Coming from YNAB?
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If you've budgeted with YNAB, most of Balanced will feel familiar. Here's how the terms map, and what works differently.
Both apps share the same core idea: you budget the money you actually have, and you decide what it’s for before you spend it. The biggest difference is underneath. Balanced keeps your books with double-entry accounting, so every transaction shows where money came from and where it went.
In YNAB → in Balanced
Section titled “In YNAB → in Balanced”YNAB’s terms are given as they appear in its English app.
| In YNAB | In Balanced |
|---|---|
| Budget | A journal |
| Account (cash or checking) | An Assets account |
| Credit card account | A Liabilities account |
| Category | An Expenses account: your expense accounts are your budget categories |
| Category group | Parent Group of an expense account |
| Inflow: Ready to Assign | An Income account, such as Salary |
| Ready to Assign | Ready to assign |
| Assign | Type an amount per category in the budget editor (Adjust) |
| Scheduled transaction | A transaction with Repeat turned on |
| Cleared, Reconcile | Cleared |
| Payee | The transaction’s Note |
What’s different
Section titled “What’s different”Every transaction has two sides
Section titled “Every transaction has two sides”In Balanced, every transaction moves money from one account to another and adds up to zero. A purchase moves money from Checking to Groceries. A transfer to savings, a credit card payment or a loan repayment is the same kind of transaction between two of your accounts. There are no special transaction kinds to learn, and you always see both sides.
Only cleared income counts
Section titled “Only cleared income counts”Income becomes money to assign once it has arrived: when the transaction is marked Cleared and its date has come. A salary you’ve entered for next week doesn’t count yet. Your opening balances count straight away.
No bank connection
Section titled “No bank connection”Balanced doesn’t log in to your bank. You enter transactions yourself, scan a receipt, or let regular payments such as rent and salary repeat on their own.
No import yet
Section titled “No import yet”There is no import from YNAB or bank files yet. To switch, start fresh: record today’s balance of each account as an opening balance, then budget the current month. Your first ten minutes walks you through it.
Credit cards and debt
Section titled “Credit cards and debt”A credit card is a Liabilities account. When you pay with it, the budgeted amount moves from the category to the card, so the money to pay it off is set aside. The budget editor shows your cards and loans in their own Liabilities section.
Pay once, keep your data
Section titled “Pay once, keep your data”Balanced is a one-time purchase with no subscription. Your journals live on your device and, if you turn on iCloud Sync, in your own iCloud account. There are no Balanced servers holding your data.
Your first month
Section titled “Your first month”- Create a journal and add your accounts: one Assets account for each bank account and wallet, and one Expenses account for each category you used in YNAB.
- Record each account’s balance today as an opening balance.
- Open the budget with Adjust and assign until To assign reaches 0.
From then on, record what you spend, clear it when it shows up at your bank, and assign new income when it arrives.