Is YNAB (You Need a Budget) worth all the hype?

YNAB is notorious for its support community and holds regular workshops to teach others how to use its tools. So, while it has a steep learning curve, there are resources to overcome it. Read on to find out if YNAB will fit your situation and how it compares to the competition. 

All the information in this article is current as of September 16, 2024, and is subject to change.

How YNAB Works

YNAB operates with four guiding rules and the first is this: Give every dollar a job, which is also known as zero-based budgeting. Features of the platform include manual and automated expense tracking, budgeting, and financial reporting. Here’s a closer look at everything it offers.

Learn the method & build your plan

Your goal with YNAB is to plan for every dollar you receive as soon as you get it, prepare for infrequent upcoming expenses, learn how to “roll with the punches” when the unexpected comes up, and then build a buffer between when you receive your money versus when you spend it. 

This is a different approach to budgeting that requires a little more planning than other methods, so YNAB has a structured setup guide full of tutorials to help you set up your personalized budget. There are even live daily workshops to help. Visual users will love that you can even use emojis in your budget’s category names when setting them up in the mobile app.

Add your accounts & assign your money

You’ll start things off by adding your bank accounts. Don’t worry about categorizing historical transactions; just get started with your current account balances and manually assign every existing dollar to the categories in your budget, such as rent, groceries, savings, and gas until every penny is accounted for. Then you’ll know exactly how much you have available to spend.

Many bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial accounts can be linked to YNAB for automatic tracking of your transactions. If your bank isn’t supported, you can upload bank statements instead. File formats include:

• Recommended: OFX and QFX
• Supported: QIF and CSV

As transactions start hitting your accounts, YNAB will start off by flagging them as needing a category. Over time, it will learn your spending habits and suggest categories for transactions automatically (which you should review to make sure they are accurate). There is also a reconciliation feature that you can (and should) use to make sure your balances in YNAB line up with what’s actually in the bank.

Access spending & net worth reports

Knowing how you spend money over time and then visualizing that data can help you track patterns, progress, and areas for improvement. With YNAB, you can see reports about spending, income, and net worth, and then filter by date, category, or account to track your financial health.

Share accounts with a spouse or family member

You can sync your accounts across devices so you can share your budget with a spouse or family member. This way, you can collaborate on your family budget and check that you’re both staying on track. You can sync your accounts across devices so you can share your budget with a spouse or family member. This way, you can collaborate on your family budget and check that you’re staying on track with your family’s financial goals. With YNAB Together, up to five people can share the same YNAB subscription with their own login credentials and budgets, and each one can be set to be shared or kept private.

Split transactions

If you need detailed expense tracking, split transactions allow you to account for every expense category. For example, when you have a single purchase at a grocery store you can then split this transaction into separate categories such as groceries, household items, and entertainment. This is helpful when shopping at one-stop-shop-type places, such as Walmart or Target, where there are multiple budget categories to shop in.

Getting started with YNAB

To get started with YNAB, you must first visit its website, ynab.com, and start your 34-day free trial by entering your email and a password. Then, enter your name so YNAB knows what to call you. After hitting continue, YNAB wants to know how you heard about it and then it’s time to get real with your finances. Let YNAB know how you feel about your current financial situation.

Depending on what you select in the previous step, YNAB will either give you an encouraging word about how it’s here to help and invite you to create a plan, or it’ll congratulate you on your current success and offer to create a plan to build on what you’ve already accomplished.

Add household details

The finances of someone who is single are wildly different from someone who is supporting an entire family and a few pets. Let YNAB know who they need to factor in by selecting what your household looks like, whether you’re just budgeting for yourself or have a partner, kids, teens, or even pets. If you select more options than just yourself, YNAB will offer for you to share the subscription with your household.

Next, letting YNAB know if you own or rent can help it factor in appropriate categories into your budget. For example, a renter won’t need to pay for something like a broken water heater but a homeowner will. If you select that you own your home, YNAB wants to know if you have a mortgage or if your home is paid off. If you rent, you’ll move on to the next step.

Define your debts and monthly expenses

YNAB wants to know if you have any debt, such as credit cards or student loans. It’s important to factor in any debt you have so that YNAB knows how best to help you with your budget. If you select any debt options, YNAB will give you an encouraging testimony about someone who paid off more than $50,000 in debt in just a few years.

After that, YNAB wants to know how you get around, such as via car, wheelchair, bike, or public transit. When you tell YNAB what you typically spend your money on, it’s easier for it to come up with category options for your budget. The same goes for any recurring subscriptions you have; you can select options for music, TV streaming, fitness memberships, or other typical monthly charges, and YNAB will create a category for each one.

Plan for the unexpected and reward yourself

The real beauty of YNAB is budgeting for the unexpected so you’re prepared and don’t have to rely on credit. Let YNAB know if there are any expenses that come up you always seem to be unprepared for, such as annual credit card fees, taxes, vehicle registrations, or vet bills.

Similarly, budgeting for some of life’s most important goals will make it easier to not rely on debt instruments to pay for them. YNAB can create categories for any savings goal you can imagine, including retirement, a new home, a new car, or other exciting life events. Goals can be assigned to each of these categories so that you can plan to build up the fund by a certain date or simply assign a baseline amount of money to that category each month. 

YNAB’s final question is about the little things you want to budget for that will make your day a little happier. After all, failing to budget for occasional indulgences can derail your plans quickly. Select from options such as gifts, dining out, hobbies, and other common categories that aren’t necessities but just make life more enjoyable—especially when you can spend money on them guilt-free!

Customize your budget

Now that you’ve answered YNAB’s questions, the real work begins. The platform will bring you to a new screen with suggested groups of categories based on the questions you’ve just answered. Each of these can be customized to meet your unique needs, and targets can be applied if you know you’ll need a specific amount of money assigned to the category each month.

After setting your target (one or as many as you want), YNAB needs to know your bank account balances so it knows how much you have to assign to each target. You’ll do this by either linking your account automatically (by logging in and authorizing YNAB to access the account) or by adding your account details manually.

Once YNAB has the details of your account, it will give you a total at the top that you can assign to your categories. After assigning your money to each category, you can see exactly how much you have available to spend in each category and can plan your expenses accordingly.

How much does YNAB cost?

There are two options for purchasing YNAB, and both involve a subscription. You can pay $14.99 per month or save more than $70 by signing up for an annual plan at $109 per year. Both plans come with full access to all of YNAB’s features. Handily, YNAB automatically includes a category to make sure you budget for this expense.

Is YNAB easy to use?

Of the various budgeting apps on the market, YNAB can be one of the more challenging apps to get the hang of due to the sheer number if steps it takes to set up. However, recent updates have made the onboarding process much easier as it walks you through the process completely and recommends many of the categories users are likely to need. Once you’ve mastered the process, upkeep takes less than two hours per week, and there are a ton of resources to help you along the way, including daily live workshops.

Can you use YNAB on a mobile app?

Yes, you can access almost every feature of YNAB in its app form, though some features are a bit more clunky this way. For everyday use such as logging transactions and assigning them to categories, the app gets the job done. More involved tasks such as initial budget setup and reconciling accounts may be easier on a computer with a web browser. 

YNAB customer support 

Contact support via email or through in-app messaging and receive a response within one business day, Monday through Friday.

Is YNAB safe?

While YNAB has never been breached, there are some concerns about its use of Plaid—particularly its application programming interface (API) permission. If your bank doesn’t use read-only API, theoretically, should there be a breach at Plaid, hackers could then access your banking details. 

YNAB user reviews

YNAB has more than 2,000 reviews on Trustpilot, with 78% of those giving it 5 stars. Many praise its proactive approach to budgeting, although most of its negative feedback discusses the steep learning curve. However, those who do complain about that learning curve say it’s worth it, especially for those who prefer to be hands-on in their finances. 

Some users complain about synchronization issues with their bank accounts, which then require them to do frequent manual input. Others complain about its price hikes in the last few years, which is making it less attractive compared to the competition.

How YNAB stacks up against competitors

YNAB could be a great option for many people looking to set up a budget, but it’s certainly not your only option. Here’s how YNAB stacks up to a couple of its competitors, Rocket Money and Monarch Money:

YNAB	Rocket Money	Monarch Money
Best for	Best for	Best for
Zero-based budgeting	Bill negotiation	Financial advisors
Monthly rate (if billed monthly)	Monthly rate (if billed monthly)	Monthly rate (if billed monthly)
$14.99	$6–$12 per month for premium version	$14.99
Annual rate (if billed annually)	Annual rate (if billed annually)	Annual rate (if billed annually)
$109	$6–$12 per month for premium version	$69.99 for the first year $99.99 in subsequent years
Free trial length	Free trial length	Free trial length
34 days	7 days	7 days
Free plan available?	Free plan available?	Free plan available?
No	Yes	No
Learn more	Learn more	Learn more
View offer at YNAB	View offer at Rocket Money	View offer at Monarch Money

YNAB vs. Rocket Money

Rocket Money offers a budgeting tool as one of its free features, but it’s much more basic than the YNAB app. However, Rocket Money also offers a wide range of other offerings, including subscription management, a net worth tracker, credit score monitoring, and more. Rocket Money’s premium plan costs $6–12 per month, or as low as $48 annually while YNAB costs $14.99 monthly or $109 annually.

YNAB vs. Monarch Money

Similar to YNAB, Monarch Money syncs with your bank and credit card information and updates automatically to show you how much money you have left in each category. You can allow Monarch Money to do this for you, or you can customize your categories and goals. Monarch also allows for joint reports for couples. Monarch Money also offers net worth and investment tracking, recurring bill pay, and more. Monarch Money costs $14.99 per month or $69.99 annually. 

So, should you use YNAB?

If you want a hands-on approach to monitoring your finances and you’re dedicated to using the tool, YNAB could be a great option for you. While the setup process may feel daunting at first, many users claim they can maintain their budget in under 2 hours per week.

Frequently asked questions