Budgeting apps that work without linking your bank
Last updated · Sources checked
Many budgeting apps are built around connecting to your bank, but several work without it. You type purchases in, import a file you download from your bank, or have your bank's alert emails read for you. Here's what each app asks of you instead, and what it costs.
For the approaches themselves, without product names, see Budgeting without linking your bank account.
Prices are as listed on each company's website on September 24, 2026. Check before you sign up, because they change. One of these products is ours, and it's marked as such.
The options
YNAB
YNAB can link to your bank, but it doesn't have to. You can add accounts without linking them and enter transactions yourself, or download a file from your bank and import it without linking. File import works in the web app and on an iPad, but not on iPhone or Android.
Cost: $14.99 a month or $109 a year, after a 34-day free trial.
Without linking: every transaction is either typed in or imported from a file you download.
EveryDollar
EveryDollar, from Ramsey Solutions, has a free version in which you enter transactions by hand. Connecting your bank is part of the paid Premium version.
Cost: the free version costs nothing. Premium is $17.99 a month, or $79.99 a year, after a 14-day free trial.
Without linking: you use the free version and enter every transaction yourself.
Goodbudget
Goodbudget is an envelope budgeting app. Its free plan has 10 regular envelopes, 10 more for savings or goals, one account, two devices and one year of history. Automatic bank sync, for US banks only, comes with Premium. Without it, you enter transactions yourself or import a QFX, OFX or CSV file from your bank.
Cost: free, or $10 a month or $80 a year for Premium.
Without linking: transactions are typed in or imported from a file. On the free plan, you're also limited to one account and one year of history.
Actual Budget
Actual Budget is free and open source. It runs as a desktop app for Windows, Mac or Linux, or on a server you host yourself, and it imports QIF, OFX, QFX, CAMT.053 and CSV files. It also supports bank sync, which you don't have to use.
Cost: free.
Without linking: you import files or type transactions in. To use the same budget on more than one device, you need to run a server, which takes some technical setup.
A spreadsheet
Many banks let you download your transactions as a CSV file, which Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers can open. Paste each month's download into one sheet and add a category column.
Cost: free with Google Sheets.
Without linking: it never links. You build the budget yourself, and it only updates when you download a new file.
Bankless Budget (ours)
Bankless Budget never connects to your bank. It reads the transaction alert emails your bank sends to Gmail, from one label you choose, and sends each alert's text to Google's Gemini AI to pull out the merchant, amount, date, card and a suggested category.
Cost: free for up to 100 imported transactions a month. Plus is $7.99 a month or $79 a year. Pro is $11.99 a month or $119 a year.
Without linking: you turn on email alerts at each bank and set up a Gmail filter once. On Free and Plus you start each import yourself; on Pro, alerts are imported as they arrive. It needs Gmail, shows no balances, and only sees purchases your bank sends an alert for.
How to choose
- You don't mind typing purchases in: EveryDollar's or Goodbudget's free versions cost nothing.
- You'd rather import a file each week or month: YNAB, Actual Budget or a spreadsheet.
- You want your data kept on your own computer: Actual Budget's desktop app, or a spreadsheet file.
- You want purchases to arrive without typing or downloading, and you use Gmail: Bankless Budget.
Without linking, none of these keeps your balances and investments up to date for you. If that's what you want, an app that links to your bank is the way to get it.
Sources
- Pricing. YNAB, accessed September 24, 2026.
- File-Based Import in YNAB. YNAB Support, accessed September 24, 2026.
- EveryDollar. Ramsey Solutions, accessed September 24, 2026.
- Sign up. Goodbudget, accessed September 24, 2026.
- Manually Import Transaction Information From Your Bank. Goodbudget, accessed September 24, 2026.
- Actual Budget. Actual Budget, accessed September 24, 2026.
- actualbudget/actual. GitHub, accessed September 24, 2026.
- Installing Actual. Actual Budget documentation, accessed September 24, 2026.
Track spending from your bank's alerts
Bankless Budget reads your bank's transaction alerts from one Gmail label and uses Google's Gemini AI to turn them into a categorized spending dashboard and monthly budget. It never asks for a bank login, and the free plan doesn't ask for a card.