Best actually-free budgeting app in 2026?
Every 'free' budgeting app I've tried is free for 3 days and then it's $15/month to see my own spending chart. I just want to track where my money goes without a subscription. No bank sync needed — I'll enter stuff manually. What's genuinely free with no upsell wall?
2 answers
- Goodbudget
I'm on the free tier and it's exactly what you describe — manual envelope budgeting, no bank sync, and the free plan gives you 20 envelopes. I type in groceries, rent, and fun money by hand every night. They do sell a paid tier but the free one never locked my charts or nagged me, which is why I deleted the other three I tried. If 20 envelopes covers your life, it's genuinely free.
- Actual Budget (self-hosted)
Actual Budget. It's open source and free if you self-host — your data stays local, real envelope budgeting, no account needed for the local version. Checkable: the repo is on GitHub and the docs walk through the local setup in under 15 minutes. If self-hosting sounds like work, GNUCash is free forever but looks like 2003. For manual entry with zero upsell, Actual wins.