# Budget/Expense tracking app **URL:** \ **Category:** Recommendations\ **Created:** [November 2, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174 "2023-11-02T17:57:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/thriftysquirrel/32/10934_2.png) [@ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/ThriftySquirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/1 "2023-11-02T17:57:24Z")
I checked and there are some similar posts like [Budgeting software](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budgeting-software/65) but they are quite old by now and especially for this topic a few years probably will make a difference. Having joined this forum recently I now want to do some better analysis on my expenses. I was starting to use the Expense tool of UBS which is the bank that I use but it seems that they will get rid of it soon. For overall wealth tracking I have my own spreadsheet that I have started to build up and improve bit by bit. My main request is to have a tool that will let me know where each CHF that entered my bank account in a given month/year went to. Ideally something that I can import all this data from something that I can export from UBS for both my debit but also credit card transactions, with some way of remembering the labels based on the recipient. (This last one is especially important because at work we do order food quite regularly so I end up spending hundreds per month on UberEats and the like which then are offset by a bunch of TWINT transactions šŸ˜… ) What does everyone use? Any recommendations? Also bonus points if itā€™s free or not a subscription. The idea is to save money, not to find some other recurring expense if possible (even though sometimes it is worth it). ---
**Author:** ![FunnyDjo](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/funnydjo/32/3216_2.png) [@FunnyDjo](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/FunnyDjo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/2 "2023-11-02T18:25:52Z")
Hello, To track my expense, I use a google Spreadsheet with a maximum of constant monthly expenses. I also use a credit card for the groceries and other spending. There are definitely other threads on the matter like Beancount > [@Beancount advancement Thread](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/beancount-advancement-thread/2786/212): > > Hi all smiley for those living in the Kanton of Zurich and normal taxation regime, i wrote a tax forecast plugin that will predict the tax load of a ongoing or past fiscal year and add monthly tax liabilities accordingly: this plugin greatly benefits from @the_pā€™s [shared api queries](https://github.com/Dr-Nuke/drnuke-bean/blob/master/src/drnukebean/plugins/tax_forecast.py) to the [Steuerrechner of the Kanton Zurich](https://www.zh.ch/de/steuern-finanzen/steuern/steuern-natuerliche-personen/steuererklaerung-natuerliche-personen/steuerrechner.html). based on your taxable income accounts, it extrapolates your current income to the full year, queries the according tax load at the Steuerrechner, and adds the resultinā€¦ YNab > [@Tutorial: YNAB 4 (Classic) wit OS X Catalina (64bit)](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/tutorial-ynab-4-classic-wit-os-x-catalina-64bit/4736): > > YNAB 4 is a 32-bit application that will not run on macOS beginning with macOS Catalina. Catalina is the first version of macOS to exclusively support 64-bit applications. This shell script will convert the final release of YNAB 4 for macOS (v4.3.855) from a 32-bit app to a native 64-bit app so that it will run on macOS Catalina without the need for an emulation or compatibility layer. You will still need a valid license key to use the 64-bit version of the app. Download: And for androidā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Moustachienne](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/moustachienne/32/12347_2.png) [@Moustachienne](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Moustachienne)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/3 "2023-11-02T18:42:39Z")
(I use Excel.) However ā€¦ the elephant in the room seems to be ordering food - as well from a budgeting/tracking as from a health POV šŸ˜šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![PhilMongoose](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/philmongoose/32/12331_2.png) [@PhilMongoose](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/PhilMongoose)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 7:01pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/4 "2023-11-02T19:01:47Z")
When I tracked my expenses, I simply used a spreadsheet. I tried to use credit cards as much as possible as everything was then on a statement which I would transfer into the spreadsheet. Cash items I kept records/receipts and also tracked these expenses. This was actually a very good exercise to have awareness of all expenditure. ---
**Author:** ![weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/weirded/32/14916_2.png) [@weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/weirded)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/5 "2023-11-02T19:32:43Z")
Other relevant threads > [@App to follow finances](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/app-to-follow-finances/9319): > > Hello mustachians! I am looking for a mobile app or online website to track my budget, expanses and investments. Do you know this Ā« one for all Ā»? If possible with Ć©volution month by month ? Thanks Example Expanses : rent internet restaurant Income : salary sells online Budget 300 chf left for restaurant in November 800 chf by month for groceries Investments 1200.- in actions + 120.- in dividends 2000.- in crypto 40000.- in my 3a > [@Expense tracking for a family](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/expense-tracking-for-a-family/5082): > > New members here. I apologise if this question has been asked elsewhere and apologise if it should belong to another category. I have done a brief search but havenā€™t found such discussions, let along answers. What I aim for in the end is a overview of all the expenses for the entire family (my wife and I). We two now have two credit suisse CSX accounts and two revolute account and some cash from time to time. We use cards interchangeably and pay bills with accounts here and there. So itā€™s aā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/thriftysquirrel/32/10934_2.png) [@ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/ThriftySquirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/6 "2023-11-04T16:04:14Z")
Thanks for the replies. Iā€™ll need to have a look, and while I very much enjoy creating my own spreadsheets, I feel like for the simple tool of expense tracking with categories, there has to be another and a spreadsheet isnā€™t exactly the best tool for the job. I already have mine for wealth tracking but there I donā€™t go into details like individual transactions YNAB seems very powerful and very much capable for the task but as mentioned before I want to avoid any unnecessary subscriptions. These posts seems more recent, thanks! I will have a look at them. If not I might go the beancount route. Seems more overkill but definitely more flexible. Also GitHub doesnā€™t scare me šŸ˜… ---
**Author:** ![weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/weirded/32/14916_2.png) [@weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/weirded)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/7 "2023-11-04T17:00:43Z")
If you really want to stick to free solutions you may also want to have a look to [GnuCash](https://www.gnucash.org). There should also be quite a good community if you need help to get started. User interface is Windows 3.1 style iirc šŸ™‚ . I gave it a try a few years ago but then decided to ay something to have a more user friendly tool which is also capable to connect to my accounts. edit: screenshot from the website ![feature_register](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/uploads/default/original/2X/6/640f9771ff437c3b90ad4df4620bbb38b70cf361.png) ---
**Author:** ![ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/thriftysquirrel/32/10934_2.png) [@ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/ThriftySquirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 5:07pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/8 "2023-11-04T17:07:40Z")
Yea I saw that in the posts as well but that UI is really date šŸ˜…. Not that, that is the most important aspect which to me would be ease of import, but itā€™s definitely not a plus. > [@weirded](#): > > I gave it a try a few years ago but then decided to ay something to have a more user friendly tool which is also capable to connect to my accounts. What are you using now? ---
**Author:** ![weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/weirded/32/14916_2.png) [@weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/weirded)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 5:18pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/9 "2023-11-04T17:18:16Z")
Iā€™m using MoneyWiz. I think they have 2-3 different options, one free, one ā€œlightā€ (ca. 20 CHF/year) and one ā€œfullā€ (ca. 50 CHF/year). Iā€™m using the latter because my bank(s) are supported, this should be checked in advance before paying the subscription fee ---
**Author:** ![dbu](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/dbu/32/1552_2.png) [@dbu](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/dbu)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2023, 4:45am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/10 "2023-11-05T04:45:01Z")
Toshl app + Google/Excel sheets to aggregate & analyze over time. ---
**Author:** ![ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/thriftysquirrel/32/10934_2.png) [@ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/ThriftySquirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/11 "2023-11-05T13:09:44Z")
Trying toshl now as thereā€™s a free tier and an affordable paid one (unfortunately it seems that UBS CH wouldnā€™t work for the automatic import). They also have iOS/Android and PC versions. I exported my transactions for 2023 as CSV from UBS and imported them to Toshl. How do you set the categories? I have only found a way to do it one by one. Ideally there would be some rules that I can set, to automate this bit. As I mentioned above I have a lot of repeatable transactions which clouds my data quite a bit. Doing this manually would be super annoying šŸ˜… ---
**Author:** ![dbu](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/dbu/32/1552_2.png) [@dbu](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/dbu)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/12 "2023-11-05T22:59:29Z")
Ah I havenā€™t seen you are looking for auto-categorization of a list as a requirement. šŸ™‚ I simply add each expense manually as it happens (and paid version allows setting up recurring ones). ---
**Author:** ![anonym](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/anonym/32/12687_2.png) [@anonym](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/anonym)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 7:49am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/13 "2023-11-06T07:49:42Z")
I use Firefly III, highly recommend it: [https://demo.firefly-iii.org/login](https://demo.firefly-iii.org/login) ---
**Author:** ![UACcorp](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/919ad9/32.png) [@UACcorp](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/UACcorp)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:21am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/14 "2023-11-06T08:21:20Z")
Just using Excel. Defined categories and sub-categories as named ranges that I can super easy expand. All expense data is exported monthly from various credit cards, accounts and added into a sheet with raw-expense data. I add on each line the cat/sub-cat, if any exchange rate percentage/wise absolute FX rates. Categories/sub-cat are drop-down selections so typically just first character is enough for each line to autocomplete. Very easy. Everything else is automatic on overview page - monthly/quarterly/yearly summaries. No other work. And if I want to drill into a category, say kids, I can open that section and see I spend avg of x CHF on games in that period. As just done for Oct, takes under 30mins for 5 different cards/accounts and currencies. ---
**Author:** ![ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/thriftysquirrel/32/10934_2.png) [@ThriftySquirrel](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/ThriftySquirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:30am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/15 "2023-11-06T08:30:59Z")
> [@dbu](#): > > Ah I havenā€™t seen you are looking for auto-categorization of a list as a requirement. šŸ™‚ It seems such an easy thing in 2023 that I will take it as a base requirement. As I mentioned in my original Post, at work we order food and then everyone pays that someone. I do that quite a lot so itā€™s not uncommon to have a few dozen (positive TWINT transfers per month). These all come from the same set of people so itā€™s very easy to filter out. This use case is actually one of the reasons why I am looking for an expense app. If I check my credit card statement it says that I spend upwards of 500 CHF on uber eats when actual number is much much less than that. From what I can see, toshl doesnā€™t even allow manual batch editing, so it would be far too cumbersome. Shame because it did seem good looking. > [@anonym](#): > > I use Firefly III, highly recommend it: [https://demo.firefly-iii.org/login](https://demo.firefly-iii.org/login) That is what I am leaning towards now. As I mentioned before, Github doesnā€™t scare me as I work with it `git` all the time already, and same with Docker so the main drawback of firefly iii doesnā€™t apply so much to me, so I will just need to find the time to deploy it somewhere. Iā€™m not sure if I will love double entry bookkeeping as it seems unnecessarily complex for what I need but maybe, in practical terms, it wonā€™t be that complicated I assume it does import credit card statements easily. I wonder if I can get the auto import to work with UBS. P.S. I see that Monday Morning is primetime for this forum. 2 replies in a couple of minutes, an dnow a third with mine šŸ˜… ---
**Author:** ![dave](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@dave](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/dave)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:49am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/16 "2023-11-06T08:49:41Z")
Hi, Iā€™m currently on YNAB but want to switch for 2 reasons. 1. Its expensive 2. It does not even properly support holding and spending in multiple currencies Iā€™m looking into following alternatives apps on iOS: - Bluecoins (they used to be available only on Android but since a year or so also on iOS) - Money Manager - SayMoney - MoneyCoach if anyone has experience if any of those please comment. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![JMH](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/jmh/32/5163_2.png) [@JMH](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/JMH)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/17 "2023-11-06T23:11:33Z")
> [@ThriftySquirrel](#): > > YNAB seems very powerful and very much capable for the task but as mentioned before I want to avoid any unnecessary subscriptions. I personally love my YNAB and after getting over the initial habit change of logging everything, I use it for myself and my kids (salaire de jeunesse) for everything. Itā€™s a 100 bucks but provides super easy long term visibility and for me itā€™s very intuitive and user friendly (personally I use it on my phone 80%) of the time where I wouldnā€™t use excel. Overall, on a scale out of 10, my stress on budget/saving was a constant 5-6 before and itā€™s a 2-3 now max > [@dave](#): > > Hi, > Iā€™m currently on YNAB but want to switch for 2 reasons. > > 1. Its expensive > 2. It does not even properly support holding and spending in multiple currencies This is true, especially point 2. I have 4 currencies mostly with a large majority in one, smaller annual spend in the others and I find it easiest to keep everything in CHF for simplicity ---
**Author:** ![anonym](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/anonym/32/12687_2.png) [@anonym](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/anonym)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 6:53am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/18 "2023-11-07T06:53:41Z")
> [@ThriftySquirrel](#): > > I wonder if I can get the auto import to work with UBS. There is the Firefly [Data Importer](https://github.com/firefly-iii/data-importer) that you can use. For my use cases, I wrote some python scripts that prepare the CSV with some filtering and with the right text before I submit it to FF3 via the data importer. ---
**Author:** ![rollerstroller](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@rollerstroller](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/rollerstroller)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/19 "2023-11-07T21:21:53Z")
Sounds amazing! Would you be willing to share a copy? I have a similar setup but Iā€™m not able to upload the data, I still do it by ā€œkeyboardā€ which takes some more time (and itā€™s the reason I havenā€™t been doing it since June). ---
**Author:** ![Eluc](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/97f17d/32.png) [@Eluc](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Eluc)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 9:57pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174/20 "2023-11-07T21:57:17Z")
I tried many software over the years, mostly free and open source ones as I donā€™t want to trust anyone with my financial data. Recently I tried the self-hosted Firefly III (some use it here as you can see) but after some trial I went back to a custom made spreadsheet (using LibreOffice Calc on Linux, of course) and it fits best my needs without too much efforts to inputs new CSV each months as it finds categories by keywords like ā€œcoopā€, ā€œMigrosā€, ā€œparkingā€ and I complete only the missing ones manually. [Next page](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/budget-expense-tracking-app/11174.md?page=2)