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Comment by huhkerrf | Hacker News Reader

I get that people on here don't like subscriptions, and I understand why, but I've been using You Need a Budget for well over a decade, and it is probably the last subscription I'd ever give up.

The automatic import of expenses is so valuable for my family and keeping track of how much we've spent and how much we have left for the month.

We used the fixed-cost version for years beyond when it was officially supported, and it didn't have the automated import, and I don't think I could ever go back to a system that didn't. There were always a few days a month, at least, when I wasn't exactly sure where we were in our expenses.

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I dont mind paying for a personal finance tool, but I feel like most of them are made for an average consumer who spends in one currency and needs budgeting. I operate in at least 3 currencies, don’t care about budgeting, and need support for tracking stocks and automatic currency conversions.

The only tools that were able to provide that were GnuCash and PTAs like beancount.

My point is, there is a big segment of people who are not served by existing personal finance tools simply because they operate in more than 1 currency, or have a slightly more complicated setup than envelope budgeting.

I regularly pay with 3 currencies, and YNAB isn't great for that, but it ends up working out because 95% of my spend is in just one.

But, you're right, I have no need for tracking stocks, as I only check in once a year or so, and I can't imagine YNAB would manage that well.

Are the currency conversions automatic, do they fetch the rate of whatever service you're using? E.g. converting USD to EUR on Wise on 28 Dec 2025 surely gets you a different amount compared to doing it on Revolut, or paying EUR with your card (which is USD-denominated), and on Jan 2 2026 the rates are also different..

I was travelling in the Nordics (they had 4 currencies back then, and they still do!) and wanted to have some precision what cash I exchanged with what rate...

The currency conversion can be whatever you want. I have a python script to bring conversion rates for European Central Bank because I need to report my business earning according to ECB rates, but you can specify any rate you want both during transaction entry (for example `100 USD @@ 95 EUR`), and as a global rate.

I also use GnuCash for a moderately complex set of accounts with many income sources in multiple currencies. Works pretty awesome.

I used YNAB since back when they used to just sell the software and maintained a subscription for a little while. I will say that their approach to budgeting has changed the entire way of how I look at money, and even though I have switched to GNU Cash, I have essentially replicated the envelope method there (it requires four entries per transaction instead of the standard two).

For anyone who wants to use this envelope method without paying for YNAB, I recommend checking out Buckets, which is another software that works similarly.

I've been using YNAB 4 (aka YNAB Classic on Android) for some time. I got a new phone, and the phone app finally won't run on the new phone. YNAB 4 is also quite buggy on my Arch based setup (someone maintains a package on AUR using Wine). So I think it's finally time to move on, which I think I'm doing this year.

My only issue with Buckets is that the YNAB importer doesn't take into account that YNAB will take your overspending and take it from your next month's income. I have some bad habits that means I was really using YNAB as more of a financial tracker than an actually budget system. That's my own fault though. The envelope in question comes out to $-10k... That's all my own fault though. It just means I have to massage it into Bucket's system, or start a new budget.

I assume Buckets does that because YNAB no longer allows you to take from next month.

I switched from YNAB to Actual Budget. It's FOSS, and has nifty power user features like a DSL for distributing monthly funds and cleaning up extra at the end of the month.

For a FOSS alternative: Actual budget isn't dissimilar from what YNAB was years ago when it was an on device budgeting software

+1, I bought YNAB back when you could - old Windows version that I would run under WINE. I used that until 2025 when I migrated to self-hosted Actual Budget (I run it on fly.io). It does everything I need.

What does Ynab do that I would get for free with gnu cash? Just downloading bank statements which I’m not ok with and against my banks t&c.

Other wise all non envelope budget systems are horrible for me because I want the budget to be self adjusting so if I spend more on household items 1 month it needs to ensure I have less to spend over the next set of periods till I’ve gone back into positive . Rollover basically

I'm a huge fan of YNAB. It's a morning routine to log in (really, the tab is always up) and reconcile accounts. The zero-based budgeting method, while not requiring YNAB, is beautifully represented in the software. I'm sure I could use some free software to accomplish the basic tasks but having an associated app my spouse can review for quick decision making is very valuable.

It's made budgeting a tool to accomplish savings, wealth growth, and expense smoothing rather than simply a survival strategy. When you have to deliberately shift funds out of one category to cover another, you really consider the relative priorities.

Another unexpected side effect is that it made me "excited" to spend money when I had saved up for it. Before it would be a back and forth, "should I buy this? I've wanted it, but I could use the money for something else..."

With YNAB, it's been "hell yeah, I saved up for this and now I get to buy it."

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