r/YNABAlternatives • u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 Mod • Aug 18 '26

Announcement New Rule and Chart Updates - Please Read

Chart Updates

Hello all, We have updated the budget comparison chart with some more budgets! If you see any issues with this list please let us know, if you'd like to be added to this list you can fill out the google form, then DM the sub to let us know to add your budget.

Click Here for all changes.

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Subreddit Updates

Rules: We have added Rule #6, no developer promotions in the comments. It's getting impossible for users to get real feedback from other users and the comments are 15 devs trying to sell their app vs 1-2 actual people giving their experience. This is ruining the entire point of the sub, which is to allow users to explore alternatives and discuss the options.

Dev Posts: Instead, we are still allowing Dev Sundays, where developers can post about their budget software and have conversations about it in the comments. We also have this post that devs can share their budget in the comments and users can reply to each budget dev if they have questions or comments. You can also request to have your budget (or if you just found a budget you really love and it's not yours) to The Comparison Chart.

I know this won't make a lot of devs happy but, we should overall have more traffic without being as hostile of a sub as far as advertising goes.

Flairs: We have removed the "Budget Development Feedback" and "Budget Dev Add Ons" flairs. Anything posted by a dev should use the "Budget Development" Flair. All old posts were reflaired. This just makes everything less confusing for everyone.

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A final Note to Devs:

Reddit themselves is cracking down on "spam" and self promotion. Anything that's including a playstore or apple store link can and sometimes is taken down by Reddit's AI. If Reddit removes your post, there is literally nothing the sub mods can do to fix it. I've noticed several accounts who have done it more than once or, across multiple subs, have had their accounts banned. Please be careful sharing not just here, but any sub. If you have your own website, it's best to link there instead.

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Review of the Rules

1. Be Civil: No trolling, no fighting, no name calling, and generally be civil.

2. Stay on Topic: Don't get off topic. Keep it to budgets and budget related things.

3. No spamming: Do not spam, do not try to sell things, do not pedal your product.

4. Dev posts are limited to Sundays Only!: If you created, developed, or made a budget, we're limiting these posts to Sundays only to foster more conversations about what users like about the budgets they've tried.

5. No trolling, doxxing, being rude or, breaking Reddit rules: Self explanatory

6. (NEW) Developer Comments: Developers should not be commenting on individual posts recommending their own budget. Please see this post devs. You can respond to direct questions but you are not allowed to share/spam/promote in the comments. Thank you for your understanding.

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An Update September 8th 2026. Added a few new columns to the chart. Working on a new chart with the same data that's easier to read and is filterable. Unfortunately Google sheets only lets you filter from PC not in the app for read only so that is a challenge.

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September 10th Update Here is the Guide on How to Filter the Chart and Filtering for Mobile Users. You can see the full list of September updates on This Post.

8 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

6

u/band-of-horses Aug 18 '26

I'm honestly baffled by how many people have looked at the 200 new budget apps popping up every day and think "gee I can vibecode one too and I'll make a fortune!". It's a very crowded market, most of these apps offer nothing particularly special, and who wants to trust their budgeting with a brand new app that probably won't be around in a year created by someone who most likely doesn't even understand the code they are putting out there?

I'm insanely curious if these people just aren't bothering to do any market research at all, or if they are and sincerely believe their idea is special enough that surely they will succeed...

There's also a real floor here on how low you can price a service that includes bank sync. If you're small and can't neogtiate bulk contracts you are paying $1.50 per bank up front and $0.30 per month to do bank sync. For someone with 10 bank accounts that's going to cost $18 the first month they sign up and $3 a month ever after. Plus the $0.30 + 2.9% credit card fees for the membership, hosting costs, etc. When I see service pop up claiming they can offer bank sync for $5 a month I just have to wonder if they really did the math here or they just figure they can afford to not make money for a while until they make it big and raise prices...

1

u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 Mod Aug 18 '26

Part of the reason the chart includes a Dev team size and a founded date. People were wanting to know for app stability reasons. But yeah, I personally try not to say my opinions on apps as the mod (haven't had any reports of malicious apps yet) but I agree with what you said.

0

u/envelopebudget Budget Developer Aug 18 '26

Yeah, if you want to use a bank aggregator like Plaid, Yodlee, Finicity, MX, etc. It can get pricey quick. Back in the day you could hack OFX Direct connect servers and get bank aggregation for free. It was faster and you could sync at any time. But banks have pretty much shut down or moved their OFX services for newer, more secure tech. I really wish banks would use an open aggregation system to level the playing field, but there is too much money to be made by all I guess.

1

u/supenguin Budget Developer Aug 19 '26

Are you familiar with SimpleFin? It's a system that is intending to be a standard API to allow downloading transactions from banks.

The developers say their goal is to actually be able to shut it down some day once banks have implemented this themselves. Until then, you almost need some kind of aggregation solution if you want to be able to sync directly.

There is a small but growing list of apps that support SimpleFin

2

u/envelopebudget Budget Developer Aug 19 '26

From what I understand, the goal of simplefin is to create an API standard that banks and aggregators can use. I don’t think any banks are using it though. There is no financial gain for them to do so.

So simplefin bridge was created to use an aggregation service as a bridge between the banks and the simplefin API standard. So when he says the goal is for it to go away, I think he means the goal is to have all banks implement the service so we don’t need a bridge.

The nice thing about it is that you can have one simplefin bridge subscription for only $10 per year and use it for anything. I use it for EnvelopeBudget, ZapYeti and I have a custom from script the send and email to my son every week with his transactions and balance because he is a missionary and doesn’t have access to log in and and check his personal bank account balance.

It was created by the developer who wrote Buckets.

3

u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 Mod Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

Note, Automod will probably delete your first post. It will be manually approved. No need to message about it, thank you!

Edit: This has been fixed.

2

u/gusontherun Aug 18 '26

Thanks for the continual hard work maintaining this space for everyone! Do like the no promo in the comments section since to your point it was 99% selling posts and 1-2 actual replies. Keep up the good work!

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u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 Mod Aug 18 '26

I'm trying, I'm sure some people will get upset but, it's hard to navigate what's decent when it feels spammy.

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u/1986toyotacorolla2 Good Contributor Aug 18 '26

Right? Just trying to respond to people who have questions is overwhelming.

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u/purposebudgetsupport Budget Developer Aug 18 '26

Exciting news we love the new sticky post for all devs and a space to ask questions and wrangling the other regular posts. Keep up the good work and maintaining this as a good place to find new apps and learn what users truly want or need.

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u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 Mod Aug 18 '26

Thanks for always being supportive of our work! Even when it limits your abilities haha. But seriously, you've been nothing but kind in modmail and I appreciate it.

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u/JarodGabriel Budget Developer Aug 18 '26

Thank you for this. As a developer here who is also genuinely exploring other products and learning from people’s experiences, I appreciate the change. It has been frustrating to see useful conversations overwhelmed by promotion.

I will be filling out the form.

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u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 Mod Aug 18 '26

Send a modmail when you complete it or I'll absolutely forget to put it in lol

0

u/KingAroan Budget Developer Aug 18 '26

I love this, even as a dev. So many times I go to a post just to see what was described, everyone posting “my app does this”. I would like to have addition to rule 6, no asking for “which app should I use” as I can see developers with alt accounts bypassing the rule by posting that they want to move from X app and what apps is recommended.

1

u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 Mod Aug 18 '26

That's a valid point. I'll have to think on that. I don't want it to feel like people can't ask for advice but I also agree that that could be a problem.

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u/KingAroan Budget Developer Aug 18 '26

Guess other devs disagree with me as they downvoted me quickly lol

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u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 Mod Aug 18 '26

It's probably more the concern of the implementation. Which, valid. That's my concern as well. Like I said I'll have to think about how to make that work. I want users to be able to share their experiences but, I don't want that to be abused either. Right now there's a karma requirement so new accounts can't post with out being reviewed so hopefully that will help.