Chortke vs YNAB

Privacy-first budgeting at a fraction of the cost

Get the budgeting power you need without sharing your bank credentials or paying $250/year. Chortke keeps your data on your device.

Try Chortke Free
Privacy-First

Chortke

$1.99/month or $9.99/year

  • No servers - data stays on device
  • No bank login required
  • AES-256 encrypted local storage
  • Built for Canadian banks

YNAB

$20.80/month or $151.25/year

YNAB (You Need A Budget) is a popular zero-based budgeting app that requires linking your bank accounts and costs $20.80/month. It syncs your transactions through third-party aggregators like Plaid, meaning your bank credentials and financial data pass through external servers.

Problem: Bank Credential Sharing

Traditional budgeting apps require you to share your bank login credentials with third-party aggregators.

YNAB

YNAB uses Plaid to connect to your banks. This means your bank username and password are shared with a third party, and your transactions flow through external servers before reaching your app.

Chortke

Chortke never asks for your bank credentials. Simply import your bank statement PDF, and all processing happens locally on your device. No credentials shared, no external servers involved.

Problem: High Subscription Cost

Premium budgeting shouldn't cost as much as a streaming service bundle.

YNAB

YNAB costs $20.80/month ($250/year) - one of the most expensive budgeting apps on the market. That's money you could be saving instead of spending on tracking your savings.

Chortke

Chortke Premium is just $1.99/month or $9.99/year - 90% cheaper than YNAB. Start with a 14-day free trial, and the free tier gives you basic budgeting forever.

Problem: Cloud Dependency

Your financial data shouldn't live on someone else's servers.

YNAB

YNAB stores all your financial data on their cloud servers. If their servers go down, get breached, or the company shuts down, your data could be at risk or inaccessible.

Chortke

Chortke has no servers. Zero. Your data is encrypted and stored only on your device. We literally can't see your finances because we never have them.

Feature Comparison

Feature
Chortke
YNAB
No bank login required
Data stays on device
No servers
Zero-based budgeting
Auto-categorization
Recurring expense detection
Canadian bank support
Native PDF parsing
Via Plaid
Price
$1.99/mo
$20.80/mo
Free tier
Works offline
No account required

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Chortke really 90% cheaper than YNAB?

Yes. YNAB costs $20.80/month or about $250/year. Chortke Premium is $1.99/month or $9.99/year. Plus, Chortke has a free tier with basic features, while YNAB has no free option after the trial.

Can I do zero-based budgeting with Chortke?

Chortke focuses on expense tracking, categorization, and insights rather than zero-based budgeting methodology. If you specifically need YNAB's envelope system, Chortke may not be the right fit. However, if your main goal is to track spending and understand where your money goes - privately - Chortke excels.

How does Chortke import my transactions without bank login?

You download your bank statement as a PDF from your bank's website (which you're already logged into), then import it into Chortke. The PDF is processed entirely on your device, transactions are extracted, and the original PDF is deleted. Simple and secure.

Is my data safe with Chortke?

Your data is stored only on your device, encrypted with AES-256 via SQLCipher. Encryption keys are stored in iOS Keychain and Secure Enclave. We have no servers, so there's nothing to hack. Your data is as secure as your iPhone itself.

Ready for privacy-first budgeting?

Try Chortke free. No account required. Your financial data never leaves your device.

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