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Comparison · YNAB

Looking for a YNAB alternative?

YNAB has the best budgeting method on the market and has owned that for twenty years. The problem sits elsewhere: USD 109 a year billed in dollars, one currency per budget, and nothing about your net worth or your taxes.

Checked August 2026

Stay on YNAB if

  • The envelope method changed how you handle money. It beats ours, and we are not pretending otherwise.
  • You split the subscription six ways, which cuts the bill seriously.
  • You are a student and the free year matters.
  • The community and the teaching material count as much as the app.

Move to Avuru if

  • You want to be billed in euros. YNAB charges USD 109 a year and says exchange rates are not reflected in the price.
  • You juggle several currencies. YNAB holds one currency per budget.
  • You want to track net worth, not only a budget.
  • Luxembourg tax or cross-border status applies to you.
Line by line

What each one does for real.

Including the boxes where we are not ready yet. A comparison page that never loses is useful to nobody.

Criterion
Avuru
YNAB
Accounts and data
Automatic bank connectionPSD2, read only
Soon
Selective
Manual entry and import
Yes
Yes
Document vault with search
Yes
No
Transactions pulled out of a PDF statement or a photo
Yes
No
Budget and goals
Budgets and categorisation
Yes
Yes
Goals ranked by level of needRent before the holiday
Yes
No
Can I afford this, with money left to live on
Yes
No
FIRE planner with Monte Carlo simulation
Yes
No
Loan and rent-versus-buy simulators
Yes
Debt calculator
Tax
Luxembourg tax simulators
6
No
Tax class and quasi-resident status
Yes
No
Cross-border commuting and travel deduction
Yes
No
Running it from an AI
Runs from Claude or another MCP assistant
Yes
No
The assistant can write, and every write can be undone
Yes
No
Revocable key, read or write scope of your choosing
Yes
No
Model, data and price
Head office and hosting
Luxembourg, EU
United States
Ownership
Independent
Independent
How the publisher makes money
Subscription only
Subscription only
Commission on assets held
0%
0%
Free tier
2 accounts
No
First paid tier
EUR 5.99 a month
USD 14.99 a month
Free trial
14 days
34 days
Demo you can open without an account
Yes
No
Checked on the publishers' own sites in August 2026. These offers move, verify before you decide.
01 · Avuru Connect

Your accounts, from a conversation.

YNAB asks you to come and categorise. Avuru lets you do it from a conversation. You generate a key in your settings, paste it once into Claude, and then just ask. How much did I spend on restaurants in July. Add the garage invoice. Move the grocery budget to EUR 400.

Eighteen tools exposed to the assistant, six of which write
Native undo on every change: you say undo that, without reopening the app
Revocable key in one click, with read-only or write scope as you choose
Out of reach: account deletion, security and billing
More on Avuru Connect →

YNAB does not expose an MCP server. Avuru Connect is part of the Pro plan, and the 14 day trial gives you access.

How much on restaurants in July? readEUR 412
Add the garage invoice writeEUR 185
Move grocery budget to 400 writeEUR 400
Undo that undorestored
KeyPro · revocable in one click
02 · Tax

Luxembourg, not only France.

YNAB offers no tax tooling anywhere. If you live in Luxembourg, or work there while living across the border, your tax return looks like nobody else's. Six simulators handle that, and they fill themselves from your data if you let them.

Tax estimator and deduction finder
Tax class and quasi-resident status
Commuting deduction for cross-border workers
Year-end optimiser and property capital gains
See the simulators →

Avuru does not replace a tax adviser. These simulators give you an order of magnitude, not a filing.

Tax estimator Luxembourgclass 2
Deduction finder 12 itemsEUR 1,840
Commuting deduction cross-borderEUR 2,574
Year-end optimiser before 31 DecEUR 910
Estimated gapEUR 5,324
03 · Price and projection

Knowing where you land in ten years.

USD 109 a year, no free tier, and the exchange rate is not their problem. The free tier gives you two accounts with no card. After that EUR 5.99 a month for unlimited accounts, EUR 15.99 for full budgeting and AI, EUR 36.99 for Avuru Connect. Fourteen days of trial on every paid plan, matched to the European withdrawal period so the first charge lands after it closes rather than before.

FIRE planner with Monte Carlo simulation, not a slider
Goals ranked by level of need: rent comes before the holiday
Can I afford this answers with the money you actually have left
Zero commission on what you hold, and your data is not resold
See pricing →

Payments are not open yet. You can use the free tier right now.

Monthly saving simulatedEUR 1,250
Assumed return net of inflation4.0%
Probability of success Monte Carlo, 10,000 runs87%
Top priority goal level 2 of 5home deposit
Estimated independence2041
Pricing

What you pay, on both sides.

Public prices as of August 2026. Neither free trial asks for a card.

Avuru Finance
EUR 5.99a month
  • Free: 2 accounts, no card
  • Lite: EUR 5.99 a month or EUR 54.99 a year
  • Plus: EUR 15.99 a month or EUR 149.99 a year
  • Pro: EUR 36.99 a month or EUR 349.99 a year, with Avuru Connect
Start for free
YNAB
USD 14.99a month
  • No free tier
  • USD 14.99 a month or USD 109 a year
  • 34 day trial, no card required
  • Up to 6 people on one subscription

Frequently asked questions

How much does YNAB cost?

USD 14.99 a month or USD 109 a year, with a 34 day trial and no card required. The price is in dollars, and the publisher notes that exchange rates are not reflected in it.

Does YNAB work with European banks?

Partly. YNAB uses Plaid across eighteen European countries including France, but not every bank in a covered country shows up in the institution search, and community reports describe unstable connections. File import stays the fallback.

Does Avuru replace the YNAB method?

No. YNAB's zero-based budgeting beats ours, and so does its teaching material. Avuru covers wider ground, not the same discipline.

What does Avuru do that YNAB does not?

Net worth tracking, six Luxembourg tax simulators, control from Claude through Avuru Connect, a FIRE planner with Monte Carlo simulation, and display in euros, dollars or Swiss francs.

Does Avuru bill in euros?

Yes, only. That is deliberate: quoting a price in one currency and charging in another creates a gap the customer discovers on their statement.

Can I try it without paying?

A public demo opens with no account and no email. The free tier gives you two accounts with no card, and every paid plan comes with a 14 day trial.

Try it without installing or paying anything.

The demo opens with no account and no email. If Avuru suits you, the free tier asks for no card. And if you change your mind, everything deletes in one click.

Start for free

Or explore the demo first.

Start for free