Why do most people quit their budget app?
Not because the app is bad. Because it needs feeding. Every coffee, every train ticket, every late-night order has to be typed in or sorted, and by the second week nobody is doing it. The budget goes quiet, and the money keeps moving.
So the question that matters is not which app has the most charts. It is which app keeps itself up to date while you get on with your life. That is the lens for everything below.
Written by the team that makes Tally. Prices from each app's own pricing page, 31 October 2026.
How do the prices compare?
| App | Yearly | Monthly | Free version | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tally | $79.99 | $7.99 | Yes | 7 days on yearly |
| YNAB | $109 | $14.99 | No | 34 days |
| Monarch | $99.99 | $14.99 | No | First week |
| Copilot Money | $109 (offer; normally $119) | $9 | No | 1 month |
| PocketGuard | $74.99 | $12.99 | Check site | 7 days |
| EveryDollar | $79.99 (Premium) | $17.99 | Yes | 14 days |
| Lunch Money | $100 (you can choose your price) | $10 | No | 30 days |
| Simplifi by Quicken | Introductory price for the first year; see Quicken's page | No | Check site | |
| Emma (UK) | From £41.99 (Plus) | From £4.99 | Yes | 7 days |
US dollars unless marked. Read on each app's own page on 31 October 2026.
Which app suits which kind of person?
- You pay with Apple Pay and never want to type a purchase: Tally. Taps log themselves as you pay, and your bank's copy merges into the same row.
- You want a strict method and will put the time in: YNAB. Every dollar gets a job before you spend it, and one subscription covers up to six people.
- You want investments and net worth in one polished place: Monarch or Copilot Money. Copilot is built for Apple devices, including Mac. Monarch also runs on Android and the web.
- You want a free plan you can keep: Tally's free version includes automatic Apple Pay logging. EveryDollar has a free version for manual budgeting.
- You want to know what is left after bills: Tally and PocketGuard both lead with that number. Tally also sets aside this week's bills before it tells you.
- You like spreadsheets, rules and automation: Lunch Money, which lets you set your own price.
- You live in the UK: Tally reads the bank accounts you have added to Apple Wallet, free. Emma links many accounts through Open Banking.
Which ones connect to my bank?
YNAB, Monarch, Copilot Money, PocketGuard, Simplifi and EveryDollar Premium connect to US banks, and several also reach Canadian or UK banks; their pages list where. Emma connects UK bank accounts through Open Banking, with a limit on the number of accounts on the cheaper plans.
Tally connects to US banks read-only through Plaid on Tally Pro. In the UK it reads the bank accounts you have added to Apple Wallet, for free and with no bank login in the app. In Canada and elsewhere it imports your bank's own CSV or PDF statement. Everywhere, it can log each in-store Apple Pay tap the moment you pay.
What makes Tally different?
You never type a purchase. Every in-store Apple Pay tap lands in Tally the moment you pay, filed to a category it learns from you. When your bank posts the same purchase, it merges into that row instead of appearing twice.
One number every morning. What is safe to spend today, with this week's bills already set aside, so you can say yes to dinner without doing maths in your head.
Built for two, and for two currencies. Shared budgets for couples and families, with bills split equally or by what each person earns, and 32 currencies in one budget.
Private by design. Your bank login goes to your bank, never to Tally, and nothing in the app is sold to advertisers.
Priced to keep. Free to start, with Apple Pay capture included. Tally Pro, with US bank sync, shared budgets and the deeper reports, is $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial on yearly.