Forbidden Finance · Comparison
Forbidden Finance vs Lunch Money
Lunch Money is an indie, bootstrapped, web-first personal-finance app with companion iOS and Android apps, known for strong multi-currency support (160+ currencies), a public developer API, and pay-what-you-want annual pricing with a lifetime price lock.
Lunch Money is best for: Multi-currency power users and developers who want a scriptable finance app today.
Facts about Lunch Money were checked against their published pages in August 2026; every cell links its source. Spot something out of date? Tell us at support@403fin.io and we'll fix it.
At a glance
| Dimension | Forbidden Finance | Lunch Money |
|---|---|---|
| The basics | ||
| Price | Free tier forever; paid plans $4.99–$14.99/mo. No free trial — 30-day money-back guarantee on web purchases. | $10/mo, or pay-what-you-want annual from $60/yr; 30-day free trial, no card. Existing subscribers keep their rate forever ("price-lock guarantee").↗ |
| Business model | Subscriptions only. No ads, no data sales, no cross-sells. | Indie, bootstrapped, profitable subscription — solo-founded by Jen Yip, now a small team; pricing decisions made publicly on the company blog.↗ |
| Security & privacy | ||
| Data selling & ads | We never sell user data, share it with advertisers, or build behavioral profiles for third parties. | States it does not sell user information; subscription-funded, no advertising model.↗ |
| Bank credentials & tokens | Bank credentials never touch our servers (entered with regulated aggregators); sensitive tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage. | States banking credentials are never stored (read-only Plaid connections) and data is AES-256 encrypted.↗ |
| Encryption inside the database | Sensitive financial fields are sealed under encryption keys unique to each account before they reach the database; keys live in a separate key service. Amounts are aggregated in memory after decryption, so financial values never need to sit readable in the database. | AES-256 encryption claimed; per-user keys not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Database-level isolation | PostgreSQL row-level security enforces per-account isolation inside the database engine itself. | Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Deletion & export | Self-serve: 30-day recovery window, then permanent deletion and destruction of the account’s encryption keys. Full data export on every tier. | Self-serve: "Cancel subscription & delete entire account" on the Billing page; CSV export + full developer API access to your data.↗ |
| Sign-in security | Passkeys, authenticator-app (TOTP) MFA, biometric unlock, session management. | Two-factor authentication available (SMS-based per the privacy policy). Passkeys: not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Security testing & audits | Built by a founder with a professional penetration-testing background; an independent, human-led penetration test is scheduled ahead of full launch. Not yet SOC 2 certified — we say so plainly. | Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08) — no certification, audit, penetration test, or bug-bounty program found.↗ |
| Features | ||
| Bank sync | US & Canada via regulated aggregators (daily + updates when your bank reports changes); UK/EU via bring-your-own open-banking connections; CSV & JSON import. | Plaid across 19 countries (US, CA + 17 European); event-driven updates when the bank notifies Plaid; CSV import elsewhere.↗ |
| Budget methods | All 8 methods: 50/30/20, Pay Yourself First, Zero-Based, Envelope, Kakeibo, FIRE, Values-Based, Custom. | Flexible monthly category budgeting — not strict envelope/zero-based.↗ |
| Investment tracking | Brokerage connections with holdings, activity & cost basis (Pro+); per-lot detail and tax-lot CSV export (Premium). | Balance-level syncing for investment accounts; crypto via wallet linking or 300+ manual currencies. No holdings/cost-basis detail documented.↗ |
| Multi-currency | 1 / 3 / 10 / unlimited currencies by tier, with exchange-rate conversion. | 160+ currencies with daily historical exchange rates and a primary-currency rollup — the strongest multi-currency here.↗ |
| Partner / household | 1 partner (Pro) or up to 5 users (Premium). You choose exactly which accounts to share; partners work in a shared budget while each also keeps a private budget; connection slots can be lent. | Unlimited collaborators with their own logins; only the admin needs a subscription (priced per budget, not per person).↗ |
| Platforms | Web (installable PWA), iOS, Android. Android direct download available today; app-store listings Coming Soon. | Web-first + official free iOS and Android companion apps.↗ |
| Open source / self-host | Proprietary, not self-hostable. The exit stays open: full data export on every tier. | Closed source, no self-host; public v2 developer API with official TypeScript SDK and mock server.↗ |
Security, side by side
We compare only what Lunch Money publicly documents. "Not publicly documented" means exactly that — it is not an accusation, and plenty of solid engineering never makes it to a marketing page. Here's what each side is willing to put in writing.
What Forbidden Finance puts in writing
- Data selling & ads: We never sell user data, share it with advertisers, or build behavioral profiles for third parties.
- Bank credentials & tokens: Bank credentials never touch our servers (entered with regulated aggregators); sensitive tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage.
- Encryption inside the database: Sensitive financial fields are sealed under encryption keys unique to each account before they reach the database; keys live in a separate key service. Amounts are aggregated in memory after decryption, so financial values never need to sit readable in the database.
- Database-level isolation: PostgreSQL row-level security enforces per-account isolation inside the database engine itself.
- Deletion & export: Self-serve: 30-day recovery window, then permanent deletion and destruction of the account’s encryption keys. Full data export on every tier.
- Sign-in security: Passkeys, authenticator-app (TOTP) MFA, biometric unlock, session management.
- Security testing & audits: Built by a founder with a professional penetration-testing background; an independent, human-led penetration test is scheduled ahead of full launch. Not yet SOC 2 certified — we say so plainly.
The full story, including what we're NOT certified for, is on the Security & Privacy page.
What Lunch Money documents
- Data selling & ads: lunchmoney.app blocks automated fetches, so the exact policy wording is search-corroborated — re-verify in a browser before quoting.↗
- Bank credentials & tokens: States banking credentials are never stored (read-only Plaid connections) and data is AES-256 encrypted.↗
- Encryption inside the database: AES-256 encryption claimed; per-user keys not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Database-level isolation: Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Deletion & export: A specific post-deletion retention window is not publicly documented.↗
- Sign-in security: Two-factor authentication available (SMS-based per the privacy policy). Passkeys: not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Security testing & audits: Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08) — no certification, audit, penetration test, or bug-bounty program found.↗
Where Lunch Money is a better fit
An honest comparison cuts both ways. If these match what you need,Lunch Money is a fine choice — we'd rather you pick the right tool than churn out of the wrong one.
- You want a public developer API today: Lunch Money’s v2 API, TypeScript SDK, and mock server are live now (ours is Coming Soon).
- You want unlimited multi-currency at any price: 160+ currencies with daily historical rates at every price level, where we meter currencies by tier.
- You share with many people: unlimited collaborators with their own logins, and only the admin pays.
- Your banks are in Western Europe or the Nordics: direct Plaid sync covers 17 European countries, versus our bring-your-own-connection rail for the EU/UK.
- You want to name your own price: pay-what-you-want annual plans from $60/yr with a lifetime price lock.
Trade-offs to know about Lunch Money
- 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
Why pick Forbidden Finance over Lunch Money
Shipped today
- A free-forever tier — Lunch Money starts the meter after its trial.
- Investments with holdings, activity, and cost basis, versus balance-only syncing.
- Documented security depth: per-account database encryption, RLS, passkeys and TOTP — Lunch Money documents SMS 2FA.
- Mobile apps that are the full product, not companions to a desktop web app.
- Eight budget methods versus one flexible category model.
- 30-day money-back guarantee on web purchases instead of a trial that auto-converts.
On the way
- Flexible budget periods — pick your own start date and frequency, or alternate phases: run a 6-month budget, or three high-income months followed by three lean ones, the way contractor income actually works Coming Soon
- AI-powered insights (privacy-gated, on open models) Coming Soon
- API access Coming Soon
- MCP connector for AI assistants Coming Soon
- Dedicated FIRE planning tools Coming Soon
- Debt payoff tools Coming Soon
Unshipped features stay labeled until they're real — that's the same honesty rule the rest of this page runs on.
Switching from Lunch Money?
Export your data from Lunch Money, then bring it in with Forbidden Finance's CSV & JSON import — available on every tier, including Free, so you can test-drive with your real data before paying anything. The help docs walk through imports step by step.
Common questions
Lunch Money is $10/month or pay-what-you-want annually from $60/year, with every feature at every price and a lifetime price lock — but no free tier (30-day trial instead). Forbidden Finance has a free-forever tier and tiered plans from $4.99, where higher tiers add connections, currencies, investments, and users.
Lunch Money supports 160+ currencies with daily historical exchange rates at every price level — the strongest multi-currency in the category. Forbidden Finance supports multi-currency with conversion too, but meters it by tier (1/3/10/unlimited). If unlimited currencies on a budget is your top requirement, Lunch Money is the better fit.
At the balance level: investment accounts sync balances, and crypto can be linked or tracked manually, but its docs state automatic transaction import for investment accounts is not supported and no holdings/cost-basis detail is documented. Forbidden Finance pulls holdings, activity, and cost basis from brokerages on Pro and above.
Its track record is a point in its favor: bootstrapped, profitable, solo-founded by Jen Yip in ~2019, with pricing changes announced openly and existing subscribers grandfathered every time. It states it never sells user information and offers SMS two-factor authentication; per-user database encryption and passkeys are not publicly documented.
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