YNAB is the best-known zero-based budgeting app: give every dollar a job, with bank import through MX and Plaid in the US, Canada and much of Europe, one currency per plan. 2Fin budgets too — a spending limit per category set before the period starts, savings goals, and every bill, pay day and payment you are owed on one Upcoming list — and adds what a budgeting app leaves out: deductions surfaced from your spending, GST or VAT per transaction, and a live estimate of your refund or what you owe.
Built differently where it counts — here is how.
Set a limit per category before the month starts and see what is left before you spend it — free on every plan.
Bills, pay days, the payments you are owed and transfers between your own accounts on one Upcoming list, with recurring payments found in your own transactions.
Work-related and business costs flagged as they happen, GST or VAT per transaction, and a live refund or owing estimate in five countries. 2Fin helps you find and organise potential deductions; always confirm eligibility with your accountant or tax authority.
Totals on Upcoming are kept per currency, so money in two currencies is never added up as one.
The same situation, in both
Two clients pay you this month, rent and software go out, and you want to know what is safe to spend.
You give every dollar a job as income arrives, moving money between categories when one runs over; tax is a category you fund yourself.
Your category budgets show what is left, Upcoming shows the second client’s payment still to come beside rent, and the business software is flagged as deductible as it leaves — with your tax estimate moving as income lands.
Pricing snapshot (October 2026): YNAB is US$14.99/month or US$109/year after a 34-day trial, priced in US dollars — see ynab.com for current pricing; 2Fin starts free, with budgets on every plan and Premium at US$23/month.
Based on publicly available information. Competitor features and pricing may change — verify directly.
Three things you notice in the first week with 2Fin, whichever tool you are coming from.
A 3D calendar of every transaction in six layouts on every plan, and on ELITE+ an expense terrain, a pattern map and a cash-flow Sankey you can turn and zoom.
Interactive views →Each category projects where you will land from what you have spent so far, flags what is running ahead and suggests limits from your real spending — free.
Budget allocations →An Integrations API, API keys, signed webhooks and an MCP server, documented end to end — and invoices from any tool, tracked to paid.
For developers →Both are good tools — the right pick depends on what your business needs most.
2Fin is free to start. Premium is US$23 a month (US$222 a year), ELITE+ is US$42 a month (US$432 a year) and AUTO+ is US$54 a month (US$555 a year), billed in US dollars.
Hover, tap or tab to any underlined feature to learn more.
For getting every record in one place, at no cost.
Included
For employees and sole traders who want every deduction found and the busywork done.
Everything in Free, plus
For businesses and accountants who lodge, report and keep the books.
Everything in Premium, plus
For owners who want receipts and reports to arrive on their own.
Everything in ELITE+, plus
Swipe to see every plan
| Feature | FREEUS$0 | PREMIUMUS$23 / month | ELITE+US$42 / month | AUTO+US$54 / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capture | ||||
| Statement uploads into bucketsCSV, Excel or PDF. On the free desktop app, statements come in through the CSV import instead | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Live feeds from your own sheet or bank-feed accountA Google Sheet, or a provider account you hold such as SimpleFIN or BankSync | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Photo and PDF receipts, read and matchedRead in the language they are printed in | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Forward receipts by email | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Organise | ||||
| Transactions, categories and bills in one placeIncluding recurring payments | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Upcoming bills, pay days and money you are owedPayments matched to what you are owed as they land | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Budgets against what you actually spent | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Travel and vehicle trips | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Properties: what each one really costsRented, business and private parts | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Automatic categories | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Your own categorising rules | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Spending and bills analytics | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Views by project, client or tax purposeCalled Lenses in the app; the Properties lens is built in on every plan | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Tax | ||||
| Tax analysis that knows your situation | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Tax exports, including ATO myDeductions | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Tax reports and summaries | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| BAS, VAT and GST statements | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Asset register, depreciation, profit & loss and TPAR | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Property write-offs and scheduleDepreciation, capital works, a schedule for your accountant | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Automate | ||||
| Ask Fin about your money | 25 messages a month | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Fin reads the files you upload | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Fin, your assistant, with its own workspace | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Your week in review, on the dashboard | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Signed webhooks for Zapier, Make and n8n | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Reports emailed on the schedule you set | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Share | ||||
| Push to Google Sheets, Excel, Notion or AirtableBank-feed data stays out of every push | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Send transactions to Xero or QuickBooks OnlineCoded, with the receipt attached | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Practice workspace for accountantsYour clients can be on any plan | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Connect Claude or ChatGPT, with the access you approveWhat they can read follows your plan | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Desktop app, with your data on your machine | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Enterprise-grade data control is the default here — on every plan.
Your records can stay on your own machine or in your own cloud, telemetry stays off unless you turn it on, and Fin keeps an auditable record of everything it sends. Enterprise adds the people and the paperwork: dedicated support, custom deployment and reviews for large-scale operations.
Verify it yourselfFor most people who also have a tax side, yes: budgets per category, savings goals and an Upcoming list of bills and money you are owed, plus deductions, GST or VAT and a live refund estimate. If the zero-based method itself is what keeps you on track, YNAB is built around it.
Yes. Budget allocations, Upcoming and recurring patterns are on every plan, including Free, for as long as you like.
The parts of 2Fin behind the comparison above — what each one does for you, and how it reaches the answer.
Budgeting that looks forward rather than back — set a limit per category and see what is left before you spend it.
Upcoming moneyFin puts every bill, pay day and payment you are owed on one list, with transfers kept out of your totals — free on every plan.
Recurring patterns & alertsFin finds the payments that repeat in your own transactions and alerts you in the app when one is late, missing or costs more than usual.
Budgeting and net-worth tracking for the US and Canada (Monarch Money)
vs PocketSmithForecast-first budgeting from New Zealand
vs FreeAgentUK accounting for sole traders and small companies (NatWest Group)
vs CoconutUK sole-trader and landlord accounting with Making Tax Digital
vs KeeperUS freelancer tax filing & deduction finder
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