Budgero

Private Budgeting Without Bank Connections

Budgero is a zero-based budgeting app built around privacy and transparency. The core philosophy is straightforward: give your money a job, record your spending, and see what remains available for bills, groceries, and savings. Unlike apps that sync with your bank, Budgero asks you to enter transactions manually or import them from a CSV your own bank provides. This manual-entry approach means you never share your login credentials or give a third party access to your accounts. Your budget data is end-to-end encrypted, which means Budgero's servers cannot read your financial information even if they wanted to. The app runs in your browser on any device, and because the source code is open source under the AGPL license, anyone can inspect it, fork it, or self-host it entirely. Budgero is built for people who care about privacy and want to own their financial data.

Adding Transactions Manually or Importing from Your Bank

Budgero handles money coming in through manual entry or through CSV imports you create from your bank's export feature. You add a transaction by entering the amount, date, category, and description directly into the app. For people who want to avoid giving any aggregator access to their credentials, this manual path is a feature, not a limitation. You can also ask your bank to export a CSV and paste that data into Budgero, which processes the file and lets you review and categorize all the imported rows at once. Once a transaction is entered or imported, you can split a single purchase across multiple categories, mark it as cleared, or adjust it. Budgero supports multiple currencies in separate accounts, so if you have a EUR checking account and a USD travel account, you can track both in one budget and see converted balances. Transfers between accounts in different currencies are handled without needing a separate spreadsheet. For couples or families, Budgero includes YNAB data import, so if either partner used YNAB before switching, you can bring your existing accounts, categories, and full transaction history into Budgero through a direct connection or a CSV export. You review the imported data, reconcile your account balances, and pick up budgeting from there.

Give Every Dollar a Job, Then Adapt

Budgero implements the zero-based budgeting method: you assign every dollar of income to a category or savings goal before the month begins. The dashboard shows you in real time whether you are in surplus with unassigned money or in deficit with spending that exceeds income. A floating widget surfaces this balance so you can spot when your month is fully allocated. You log transactions as they happen, and the app updates your remaining balance in each category. If you overspend one category mid-month, you move dollars from another to stay at zero. Budgero calls this "better together," and it extends to shared budgeting. You can invite up to five people into a single shared workspace, and everyone sees the same budget plan. All changes sync across devices instantly. Each person gets their own login and can set their own master password, so one person cannot lock anyone else out. The subscription covers the entire shared workspace, so your partner does not need to buy a separate subscription. The app includes reports that turn your spending history into insights: Money Map shows where dollars go, Spending reports reveal trends over time, Wealth reports show your total assets and liabilities, and Scenarios let you model different spending plans to see what happens. You can also bring your YNAB budget into Budgero and continue from there.

Pricing and What You Get

Budgero offers a 35-day free trial with no credit card required. After the trial ends, the service costs either 4 dollars per month or 35 dollars per year, with tax included in both prices. The subscription covers everything on one budget with up to five people, meaning there is no per-seat charge no matter how many partners or family members join. The free trial gives you access to the full app: the budgeting dashboard, multiple accounts, transactions and calendar views, debt and asset tracking, the Lab for financial reports, savings goals, and scenarios. The only limits on the free tier after your trial ends would depend on whether you choose the paid plan, but the site clearly states that core budgeting is available on the free trial. Because Budgero is open source, you can also download a full SQLite backup of your budget or a CSV bundle and self-host the app yourself. If you prefer to run Budgero on your own server, the source code is available on GitHub, and you manage hosting, updates, and backups yourself. The hosted Budgero Cloud version takes care of those tasks for you, which is what the 4 dollar or 35 dollar price covers.

Who Budgero Suits

Budgero is ideal for people who are uncomfortable sharing their banking credentials with a third party. If you value privacy and encryption and want to know that your budget data is yours alone, Budgero removes that friction entirely. The app is also designed for couples and families who budget together, with shared access built into the base subscription rather than offered as an add-on. Since the app works in your browser on any device, you can budget on your phone, tablet or computer without installing native apps, though native apps for iOS, Android and Mac are available where supported. The open source code appeals to people who want to inspect how their financial data is handled, contribute improvements, or run their own instance.

Budgero is less suitable if you prefer fully automatic bank connectivity. The manual or CSV import workflow requires more attention than most alternatives that sync automatically, though the app estimates it takes about two minutes to review and categorize each batch of transactions. If your bank does not support CSV export or if you use a platform Budgero has not integrated with, you would be entering transactions one by one. The app is available in five languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch) and handles multiple currencies, making it accessible to users outside the US, though it was not designed as a US-only tool. For anyone who decided that the privacy trade-off of automatic sync was not worth it, and who values transparency enough to use open source software, Budgero offers a complete, secure budgeting system at a low subscription cost.