I don’t think it’s entirely YNAB’s fault. But having to manually input each credit card transaction doesn’t make me feel it’s worth the monthly charge. Then it just becomes a spreadsheet.
EDIT: that is— the lessons are excellent and the mindset is important. But it’s monthly cost is another issue.
I use my AMEX for 90% of all spending. No issues importing transactions to YNAB. Sometimes there is a 1-2 delay, but they do import.
Maybe I was spoiled with near instant syncing on my debit card, I used to categorize the gas i just paid for before leaving the lot.
But again, at 15 a month, that’s a lot of effort for a gui on top of a spreadsheet.
The benefit for me was quick transaction logging and categorizing, then a weekly/monthly check up. But with sync issues, those check ups became categorizing sessions, and just took too much time.