Forbidden Finance · Comparisons
Compare Forbidden Finance
Honest side-by-sides with the apps people actually shortlist. Every competitor fact links to its source, each page says where the other app is the better fit, and unshipped features on our side stay labeled "Coming Soon." If a comparison only ever flatters the author, it isn't a comparison — which is why our own trade-offs are listed below too.
Facts checked August 2026. Corrections: support@403fin.io
| App | Best for | Price | Free tier | Data-selling stance | Open source | Detail page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forbidden Finance | Privacy-first budgeters who want budgets, investments, and net worth in one app — with security claims you can actually check. | Free tier; $4.99–$14.99/mo | Yes — free forever | Never sells user data; no ads on any tier | No (full data export on every tier) | About us → |
| YNAB | Committed zero-based budgeters who want method coaching and a community, not just tools. | $14.99/mo or $109/yr | No (34-day trial) | Says it does not sell financial data | No (public API) | Full comparison → |
| Monarch Money | Households that want unlimited members and deep investment analytics under one subscription. | Core $14.99/mo or $99.99/yr; Plus $199.99/yr | No (7-day trial) | Says it will never sell financial data | No | Full comparison → |
| Copilot Money | Apple-ecosystem users who want the best-designed personal finance app on iPhone and Mac. | $13/mo or $95/yr | No (1-month trial + demo mode) | Says it does not sell financial information | No | Full comparison → |
| Rocket Money | People whose main problem is subscriptions and bills they want someone else to handle. | Free tier; Premium $7–$14/mo (choose your price) | Yes (limited) | Shares for own/joint/affiliate marketing per GLBA notice | No | Full comparison → |
| Quicken Simplifi | Budget-priced US/Canada users who want solid tracking with investments included. | $3.99/mo promo, $6.99/mo regular (billed annually) | No (30-day money-back) | Discloses CCPA-defined "sale" to ad + card/bank partners (opt-out) | No | Full comparison → |
| Empower Personal Dashboard | Investors who want serious free portfolio and retirement analysis — and don’t mind the advisory funnel. | Free (funds $100k+ advisory business) | Yes (entire product) | Says no monetization; promo calls/SMS consent on signup | No | Full comparison → |
| Actual Budget | Self-hosters who want full control, open code, and $0 software. | Free (self-host); ~$1.50/mo managed hosting | Yes (the whole product) | No vendor — your server, your data | Yes (MIT) | Full comparison → |
| Lunch Money | Multi-currency power users and developers who want a scriptable finance app today. | $10/mo or pay-what-you-want from $60/yr | No (30-day trial, no card) | Says it does not sell user information | No (public API) | Full comparison → |
| Zerosum | Strict zero-based budgeters who want the cheapest bank-synced option and are comfortable with a young product. | Basic $30/yr; Pro $75/yr or $9/mo (web) | No (free trial) | Says it never sells personal or financial data | No | Full comparison → |
Every app, summarized honestly
What each one is really for, where it shines, and the trade-offs its own documentation supports — ours included.
Forbidden Finance
Privacy-first budgeters who want budgets, investments, and net worth in one app — with security claims you can actually check.
Excels
- Per-account encryption inside the database, with key destruction on deletion
- All 8 budget methods on one subscription
- Multi-currency with real conversion, plus a UK/EU connection rail
- Sharing that doesn’t overshare: per-account opt-in + private budgets
Trade-offs
- No free trial — 30-day money-back guarantee instead
- App-store listings Coming Soon (Android direct download today)
- Not SOC 2 certified yet; independent human-led pentest scheduled
- Direct bank sync is US/Canada; UK/EU uses bring-your-own connections
YNAB
Committed zero-based budgeters who want method coaching and a community, not just tools.
Excels
- The strongest budgeting method education anywhere — workshops, courses, community
- Six-person sharing included at every price
- Public REST API with official SDKs, live today
- Offline mobile + Apple Watch app
Trade-offs
- Investments are balances only — no holdings, cost basis, or performance
- One currency per plan; separate plans per currency, no conversion
- No free tier, and the annual price has risen $50 → $109 over the years
- Doesn’t publicly document row-level or per-user encryption inside its database
Monarch Money
Households that want unlimited members and deep investment analytics under one subscription.
Excels
- Unlimited household members, each with their own login, no per-seat fee
- Deepest investment analysis in the category (benchmarks; Morningstar on Plus)
- Three aggregators with user-selectable provider per institution
- Shipped AI assistant, insights, and weekly recaps
Trade-offs
- Effectively single-currency: $ display only, no conversion, USD/CAD recommended
- No free tier; Plus features cost $199.99/yr on top of Core
- Discloses sharing device/analytics data with advertising partners for retargeting
- Doesn’t publicly document row-level or per-user encryption inside its database
Copilot Money
Apple-ecosystem users who want the best-designed personal finance app on iPhone and Mac.
Excels
- Best-in-class design with a genuine native macOS app
- Apple Card / Apple Cash via FinanceKit, plus direct Capital One and Coinbase links
- Mature AI categorization that learns from corrections
- Unusually candid security docs, including regular pen tests
Trade-offs
- No Android and no Windows — mixed-platform households are out
- USD only, US institutions only, no conversion
- No real multi-user model: partner sharing is a shared login with full control
- No public API
Rocket Money
People whose main problem is subscriptions and bills they want someone else to handle.
Excels
- Cancellation concierge for unwanted subscriptions
- No-win-no-fee bill negotiation
- Credit score and full Experian report monitoring
- A genuinely usable free tier for bill/subscription tracking
Trade-offs
- No investment tracking at all — balances only in net worth
- US-only, no multi-currency
- GLBA notice: sharing for its own, joint, and affiliate marketing "cannot be limited"
- Web access and CSV export are Premium-gated; budgeting caps at 2 free categories
Quicken Simplifi
Budget-priced US/Canada users who want solid tracking with investments included.
Excels
- Lowest paid entry price in the category ($3.99/mo promo, billed annually)
- 14,000+ institution coverage across several aggregators
- Investments with performance included in the base price
- Forward-looking cash flow and retirement projections
Trade-offs
- No free tier — unusable without paying
- One currency at a time (USD or CAD); mixing causes balance discrepancies
- CSV export drops splits, tags, and notes; data persists on servers after you lapse
- No certification, audit, pen test, or bug bounty publicly documented
Empower Personal Dashboard
Investors who want serious free portfolio and retirement analysis — and don’t mind the advisory funnel.
Excels
- Free Monte Carlo retirement planner, Fee Analyzer, and Investment Checkup
- The strongest published security assurance here: SOC 2 Type II, pen testing, user-specific keys
- Everything free with no caps on accounts or history
- Human advisors available above $100k
Trade-offs
- Budgeting is a monthly cash-flow view — no named methods, no envelopes
- Signing up consents to promotional calls/SMS for Empower and affiliate products
- US institutions and USD only; no import path for your own CSV data
- Two-person cap with all-or-nothing access; deletion is by support ticket
Actual Budget
Self-hosters who want full control, open code, and $0 software.
Excels
- Fully self-hostable and MIT-licensed — nobody can take it away
- Optional end-to-end encryption where only you hold the keys
- Genuinely free with unlimited users on your server
- Open code anyone can audit; issues fixed in public
Trade-offs
- DIY: you run the server, configure sync bridges, and trigger bank syncs manually
- No official native mobile apps (PWA + community projects)
- No multi-currency ("currency agnostic"), investments are balance-only
- Bank-sync tokens sit on the server outside the end-to-end encryption
Lunch Money
Multi-currency power users and developers who want a scriptable finance app today.
Excels
- Best multi-currency in the category: 160+ currencies with daily historical rates
- Public v2 API with official TypeScript SDK and mock server
- Unlimited collaborators — only the admin pays
- Pay-what-you-want annual pricing with a lifetime price lock
Trade-offs
- No free tier
- Investments and loans are balance-only; no transaction import for them
- Security documentation is thin: SMS 2FA; testing/audits not publicly documented
- Web-first — the mobile apps are companions, not the full product
Zerosum
Strict zero-based budgeters who want the cheapest bank-synced option and are comfortable with a young product.
Excels
- Cheapest serious bank-sync option (Pro at $75/yr ≈ $6.25/mo, billed via the web)
- Bank sync included on Pro without a separate aggregator subscription
- One-click importer from YNAB and Actual Budget
- Unusually minimal analytics footprint
Trade-offs
- Six months old, solo-built — a short public track record
- Developer states amounts and balances are not encrypted at the column level
- MFA/passkeys and a deletion workflow aren’t publicly documented
- One currency per budget, no conversion; investments are balance-only
- The iOS app is a web-app wrapper (per its feedback board): no Siri Shortcuts, and the iPad app shows the mobile view
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