We make Alfie, so read this accordingly — but we've tried to be straight, including about where YNAB (You Need A Budget) wins. Pricing verified 7 August 2026.
Last updated: 2026-08-07
| Alfie | YNAB (You Need A Budget) | |
|---|---|---|
| Method | Zero-based | Zero-based — “give every dollar a job” |
| Monthly | $3.99/mo | $14.99/mo |
| Yearly | $39.99/yr | $109.00/yr |
| Pay once | $149.99 | Not offered |
| Free tier | Alfie Basic: one active manual budget | None |
| Bank linking | None | Optional |
| Aggregators | None | Plaid, MX |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Works offline | Yes | Not stated |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Mac; Android coming soon | Web, iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch |
| App Store | Too new to rate | 4.79★ (61,121) |
Two aggregators rather than one, so a bank that fails on Plaid can often still connect via MX — materially higher connection success. And a genuinely deep method with a large, well-taught community behind it.
It's also a mature product with 61,121 App Store ratings at 4.79★. Alfie launched recently and has no ratings yet. If a long track record matters to you, that's a real point in YNAB (You Need A Budget)'s favour and we're not going to pretend otherwise.
Alfie has no bank connection feature at all — not as an option. No Alfie account, no sign-up, no password, and no financial-data server. The available Apple edition keeps its budget on your device and in private iCloud. It works offline, including receipt scanning.
And the pricing model is different in kind, not just in amount. Alfie's $149.99 Apple lifetime unlock is a one-time purchase.YNAB (You Need A Budget)'s cheapest paid plan comes to roughly $327 over three years, and keeps going.
If any of those are dealbreakers, YNAB (You Need A Budget) is the better tool for you. That's a real answer, not false modesty.
YNAB (You Need A Budget) pricing and features verified from their own pricing page on 2026-08-07. We make Alfie. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
