Bank linking is optional here
Plenty of people don’t want to hand an app their bank credentials, because of privacy, because a connection broke once too often, or because their credit union isn’t supported anyway. In BetterBudget that’s a first-class way to use the product, not a degraded mode.
Create manual accounts, import transactions from CSV exports (every bank offers them), or type balances in. Budgets, bills, goals, debts, net worth, simulations, and the AI assistant all work identically, the assistant answers from whatever data you give it, and all math runs in a deterministic engine you can check.
Honesty over pitch: automatic transaction sync and same-day alerts need a bank connection (Plus tier, via Plaid, read-only, credentials never stored by us). Manual means updating on your own rhythm, weekly CSV imports take most people a few minutes.
Link one account later and keep the rest manual, mixing is normal. Disconnecting a bank keeps all your history, and re-linking never creates duplicate transactions.
Join the beta waitlist → · Free calculators (nothing to connect) · Coming from Mint?
Educational information, not financial advice.