YNAB Ratings and Reviews

Excellent cash flow management tool

Most budget programs are set it and forget it. Which is the problem: once you set it, you forget it and you drift away from your spending plan. The beauty of YNAB is that it is flexible and dynamic, and allows you to adjust your spending plan as you need to. I found the program itself is well designed, reliable, and easy to use. The only issues I’ve had were with banks making it hard to set up connectivity. But YNAB did a good job of communicating how they were working to resolve the issues. In the beginning it does take a few hours to set up categories and get banks connected, mainly because it is so customizable, but once it is set up it is virtually effortless to maintain. Do watch the tutorials first on how to set it up. But then I spend 1 to 3 minutes each morning reviewing the previous days expenditures, and maybe 10 minutes a month reconciling my accounts. It shows monthly and quarterly reports so I can see trends over time. The only tricky bit is understanding how YNAB budgets your credit card purchases. That is not intuitive the way the rest of the program is. But they produce tutorials that explain it well. The web platform is easiest to use for setting up your categories, and for reconciliation. But the phone app is essential for quickly checking your remaining budgets on the go, especially as you get close to your next payday. I highly recommend it for those who want to be in charge of their spending habits.

Developer Response ,

Hey Catherine! Thanks so much for taking time to write up (and update) such a thorough review of YNAB, we especially appreciate your take on Direct Import and Credit Cards (both areas we're working on improving for our users!). We've also made considerable improvements to our onboarding flow since your review, so for anyone reading this, expect a more simplified startup 🤩

We have a whole team of specialists on hand to help any time you run into issues (and you probably know this 😀), but you can reach out to us at help@ynab.com anytime, or by clicking on the question mark in the lower right hand corner of your budget page 🙌 Happy Budgeting! -Caitlin P @ynab

The iPad app is way to kiddy

The app/methodology/paradigm(s) have really revolutionized the way I approach my own finances and i cannot recommend it enough from that regard as a service & function. I have budgeted myself for well over a decade and have done alright, but always felt there was some missing piece or rather a “hole” that seemed to be getting in my way. This app/way of tagging and budgeting really helped me see in a very adult way, the ways in which I was failing to connect some financial dots and keep myself from doing as well as I should have been; it made sense after I really pressed myself to drop my bad thinking that I had developed to try and work around the natural holes in a standard budget logic.

Having said all of that, I find myself using my iPad Pro to access the web client, as the app itself is so kiddy and limited that it makes it actually harder to digest the information presented and make the most sense of it. So much information but it’s all so “big” that you can’t see the big picture, almost simply because the text and forms are so LARGE. Really the app could be and needs to be as feature-rich and dense as the web app; basically take the web app and adapt it to be touch targets and color coded like the app is. It could be so much BETTER than the web interface with all the screen real estate on the iPad and the easy entry and basic structure they have in place for it already. I really look forward to the iPad app “growing up.”

Developer Response ,

Hi there! Thanks for leaving us a review and we're so glad you've enjoyed YNAB 🙌 It's really great to hear your feedback about the iPad app—it's been a couple of years since your review, and we've made significant improvements to it since then 🎉

We're always looking at ways to increase feature parity between platforms, and we even have some mobile only features! Check those out here: https://docs.youneedabudget.com/article/1752-mobile-only-features

Happy budgeting 🙂 -Caitlin P @ynab

Everything we hacked ourselves but better

My husband and I, over our 20 year relationship, did countless hours of deep tearful or frustrated conversations that turned into loving support about money and money values. This was complicated by my then-undiagnosed ADHD with dyscalculia, which made balancing budgets or perceiving what money was allocated where and when at a glance very challenging. We hacked together his spreadsheets and our envelope methods and m numerous bank checking and savings accounts with specific debit cards, and all the ups and downs with credit cards and student loans.
And then he died suddenly of a chronic illness in middle age, leaving me to figure out his spreadsheets on my own.
But then after doing some research and reading/viewing reviews and demos, lo and behold, YNAB app (online subscription form) was literally everything that my husband and I worked so very hard to invent ourselves, but with internal adding/subtracting, and interest calculators, and color coded graphical interfaces for at-a-glance knowledge of what is allocated where.
I am so happy & relieved (understatement!) that I can carry forward all the progress about financial awareness and responsibility that we accomplished together, with the help of this app! It truly is saving my life and my future during the chaos (mental and emotional) of early widowhood.
I’ve been using it daily since signing up a few months ago and it continues to exactly fit what I need!

Developer Response ,

Eliciel, thank you so much for sharing your story. Our hearts go out to you for the loss of your husband - it sounds like you made an amazing team. I'm so glad that you're here budgeting with us and that YNAB has been a supportive new way to continue on the same path of financial awareness you've been on. -Becca @ YNAB

So happy

I am so so thankful for YNAB!! I’ve never been able to keep a budget but have desperately needed it.. I wanted something automated and did try Mint and Every Dollar a long time ago yet didn’t want to pay to have my accounts linked so maybe that was on me.. but what I love about YNAB beyond being able to link your accounts is the ability to save for different goals/targets. I haven’t been able to save for things because I’d either have to withdraw cash and physically put it into different envelopes or have a million separate bank accounts.. YNAB sets you up so you can separate out your goals while still maintaining one or two or however many accounts. This is really a god-send. I’m finally saving money, paying off debt, and excited about budgeting!! The ONE thing I do wish they’d work on is the ability to link my Apple Card. I try to manually put in transactions as I go anyway, but I like the assurance of having an actual linked account if I were to forget anything. The credit card part also was driving me crazy in the beginning to figure out.. after watching several videos and just refusing to quit until it clicked, I finally got the hang of it. I also love that you can add a family member to your subscription for free!! Some people have complained that the price keeps going up.. maybe because I just subscribed but to me $8/month is more than worth it (though I wouldn’t complain if the price went down either). :) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Developer Response ,

I love this so much. Being able to save and pay off debt is a huge deal. Way to go!! Thank you for leaving a review! \- Natalie @ YNAB

Life Changing

I started my budgeting journey about 4 years ago using a free app. I was budgeting to zero every month but I continue to blow my budget and live on the credit card float. I could never figure out what I was doing wrong. I was paying extra money to pay off debt and everything looked right on paper but I kept having to borrow from savings and I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong. In a desperate search to figure out why my budget wasn’t working, I started watching video reviews of budgeting apps. I found YNAB and I will never look back. I learned I was budgeting money before I earned it and then having to float expenses until payday and I wasn’t embracing my true Expenses. Hence my continuing to blow my budget month after month. Now I’m working on saving enough to be a full month ahead in my pay and I have accounted for all my true expenses. Absolutely life changing. Two months in and I haven’t blown my budget at all. I realized I was paying way too much a month extra on my debt. Now that I know what my true expenses are I know how much extra I can actually afford to put towards debt. I haven’t slept better in years. It’s such a relief. Best app ever!!

Update: A couple years in and I am now living on last months income and I have enough money to be several months ahead. I have paid off all most all my debt, apart from my mortgage and I couldn’t be more happy this app. YNAB for the win!!

Developer Response ,

Hey Bella! Thanks for this review update! I'm so glad to hear you're debt\-free except the mortgage and more than a month ahead. Congratulations! Keep up that awesome work \- we can't wait to hear what you do next! \- Kat @ YNAB

Does not work with many Banks

When it works it's great, but many times, the app fails to connect to my bank account, delays transactions that don't appear for months, and requires me to re-authorize every couple of weeks, entering in all the security questions all over again. By the time the imports work, my budget is completely thrown off from not having been updated in months, so I have to delete my progress and start over.

The support team is useless, they tell me that my bank is on a "watch list" that throttles their connections. Yet they have my BANK ACCOUNT PASSWORD. They can just login and do it themselves but refuse to.

A couple years ago this app used to be five stars, used to work fine, but because of all the bank connection issues, the app has become completely unusable for me. They gave excuses as to why, and blamed my bank, but ultimately it's YNAB's product, not the banks, and it's up to YNAB to fix it. YNAB collects your bank account password, they should therefore, in theory, be able to do anything you can do with your bank account password, including logging in and impersonating you to get the data. Whether or not a bank cooperates doesn't matter, it's up to YNAB to make it work; they aren't, and it doesn't. Figure out how to get the data and stop blaming the banks. It's your product, and it's been broken for years. Fix it.

Developer Response ,

Hi Mat. I'm sorry the bank connection has given you so much trouble! We'd love to take another look, if you're up for it. Email us at help@ynab.com with the name of your bank and we can see what's going on. Our import providers continue to work on any troublesome connections, so many of them are back up and running with some time. - Jill@YNAB

Love YNAB....one request

Update 6/3/20: please for the love of budgets can you create a way to upload files from Dropbox or files within the App? My local bank is not supported for direct link and this is becoming so cumbersome on iPad. I don’t want to have to go to a computer every single time but the process is becoming bogged down to the point of annoyance.

I really love YNAB! It has helped us tremendously with our budget and is easy to use. For me, the app is a bit smoother and simpler to use than the website. Here is my conundrum: We use a small town bank that does not have direct download, so we have to manually download our transactions. I don’t want to fire up the laptop just to do this, as it doesn’t really take that long. So it goes, sign into bank website, download transactions, sign into YNAB website, which using an iPad means go to YNAB site, choose Request Desktop Site, then login, then import.
Understandably, being it is a small bank, there may be no direct link in the near or distant future. I have no desire to move to another larger bank (there aren’t any close enough) that has direct link. So, I have one request, could we have a way to upload our manual transactions from the app instead of having to go through the website every time? It would make it a tad smoother process on the user end. I still love YNAB and will continue to use it. Never hurts to ask, right?

Developer Response ,

Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review and for letting us know that this issue with not being able to drop files into the iPad app is a roadblock for you—we totally hear you. I've recorded this feature request directly with the team that deals with the mobile app. We LOVE hearing from YNAB-ers on what features you're looking for, and use your requests and feedback to help guide the development of the app, so keep it coming!

We'd also love to check in about direct import for your small town bank—perhaps it's been enabled since you left your review! Feel free to reach out to us at help@ynab.com and we can take a look 🙂

-Caitlin P @ynab

Stable, Essential, Life Changing

I’ve used YNAB since I was a broke college student, and it’s helped me keep my financial life on track despite barely breaking the poverty line for my first few years out of school. I have never struggled to make rent or pay for my necessities, and I’ve stayed free of consumer debt. Because of YNAB I have been able to carefully weigh any debt I did take on (training for a career switch, a car) and pay it down without any stress. I clung stubbornly to the desktop app until I convinced my partner to start using it, and saw how far the web/mobile app had come, at which point I promptly switched over. I have a thing about app subscriptions (hate ‘em), but the YNAB team is consistently rolling out improvements and features, all of which have been rock solid and helped me plan for my financial future even better. It’s one of the rare cases where I get enough value from the service that I’m not only willing but HAPPY to pay to help the company grow. I could not recommend this app more highly. If you’ve ever struggled to save money or pay down debt, if you regularly get clobbered by predictable but irregular payments (6 month insurance premiums, replacing your computer/phone/car), if you need more accountability to make sure you’re spending your money in line with your values, there is nothing better on the market for helping you get there.

Developer Response ,

Hey! Thanks taking the time to leave this review—we're so so glad you found YNAB when you did (I wish I would've found it in college too 😭), and that you've enjoyed all the improvements we've made (and are continuing to make)! We're always looking for ways to make budgeting simpler and more enjoyable for our users so that more people can experience the LIFE CHANGING value of YNAB 🤗 Happy Budgeting! -Caitlin P @YNAB

Ok for someone, Too much for me

I was hopeful that this would be the solution to losing access to Mint. I have been budgeting since I was a kid. I went to school for Accounting and I’m not necessarily desiring to do participate in the type of transactions that have a double entry accounting feel. My objective was to set a budget for specific category parameters, to have my link accounts and post my transactions and at a minimum match those transactions to the categories if my spending behavior has not been learned yet. Maybe I should have taken more time to review how to use the transactions. It felt like it should’ve been more intuitive? (Like plug and play). Why am I funding a budget category (target)? Why am I assigning anything? Working balance. Cleared and uncleared? We wanted an app to get away from checkbooks recons. I can pay from varying accounts from month to month. As long as the incoming money is greater than or equal to what the expenditures are, I am in budget. Opportunities for spending insights are always welcome. I don’t know. I am not surviving during the free trial. It feels like too much work. We have a spreadsheet and that may have to work until I can build something better for our household. I was finally of the mindset to pay for an app, but if this stressed me, I know it would stress anyone I shared it to. That was the only upside I could see immediately. All of my accounts didn’t connect via plaid so it was already an uphill battle.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for sharing your experience! YNAB is definitely different than Mint\- it's a tool designed to help you not just spend less than you make, but to help you love HOW you spend your money by helping highlight and prioritize your goals and priorities. If you'd like to talk more about how it all works, send us a message at help@ynab.com ~ Phil@YNAB

The Goldilocks of Budgeting Software

I’ve been using the app a couple of months now and can easily say it my favorite. I’ve used spreadsheets, every dollar, mint, and quicken in the past but nothing fit quite right. YNAB is so simple and easy to use, but it’s flexible enough for the complexities of life. I’ve used other apps that wouldn’t allow you to have multiple budgets, but I prefer to have a separate budget to share with my ex-husband for all the co-parenting. This works great! I’ve used more “sophisticated” softwares that didn’t actually help me make decisions in the moment. I’ve used spreadsheets that were too cumbersome to easily adjust on the fly and definitely NOT something my spouse ever cared to look at. This app was built for real life. I set up the budget with my husbands input. I’m able to share it with him, and we can just pin the few categories he needs to see at the very top of his app and hide the rest so he doesn’t go glassy-eyed looking at the details.

I’m a banker and a budget nerd. If I could give this app 100 stars I would.

The budget sharing would also work great for sharing separate budgets with teens, young adults, and any adult you are helping to manage money for. I see SO many scenarios in my work where one person is needing to help another and the ability to share budgets here is gold!