'll pay.
• You think in envelopes: Goodbudget.
• Most of your spending comes with a receipt, or in cash: Sorayli.
• You spend in more than one currency: Sorayli, Wallet or Toshl.
• You want the lowest price for a phone-only app: Spendee Plus.
• You don't want any app holding your data: a spreadsheet.

Whichever you pick, the habit matters more than the app. Our guide to tracking expenses without linking your bank sets out a weekly routine that works with any of them, and our list of receipt scanner apps for personal budgeting goes deeper on scanning.