Zeroed (The Zero-Trust Financial Ledger)

Local-First Budgeting, No Subscriptions, No Servers

Stillware Ltd's Zeroed is a zero-based budgeting app built on a simple premise: your financial data belongs on your device, encrypted and under your control. The app runs on Windows via the Microsoft Store and works entirely offline, with flawless operation even without Wi-Fi connectivity. There are no servers involved, no subscriptions, and no data ever leaves your device. You buy it once ($19.99 as a founder price through February 14, 2027, after which it costs $39.99), own it forever, and keep every feature. The 34-day free trial requires no credit card, so you can test every capability before deciding to purchase. No credit card means no automatic charging when the trial ends; you decide when and whether to buy.

Zero-based budgeting means you assign every dollar before you spend it, starting from zero each month. Zeroed encrypts all your data with AES-256, the same standard used in banking and military communications. Because the app has no backend servers and your files never touch Stillware's infrastructure, the attack surface is dramatically smaller than cloud-connected alternatives. Stillware publishes a detailed manifesto about software that respects users, which frames Zeroed as part of a larger philosophy about ownership and privacy. The company emphasizes that it never sells or trains models on your data, and never engages in tracking or data mining. This is a tool built explicitly for people who want budgeting technology without trusting third parties with their financial details.

Stillware's tagline is "Apps You Own. Pay Once, Keep Forever." This speaks to a design philosophy that rejects subscription software in favor of applications you actually own, where your data never leaves your hard drive. The company lists three core commitments: honest pricing (no subscriptions, renewals, or surprises), zero surveillance (no tracking, data mining, or model training), and local-first design (apps run flawlessly without Wi-Fi and files never touch servers). These are not marketing slogans; they are architectural decisions that shape how Zeroed works.

Getting Money In Means Manual Entry Only

Zeroed does not connect to your bank. You enter transactions manually or import them from a CSV export if you have records elsewhere. This is the app's most significant limitation and also its core design choice. Without a connection to your bank, Zeroed cannot leak your banking credentials, cannot be breached to expose them, and cannot track your accounts if your device is compromised. It also means you do something that most modern budgeting apps eliminate: you type or paste your spending.

The support documentation describes the workflow: you set up your first budget, categories, and accounts directly in the app, which takes about two minutes according to Stillware's guide. Transactions sync through your personal Google Drive if you choose to enable local sync. The app signs into your Google account through the app's settings, creates a ZeroedData folder automatically, and encrypts everything with your existing encryption key so that only Zeroed can read what is in that folder. Any other device you sign into with the same Google account will detect the synced folder and pick up where you left off. Stillware never sees your data at any step because the encryption happens on your device before the file leaves it.

When you switch phones or computers, you sign back in with the same Google account and Zeroed detects the encrypted database and resumes. The process requires manual intervention, but the setup is straightforward. If your sync connection breaks, Zeroed continues working offline without interruption. Nothing gets dropped or queued incorrectly because the app stores everything locally first. This is a key differentiator: the offline capability is not a fallback for network outages; it is the primary design. Syncing is the enhancement, not the foundation.

Categories, Budgets, and Export-to-CSV

Zeroed lets you build categories and accounts to match your spending. Because it is zero-based, you set a target for each category before the month begins. As you enter transactions, Zeroed tracks spending against those targets. The app shows whether you have money left in each category and makes it clear when you have overspent. The zero-based model forces a conversation with yourself about priorities: if you want to spend more on dining, you must spend less somewhere else. This prevents the drift that happens in many budget apps where you set targets but discover them ignored until month-end.

You can export your transactions, categories, and accounts as CSV at any time from the app's Settings menu. This is the application's escape hatch: if you ever want to move your data elsewhere, you can take everything with you. Stillware emphasizes this repeatedly because the data is yours, and the company wants you to believe it and verify it. Because Zeroed uses your Google Drive for synced storage, you can also access the encrypted database directly from Google Drive if you need to retrieve something outside the app. The flexibility to exit is built into the design. This matters when you are thinking long-term: what happens if Stillware goes out of business, or changes its terms, or you simply grow tired of the app? Your data remains accessible.

The app works fully offline. Sync to Google Drive happens only when you reconnect to the internet, so you can travel, work in locations without coverage, or simply prefer not to be online and Zeroed continues to function without degradation. This is especially valuable for people who want to manage their money while traveling internationally or in areas with spotty connectivity.

Pricing: Buy Once, Own Forever

The founder price is $19.99, available until February 14, 2027. After that date, the regular price rises to $39.99. You buy once and pay nothing more. There are no subscriptions, no monthly fees, no annual renewals, and no surprise charges. The 34-day free trial gives you full access to every feature, so you can confirm the workflow suits you before spending anything. This is a generous trial window, longer than most competitors, which reflects Stillware's confidence that users who try it will understand the value.

Stillware does not publish pricing for cloud storage or sync. Google Drive sync is free because you are using your own Google account and your own storage allocation. There are no in-app purchases, no paywalls for features, and no free-tier time limits disguised as trials. What the pricing page does not settle is whether the regular price after February 2027 might change further, though founder pricing often signals a commitment to that specific level as a reward for early adoption.

Who It Suits and Who It Does Not

Zeroed is built for people who prioritize privacy over convenience and are willing to trade automatic bank syncing for offline independence and end-to-end encryption. If you manage a household budget, run a small business with irregular income, or simply want budgeting software that never connects to your bank, this app delivers. The one-time purchase model appeals to users who have grown tired of subscription software and want to own their tools outright.

Zeroed is not suitable if you need automatic bank transaction imports or if managing money manually feels like extra overhead. If you have credit cards, investment accounts, and checking accounts spread across multiple banks and you want all of them visible in one dashboard without manual entry, Zeroed will not satisfy that requirement. If you rely on real-time account balances and alerts, you will need to enter each update yourself. The app demands an active role in your own financial record-keeping, which is precisely what some users want and others find tedious. Stillware's design philosophy is transparent about this trade-off, and the 34-day free trial exists so you can decide whether manual entry matches your workflow before committing $19.99.