How much does YNAB cost in the UK?

About £12.99 a month or £99 a year through the UK App Store; ynab.com lists $14.99 a month or $109 a year in US dollars. There is a 34-day free trial.

Does YNAB work without linking a bank?

Yes. Manual entry and file import are fully supported, which is one reason it works well in the UK.

Is The Income Tracker a free YNAB alternative?

For the monthly picture, yes: free, no bank login, CSV import. It does not replicate YNAB's full envelope method.

The Income Tracker vs YNAB

By The Income Tracker · Updated 8 September 2026 · Facts checked 8 September 2026

The short answer

YNAB is the best-known zero-based budgeting tool and it is good at it: every pound gets a job, manual entry and file import are first-class, and it does not need a bank link. It costs around £99 a year in the UK. The Income Tracker is free and deliberately simpler: a month-by-month ledger from your bank CSV with categories, recurring items, goals and a surplus figure. If you want the method, pay for YNAB. If you want the picture, we are free.

Side by side

	The Income Tracker	YNAB
Price	Free. No tiers, no trial clock.	£12.99 a month or £99 a year on the UK App Store ($14.99 / $109 on ynab.com). 34-day free trial.
Bank connection	None needed. Import a CSV you download yourself; open banking is opt-in and off by default.	Optional. Direct import for selected UK banks via a third party; manual entry and file import work fully without it.
Manual entry and CSV import	Yes, free. CSV, OFX, QIF and pasted text.	Yes. Manual entry and file-based import are core features.
Where your data lives	In your browser on your device. Optional sign-in to sync.	On YNAB's servers (synced across devices).
Platforms	Web, installable on phone and desktop. iOS app in development.	Web, iOS, Android, Apple Watch.
Method	A monthly ledger: income, categorised spending, recurring items, goals, annual projection. Zero-based if you want; not enforced.	Zero-based envelope budgeting with goals per category and a proper learning curve.
Sharing	One ledger per device or sign-in; import both partners' CSVs into it.	Up to six people on one plan.

Pick YNAB if

You want the full zero-based method with goals per category and the discipline that comes with it.
You want to share one budget with a partner or family across devices.
£99 a year is worth it to you for the structure.

Pick The Income Tracker if

You want to see income, spending and surplus month by month without learning a system.
You want it free, with no bank link and data on your own device.
You want bank CSV import to do the recording, not manual entry.

Where YNAB wins

The method. YNAB's four rules and its envelope workflow change how people think about money, and its manual-first design means it works in the UK regardless of which banks link. It is mature software with a large community. None of that is available for free, and that is the honest trade.

Where The Income Tracker wins

Simplicity, price and the import. Drop in a bank CSV and the month builds itself: merchants remembered, transfers skipped, recurring bills seeded forward. There is nothing to learn beyond drag a row into a category. It is free, it runs in the browser, and the data stays on your device unless you choose to sync.

Can you do zero-based budgeting here?

Yes, in a lighter form: set category amounts from last month's actuals and assign the surplus until it reads zero. The zero-based budgeting guide walks through it. What you will not get is YNAB's per-category goal tracking and its enforced envelope discipline.

The Income TrackerTry the free, no-bank-login alternative to YNAB.

Open the tracker →

Frequently asked questions

How much does YNAB cost in the UK?: About £12.99 a month or £99 a year through the UK App Store; ynab.com lists $14.99 a month or $109 a year in US dollars. There is a 34-day free trial.
Does YNAB work without linking a bank?: Yes. Manual entry and file import are fully supported, which is one reason it works well in the UK.
Is The Income Tracker a free YNAB alternative?: For the monthly picture, yes: free, no bank login, CSV import. It does not replicate YNAB's full envelope method.

Sources and checking

Facts on this page were last checked on 8 September 2026 against:

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A free YNAB alternative for the UKYNAB's clarity without the fee Zero-based budgeting, the simple versionGive every pound a job, without the spreadsheet purgatory Best free budgeting apps (UK, 2026)Ten apps, honest verdicts, including where we lose Bank CSV import guidesExport from any UK bank