FunanceIf overspending is genuinely the problem
Goodbudget
The same as YNAB, with a free tier and a paid plan at US$10 a month. Envelopes are filled in by hand on purpose, so the patchy Australian bank connections that hurt YNAB here do not really matter.
Alternatives for Australian householdsAbout $23 a month, in US dollars, for a method you can get elsewhere.
YNAB is a good product and its method genuinely works: you give every dollar a job before you spend it. The problem in Australia is the price, the currency it is billed in, and bank connections that were never built for here. There are better-fitting options depending on why you were looking.
We build one of the tools on this page. That is exactly why the verdict below names a competitor first when a competitor is the better answer: for a lot of people looking at this page, the answer is a free app, not ours.
Checked July 2026. Prices and features change; check before you sign up.
The short answer
Pick by what you actually want
If you just want to see where the money goes
Frollo
Free, Australian, and pulls in your transactions from over 100 Australian banks through . If you were using YNAB to see your spending rather than to control it, this does that job for nothing and it does it locally.
If the real question is tax, your student loan or the mortgage
Funance
A budgeting method will not tell you whether spare cash should go into super or off the home loan. Funance is built on the Australian rules: tax brackets, , state and super limits. Pro is $9.90 a month in Australian dollars.
Side by side
What you would move to
| YNAB | Goodbudget | Frollo | Funance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | About $23 a month, billed in USD | Free tier; US$10 a month | Free | Free tier; Pro $9.90 a month AUD |
| How it works | Give every dollar a job before you spend it | The same, with digital envelopes | Tracks your spending automatically | Plans ahead and tests decisions |
| Australian bank connections | Limited | Entered by hand | 100+ via | None, by design |
| Built for Australia | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Knows Australian tax and super rules | No | No | No | Yes: tax, , , super |
| For couples | Shared budget | Shared envelopes | Individual | Each partner's income, with shared costs split |
Checked July 2026. YNAB is billed in US dollars, so what you pay in Australian dollars moves with the exchange rate.
Not sure what a term means? Hover over or tap anything with a dotted underline, or browse the plain-English glossary.
Why YNAB grates in Australia specifically
Three things, and none of them are about product quality.
The price is the obvious one: roughly $23 a month, billed in US dollars, so what you actually pay moves with the exchange rate. That is a meaningful subscription for a budgeting app.
The second is bank connections. In Australia the automatic apps connect through , the government-regulated system that shares your bank data without you handing over your internet banking password. YNAB was not built around it, and it shows.
The third is that it does not know anything about Australia. No . No ATO tax brackets. Superannuation is not a concept it has. For a pure spending-control tool that may not matter, but you should know you are paying international prices for a product with no local knowledge.
Keep the method, drop the subscription
If the is what worked for you, Goodbudget does the same thing with a free tier and a US$10 paid plan. You give every dollar a job before you spend it, and if you want to spend more on one thing you take it from another.
The ASIC MoneySmart Budget Planner is also worth twenty minutes before you pay for anything. It is free, government-funded, has no ads and no upsell, and nobody is trying to sell you a credit card at the end of it. It is a web calculator rather than an app, which for a lot of people is the feature rather than the limitation.
If you were using YNAB for the wrong job
A lot of people arrive at envelope budgeting because they want control, and leave because the thing they actually needed was an answer to a specific question.
Envelopes are very good at stopping you spending money you have not planned for. They cannot tell you whether the next thousand dollars belongs in the , the super fund or the credit card. That is a tax question, and in Australia the answer depends on your , how much more you are allowed to put into super at the lower rate, and what your mortgage rate is doing.
Funance is built the other way around. No bank feeds at all, and instead the Australian rules done properly: 2026-27 tax brackets, the , repayment thresholds, by state with , and super limits including . Try the super calculator or the net worth calculator without signing up for anything.
Questions
The things everyone asks
How much is YNAB in Australian dollars?
YNAB is priced in US dollars at roughly $23 a month, so the Australian figure moves with the exchange rate. Check YNAB's own pricing page for the current number before you subscribe.
Does YNAB connect to Australian banks?
Support is limited. Australian bank connections generally run through , the government-regulated system for sharing bank data, and YNAB was not built around it. Many Australian users end up importing their transactions by hand.
What is the closest free alternative to YNAB in Australia?
Goodbudget if you want the envelope method itself, since it has a free tier. Frollo if what you actually wanted was automatic tracking, since it is free, Australian, and connects to more than 100 banks through .
Is there an Australian app that does what YNAB does but with local tax rules?
Funance is built on Australian rules (tax brackets, , state and super limits), but it is a planning tool rather than an envelope system. If strict give-every-dollar-a-job budgeting is what you want, Goodbudget is the closer swap.
Keep reading
Work it out with your numbers
Budget planner Australia
Most budgets fail in week three, when the car registration arrives and the plan quietly stops matching reality. Funance budgets on planned versus actual, so the gap is visible instead of fatal.
Budget planner for Australians →Superannuation projection calculator
Super is the largest asset most Australians will ever own and the one they look at least. A projection turns an abstract balance into a number you can do something about while there is still time.
Superannuation projection calculator →Debt repayment calculator
Two households with identical debts and identical budgets can finish years apart, purely on payoff order. Funance shows both strategies side by side with your numbers, then gives you a date.
Debt repayment calculator →Best personal finance apps in Australia (updated September 2026)
Australian finance apps compared: Frollo, WeMoney, Up, PocketSmith, YNAB, the big four bank apps and more, with prices, bank feeds and who each one suits. Written by one of the apps on the list, so we tell you when a competitor is the better pick.
Read it →Avalanche vs Snowball: which actually pays off debt faster for Australian households?
Two strategies. Both work. One saves you more money. The other keeps you motivated. Here’s how to pick, with a real Australian example.
Read it →Before you pay $23 a month
in someone else's currency.
Have a look at what an app built on Australian rules actually does with your numbers. Sample data loaded, no signup, nothing to install.
Free forever · no card required · no bank login · runs in your browser