YNAB organizes my spending. I can see how much I have left to spend in each category. I can keep track of loans I've made to people. I can see how much money I set aside for the IRS. It syncs with my bank account, so it's low maintenance. And the app is as charming as a budgeting app possibly can be. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There is a bit of a learning curve. YNAB is based on the envelope method of budgeting. You only budget money that you have and you budget all of it when you get it. That's the fun part. Credit cards and loans are confusing to set up. Categorizing can be tedious, if you have a lot of transactions. But, the app does a good job of remembering what categories that you use for recurring transactions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I have tried probably every personal finance software under the sun and the biggest thing that always frustrated me was the budgeting element. Finally, with You Need A Budget (YNAB), I have found a budgeting system that makes sense, is easy to use and can also take care of my other personal finance needs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There are some accounts that do not sync well with YNAB in particular mortgage and investment accounts. But the premise of YNAB is not to cater to that. It takes on one of our biggest challenges, budgeting, and does it better than anyone else. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I'm sure there are other budgeting systems out there, but this is one of the best I've ever come into contact with. I love the ease of being able to see exactly where my money is and the big-picture thinking. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There are some aspects of being able to transfer money to/from a savings account that bother me, for example, the fact that all of that money is still movable in the app even though in reality it's in a savings account so I don't want to have it added to my budget, but that's just a me preference. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
What's best about YNAB? It gives you more control over your money than you ever imagined you could have. The instruction from CEO Jesse Meekum, both on budgeting rules and how to use the software, give us security as freelancers that we never thought would exist. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
They are phasing out support YNAB classic which I've used for years. The new model is a monthly fee, unlike the classic which was one fee for life. I'll still use it though. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
YNAB focuses you on your budget rather than account balances. It helps people build a habit of proactivity with their money instead of just letting things happen as they may. It’s incredibly intuitive and easy to use but also very powerful and flexible. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Price is a bit on the high side, but I’ve been won over on the value, so it didn’t keep me from purchasing. I used older versions for a few years, but the new cloud version had automated several of the things I used to do manually, so it was worth the upgrade.
I wish there were a cleaner way to handle reimbursements. For business expenses where I know I will be paid back, it stinks having to take money from other categories to cover. I’ve found workarounds, but it’s a little convoluted. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
YNAB is very flexible and allows you to adjust it to your specific needs. It's based on four specific rules and once you get those down, everything else falls into place. They have excellent customer support with an extensive knowledge base, community and webinars to help you through any roadblocks. Best of all, it helped me get my finances in order and stay in the green! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Initially learning some of the rules and specifics of how YNAB wants you to enter info was complex. After some time and adjusting, I was able to figure out the "why" behind their decisions. It's a small learning curve with a big pay off. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
It's like a calorie tracker - if you enter your expenses manually each day you're automatically more aware of them which helps you control them. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
All the manual entry - though that's kind of the point of it. It's beautifully designed and user friendly, I ultimately just decided I didn't want to do the manual work to be consistent with it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
YNAB is the best budget software that I have used (and I have used A LOT). I love how easy it is to cover overspending in one category with another category. Category goals help you to plan accurately and make sure you don't leave anything out. The way YNAB handles finances month to month is great as well. It automatically starts you off with a negative balance for the month if you overspent the previous month so the impact of the deficit isn't overlooked. YNAB also has good reporting tools. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
YNAB has a few quirks that can be difficult to understand at first, but it's just because they do things differently (and in my opinion, better). For instance, YNAB handles credit cards pretty uniquely. If you spend money with a credit card account, YNAB expects you to cover that spending in your credit card payment. So if you have a $50/month payment and you use your credit card to buy something for $25, YNAB expects you to budget $75 for a credit card payment that month. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
You Need A Budget helped me get through difficult times by helping me make a budget. It helped me track my expenses, that was the most difficult part for me when saving money. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Theres not much to dislike for this app. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The system works and we love it. Syncing with your phone makes keeping the budget up to date straight from the check out. Overall it works well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Subscription model. Seriously we bought in when they were promising a one time fee and then they spun to say well, you can keep classic that we will stop supporting but if you want the newest you have to pay is a yearly sum. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
You can break down categories, set up future transactions, recurring transactions, debt accounts Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I wish you could break down categories one step further, sync multiple budgets with the same accounts Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.