Summary:
YNAB is mature, well-proven zero-based budgeting software, built for one person’s ledger. Know Your Dosh runs the same zero-based method, alongside two other budgeting styles, with a household privacy model YNAB doesn’t have: shared costs visible to everyone, personal spending private to each person. Both are strong at budgeting. Only one was built for more than one person from day one.
- Both do zero-based budgeting, only one does it for a household. YNAB’s method is mature and well-proven for individuals. Know Your Dosh runs the same zero-based approach (plus two others) with a genuine privacy layer: Mine, Theirs, and Ours, so shared bills stay visible to everyone and personal spending stays private
- Currency lock-in: a single YNAB budget only works in one currency; its own help centre tells cross-border users to run separate budgets per currency. Know Your Dosh handles multiple currencies inside one household view
- Sharing vs collaboration: YNAB Together lets up to six people log into shared plans, but everyone sees the same numbers with no fine-grained privacy controls. Know Your Dosh gives each family member their own permission-based access
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Know Your Dosh | YNAB |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | Household net worth & asset tracking | Zero-based spending budget |
| Free tier | Free Starter plan | 34-day trial only |
| Price | From £4.99/month | $109/year |
| Budgeting method | Flexible, Rollover, or Zero-Based (your choice) | Zero-based only |
| Household privacy | Mine / Theirs / Ours privacy split | Single shared ledger, no split |
| Multi-currency budgets | Yes, built in | No, one currency per budget |
| Family sharing | Individual logins, permission controls | Up to 6 logins, shared visibility |
| Net worth tracking | Core feature | Basic, manual, secondary feature |
What YNAB gets right
The method genuinely changes behaviour. This isn’t marketing spin, it shows up across reviews: people pay off debt, buy their first house, and describe the four-rule method as something that “changed more than my budget.” That’s rare for a piece of software.
Support and onboarding are strong. Users consistently point to the quality of YNAB’s help videos and responsive customer service. For a tool with a real learning curve, that matters.
Debt payoff tools are built in properly, with an integrated calculator that sits alongside the budget rather than being a bolt-on.
It’s stable and mature. Two decades of the same founder, the same method, no acquisition, no pivot. You know what you’re getting.
Where YNAB runs into trouble for families
Budgeting for a household means more than sharing a login. YNAB Together lets up to six people share a budget, but everyone works off the same ledger, there’s no way to keep personal spending private while still tracking shared bills together. We built Know Your Dosh’s household budgeting around exactly this problem: split spending into Mine, Theirs, and Ours, so the mortgage, the food shop, and the joint holiday fund are visible to the whole household, while each person’s own spending stays their own business. And it’s not a stripped-down version of zero-based budgeting bolted onto that privacy layer, you can run Flexible, Rollover, or full Zero-Based budgeting inside the same household structure, with 2 budgets included on the free starter tier.
It’s a single-currency tool wearing a family-sharing feature. YNAB’s own help centre is direct about this: “you can’t use multiple currencies together in a single spending plan.” Its recommended fix, for anyone paid or spending in more than one currency, is to run a separate budget per currency. For a household with a UK salary, a property in Spain, and a pension sitting in euros, that means three disconnected budgets instead of one household view.
Net worth is an afterthought, and users know it. YNAB itself frames its Net Worth report as separate from the core budgeting workflow. Community members redirect each other elsewhere for it: one YNAB user, asked how to track net worth properly, was told plainly, “Again YNAB is not this. If you want that then use something like Empower to track your net worth.” Investment tracking is manual entry only, no live feed, no analysis.
How this plays out for an actual family
Scenario: the household with assets in two countries. A family with a UK income and a holiday property in Portugal wants one number for “what are we worth right now.” In YNAB, that means two separate budgets that don’t talk to each other, converted by hand. In Know Your Dosh, it’s one household dashboard with everything converted automatically.
Scenario: teaching a teenager without exposing the mortgage. A 16-year-old wants to track savings toward a car. With YNAB Together, giving them a login means giving them visibility into whatever plan they’re invited to, with no easy way to wall off the household’s full financial picture. Know Your Dosh’s permission model is built for exactly this: age-appropriate access without an all-or-nothing choice.
Scenario: “are we actually building wealth?” A couple wants to check, once a month, whether their combined net worth (property, pensions, savings, the lot) is moving in the right direction. YNAB’s net worth view exists but is explicitly secondary to its budgeting workflow, and its own users send each other elsewhere for this exact question.
Who should actually use YNAB
If your problem is spending discipline as an individual, or you’re happy with a single shared ledger rather than a household privacy split, YNAB’s method is well proven. A single person or couple who wants to break a paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and pay off debt with real structure behind it will do well with it.
The decision that actually matters
This isn’t “budgeting app vs net worth app” anymore, Know Your Dosh budgets too, and with a household privacy model YNAB doesn’t offer at all. The real question is whether your household needs one shared ledger, or needs shared visibility on the bills and private space on everything else, plus the full net worth picture alongside it.
Know Your Dosh can keep household finances on track together. Sign up for free to get started, or download our free app, with paid plans that scale with your financial complexity. Built for families managing money together, whatever the future holds.
Trusted by families in over 100 countries tracking over £200 million in assets.
FAQ
Is there a free YNAB alternative?
Yes. YNAB has no permanent free tier, only a 14- or 34-day trial before its $109/year subscription. Know Your Dosh offers a free Starter tier with no trial expiry, alongside paid Lite, Pro, and Elite tiers as your finances grow.
Does YNAB track net worth?
YNAB includes only basic, secondary net worth reporting; its core purpose is zero-based budgeting for day-to-day spending. Know Your Dosh is built specifically for family net worth and wealth tracking, with native multi-currency support across 100+ countries.
Can families share a budget with different privacy permissions?
YNAB Together allows up to 6 people to share a single budget, but everyone sees everything, there are no granular privacy controls. Know Your Dosh offers permission-based, age-appropriate family access, so parents and teens can be given different levels of visibility, alongside a Mine/Theirs/Ours split for budgeting specifically.
Should I use YNAB and Know Your Dosh together?
Some households do, especially if they’re already deep into YNAB’s specific method and don’t want to switch. But Know Your Dosh now covers the same zero-based budgeting ground, plus multi-currency support and family privacy controls YNAB doesn’t offer, so most households can consolidate onto one app rather than run two.
This comparison reflects publicly available information from YNAB’s official site and help centre as of 24 July 2026. Pricing and features change; check ynab.com directly before deciding. Know Your Dosh is not affiliated with YNAB. YNAB is a trademark of its respective owner, referenced here for the purpose of fair comparison. Spotted something inaccurate? Email [email protected].
