UrBudget Download

A YNAB 4 alternative

YNAB 4 was the YNAB you bought once and ran on your own computer. If that's what you miss, UrBudget works the same way: a desktop app, your budget in a file you keep, $9 once. It can't open YNAB 4 files, so here are the honest ways to move.

What happened to YNAB 4

YNAB 4 came out in June 2012, for Windows and Mac. On December 30, 2015, YNAB launched the version it sells today, a web app with phone apps, and moved to a subscription. YNAB 4 kept running on people's computers, but YNAB's help center says support for it ended in 2019.

The way across has closed too. The same help article says YNAB retired its YNAB 4 migration tool in 2026, the tool that moved a YNAB 4 budget into the current YNAB. (YNAB's pricing page still mentions a 10% lifetime discount on the yearly plan for YNAB 4 owners and links to the migration steps, so ask YNAB before you count on either.)

Why it won't open on a current Mac

YNAB 4 is a 32-bit app, and starting with macOS Catalina (10.15), Macs don't run 32-bit apps. So YNAB 4 doesn't open on Catalina or anything newer. To run it on a Mac now, you'd need one still on macOS Mojave (10.14) or earlier.

On Windows

Windows still runs 32-bit programs, so YNAB 4 may still open on a Windows PC. But it has had no fixes or support from YNAB since 2019.

Who UrBudget suits

UrBudget fits you if you

  • budget at a desktop or laptop: UrBudget runs on Windows 10 and 11 and on macOS 12 or later
  • want to pay once: $9 for all your own computers, with future updates
  • liked having your budget in a file on your computer: it works offline, with automatic backups, and there's no account to make
  • still budget the envelope way: every dollar gets a job, with targets, rollover and credit-card payment categories

Something else fits better if you

  • want your YNAB 4 budget brought over whole, categories and all: Actual Budget, a free open-source app, imports YNAB 4 budgets directly (UrBudget vs Actual)
  • budget on your phone: UrBudget has no phone app
  • share one budget with a partner: UrBudget syncs your own computers, but there's no shared budget for several people

Moving your YNAB 4 budget

UrBudget can't import YNAB 4 budget files. It reads the current YNAB (with a token or its export file) and bank statement files. These are the ways that do work, from most complete to least.

1. If you ever moved it to the current YNAB

If you used YNAB's migration tool before it was retired, your budget is in the current YNAB, and UrBudget's token import brings it over: accounts, every transaction, categories, targets, notes and scheduled transactions, checked month by month against YNAB's totals. See how the token import works.

The import needs a YNAB subscription or trial that's still running; YNAB's API doesn't answer for a lapsed one. YNAB keeps most account data for up to 24 months after a subscription ends, so if yours lapsed within that time, subscribing again for a month ($14.99) may be all it takes to import it.

2. Start fresh with today's balances

Often the cleanest choice, and the one that takes the least work.

  1. Add your accounts. In UrBudget, add each checking and savings account and each credit card with today's balance, from your bank or from YNAB 4.
  2. Set up your categories. YNAB 4's category list is a good model: copy the ones you still use, and give the irregular ones a target.
  3. Give your money a job. Assign the money in your accounts until nothing is left unassigned, then budget forward from there. The five steps.

Keep YNAB 4, or its CSV export below, for looking up old transactions. New ones come from your bank's statement files (CSV, OFX, QFX or QIF), which UrBudget imports with duplicates skipped.

3. Bring the transaction history over from YNAB 4's CSV export

This gets you every past transaction and correct balances, but not your old budget: categories and monthly budgeted amounts don't come over this way. It takes some spreadsheet work.

  1. Export from YNAB 4. In YNAB 4, choose File, then Export Budget Data. It saves two CSV files: one ending in Budget and one ending in Register. You only need the Register file.
  2. Leave the amounts as they are. UrBudget 1.0.3 and later reads YNAB 4's Outflow and Inflow amounts with their currency symbol, such as $12.34, and with a comma for cents, such as 12,34 €. On an older version, update first.
  3. Split it by account. Open the Register file in a spreadsheet app (Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice or Google Sheets). UrBudget imports a file into one account at a time, and the Register mixes all your accounts. Sort or filter by the Account column, then copy each account's rows, with the header row, into its own file and save it as CSV.
  4. Add the account in UrBudget. Add it with a starting balance of 0, then open its register and choose Import file.
  5. Import and review. Pick the account's CSV and the date order that matches its dates (for example month/day/year for 01/31/2016). UrBudget reads the Date, Payee, Memo, Outflow and Inflow columns and ignores the rest. Every row is shown before anything is saved. Then compare the account's balance with YNAB 4's, and adjust the starting balance if they differ.

What to expect afterwards:

  • No categories. Money out lands in an Uncategorized category and money in counts as income. Recategorize what matters to you, or leave old history as a record. Payee rules you set up first (in Payees & rules) can categorize rows as they come in.
  • Transfers aren't linked. A transfer between two accounts comes in as money out of one and money into the other, not as one transfer.
  • One file holds up to 10,000 transactions and 20 MB. Split a longer account history by year; importing a file that overlaps one you've already imported is safe, because rows already there are marked as duplicates.

If you want the history only to look things up, import it into a separate budget (make one from the budget menu) and start your everyday budget fresh, as in option 2.

A desktop budget you buy once, again

Free for 30 days on Windows and macOS, with no account and no card, then $9 once.

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YNAB and Actual Budget are trademarks of their owners. UrBudget isn't affiliated with either.