Alternatives
YNAB alternatives, honestly ranked, with the catch on each
People leave over the price, the country, or money that stopped fitting in a bank.
Prices read off each product's own pages on 13 September 2026. Orla is one of five here, and not the answer to all three reasons.
The shortlist
Five, and what each is actually for
Including the one we would send you to if you want the envelope method itself.
| Best for | Price | The catch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Actual BudgetOpen source | The envelope method, no subscription | Free, self-hosted | You host it, or pay a small host to. Nobody is on call when it breaks |
| Lunch MoneyIndependent | The cheapest honest subscription, with a rules engine and an API | $10 a month or $100 a year, your price | Crypto is a balance only, in their own words |
| MonarchHousehold | A polished household budget with planning | $99.99 a year, with monthly billing offered | United States and Canada only. No free tier, and the trial asks for a card |
| Copilot MoneyApple | The best made of them, if your money is American and in dollars | $95 a year | US institutions only, USD only, no Android |
| OrlaThis site | Several currencies, exchanges and wallets, and a company book beside your own | Free, then $25 or $69 a month | The dearest of the paid plans here, and no app in the stores yet |
If you are leaving over the price
You probably want Actual Budget, and we will say so
The method, open source and local first, with optional end-to-end encryption.
- The envelope system, kept whole, without a subscription.
- Your data stays yours, on a machine you control.
- The cost is that hosting and upgrades are your job, and there is nobody to email at midnight.
Where Orla fits
One reason, and it is narrow
Not the cheaper answer, but the one for money that stopped fitting.
- Coins that move, not coins that sit: a sale, income in stablecoins, a transfer between your wallets, each with a cost basis.
- Several currencies at once, each account in its own, totalled in the one you pick.
- Invoices, if part of your income arrives because you asked for it.
- Separate books for a household, a trip or a company, on the same login.
Questions
The questions the table does not answer
What is the closest thing to YNAB itself?
Actual Budget. It keeps the envelope method whole, it is open source and local first, with optional end-to-end encryption and sync across devices, and it costs nothing beyond hosting it. If you are leaving YNAB over the price rather than over what it can see, that is where we would send you.
Which of these work outside the United States?
Lunch Money and Orla. Monarch says web, iPhone, iPad and Android “in the United States and Canada”; Copilot says it supports only US financial institutions and only USD. Actual Budget is agnostic because you bring the data yourself.
Is Orla the cheapest option here?
No. Actual Budget is free if you host it, Lunch Money is $10 a month, and our lowest paid plan is $25. Our free plan has no time limit and syncs banks and exchanges up to 5 000 rows a month; more than that is a paid plan. If price is the deciding factor, we are not the answer.
Other comparisons
Free plan, no card, no countdown
If one of the other four fits you better, take it.
Or compare with Lunch Money →- Orla vs T:0 →
- T:0 keeps GAAP books with a CPA; Orla runs everything before the accountant, and speaks crypto.
- Orla vs Dimely →
- Dimely turns a contract into an invoice inside your ERP; Orla takes it all the way to the money.
- Orla vs Fuelfinance →
- Fuelfinance is FP&A over QuickBooks; Orla is the book itself, for a company with no bookkeeper.
- Orla vs Light →
- Light is an agentic ERP for groups of companies; Orla is one company's back office, started this afternoon.
- Orla vs Neno →
- Neno is a Dutch accounting firm that holds money and files; Orla holds neither and hands the month to your accountant.
- Moving off Midday →
- Midday is winding down; Orla reads its whole export, categories and receipts included.
- Orla vs YNAB →
- Both budget your money. YNAB sees your banks; Orla sees banks, exchanges and wallets in one book.
- Orla vs Monarch →
- Monarch budgets American and Canadian banks well; Orla adds exchanges and wallets to the same money.
- Orla vs Copilot Money →
- Copilot tracks American money in dollars; Orla holds several currencies and puts coins in the budget.
- Orla vs Lunch Money →
- Both independent, both outside America; the split is whether a coin is a balance or a line.
- Orla vs Splitwise →
- Splitwise keeps score of who owes whom; Orla keeps the book those debts belong to.
- Orla vs CoinTracker →
- One counts last year's crypto for the tax office; the other runs your money all year.
- Splitwise alternatives →
- Two free like-for-like options, one different idea, and when moving a group is not worth it.
See it on your own books
Thirty minutes: we connect an account, drop a real bill in, and close a month together.