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Looking for a Goodbudget alternative

By , who built Keep the Diff

Goodbudget is the envelope method moved onto a phone. You split your income into virtual envelopes for groceries, rent, fun money and the rest, spend out of them, and watch each one empty as the month goes on. It syncs between devices, so a household can share the same envelopes, and it has been doing this well for a long time.

People who go looking for something else tend to have one of three reasons, and each one points somewhere different.

Reason one: envelopes need looking after

Envelopes are only accurate if they are kept that way. Every purchase gets entered against one, money gets moved when an envelope runs dry early, and they all get filled again when the next paycheck arrives. Two people sharing a budget double the entries.

If this is you, the method still works, it just costs more attention than you want to give it. Reverse budgeting keeps the saving and drops the tracking: set the savings aside first, then spend the rest freely.

Reason two: the free plan's limits, and what Premium adds

Goodbudget's free plan caps how many envelopes and devices you get. Premium lifts those limits and can import transactions from your bank, which saves typing but means a connection to your accounts.

If this is you, and you would rather neither type everything in nor connect a bank, the options are compared in budget apps that don't connect to your bank.

Reason three: you liked the envelopes for the wrong reason

Plenty of people reach for envelopes because a physical limit makes it easier to say no. The limit is the useful part. The spreadsheet of every coffee that comes with it is not, and a digital envelope keeps the bookkeeping while losing the cash you could actually hold.

If this is you, cash stuffing, and the one thing it cannot record is about exactly that gap: the moment you did not spend.

What Keep the Diff is, and what it is not

It is not a budget and it has no envelopes. It does one much narrower job, and it is only the right answer if reason one or three sounds familiar.

Goodbudget tracks money leaving each envelope. Keep the Diff records what you decided not to spend: at the moment you choose the cheaper option or skip the purchase, you log what you were ready to spend and what you actually spent. The difference is money you kept, and it adds up by week, by month and toward a goal.

Nothing needs refilling and nothing goes into the red, because there is no allowance to go over. There is no bank integration, no account and no sign in, and sync between your own devices is end to end encrypted, so nobody but you can read what you logged.

The honest comparison

  • Goodbudget shows how much is left to spend. Keep the Diff shows how much you kept, and it cannot tell you whether the grocery money will last the week.
  • Goodbudget is built for a household sharing envelopes. Keep the Diff is one person's record. For couples, the approach in a no spend challenge with a partner works without anybody sharing an app.
  • Goodbudget wants every purchase entered. Keep the Diff only wants the decisions worth remembering, which is usually a handful a week.
  • Goodbudget's free plan has limits. Logging in Keep the Diff is free forever, with no ads and no limit. Premium adds history, export, categories and goals.

If keeping the envelopes balanced became the chore, that trade is probably worth making. You can try it in your browser without installing anything, or read how to save money without a budget for the method on its own.

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