Side by side
| Feature | UrBudget | EveryDollar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9 once, on all your own computers, with future updates | A free version with manual entry. Premium is $79.99 a year, or $17.99 a month |
| Free trial | 30 days, with no account or card | 14 days of Premium, for new users |
| Runs on | Windows 10 and 11, macOS 12 or later | The web, iPhone, iPad and Android. The phone apps and Premium are for the US only |
| Where your budget lives | In a file on your computer. Works offline, with automatic backups | In your Ramsey account, on EveryDollar's servers |
| Between devices | Optional sync for $2 a month, encrypted with your passphrase before it leaves your computer | Included: the phone app syncs with the web version |
| Bank connections | None. Import statement files (CSV, OFX, QFX, QIF), checked row by row | Premium only, through Mastercard and Plaid. EveryDollar can't import files: no CSV, OFX, QFX or QIF |
| Sharing | Your own computers; no shared budget for several people | Household: invite your spouse, and you both see and edit one budget |
| Method | Envelopes: you budget money you already have, and every category carries its balance into the next month | Zero-based: you plan the month's income until income minus expenses is zero. Unspent money stays behind unless you carry it over by hand; Funds carry over on their own |
| Getting your data out | CSV in YNAB's layout, or a full JSON backup | Premium: a CSV of one month at a time, from EveryDollar.com |
The method is close, with one difference
EveryDollar starts each month from the income you expect to earn that month and plans it down to zero. When the month ends, money you didn't spend in a budget item doesn't move forward by itself: EveryDollar's help suggests adding it to next month as an income line called something like "Rollover". The exception is Funds, its savings items for bills that don't come every month, which keep their balance from month to month.
UrBudget works the way EveryDollar's Funds do, for every category. You assign the money that's already in your accounts, and whatever a category doesn't spend stays in it next month. A paycheck you haven't received yet isn't budgeted until it arrives.
What it costs over time
Over five years, EveryDollar Premium comes to $399.95 on the yearly plan, or $1,079.40 paid monthly. UrBudget comes to $9, or $129 if you also keep sync on the whole time. EveryDollar's free version costs nothing, but you type in every transaction, and it doesn't include bank connections, custom reports or the CSV export.
Which one fits you
EveryDollar, if you
- follow Ramsey's Baby Steps and want the debt snowball tracker (Premium)
- want a free budget on your phone and don't mind typing transactions in
- share one budget with your spouse
- live in the US and want transactions to arrive from your bank (Premium)
UrBudget, if you
- want unspent money to stay in its category next month without moving it by hand
- want to import your bank's statement files instead of typing or giving an app your bank login
- budget at a computer, in any country and any currency
- want to pay once: $9 instead of $79.99 a year
If you budget on your phone through the month, or you and your spouse both need the budget in hand, EveryDollar does that and UrBudget doesn't: UrBudget has no phone app and no shared budgets. UrBudget is for people who sit down at a computer to budget and want the budget in a file they keep.
Moving from EveryDollar to UrBudget
EveryDollar has no full-budget export. Premium can download a CSV from EveryDollar.com one month at a time: either that month's tracked transactions, with the account each one came from, or its planned, spent and remaining amounts. Those files are laid out by budget month with every account together, while UrBudget imports bank statement files into one account at a time. So the cleanest way over is to start from today, with your history coming from your bank.
- Write down your budget. Note your budget groups and items, and how much is in each Fund. If you have Premium, download the CSV for this month and last month as a record.
- Add your accounts with today's balances. In UrBudget, add each checking and savings account and each credit card. The opening balance is the starting point before any transactions you add.
- Bring in recent transactions from your bank. Download a statement file for each account from your bank's website, as OFX or QFX if it offers them, and import it with Import file in that account's register. You see every row before it's saved, and rows you've already imported are marked as duplicates.
- Give your money a job. Create your categories, then assign what's in your accounts until nothing is left unassigned. Put each Fund's balance back into its category first; targets can take the place of Funds from here on.
New to how UrBudget does this? Getting started walks through the same steps.
Try it for a month
Free for 30 days, with no account and no card. Your EveryDollar budget stays as it is.
EveryDollar and Ramsey Solutions are trademarks of their owner. UrBudget isn't affiliated with EveryDollar or Ramsey Solutions.