Ziko

Ziko is a free personal budgeting app built by Vizra, a product studio. It runs on all devices as a Progressive Web App, so you open it in your browser, add it to your phone's home screen like a native app, and use it offline when you need to. The app does one job: help you set a monthly budget, track spending by category, and get alerted when you go over. There's no bank login, no premium tier, and no freemium limits. Every feature is available to every user, free forever.

How You Log Spending

Ziko is manual-entry only. You don't connect a bank account or a credit card. Instead, you log each purchase as you spend it under the right category. The app shows you real-time running totals for each category and for your entire month, so you can see at a glance where you stand.

Because everything is manual, there's no risk of a broken bank connection, no third-party data sharing, and no sync delays. Ziko doesn't hide this trade-off. It positions manual entry as a strength: "Manual entry builds spending habits." If you want automatic transaction import or bank syncing, this isn't the app for you.

Ziko supports 6 currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, GHS (Ghanaian Cedi), and NGN (Nigerian Naira). You can switch between them anytime with one tap. This is a rare feature in the budgeting space. Most apps are USD-focused, which makes Ziko a genuine option for people who earn or spend in Ghanaian cedis, Nigerian naira, or multiple currencies at once.

The Monthly Budget Structure

Ziko organizes the month in 5 layers: income, total spending cap, fixed bills, variable categories, and alerts.

At the start of each month, you enter your income (for example, $5,000) and a total spending cap (for example, $3,500, the maximum you plan to spend across everything that month). This becomes your "financial north star" for the month. Then you add fixed monthly expenses once: rent ($1,200), internet ($60), gym membership ($35), Netflix ($15), car insurance ($120). Ziko remembers these and carries them forward to every future month automatically. You never re-enter them. You can still edit amounts, delete old ones, or add new ones anytime.

Next, you create spending categories with individual caps. Examples from the site: Groceries ($400 a month), Transport ($200), Eating Out ($150), Entertainment ($100), Personal Care ($80). Each category has its own cap, so you can see at a glance where you stand in every area of your life. Every time you spend, you log it under the right category. The category totals update instantly.

The real-time feedback is the alert system. When your Groceries spending goes over $400, Ziko instantly sends you an email alert showing exactly how much you've spent, what the cap was, and how much you went over. The same alert fires if your total monthly spending exceeds your overall cap. No surprises at the end of the month when it's too late to course-correct. This is the single biggest reason people abandon budget apps, they don't know they're over budget until it's over.

At any point, you can check the Analytics view to see your spending patterns month by month across the whole year. You can see which months you stayed within budget, where you overspent, and how your habits trend over time. This helps you plan smarter every month.

Price and What You Actually Get

Ziko is completely free. There is no premium plan, no paid upgrade, no "free trial that expires," and no credit card required ever.

The site repeats this several times: "100% Free. No Subscription. No Credit Card. Ever." and "Free forever. No hidden charges. Works on all devices. Install as an app." The features listed as included are: unlimited expense entries, overspend email alerts, month-by-month year analytics, PWA install on phone, multi-currency support, and no ads. There is no catch in the fine print.

To show you the rarity of this, Ziko's comparison table lines up its free offering against other popular budget apps. YNAB is "powerful for envelope-style budgeting, but it costs every month." EveryDollar's free plan is "limited, bank sync and advanced features need EveryDollar Plus." Mint shut down entirely. Spendee has a "free tier but caps envelopes and devices." Rocket Money is "great at finding subscriptions and negotiating bills, but budgeting is secondary." Simplifi is "a polished paid planner with bank sync" that costs money. Cleo requires "a subscription for core features." Ziko includes everything on the free plan.

The site is transparent about privacy too: "Your data is stored securely on a cloud database. Your password is hashed and never stored in plain text. All connections use HTTPS. Ziko does not sell your data or share it with third parties." This matters because most free apps monetize by selling anonymized spending data or pushing their own credit products. Ziko is built and maintained by Vizra, not by a fintech company trying to sell you anything downstream. There's no business model hiding behind a free surface.

Who It's Built For and Who It's Not

Ziko is built for people who want to plan their spending before the month starts, not analyze what they spent after. If you think in terms of "I earn $5,000, I want to spend $3,500, and I need to know in real time when I'm getting close," Ziko fits.

It's also built for people who want privacy and full data control. Because it's manual entry and doesn't ask for a bank login, there's no third-party data sharing and no risk of a sync breaking your workflow. The site markets this directly: "Privacy-first budgeting. Ziko is manual by design, you log what you spend, stay in control of your data, and still get real-time totals and alerts." This appeals to people who've heard breaches from other apps or who simply don't want their bank credentials sitting on a stranger's server.

It suits people in countries outside the US. The multi-currency support includes GHS and NGN alongside the standard options. If you earn or spend in Ghanaian cedis or Nigerian naira, that's a rare feature among budget apps.

Ziko does not suit you if you want automatic bank sync. It does not suit you if you prefer to set up once and never log anything again. It does not suit you if you want to connect investment accounts, negotiate bills, or get credit-score reports, those are other products. If you strongly prefer a native iOS or Android app from the app store, Ziko is a PWA, not an app store download, though it installs on your phone and works offline just the same.

The site also makes clear: "Most budget apps are either too complex (full accounting software) or paywalled behind subscriptions. Ziko is built for one thing: helping everyday people track monthly spending clearly and simply." If you want simplicity and free forever, this is an option. If you want power and automation, you'll likely need a paid app.