Goodbudget Budget Planner

Envelope budgeting predates smartphones: cash goes into labelled envelopes, and when the groceries envelope is empty, grocery spending stops. Goodbudget, from Dayspring Technologies, runs that system on a phone and the web. Money is allocated to virtual envelopes, each purchase is logged against one, and the balance left is the answer to can I afford this.

It's built for households. One budget syncs across several devices, transactions are backed up online and can be exported as CSV, and reports compare income to spending and chart debt payoff. The free tier is ad-free with ten regular and ten annual envelopes; a subscription adds bank sync and removes the limits.

Payday means filling the envelopes, either by hand or with scheduled transactions that do it automatically. Through the month, every purchase gets logged against an envelope, and both partners see the same numbers on their own phones within moments.

The discipline comes from the balance. When eating-out shows twelve dollars left and it's the 20th, the decision makes itself. At month end the reports show which envelopes keep running dry, and you adjust the allocations for next time.

People search for it when they've heard of envelope or zero-based budgeting and want a shared version that doesn't require handing bank logins to an app. The web app is a draw for anyone who prefers entering data on a laptop. Couples in particular look for a budget both can log into, and that's Goodbudget's main pitch.

Five screenshots are listed, and envelope balances rendered as horizontal bars are the obvious subject. Budget apps in this category generally favour a plain, list-driven layout with green and red for over and under, and Goodbudget's established position suggests a conventional rather than fashionable design. The input doesn't describe the visuals beyond that.

Version 5.5 is a modest number for an app this established. The 4.6 rating from over 10,000 reviews is solid, if a little below Fleur's. Dayspring Technologies, Inc. is the developer. The App Store is the only store linked on this page, though the web app means the service isn't tied to one platform.

Rated 4+ and free. The free tier has no ads and allows ten regular and ten annual envelopes. The subscription, whose price isn't in the listing, adds bank sync, unlimited envelopes and accounts, five-device sharing and seven years of history.

An account is required for sync and the web app. Logging works offline and syncs later. Storage and regional availability aren't covered; bank sync presumably depends on your country's banks being supported.