Monarch Money alternatives, checked in 2026
Monarch Money alternatives compared: Koi, Copilot Money, YNAB, Rocket Money, Actual Budget and Banktivity. Prices, trials, Mac apps and bank sync, checked.
Start here
Why look for a YNAB alternative on a Mac?
YNAB (You Need A Budget) is a zero-based budget: every dollar you have gets a job before you spend it. It's good at that, and a lot of people swear by it. On YNAB's pricing page, it costs $14.99 a month or $109 a year, after a 34-day free trial that needs no card when you sign up on its site. College students get 365 days free. Direct import works with select banks in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU; elsewhere you import files.
The reasons people go looking for something else are usually these:
- There's no Mac app. YNAB lists iPhone, Android, Apple Watch and the web, so on a Mac you budget in a browser tab.
- The price. $109 a year is a lot if all you want is to know what your bills add up to.
- The method. Zero-based budgeting asks for a few minutes most days. Some people want a total, not a practice.
- Your bank isn't covered. Outside the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, there's no direct import.
- A bank login. Linking accounts means a company reads your transactions. Some people would rather type in what they pay.
We make Koi, one of the apps below, so read this with that in mind. Koi is first because it's ours, and we say plainly where it's the wrong pick. Every fact about another app comes from that app's own site or App Store page, checked October 21, 2026. We didn't run tests.
Be honest
Is Koi a budgeting app?
No, and it's worth saying before the list. Koi is a Mac app for dictation, recorded calls, documents and an AI you talk to. One of its tools is an expense tracker: a list of what you pay again and again, and what you earn, with what's left each month. It has no bank sync, no budget categories, no envelopes and no iPhone app. If the YNAB method is why you use YNAB, keep reading for Actual Budget, which works the same way and runs on a Mac.
Stay on YNAB if
- You want to give every dollar a job. That's YNAB's whole method, and Koi doesn't do it.
- You want transactions to come in from your bank by themselves.
- You budget on your phone, or share a budget with someone on theirs. Koi is on one Mac.
- You want it cheaper per year. YNAB is $109 a year; Koi Pro is more.
- You're a college student. YNAB's 365 free days is hard to beat.
The picks
6 YNAB alternatives that work on a Mac
1. Koi
Best for: Seeing your bills, subscriptions and what's left, without a bank login
Click Tools on the dock and pick Expense tracker. Add rent, utilities, a loan, Netflix or anything else you pay: start typing and pick it from the list, or type any name it doesn't have. Then the amount, and Weekly, Monthly or Yearly. Pick the day it's paid on if you like, and the next payment shows on its row. Add what you earn too, and Koi shows what you spend this month, what comes in and what's left, biggest first.
The list is kept on your Mac and never sent anywhere. Koi doesn't read your bank, the App Store or your email to find what you pay. You can also tap Fn + ⌘ and say “add Netflix to my tracker”, or pick a bill with Add an expense in Tools; those words go to Koi's AI to fill the row in.
Pro is $20 a month, or $192 a year, after a 3-day free trial that needs a card. Lifetime is paid once, from $59. That buys the whole app: unlimited dictation, recorded calls and the assistant, with the tracker as one part.
The weakness, plainly: it's not a budget. No bank import, no categories, no envelopes, no alerts before a payment, one currency for everything with nothing converted, and Mac only.
2. Actual Budget
Best for: YNAB-style envelope budgeting, free and on your own computer
Actual is the closest thing to YNAB that runs on a Mac. It's envelope budgeting, its site calls it “a local app, plain and simple”, and it's open source under the MIT license. The install page offers a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux from GitHub; the latest, 26.10.0 from October 2, 2026, has builds for Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
Bank sync is built in through GoCardless for the EU and UK, and SimpleFIN for the US and Canada. To use it on more than one device, you run its sync server yourself or pay a small fee to host it on PikaPods.
Weakness: setting up sync and bank links takes more work than YNAB, and there's no company to call when something breaks.
3. Copilot Money
Best for: A polished Apple-first app with bank sync
Copilot Money runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and the web, and tracks your accounts, spending and investments automatically once they're linked. Its site lists $95 a year ($7.92 a month), with a one-month free trial.
Weakness: no Android, so a household on mixed phones can't share it, and it's built around bank links rather than typing things in.
4. Banktivity
Best for: A native Mac finance app with investments
Banktivity runs natively on Mac, iPhone and iPad, one subscription for all of them. Bronze is $6.99 a month billed yearly, Silver $8.99 adds investments and real estate, and Gold $10.99 handles international currencies. Every plan has a 30-day free trial for new customers, and Bronze connects your bank and card accounts.
Weakness: more than a budget, so more to learn, and you need Gold for more than one currency.
5. Monarch
Best for: Couples and families who want everything in one place
Monarch connects to 13,000+ financial institutions and works on the web, iPhone and Android. Its pricing page lists $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, after a 7-day free trial. More in our Monarch alternatives page.
Weakness: no Mac app on its site, so it's a browser tab again, and it costs the same per month as YNAB.
6. MoneyMoney
Best for: European bank accounts in a Mac app that keeps data local
MoneyMoney is a Mac banking app that supports more than 6,500 banks across Europe and says it stores all data locally on your Mac. The base version is €79.99 once, with extensions as in-app purchases, and there's a free trial.
Weakness: it's built for European banks, and its site is in German.
Side by side
YNAB alternatives at a glance
| App | Price | Mac app | Bank sync | Budget method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koi | Pro $20/month or $192/year; Lifetime from $59 | Yes, native | No, you type them in | None: monthly totals and what's left |
| YNAB | $14.99/month or $109/year | No, web | US, Canada, UK, EU | Zero-based |
| Actual Budget | Free, open source | Yes | EU, UK, US, Canada | Envelope |
| Copilot Money | $95/year | Yes | Yes | Spending and categories |
| Banktivity | From $6.99/month, billed yearly | Yes, native | Yes | Budgets |
| Monarch | $14.99/month or $99.99/year | No, web | 13,000+ institutions | Budgets |
| MoneyMoney | €79.99 once | Yes | 6,500+ in Europe | Spending analysis |
Try it
How to see your monthly bills in Koi
- Click Tools on Koi's dock and pick Expense tracker.
- Click Add, pick Expense, and type the name: rent, a loan, Spotify. Pick it from the list or add your own.
- Enter the amount and pick Weekly, Monthly or Yearly. Add the day it's paid on if you want the next payment shown.
- Add your salary or client work as Income, and the total shows what's left each month.
Yearly payments count as a twelfth each month, and weekly ones as 52 a year spread over twelve months, so a yearly domain or insurance bill doesn't hide. Step by step in the tracker's help.
Who should pick what
Which one should you use?
- You love the YNAB method but want a Mac app and no subscription: Actual Budget.
- You want bank sync and a native Apple app: Copilot Money or Banktivity.
- You manage money with a partner on different phones: Monarch, or stay on YNAB.
- Your accounts are in Germany or elsewhere in Europe: MoneyMoney.
- You only want to see what your rent, bills and subscriptions add up to, kept on your Mac, and you'd use dictation and an AI that sees your screen too: Koi.
If subscriptions are the real worry, see our Rocket Money alternatives. For receipts, there's Expensify alternatives. And Koi's pricing has what each plan includes.
Keep exploring
Rocket Money alternatives for tracking subscriptions
Rocket Money alternatives for tracking subscriptions: Koi, Apple's own list, Bobby, Chronicle, Monarch and Copilot Money, with prices and which need your bank.
Know where the month goes
Track rent, bills and subscriptions on your Mac, add what you earn, and see what you spend and have left each month. Kept on your Mac, no bank login.
Expensify alternatives for your own receipts
Expensify alternatives for people who just want receipts turned into expenses: Koi, Receipts Space, Zoho Expense, Wave, Shoeboxed and Dext, with prices.
Support
Frequently asked questions
No. YNAB lists iPhone, Android, Apple Watch and the web, so on a Mac you use it in a browser (checked October 21, 2026).
$14.99 a month or $109 a year, after a 34-day free trial with no card needed when you sign up on its site. College students get 365 days free.
Actual Budget: open source envelope budgeting with a Mac app, free to use on one computer. Syncing across devices needs its server, run yourself or hosted for a small fee.
Not as a budget. Koi tracks what you pay again and again and what you earn, and shows what's left each month, kept on your Mac. It has no bank sync, categories or envelopes. Pro is $20 a month after a 3-day trial.
Koi's expense tracker has no bank login at all: you type each bill in. Actual Budget also works without bank sync if you enter transactions yourself.