Forbidden Finance · Comparison
Forbidden Finance vs YNAB
YNAB (You Need A Budget) is a subscription budgeting app built around one method — zero-based, give-every-dollar-a-job — sold as a single tier with no free plan. It emphasizes method education and hands-on budgeting discipline over automated portfolio or net-worth analytics.
YNAB is best for: Committed zero-based budgeters who want method coaching and a community, not just tools.
Facts about YNAB 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 Spot something out of date?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 | YNAB |
|---|---|---|
| The basics | ||
| Price | Free tier forever; paid plans $4.99–$14.99/mo. No free trial — 30-day money-back guarantee on web purchases. | No free tier. $14.99/mo or $109/yr; 34-day free trial.↗ |
| Business model | Subscriptions only. No ads, no data sales, no cross-sells. | Single-tier subscription; ad-free product. Bootstrapped (no VC).↗ |
| 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 financial data or share it for targeted ads; runs marketing cookies/pixels on its website.↗ |
| Bank credentials & tokens | Bank credentials never touch our servers (entered with regulated aggregators); sensitive tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage. | Industry-standard encryption in transit and at rest; bank connections via aggregators using OAuth where available.↗ |
| 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. | 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 deletion; CSV/TSV export of plan and transactions.↗ |
| Sign-in security | Passkeys, authenticator-app (TOTP) MFA, biometric unlock, session management. | Two-step verification. 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. | Public Bugcrowd bug bounty. The SOC/ISO certifications its page lists belong to infrastructure partners, not YNAB; its own penetration testing is not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| 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 and MX (US/Canada-centric); CSV/QFX file import.↗ |
| Budget methods | All 8 methods: 50/30/20, Pay Yourself First, Zero-Based, Envelope, Kakeibo, FIRE, Values-Based, Custom. | One method: zero-based envelope budgeting (the Four Rules), with extensive coaching around it.↗ |
| Investment tracking | Brokerage connections with holdings, activity & cost basis (Pro+); per-lot detail and tax-lot CSV export (Premium). | Balances only ("tracking accounts") — no holdings, cost basis, or performance.↗ |
| Multi-currency | 1 / 3 / 10 / unlimited currencies by tier, with exchange-rate conversion. | One currency per plan; the official workaround is a separate plan per currency, with no conversion.↗ |
| 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. | YNAB Together: up to 6 people, each with their own login, included in one subscription.↗ |
| Platforms | Web (installable PWA), iOS, Android. Android direct download available today; app-store listings Coming Soon. | Web, iOS (+ Apple Watch), Android; no native desktop app.↗ |
| Open source / self-host | Proprietary, not self-hostable. The exit stays open: full data export on every tier. | Proprietary, no self-host; public REST API with official open-source SDKs.↗ |
Security, side by side
We compare only what YNAB 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 YNAB documents
- Data selling & ads: Privacy policy: "We do not sell your Financial Data or any other information you provide through the Product." Separately discloses sharing device/IP and analytics data with advertising and analytics partners for its own marketing (website visitors, not in-product financial data).↗
- Bank credentials & tokens: Security page: "We use industry standard data encryption at rest and in transit." Public Bugcrowd bug bounty program. The SOC/ISO certifications listed on the page belong to YNAB’s infrastructure partners, not YNAB itself.↗
- Encryption inside the database: YNAB documents encryption at rest and in transit generally; per-user or per-record encryption keys inside the database are not publicly documented.↗
- Database-level isolation: Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Deletion & export: Account data retained up to 24 months after subscription or trial expiry; support conversations up to 3 years. Expired-trial accounts auto-delete after 120 days.↗
- Sign-in security: Two-step verification. Passkeys: not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Security testing & audits: Public Bugcrowd bug bounty. The SOC/ISO certifications its page lists belong to infrastructure partners, not YNAB; its own penetration testing is not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
Where YNAB is a better fit
An honest comparison cuts both ways. If these match what you need,YNAB is a fine choice — we'd rather you pick the right tool than churn out of the wrong one.
- You want to be taught a method, not handed tools. The Four Rules are a genuine, opinionated system backed by free live workshops, courses, a book, and one of the largest budgeting communities anywhere — we ship eight methods, but not that coaching apparatus.
- You want to try before paying anything: 34 days free with no credit card, and college students can get a full free year. Our model is pay first with a 30-day money-back guarantee instead.
- Your whole family budgets together on a budget: one subscription covers up to six people with their own logins at every price point.
- You want a public API today — YNAB’s REST API and open-source SDKs are live now with a mature third-party ecosystem (ours is Coming Soon).
- You budget at the store shelf: offline mobile support and an Apple Watch app make category checks instant.
Trade-offs to know about YNAB
- 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
Why pick Forbidden Finance over YNAB
Shipped today
- A free-forever tier and a $4.99 entry point — YNAB starts at $109/yr or $14.99/mo.
- Investments with holdings and cost basis from Pro, where YNAB tracks balances only.
- Real multi-currency with conversion in one plan, instead of one plan per currency.
- Zero-based is one of our 8 methods — if it stops fitting, switch methods without switching apps.
- Per-account encryption inside the database with key destruction on deletion — YNAB documents encryption at rest/in transit, not row-level protection.
- 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 YNAB?
Export your data from YNAB, 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
YNAB is $14.99/month or $109/year with no free tier (there is a 34-day free trial). Forbidden Finance has a free-forever tier and paid plans from $4.99 to $14.99/month — the top Forbidden Finance tier costs about the same per month as YNAB’s only tier.
Only as balances. Investment and retirement accounts are "tracking accounts" that feed YNAB’s net worth report; it does not track holdings, share counts, cost basis, or performance. Forbidden Finance includes brokerage connections with holdings, activity, and cost basis on Pro and above.
Not within a single plan — YNAB’s own guidance is to create a separate plan per currency, tracked independently with no conversion. Forbidden Finance supports 1 to unlimited currencies by tier with exchange-rate conversion in one plan.
YNAB’s privacy policy says it does not sell financial data provided through the product and the app is ad-free; it does run marketing cookies and pixels on its website. Forbidden Finance likewise never sells user data and runs no ads — and doesn’t run third-party ad/retargeting trackers for marketing either.
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