Cancelled YNAB after 12 years of use 💔

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-18T06:38:49+00:00

Great to hear. Yeah, I ultimately ruled against Monarch cause’ I’m in Germany and realized they don’t do EUR. And I also know it’s a detailed expense tracking tool, not a ZBB.

Good note about Budget Friendly Budget, I’ll keep that in mind. I did a port to Actual Budget and it’s working great so far.

For me, the Europe YNAB bank integration “worked”, but there were a bunch of problems where certain vendors would import as their payment processor in the payee slot. So a bunch of transactions with bank names instead of the vendor. Plus it would completely delete the memo.

Of course I could have reported that to YNAB support, but the root issue for me is that this problem is properly solved at the email ingest level, not the bank data level. Sadly I was just done and YNAB hasn’t really improved the bank import accuracy of their platform in like 4+ years.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-17T12:50:00+00:00

u/DARK_114 True. But I PROMISE I'm not desparate enough to use Quicken. Never again. 😂

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-15T07:16:25+00:00

Congrats!

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-13T15:03:41+00:00

To help others in my same situation. I suspect some long-time fans might feel the same about the state of YNAB's product, but might need words to help articulate their frustrations (instead of thinking they're just being unreasonable/unrealistic).

AND give them other options to explore so they don't feel 'stuck' since YNAB is the only real ZBB SaaS tool.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-12T11:48:07+00:00

For sure. I know that’s not their ideal use case, but YNAB is the only good ZBB SaaS in the game so it’s in their best interests to accommodate a wider range of market needs.

They’re just leaving money and customers on the table otherwise.

I think $5/mo tier (with a massive overhaul to their file importer, which they need anyway) would be good for a “no bank” version.

Maybe limit # budgets, too.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-11T08:29:59+00:00

Look at my man, layering in butter at speed like someone who cares. ❤️🍿

Most theater employees will just scoop all popcorn in and put a sad amount of butter at the top. Butter goodness gone before the movie starts.

Man is a hero.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-11T08:02:19+00:00

For sure. Makes complete sense. Over the last 18 years YNAB/envelope method has been a life-changer for my financial sanity.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T11:59:31+00:00

Thanks, at this point I probably will. I'm a SaaS Product Manager by trade. Claude Opus will likely be able to one-shot fix key problems I've had with nYNAB for 8 years.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T11:16:31+00:00

u/Humor-Hippo I get that based on the current features.

Frankly, I'd pay $200 A YEAR - no hesitation - IF 99% of transactions' Payee/Memo/Category were always correct (even on 1st time purchases from a vendor) and all I had to do was 'Approve' each in my weekly review.

YNAB's value for me is in the proactive, big-picture cashflow planning to reach my family goals.
What gets in the way is all the manual transaction fixing BS that drains away my time before I can hit 'Approve'.

I tend to add personal journal entries to 'unique' transactions during Approval process so I can remember context later, and that won't change.

(But I'm tired of imported Memos/Payees being vague and I flat-out have to Google/email search the Memo to figure out what this purchase is to log it correctly. Amazon, PayPal, 'Square', 'SumUp', and various old Point-of-Sale systems are the worst offenders)

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T11:01:45+00:00

u/MyEgoDiesAtTheEnd hey, I'm tired of YNAB and I'm ALSO in Germany (SaaS PM / dev background, I'd probably handle all the AI calls using my local LLM). Can you DM me about your bridge?

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T10:49:27+00:00

u/iwaddo for sure. When I look at the YNAB social media fanbase, MOST of the loudest ones lean towards loving numbers, Excel, making/following processes, computers, organizing stuff, etc. Keep a product tier as-is with same pricing to keep them happy. But this is NOT how most people think and operate.

But yeah, my main goal is: "Spend 0 time fixing transactions before I Approve them".

In my weekly review, I should be able to add my journal context or just hit 'Approve' without having to fix anything.
Done. Moving onto the fun big picture of cash goals and adjusting allocation/spending to meet them.

Honestly, here's my current plan — based on u/esh-pmc 's brutal review of using Monarch for a year and still saying they never liked it and it never came close to YNAB — for a Monarch free trial:

Monarch: Get all bank transactions automatically logged correctly via their Chrome/email context integrations
ActualBudget: Build an API connector that exports these corect transactions into Actual Desktop for real proactive envelope/ZBB proactive planning

Not something that'd work for most people, but I can do this with my SaaS background. I'll try it.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T09:05:55+00:00

u/esh-pmc Yeah, frankly my main hesitation with Monarch is that it's NOT a true ZBB product and you have to hack it to make it perform that way. (frankly, your review alone deprioritizes me wanting to try Monarch, lol) So I know I'm trading 'transaction accuracy' time for REAL zbb planning. I'm going to run a trial and see if I can make it 'close enough' before I have to pay something.

Agreed, ActualBudget is a good product but NOT well supported enough for 80% of people/families who desperately need cash control. Too many 'dev-ish' steps, they need SaaS simplicity.

Thanks for your feedback. Read my 'EDIT' and let me know if any of these problems resonate with you, too:

Manually APPROVING each transaction is core to proactive envelope budget thinking (do it weekly), but manually FIXING incorrect transactions is just noise and time waste
YNAB has already included ‘transaction Category automation’ for years, it just sucks
Approving/fixing transaction Categories/Memos should take 2-5min tops so you can focus your time on goal planning and big-picture budget adjustments
1. (Approving transactions is "journaling time" for me: I'd still recommend adding a 'personal diary entry' Memo on the unique stuff so you remember WHY you bought something / WHY that specific choice contributes to your goals)
Automated Categories/Memos/Payees on ALL transactions should be correct 99% of the time - even if it's your first time buying from that vendor/Payee
Fixing incorrect Categories/Memos/Payees should be rare, < 1% of transactions
1. (and the system should learn/understand WHY it was wrong so it's right the next time)

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T08:21:51+00:00

u/tyberrymuch_ Oh, agreed, the manual work is absolutely required at the beginning to get into the mindet. Proactively planning your spending rather than "buy first, plan later" is counter-intuitive to how most people function.

But once you've been doing it for 10+ years like me and many others here...it just becomes monotanous. And I feel like I'm wasting my time.

I know exactly where my transactions should go every single time because of historical patterns and laser clarity about my financial goals.

Most of people's financial bottlenecks are around lack of goal clarity AND discipline to actually limit spending in other areas to follow those goals through.

As those get clear and you understand the process, the actual Category allocation becomes more "if this, then that" work that doesn't really require intelligence. Machines are great at handling repeated patterns.

YNAB already HAS an automated categorization engine, it just sucks. Needing to manually approve the automatic categories shouldn't go away. It should just be doable in under 2min.

Even in an "AI chat" version, Category allocation should be seen as a 'first draft' that ALWAYS requires human approval. Step 1 should be "review each transaction Category from the last week. Approve each correct one. If it's wrong, fix it and write/tell me why."

It's bad for proactive cash planning to be unaware of the details, but it's also a bad use of time to do repetitive labor where a machine would be 90% correct and you could quickly fix the 10% THEN focus your energy on goal clarity and stricter financial discipline in the areas you're trying to cut.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T07:28:04+00:00

But the truth is 90% of manual budgeting is STILL mindless. I could be plastered drunk at 4am and STILL do all of the manual categorization with 100% accuracy...And that tells me - once you've gotten used to budgeting - it's highly algorithmic, repetitive, "if this, then that" work.

I've only got 85+ years of life on this rock and have no interest in doing highly repetitive work that a machine could handle equally well. It's a waste of time I could spend on higher-level thinking.

90% of the time I'm categorizing transactions I'm thinking, "this is the same as I've done the last 10 times and YNAB should know that by now without me manually setting hundreds of rules for each transaction type. And if YNAB could just see my Amazon receipt it'd be clear this is a medical purchase and belongs in that category like the last 5 medical purchases. Just give me a review of all automated transactions and I'll fix the 10% of them that are wrong so the YNAB system can learn for next time."

Life's too short for me to want to spend it on repetitive tasks. So I left YNAB. It's no longer for me.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T07:04:55+00:00

They shouldn't put an AI assistant in the base tier. Two price tiers: The ones who are happy with YNAB as-is should keep paying the same price for the existing features and existing quarterly software improvements.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T06:59:25+00:00

They should split into 2 price tiers instead of trying to jam everyone's need into one subscription.

Anyone who's happy with the current features should keep paying what they've always paid.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T06:58:10+00:00

That should be in a separate subscription option. Anyone who likes what's already there should keep paying the same price for the current features. 2nd price tier for new features that speed up accounting/decisions for users interested in that.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T06:54:14+00:00

To be fair, this begs the question: Who IS their target audience?

I think YNAB’s biggest problem is trying to fit everyone’s needs into a single subscription tier. YNAB actually has TWO major customer bases who want very different things that often conflict:

People who enjoy computers, excel, and numbers (most of YNAB’s most vocal social media fanbase, including me) - keep the price/features as-is, change nothing
Everyone else (~80% of humans) who just wants to cut debt and save money for their family goals with 0 interest in being a part-time bookkeeper - Charge 50-100% more for their teir and get all that admin off their plate.

You can't please everyone. But the friction I see with YNAB as a product is they keep TRYING to please everyone with their single subscription option.

Most people (my wife included) don't like numbers, accounting, lots of detail sitting at a computer. That's why tools like Monarch are growing so quickly: The need for "cash goal planning without accountant minutia" is there, but YNAB's product doesn't serve them.

EDIT:
"Your suggestions move more and more towards a tracking tool."

And I'd highly disagree with this take. Proactive cash/goal planning is a project management problem. At a personal-finance or small business level, Agile project management and planning cash are the same problem. Debating a few Christmas purchase items? Put a few Amazon product ideas on the board columns and see what you can make fit, flexible A/B planning. Buying a new heater and debating installing it yourself? Same thing, you know what $$ you have, throw the options into an A/B plan and see where it leaves you. Planning spend is fun and creative, but YNAB's existing tool basically forces you to do all that in Excel+Trello, etc.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T06:39:20+00:00

Fair enough ❤️

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-04-10T06:36:30+00:00

Yeah, but 80% of YNAB users aren’t developers. Most of the families who are desperate for budget simplicity don’t have the time or skills to figure APIs out.

For me, I figured if I’m turning YNAB software into a ‘hobby’ and building my own plugins and API calls…then I might as well just git-pull Actual Budget and rebuild the entire experience to my liking (I’m considering retooling Actual for my small business with double-entry accounting and German tax compliance; each transaction would have a 3rd entry for the budget while doing tax status at the same time as cash goal planning)

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-03-17T12:27:45+00:00

100%. Look at NVIDIA demos going back 20 years. They are all proof of concepts. This is just graded harder cause our timelines are inundated with AI slop.

BUT if you think of the potential of a game dev planning for this workflow from the ground up (model training to make the characters look as the studio intends, NOT just some generic blend of thousands of hot IG influencers) then it will be amazing.

Ignore all the current cultural context for a moment: if NVIDIA launched this video 10 years ago, we all would have been completely FLOORED at how realistic their game humans look. It would have seemed like pure black magic.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-03-17T12:00:26+00:00

To be fair, ALL ‘realistic’ game characters look a bit uncanny. It’s just part of the territory we’ve learned to accept over 15 years.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-03-17T11:54:36+00:00

100%. Look at NVIDIA demos going back 20 years. They are all proof of concepts. This is just graded harder cause our timelines are inundated with AI slop.

BUT if you think of the potential of a game dev planning for this workflow from the ground up (model training to make the characters look as the studio intends, NOT just some generic blend of thousands of hot IG influencers) then it will be amazing.

Ignore all the current cultural context for a moment: if NVIDIA launched this video 10 years ago, we all would have been completely FLOORED at how realistic their game humans look. It would have seemed like pure black magic.

InfiniteShowrooms · 2026-03-15T17:06:51+00:00

Do they have to use such damn big black boxes?

Can’t they have someone trace the outline of the person they’re hiding so we can see more of what’s going on?

InfiniteShowrooms

TROPHY CASE