The Best iPhone Budget Apps That Don't Link to Your Bank (2026)
Six iPhone budget apps that work with no bank login, compared on price, App Store privacy label and where your data lives. Includes a free option with no account.
The App Store is full of budgeting apps that ask for your bank login on the first screen. If you would rather type your own expenses in and keep your bank credentials to yourself, this is the shortlist.
Everything below runs on iPhone, works without connecting a bank account, and is reviewed on the three things that actually matter once you have ruled out bank linking: what it costs, what the App Store privacy label says, and where your spending data ends up.
iPhone deserves its own list for one specific reason. Apple makes every developer declare what their app collects, and that declaration sits on the store page before you install anything. No other platform hands you that much information up front, and almost nobody uses it. The section on reading the privacy label covers how.
Last updated: November 2026. Prices and platform details checked against each app's own App Store listing.
Disclosure: this article is published by MoneyPeas, which appears on this list. We have tried to be straight about where the alternatives are the better pick, and about where MoneyPeas is the weaker one.
At a Glance: All Six Compared
On a phone, scroll the table sideways to see every column.
| App | Price | Account needed | Bank linking | Where your data lives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MoneyPeas for iPhone | Free; Pro EUR 29.99 once | No sign-in at all | None, by design | Your device, your own iCloud |
| Goodbudget | Free tier; Plus $80/yr | Yes | None | Goodbudget servers |
| YNAB | $109/yr, no free tier | Yes | Optional, nudged | YNAB servers |
| Fudget | Free with ads; Pro once | No | None | Your device, optional iCloud |
| Money Manager | Free with ads; $5.99 once | No | None | Your device |
| Spending Tracker | Free with ads; paid Pro | No | None | Your device |
How to Read an App Store Privacy Label
Before you install any finance app on an iPhone, scroll down the store listing to the section headed "App Privacy". Apple requires the developer to declare it, and it tells you more in ten seconds than the marketing copy tells you in ten minutes.
There are three outcomes, and the difference between them is large:
"Data Not Collected." The developer says the app sends them nothing at all. In a category built on financial data this is rare, and it is the only one of the three that does not require you to trust anybody's intentions. MoneyPeas for iPhone reads "The developer does not collect any data from this app."
"Data Not Linked to You." Something is collected, usually diagnostics or usage analytics, but the developer says it is not tied to your identity. Usually fine, and worth knowing about.
"Data Linked to You." The app collects data tied to your identity. On finance apps this commonly includes a Financial Info category. Not automatically sinister, since an app that syncs your budget across devices has to hold it somewhere, but if privacy is why you are reading this, it is the line that should make you read further.
Two caveats worth knowing. The label is self-declared, so it is a statement by the developer rather than an audit by Apple. And the label describes the app, not the company: an app can collect nothing while the website collects plenty. Check the label for every app on this list yourself rather than taking our word for it, including ours. It takes seconds and it is the single most useful privacy check available to an iPhone user.
For what the other side of this looks like, our article on whether it's safe to link your bank account to a budgeting app goes through the actual exposure, and what actually happens when you link your bank account covers the mechanics.
The Apps, Reviewed
1. MoneyPeas for iPhone. Best free pick for most people
Price: Free. Optional Pro: EUR 29.99 one-time, charged in your local currency
Platforms: iPhone and iPad
Account required: No. There is no sign-in at all
Bank linking: Not available, manual only
Where your data lives: On your device, backed up through your own iCloud
MoneyPeas for iPhone is a free manual budget tracker for iPhone and iPad, with an optional one-time Pro upgrade at EUR 29.99 and no subscription. There is no account and no sign-in screen, no server and no analytics, so your entries stay on your device and back up through your own iCloud.
There is no "connect your bank" button anywhere in the app, because it was never built around one. You add income and expenses yourself, set up categories, and get a monthly dashboard showing where you stand. For anyone who has bounced off bank-sync apps, that friction is the point: typing the number is what makes you notice it.
It works fully offline, and it keeps working if we do not. There is no server for the app to depend on, so if MoneyPeas disappeared tomorrow the copy on your phone would still open with your history intact.
What you get:
- Manual income and expense entry, with no bank linking of any kind
- Custom categories on top of 17 built-in expense and 6 income categories
- Monthly dashboard with income, expenses, average daily spend and remaining balance
- Monthly savings goal with a visual progress ring
- 20 currencies and full dark mode
- Sync across your own iPhone and iPad through your iCloud, not our cloud
- CSV import, so you can bring in a spreadsheet or another app's export
- A free tier with no entry limits
Where it is the weaker choice: there is no shared or household budgeting, because with no server there is nothing to share through. If you budget with a partner, Goodbudget is the better answer and it is not close. There is no Android app either, so a mixed-phone household is a problem. And the separate MoneyPeas web app does not sync with the iPhone app: they are two products with separate accounts, and CSV is the only bridge between them. More on both apps on our iPhone app page.
2. Goodbudget. Best for budgeting with a partner
Price: Free tier; Plus at $80 a year
Platforms: iOS, Android, web
Account required: Yes
Bank linking: None
Where your data lives: Goodbudget servers
Goodbudget is digital envelope budgeting, and it is the best shared-budgeting option that does not touch your bank. Two people, two phones, the same envelopes, updating live. If that is your requirement then this is your app, and the rest of this list cannot do it.
The trade-off is explicit: the envelopes live on Goodbudget's servers and an account is required, so you are relying on their policy rather than on an architecture that makes collection impossible. No bank connection is still a real privacy gain over the Monarch and Copilot tier, just not the same gain as an app with no server. Our full no-bank-access comparison has more on Goodbudget's free tier limits.
Where it is the weaker choice: the free tier caps your envelopes, and $80 a year is real money for envelope budgeting you could approximate manually.
3. YNAB. Best methodology, if you'll pay for it
Price: $109 a year, no free tier
Platforms: iOS, Android, web
Account required: Yes
Bank linking: Optional, but heavily encouraged
Where your data lives: YNAB servers
YNAB can be run entirely on manual entry, and it is on this list for that reason. It also has the most developed budgeting method of anything here, and people who stick with it tend to be genuinely committed to it.
It is the most expensive option by a distance and the onboarding pushes you toward linking accounts, so using it manually means working slightly against the grain of the product. If YNAB's method appeals but the price or the bank prompts do not, our YNAB alternatives piece covers the options.
Where it is the weaker choice: $109 a year with no free tier, and over three years that is roughly $327 against nothing for most of this list.
4. Fudget. Best for people who want a list, not a system
Price: Free with ads; one-time Pro upgrade
Platforms: iOS, Android, Mac, Windows
Account required: No
Bank linking: None
Where your data lives: On your device, with optional iCloud backup
Fudget is money in, money out, and a total at the bottom. No envelopes, no category upkeep, no monthly rollover. For a lot of people that is exactly the right amount of app, because the usual reason budgeting fails is that the system asks for more maintenance than anyone will actually give it.
Where it is the weaker choice: ask it what you spent on groceries last month and it has no useful answer, because there is barely a category system to report on.
5. Money Manager. Most featured of the local-only options
Price: Free with ads; $5.99 one-time to remove them
Platforms: iOS, Android
Account required: No
Bank linking: None
Where your data lives: On your device
Money Manager gives you proper categories, charts, per-category budgets and a double-entry style ledger if you want one, all stored on the device, with $5.99 once to remove the ads permanently. It is the most capable app here that still never sends your data anywhere.
Where it is the weaker choice: the interface is dense and the depth that makes it powerful also makes it the least approachable app on this list. Budget some time in the settings.
6. Spending Tracker. Best for minimal logging
Price: Free with ads; one-time paid Pro
Platforms: iOS, Android
Account required: No
Bank linking: None
Where your data lives: On your device
Spending Tracker sits between Fudget and Money Manager: categories and simple monthly reporting, almost no setup, everything local, and a one-time upgrade rather than a subscription.
Where it is the weaker choice: ad-supported in the free version, and the design is visibly older than the newer apps here.
What to Look For on iPhone Specifically
Beyond the usual feature checklist, a few things matter more on iPhone than they do elsewhere.
Whether there is a sign-in screen at all. This is the fastest privacy signal there is. An app that lets you log your first expense without creating an account is architecturally incapable of holding much about you. An app that demands an account before you can type anything is sending your data somewhere by design.
iCloud backup versus company cloud. "Backs up to the cloud" means two very different things. Backing up through your own iCloud keeps the only copies in storage you already control. Backing up to the developer's servers means a second party holds your spending history. Both are called sync in the marketing.
One-time purchase and Family Sharing. Most of this list charges once rather than monthly, and one-time App Store purchases can often be shared with your family group, which a subscription cannot be in the same way. Worth checking on the listing if more than one person in your household wants it.
Face ID or passcode lock. If your phone gets handed around, an app-level lock matters more than any server-side policy. Check for it before you commit to logging months of data.
Offline behaviour. Several apps here work with no connection at all. If you want that specifically, we have a dedicated roundup of offline budget apps that keep your data on your device, which applies a stricter test than this page does.
How to Choose
Want free, simple and private? MoneyPeas.
Budgeting with a partner? Goodbudget.
Want a proper method and will pay for it? YNAB.
Want a running total and nothing else? Fudget.
Want depth without a server? Money Manager.
Just logging expenses day to day? Spending Tracker.
Two things worth weighing. One-time versus subscription: four of the six never charge a recurring fee, and the two that do are the two that hold your data. Account or no account: this is the real dividing line on this list, more than price or features, and it is the question most comparisons skip entirely.
The best app here is the one you will still be opening in March. If bank sync has previously turned budgeting into a dashboard you glanced at once and forgot, manual entry is likely to work better for you than anything smarter. Our breakdown of manual versus automatic budgeting covers that trade-off honestly, and the full method is in our guide to how to budget without linking your bank accounts.
If You're Not on an iPhone
On Android, Money Manager is the strongest pick on this list, with Fudget and Spending Tracker also available and Goodbudget if you want shared envelopes. MoneyPeas has no Android app and none is planned, so it is not an option there.
If you want something that works in any browser on any device, the MoneyPeas web app is a separate free product with the same no-bank-linking rule, though it does require an account and your data sits on our servers rather than your device. For the full cross-platform picture, including desktop and self-hosted options, see the main comparison of budget apps that don't require bank access. In the UK, Open Banking changes the app line-up enough that we keep a separate UK version.
FAQ
What is the best free budgeting app for iPhone that doesn't link to your bank?
MoneyPeas for iPhone is free with no entry limits, has no sign-in screen, no server and no bank linking option anywhere in the app, with an optional Pro upgrade at EUR 29.99 one-time. Fudget, Money Manager and Spending Tracker are also free on iPhone, each ad-supported with a one-time upgrade available.
Is there an iPhone budget app with no account required?
Yes. MoneyPeas for iPhone, Fudget, Money Manager and Spending Tracker all let you add your first expense without creating an account. Goodbudget and YNAB both require one. If no sign-in is what you want, that distinction is the one to search on, because it is a better privacy signal than any marketing claim.
Which iPhone budget apps say "Data Not Collected"?
MoneyPeas for iPhone declares "The developer does not collect any data from this app." Labels change between versions, so check the App Privacy section of each listing yourself before installing. Apps with no account at all are the most likely to carry that label, since there is nothing to attach collected data to.
Can you use YNAB on iPhone without linking a bank account?
Yes. YNAB supports fully manual entry and bank linking is optional, though the onboarding steers you toward connecting accounts. You will be working slightly against the product's defaults, and it is $109 a year with no free tier.
Is MoneyPeas on Android?
No, and there is no Android app planned. The MoneyPeas web app works in any mobile browser including Chrome on Android, but it is a separate product with its own account and your data is stored on MoneyPeas servers rather than your phone.
Do the MoneyPeas iPhone app and the web app sync?
No. They are two separate products with separate accounts, and CSV import and export is the only bridge between them. Pick whichever suits the device you actually budget on rather than expecting one experience across both.
If I buy MoneyPeas Pro on iPhone, do I get it on the web app?
Not automatically, because the App Store and the web checkout are separate systems. Email your receipt to moneypeas@proton.me and we will grant Pro on the other platform at no extra cost.
What is the best iPhone budget app for couples with no bank linking?
Goodbudget, by a clear margin. Shared envelope budgeting across two phones needs a server to sync through, which is exactly what the local-only apps on this list deliberately do not have. It is a genuine trade of privacy for a feature you may well need.
Are there iPhone budget apps with no subscription?
Four of the six here never charge a recurring fee. MoneyPeas Pro is a single EUR 29.99 purchase, Money Manager is $5.99 once to remove ads, and Fudget and Spending Tracker both offer one-time Pro upgrades. Goodbudget Plus and YNAB are the two subscriptions. See also the best genuinely free budgeting apps with no subscription.
