EasyFin vs YNAB
Multi-currency budgeting without a separate budget per currency
EasyFin is a YNAB alternative for people whose money spans currencies. Both apps do category budgeting with rollover, bank sync and shared access. The difference is currency: in YNAB the currency is fixed when you create a budget and there is no conversion, so multi-currency users keep one budget per currency and lose the combined view. EasyFin holds all currencies in one budget and converts at each transaction's own rate. EasyFin also has a free plan; YNAB has none.
Key takeaways
- YNAB fixes one currency per plan and performs no conversion, so tracking two currencies means running two plans with no combined view.
- YNAB has no free tier at all; EasyFin's free plan covers 3 accounts and 300 transactions a month.
- EasyFin is $90 a year against YNAB's $109, and YNAB prices in USD without adjusting for local exchange rates.
- YNAB's zero-based method is genuinely better taught than anything EasyFin offers — if you budget in one currency and want that method, YNAB wins.
What is YNAB?
YNAB — You Need A Budget — is a subscription budgeting app built around zero-based budgeting: every dollar you have is assigned a job before you spend it, and overspending in one category is covered by moving money from another rather than ignored. It is the most rigorously taught method in personal finance, with a large body of official workshops and a substantial community around it. The app syncs with US and Canadian banks, imports files for banks elsewhere, includes six seats on one subscription, and runs on iOS, Android and web. It costs $109 a year or $14.99 a month with a 34-day trial that does not ask for a card. There is no free tier. YNAB's constraint, and the reason this comparison exists, is that a plan holds exactly one currency.
Does YNAB support multiple currencies?
No. You choose a currency when you create a plan and YNAB never converts between currencies within it. The documented workaround is a separate plan per currency, which works in the narrow sense that each plan is internally correct, and fails in the sense that mattered: there is no combined view. You cannot see total net worth, you cannot budget a category that spans currencies, and a transfer between a euro account and a dollar account is two unrelated transactions in two unrelated plans. YNAB is also explicit that its own price is not adjusted for where you live, which is a small thing on its own and a fair signal of how central the US dollar is to the product.
“You can select the currency you want to use in YNAB, but you can't use multiple currencies together in a single spending plan.”
“YNAB is priced in US dollars. Exchange rates are not reflected in the price.”
What both apps do
- Category budgets with rollover of unspent money
- Automatic bank sync plus manual entry
- CSV and OFX file import
- Shared access for a partner or household
- iOS, Android and web
Where they differ
| Feature | EasyFin | YNAB |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Multi-currency in one budget | Yes | No |
| Historical FX per transaction | Yes | No |
| Voice transaction entry | Yes | No |
| Investment holdings | Yes | Balance level |
| Zero-based budgeting method | No | Yes — the core method |
| Included seats | Partner sharing | 6 |
| Public REST API | Yes | Yes |
Multi-currency in one budget
EasyFin holds every currency in a single budget. A euro purchase counted against a Canadian dollar grocery budget consumes a fixed converted amount, and the combined view shows one net worth figure rather than several. In YNAB the same situation requires two plans and manual reconciliation between them, and the reconciliation is wrong the moment the exchange rate moves.
Historical exchange rates
Because YNAB never converts, it also never restates — its history is stable by virtue of being single-currency. EasyFin achieves stability differently: it converts, but stores the rate from each transaction's own date, so the converted figure is fixed at the moment the transaction is recorded. The comparison that matters here is not YNAB but the multi-currency apps that convert at the current rate and let last year's numbers drift.
Free plan
YNAB has never offered one. Its 34-day trial is unusually generous — no card required, full product — but it ends. EasyFin's free plan is permanent at 3 connected accounts and 300 transactions a month, with multi-currency, historical rates, rollover and automatic categorization all included rather than reserved for Pro. For a household tracking a few accounts, free may simply be the end state.
Zero-based budgeting method
This is YNAB's, and EasyFin does not attempt it. EasyFin budgets by category against expected spending, with rollover; it does not require you to assign every available dollar a job before spending, and it does not teach a method. If the discipline of zero-based budgeting is what you are buying, that is a real reason to choose YNAB and no feature table changes it.
Voice transaction entry
YNAB has no voice entry. This matters more in YNAB's own philosophy than it might elsewhere: the method depends on transactions being entered promptly, and YNAB users commonly describe manual entry at the point of sale as the habit that makes it work. Speaking a transaction is faster than typing one, and EasyFin shows a draft for you to confirm rather than saving directly.
Included seats
YNAB includes six seats on one subscription, which is more than EasyFin's partner sharing and is genuinely better for a larger household or a family teaching the method to several people. This is a row where YNAB simply offers more.
Investment holdings
YNAB tracks investment accounts at the balance level — it is a budgeting app and treats a brokerage as a number. EasyFin tracks holdings, cost basis and investment transactions, and values each at the exchange rate on its own date. EasyFin revalues nightly rather than intra-day, so this is depth over immediacy.
How each app handles more than one currency
YNAB stores one currency per plan and does not convert, so foreign transactions are entered in the plan's currency at whatever rate you decide, by hand. EasyFin gives each account its own currency and one preferred currency for reporting. The rate for a transaction's date is stored with the transaction, so conversion happens once and stays put. Budgets freeze the rate at the moment spending is counted against them, which is the part that keeps a month you already closed from reopening because a currency moved.
Price
| Monthly | $10 vs $14.99 |
|---|---|
| Annual | $90 vs $109 |
| Free plan | EasyFin yes · YNAB no |
| Trial | EasyFin 14 days · YNAB 34 days, no card |
YNAB pricing verified against the vendor's own pricing page on . Prices in USD.
The headline gap is $90 against $109 a year, but the more useful comparison is what happens at zero. YNAB's trial is 34 days with no card, which is more generous than EasyFin's 14 days, and then it stops — there is no free tier to fall back to. EasyFin's free plan continues indefinitely at 3 accounts and 300 transactions a month. Against that, YNAB's six seats make its per-person cost lower for a household of four or more. If you are one or two people, EasyFin is cheaper both up front and permanently; if you are six, YNAB is the better arithmetic.
Where YNAB is the better choice
YNAB's zero-based method is the best-taught system in personal finance, and for people who want the discipline of assigning every dollar a job it is the reason to pay. It also includes six seats at no extra cost and works offline on mobile. If you budget in a single currency and want that method, YNAB is the better tool.
Moving from YNAB to EasyFin
- Export from YNAB. Each plan exports its register as CSV from the account settings; if you run one plan per currency, export each one separately.
- Install EasyFin and set your preferred currency. This is the currency combined balances, budgets and net worth are reported in — accounts keep their own.
- Create your accounts with the correct currency each. This is the step that undoes the one-plan-per-currency split: the euro account and the dollar account now live in the same place.
- Import each CSV against the matching account. Historical transactions keep the currency they were recorded in, and are converted at their own dates' rates.
- Connect banks for ongoing sync. US and Canadian institutions via Plaid, Ukrainian via Monobank; anything else can continue on file import as it did in YNAB.
- Rebuild your category budgets. Rollover is on by default, so the carry-forward behaviour you are used to from YNAB continues, but without assigning every dollar a job first.
Frequently asked questions
- Does YNAB support multiple currencies?
- Not within one budget. YNAB fixes the currency when a budget is created and performs no conversion, so tracking two currencies means two separate budgets and no combined view. EasyFin holds multiple currencies in a single budget and converts each transaction at its own rate.
- Is there a free version of YNAB?
- No. YNAB offers a 34-day free trial that does not require a card, after which a subscription is required. EasyFin has a permanently free plan covering 3 accounts and 300 transactions a month.
- How much does YNAB cost compared to EasyFin?
- YNAB is $109 a year or $14.99 a month with no free tier. EasyFin is $90 a year or $10 a month with a permanent free plan covering 3 accounts and 300 transactions a month. YNAB includes six seats, so for a household of four or more its per-person cost is lower.
- Can I use two currencies in one YNAB budget?
- No. YNAB fixes the currency when a plan is created and never converts within it. The documented workaround is one plan per currency, which leaves no combined net worth, no category spanning currencies, and a cross-currency transfer recorded as two unrelated transactions.
- Does EasyFin do zero-based budgeting?
- No. EasyFin budgets by category against expected spending with rollover, but does not require every available dollar to be assigned a job before spending. If zero-based budgeting is the method you want, YNAB teaches it better than any other app.
- Can I import my YNAB data into EasyFin?
- Yes. YNAB exports each plan's register as CSV, and EasyFin imports it per account. If you ran one plan per currency, export each separately — in EasyFin they become accounts in a single budget rather than separate plans.
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Three accounts and 300 transactions a month, free forever. No card required.
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