The short version
GoodBudget is cheaper and manual by design; YNAB is pricier but syncs and teaches the method properly. Both stop at the monthly envelope, so neither answers what your money looks like in twenty years.
Why people compare them
Both are envelope budgeting systems, so people pick between them on price and whether they want bank sync.
Price and fit, side by side
| Feature | YNAB | Goodbudget |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | YNAB$109 per year | GoodbudgetFree tier, then $10 per month |
| Free tier | YNABNo | GoodbudgetYes |
| Billed in pounds | YNABNo | GoodbudgetNo |
| Best for | YNABPeople who want to change their spending habits and will do the weekly work | GoodbudgetCouples who want to share an envelope budget and are happy to enter transactions by hand |
Where YNAB wins
- The zero-based method genuinely changes behaviour for people who stick with it
- Excellent teaching material and an unusually loyal community
- One subscription covers up to six people
Where Goodbudget wins
- The envelope method is a genuinely effective way to stop overspending, and Goodbudget implements it cleanly
- The free tier is permanent rather than a trial, and covers 10 regular envelopes, 10 more envelopes, one account and two devices
- Built for sharing, so a couple can budget from separate phones against the same envelopes
Where both fall short
- Neither models UK pensions or answers the retirement question directly.
- Neither handles ISA allowances or the tax wrapper decisions around them.
- Neither applies UK tax rules to what it shows you.
- Both are built US-first, so UK users pay in dollars and work around US assumptions.
If neither is quite right
If what you actually want is the retirement answer rather than a better dashboard, that is the gap Delphina was built for: UK pensions, ISAs and tax, projected to the age you want to stop. It does not do the job YNAB does for people who want to change their spending habits and will do the weekly work, so if that is the real problem, YNAB is still the better buy. Free plan is £0, no card.
YNAB vs Goodbudget: common questions
YNAB is $109 per year and Goodbudget is $10 per month. Compare the billing period before the number: an annual price and a monthly price are not the same thing.
You can, and some people do, because they solve different halves of the problem. It does mean paying for both, so add the two annual figures together before deciding.
Judge it on billing currency, Open Banking coverage and whether ISAs and pensions are handled. Check each one against those three points, because a tool that scores well elsewhere can still be a poor fit in the UK.
YNAB suits people who want to change their spending habits and will do the weekly work. Goodbudget suits couples who want to share an envelope budget and are happy to enter transactions by hand. The one that matches how you already think about money will take less setting up.
YNAB scores 4.6/5 on Trustpilot from 3,054 reviews. Goodbudget scores 4.5/5 on Apple App Store (UK) from 672 ratings. Weigh the volume as well as the score.
Delphina covers the gap both leave, which is UK pensions, ISAs and tax projected forward to retirement. The trade-off is that it does not do the job YNAB does for people who want to change their spending habits and will do the weekly work, so if that is the real need, pick one of these two.