BudgetLabs is a zero-based budgeting app built by a solo founder for people who want to decide where every dollar goes before they spend it. It deliberately has no bank sync: transactions are entered by hand, imported from a CSV, or pulled from a pasted statement, PDF, or screenshot by AI Smart Import, which you review before anything saves. It fits people who have tried YNAB, Monarch, or Copilot and want a hands-on budget without the price — the free tier covers the full core budget, and Pro is $1.99/month. It is not a good fit for someone who wants automatic, set-and-forget spending tracking or live investment syncing; Monarch, Copilot, Rocket Money, or Empower serve that better.
It runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web, with Android on the roadmap.
The short version
You plan a month. Every dollar gets a category. As money moves, you log transactions yourself. The dashboard shows what's left. That's the whole loop.
Why manual entry
Most budgeting apps pull your bank transactions automatically. We don't. There's a reason for that: when you enter a purchase yourself — even if it takes five seconds — you actually feel it. You start asking the question those apps train you out of: did I mean to buy this?
If you came here looking for "set it and forget it," BudgetLabs is the wrong tool. If you came here because the auto-import apps stopped working for you, you're in the right place.
What's in the box
- A monthly Dashboard with category-level progress bars.
- Transactions you add by hand, by CSV, by AI-assisted import, or by snapping a receipt.
- Categories that recur monthly, biweekly, weekly, or annually.
- The Lab — a what-if planner with insights, scenarios, goals, and a terminal for power users.
- Hank, an AI assistant that can answer how-to questions, find or add transactions for you, and walk you through your finances.
- Assets and Debt trackers that roll up into a net-worth view.
- Web subscriptions via Stripe and mobile in-app purchases via the App Store.
Who it's for
People who like to know. Spreadsheet veterans tired of Google Sheets, ex-YNAB users who outgrew envelope budgeting, couples managing one household, single-income earners optimizing toward a goal. If you can name the categories you spend in, you can run BudgetLabs.
Status
BudgetLabs is in Public Beta. The core loop — plan, track, review — is shipped and used daily by hundreds of budgeters who collectively log thousands of transactions a week. New features land most weeks; the community drives what's next.
When you're ready, the Quickstart walks you through your first month.