I used YNAB for years. It’s a good app. The envelope method genuinely changed how I think about money, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
But I left, built my own budgeting app, and a lot of people have been asking me how to make the same switch. So here’s the honest, practical guide. No drama, no “YNAB is the worst” — just how to move your budget from YNAB to Okane and what to expect when you do.
Why People Switch
I talk to YNAB users making the move every week. Here’s what I hear:
The Price
This is the big one. YNAB costs $109/year. For a budgeting app. The irony of spending $109 to be more careful with your money writes itself.
Okane’s free tier is a complete envelope budgeting app — Google Sheets sync, custom categories, offline support. Premium is $5/month ($60/year) if you want bank sync and AI categorization. Or just use the free version. It’s what I used daily for months before Premium existed.
Data Ownership
Your YNAB budget lives on YNAB’s servers. Cancel your subscription? You lose access. Sure, you can export, but your working budget is gone.
With Okane, your budget is a Google Sheet on your Google Drive. It’s a real spreadsheet you can open, edit, share, or download right now. If Okane disappeared tomorrow, your budget is still sitting in Google Sheets exactly where you left it.
Couples
YNAB charges per person. Two people budgeting together = $218/year.
In Okane, you share the Google Sheet. Done. Both partners use the app, both see the same data, zero extra cost. I didn’t build a “couples plan” because the solution already existed — it’s called sharing a spreadsheet.
Step 1: Export Your YNAB Data
Before you cancel anything, grab your data. YNAB makes this straightforward:
- Log into YNAB on the web (app.ynab.com)
- Click Account name in the left sidebar (or go to an individual account)
- Click Export → you’ll get a CSV with all your transactions
- Repeat for each account, or use File → Export Budget to get everything in one ZIP
You’ll end up with CSV files containing your transaction history — dates, payees, categories, amounts. Keep these somewhere safe.
Pro tip: Also take screenshots or jot down your current category structure and envelope balances. You’ll want those when you set up Okane.
Step 2: Set Up Okane
- Download Okane — Android (Play Store) or iOS (App Store)
- Sign in with Google — this creates your budget spreadsheet on your Drive automatically
- That’s it. You have a working budget in about 90 seconds.
Okane creates a Google Sheet for you and uses it as the backend. Every transaction, every category, every envelope balance lives in that sheet. The app is just a clean mobile interface on top of it.
Step 3: Recreate Your Categories
Here’s where you do a little manual work. Okane lets you create custom categories, so you can mirror your YNAB setup exactly.
My advice: Don’t copy everything blindly. YNAB users tend to accumulate dozens of categories over time. Switching apps is a good excuse to simplify. Ask yourself: do I really need separate categories for “Streaming Services,” “Music Subscriptions,” and “App Subscriptions”? Or can “Subscriptions” cover it?
That said, here’s how to map things over:
| YNAB Concept | Okane Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Category Groups | Category Groups |
| Categories | Categories |
| Monthly budget amount | Envelope allocation |
| “To be Budgeted” | Unallocated funds |
| Goals (targets) | No direct equivalent (yet) — use the Sheet for custom tracking |
Create your category groups first, then add categories under each one. Takes about 5–10 minutes if you’re rebuilding from scratch, less if you’re simplifying.
Step 4: Start Fresh (or Import History)
You have two options here:
Option A: Start Fresh (Recommended)
Set your envelope balances to match your current YNAB balances. Enter your current account balances. Start logging new transactions in Okane from today forward.
This is what I recommend. Your YNAB export has your history. Your Google Sheet has your future. Clean break.
Option B: Import Transaction History
If you want your past transactions in Okane, you can paste your YNAB CSV data directly into your Okane Google Sheet. The sheet is a regular spreadsheet — you have full access.
This takes some column-matching (YNAB’s export format won’t perfectly match Okane’s sheet structure), but if you’re comfortable with spreadsheets, it’s doable in 15–20 minutes. And if you’re switching to an app built on Google Sheets… you’re probably comfortable with spreadsheets.
The Envelope System: Same Concept, Different Tool
Here’s the good news: if you understand YNAB’s envelope method, you already understand Okane.
- Give every dollar a job → Same. Allocate your income to categories.
- Embrace your true expenses → Same. Spread annual costs across months.
- Roll with the punches → Same. Move money between envelopes when plans change.
- Age your money → This specific metric doesn’t exist in Okane (yet), but the principle — spending last month’s income — works the same way.
The system is identical. The tool is different. You’re not learning a new budgeting philosophy. You’re just logging into a different app.
One thing that helps: since your budget is a Google Sheet, you can build your own formulas for any metric YNAB tracked. Want to calculate the age of your money? Want a custom savings rate formula? You have a spreadsheet. Go wild.
What’s Different (The Good Parts)
Google Sheets Is Your Backend
This is the core difference. In YNAB, your data lives on their servers and you access it through their app. In Okane, your data lives in a Google Sheet on your Drive and you access it through the Okane app or the spreadsheet directly.
Why this matters:
- Custom reporting: Build whatever formulas, charts, or pivot tables you want
- Partner access: Share the sheet — free, instant, no “couples plan”
- Portability: Your data isn’t trapped anywhere. Export, analyze, move — it’s a spreadsheet
- Transparency: You can see exactly how your budget is stored. No black box.
On-Device AI Categorization (Premium)
YNAB doesn’t auto-categorize transactions. Okane’s AI runs entirely on your phone — it learns your categorization patterns and suggests categories for new transactions. Correct it when it’s wrong, and it gets smarter. Nothing leaves your device.
Pricing
| YNAB | Okane Free | Okane Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $109 | $0 | $60 |
| Envelope budgeting | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Bank sync | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| AI categorization | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Data ownership | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Couples (no extra fee) | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
What You’ll Miss (I’m Being Honest)
I’m not going to pretend the switch is all upside. Here’s what you’ll give up:
Bank Sync History
YNAB’s bank sync has years of maturity. It’s reliable, it’s fast, and it’s included in the base price. Okane’s bank sync works well (we use Plaid, same provider as many fintech apps), but it’s a Premium feature. If you’re on the free tier, you’re logging transactions manually.
The Web App
YNAB has a polished web interface. Okane is mobile-first — no web app (yet). You can open your Google Sheet on desktop for a full-screen view of your data, but it’s not the same as a dedicated web UI. If you do heavy budgeting on a laptop, this will feel different.
Reports and Analytics
YNAB’s reports — spending trends, net worth tracking, income vs expense — are solid. Okane’s built-in analytics are more basic. The upside: your data is in a Google Sheet, so you can build charts and reports yourself. The downside: you have to build them yourself.
Goal Tracking
YNAB’s target system (monthly goals, by-date goals, needed-for-spending goals) is sophisticated. Okane doesn’t have a direct equivalent yet. You can track goals manually in the spreadsheet, but there’s no in-app goal tracker nudging you along.
The Community
YNAB has a massive community — subreddit, YouTube channels, workshops, books. Okane is early. We’re building the community, but right now it’s small. You won’t find 47 YouTube tutorials for every edge case.
Established Trust
YNAB has been around since 2004. Okane is new. I’m one developer. If “battle-tested by millions” matters to you, that’s a real consideration. What I’ll say is: your data is in a Google Sheet. Even if Okane had problems, your budget is safe.
The Migration Checklist
Here’s the quick version if you just want the steps:
- Export all YNAB data (transactions as CSV)
- Screenshot your current category structure and balances
- Download Okane and sign in with Google
- Set up your category groups and categories
- Enter current account balances
- Allocate money to envelopes to match your current YNAB state
- (Optional) Import transaction history into the Google Sheet
- Log transactions in Okane for one week alongside YNAB to build confidence
- Cancel YNAB when you’re comfortable (or don’t — keep both if you want)
My biggest tip: Run both apps for a week or two. Log everything in Okane while your YNAB subscription is still active. Once you trust the new system, cancel. No pressure, no cliff.
Bottom Line
Switching budgeting apps feels bigger than it is. You’re not changing your budgeting system — envelopes are envelopes. You’re changing the tool that holds the envelopes.
YNAB taught a lot of us how to budget, and that’s worth respecting. But if $109/year doesn’t feel right, or you want your data in a spreadsheet you own, or you want your partner to budget alongside you without paying double — the switch to Okane is straightforward.
Your budget philosophy doesn’t change. Your data comes with you. And your spreadsheet will be there whether Okane is or not.
Download Okane — free on Android and iOS →
Have questions about switching? Find me on Reddit. Happy to help with migration specifics — I’ve done this myself.