01 · Side by side
FIYR vs YNAB at a glance
| Feature | FIYR | YNAB |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8/month, or $76.80/year ($6.40/month). One plan with every feature. | $14.99/month, or $109/year ($9.08/month). Free for a year for college students. |
| Free trial | 30 days with every feature. No charge until the trial ends. | 34 days. No credit card needed when you sign up directly with YNAB. |
| Platforms | Web app for desktop and mobile browsers. | iPhone, iPad, Android and web. |
| Budgeting style | Monthly category budgets, with reusable budget templates. | Zero-based: you assign the money you already have, and every dollar gets a job. |
| Bank sync | Plaid. Manual accounts and transactions too. | MX and Plaid, plus a direct Apple Wallet connection. File import too. |
| Net worth | Yes: linked accounts plus manual assets (home, vehicles, crypto) and debts. | Yes: a net worth report that tracks changes over time. |
| FIRE / retirement projection | Yes, on every plan: your FIRE date from your real spending and balances. | No retirement projection. Has a loan planner and payoff simulator on web. |
| Investments | Investment account balances through Plaid. No per-holding performance view. | Balances only, through tracking accounts. |
| Shared / household | One login per account. Transactions can be tagged as yours, your partner’s or shared. | YNAB Together: up to six people, each with their own login, on one subscription. |
| Import & export | CSV export of transactions. CSV import with column and category mapping. | CSV/TSV export on web. CSV, QFX, OFX and QIF file import. |
02 · Why switch
Why people look for a YNAB alternative
YNAB describes itself as a forward-looking plan for your money rather than a record of what you already spent. That is its strength, and it is also why some people go looking for something else. These are the most common reasons, drawn from how YNAB itself works:
You want a long-term answer, not just this month’s plan
YNAB is built around assigning the money you have right now. It does not project when your savings could cover your spending. FIYR takes your actual spending, your invested balances and your savings rate and turns them into a FIRE date that moves as your numbers do.
The method takes daily attention
Zero-based budgeting works because you touch every dollar. Some people love that ritual; others would rather categorize with rules and check in weekly. FIYR uses ordinary monthly category budgets and leans on rules to keep categories clean.
Price
YNAB lists $109 a year or $14.99 a month. FIYR is $76.80 a year or $8 a month, with the FIRE projection, net worth and budgets all on the one plan.
Net worth beyond your bank accounts
YNAB tracks investments as balances in tracking accounts. FIYR does the same for investment accounts, and adds manual assets such as your home, vehicles and crypto, so your net worth and FIRE date reflect everything you own and owe.
03 · The honest part
When YNAB is the better choice
YNAB has been teaching its method for years, and for a lot of people it works. Pick YNAB instead of FIYR if any of these matter most to you:
- You want zero-based budgeting. FIYR does not do envelope-style “give every dollar a job” budgeting. YNAB is designed around it.
- You want to learn the method. YNAB runs free workshops and live sessions and has a published book. FIYR has a blog but no coaching program.
- You budget with family or a partner. YNAB Together gives up to six people their own login on one subscription. FIYR has one login per account.
- You need a native phone app. YNAB has iPhone, iPad and Android apps. FIYR runs in the browser, including on phones.
- You are a college student. YNAB offers students a free year.
04 · Moving over
How to switch from YNAB to FIYR
You can keep your YNAB history. YNAB exports your plan and transactions as CSV from its web app, and FIYR imports CSV files.
- Export from YNAB. In YNAB on the web, export your plan and transaction data. Keep the transaction file; that is the one FIYR imports.
- Start a FIYR trial and link your accounts. Accounts connect through Plaid. FIYR asks for up to two years of transaction history; how much arrives depends on your bank.
- Import only the older history. In Transactions, open the ⋯ menu and choose Import CSV. Map the date, name, amount and category columns, then match each old category to a FIYR one. Trim the file to dates before your linked history starts, or the overlap will show up twice. Amounts must be plain numbers, and FIYR treats positive amounts as spending and negative amounts as money coming in, so flip the sign on a column that uses the opposite convention.
- Set up categories and rules. Rules recategorize new transactions automatically, so the cleanup you do once keeps paying off.
- Add what Plaid can’t see. Enter your home, vehicles, crypto and any loans as manual assets and liabilities so your net worth is complete. Then open the FIRE view to see the date your real numbers point to.
YNAB categories will not map one to one onto FIYR’s, and money YNAB shows as assigned has no equivalent in FIYR. Expect to spend a few minutes on category mapping the first time.
05 · Keep reading