A budgeting app does one of two jobs: it plans where money will go before it is spent, or it reports where money went afterwards. Some apps named on US lists support US banks only, so the question for a Canadian is narrower: does the app say it works with Canadian accounts, what does it charge, and in which currency? Every fact on this page comes from the provider’s own pricing, help or product page, checked October 11, 2026. Nothing here is a rating or a score, and this page is general education, not financial advice.
Budgeting apps in Canada compared at a glance
The table covers four subscription apps, one prepaid account and three bank-built tools. Prices are shown exactly as each provider posts them, in the provider’s own currency.
| Feature | Posted price | Free trial or free plan | Canadian bank connection (as stated) | Platforms (as stated) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YNAB | US$109 a year, plus tax where applicable, or US$14.99 a month, plus tax where applicable | 34 days, with no credit card required when signing up directly with YNAB | direct import supports select US, Canadian, UK and EU banks; file-based import covers the rest | Not listed on the pricing page |
| Monarch | Core: US$99.99 a year after a 7-day free trial | 7 days, with a payment method required | available in Canada, with all prices billed in US dollars | web, mobile and iPad |
| PocketGuard | CA$103.99 a year | 7 days | bank accounts and cards from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom | Not listed on the pricing page |
| Goodbudget | $10 a month or $80 a year, as posted (currency not stated on the page) | a free plan with 10 regular envelopes, 10 more envelopes, 1 account, 2 devices and 1 year of history | automatic bank sync for US banks only, on the Premium plan | web, Android and iPhone |
| KOHO | No-plan account: free; Essential plan: $7 a month, or $0 in a month you set up direct deposit or deposit $1,000 | A no-plan account is available | Budgets the KOHO prepaid account itself | KOHO app |
| RBC NOMI | No price posted on the NOMI page | Part of the RBC Mobile app | RBC accounts | RBC Mobile app |
| TD MySpend | free to download (standard message and data rates may apply) | No trial needed | TD personal banking accounts and TD credit cards | on Android both the TD MySpend app and the TD app must be installed; on iOS only TD MySpend |
| Scotia Smart Money | a free suite of features for eligible personal banking customers on the latest Scotia mobile app | No trial needed | information from other financial institutions cannot be added | Scotia mobile app |
Sources: each provider's own page, checked October 11, 2026. Prices are in the currency the provider posts and are not converted. 'Not listed' means the page read did not state it.
The table in sentences. YNAB costs US$109 a year, plus tax where applicable or US$14.99 a month, plus tax where applicable, with a trial of 34 days, with no credit card required when signing up directly with YNAB. Monarch Core is US$99.99 a year after a 7-day free trial, and the trial is 7 days, with a payment method required. PocketGuard posts CA$103.99 a year with a trial of 7 days. Goodbudget Premium is $10 a month or $80 a year, as posted (currency not stated on the page), beside a free plan. KOHO can be held with no plan, which is free. TD MySpend is free to download (standard message and data rates may apply), and Scotia Smart Money is a free suite of features for eligible personal banking customers on the latest Scotia mobile app. RBC’s NOMI page posts no separate price for NOMI.
Which budgeting apps connect to Canadian banks?
Three of the subscription apps say on their own pages that they connect to Canadian institutions: YNAB, Monarch and PocketGuard. None of the three publishes a full list of supported Canadian banks on the pages read.
- YNAB: direct import supports select US, Canadian, UK and EU banks; file-based import covers the rest.
- Monarch: available in Canada, with all prices billed in US dollars. Its Canada page asks new users to try the app and “confirm your institutions connect reliably.”
- PocketGuard: supports bank accounts and cards from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
- Goodbudget: automatic bank sync for US banks only, on the Premium plan, so a Canadian user records transactions by hand.
“Select banks” and “confirm your institutions connect” are the providers’ own cautions. A smaller credit union, a newer online bank or a store credit card may not be covered even when the big banks are. A free trial is the no-cost way to see whether a specific account connects and whether its balances and transactions arrive before any charge.
Bank-built tools avoid the connection problem by never leaving the bank. The cost is that they see one institution only. Scotiabank puts it plainly for its own tool: information from other financial institutions cannot be added.
What do budgeting apps cost in Canadian dollars?
Only PocketGuard, of the subscription apps checked, posts a Canadian-dollar price: CA$103.99 a year. YNAB and Monarch bill in US dollars, and Goodbudget’s page does not name its currency.
| App | Posted price | Currency as stated | What it works out to |
|---|---|---|---|
| YNAB, annual | US$109 a year, plus tax where applicable | US dollars | about US$9.08 a month |
| YNAB, monthly | US$14.99 a month, plus tax where applicable | US dollars | US$179.88 over 12 months |
| Monarch Core | US$99.99 a year after a 7-day free trial | US dollars | about US$8.33 a month |
| Monarch Plus | US$199.99 a year after a 7-day free trial | US dollars | about US$16.67 a month |
| PocketGuard, yearly | CA$103.99 a year | Canadian dollars | about CA$8.67 a month |
| Goodbudget Premium | $10 a month or $80 a year, as posted (currency not stated on the page) | Not stated | Free plan also available |
Paying YNAB monthly for a year costs US$70.88 more than the annual plan. YNAB says it is priced in US dollars, with no exchange-rate adjustment.
A US-dollar price is not the amount that lands on a Canadian statement. The card issuer converts the charge on the day it posts, and many Canadian cards add a foreign transaction fee on top. A worked example with hypothetical numbers: at an exchange rate of 1.40 Canadian dollars per US dollar and a card foreign transaction fee of 2.5%, a US$100 annual subscription would cost CA$143.50. The real figure depends on the rate that day and on the card used.
The eight options, one by one
YNAB
YNAB (You Need A Budget) is a plan-first app: income is assigned to categories before it is spent. The trial is 34 days, with no credit card required when signing up directly with YNAB, the longest of the subscription apps on this page. YNAB allows one subscription shared by a group of up to six people. College students are offered a free 365-day trial with proof of enrolment. The trade-offs published by YNAB itself are the US-dollar billing and the word “select” in front of Canadian banks.
Monarch
Monarch is a tracking-and-planning app whose Canada page is headed “Monarch now available in Canada.” The page says it is available in Canada, with all prices billed in US dollars. Monarch runs on web, mobile and iPad, and a partner can be added for free. Unlike YNAB’s trial, Monarch’s is 7 days, with a payment method required, so the plan renews into a paid year unless it is cancelled in settings before the trial ends. The higher tier, Plus, is US$199.99 a year after a 7-day free trial.
PocketGuard
PocketGuard’s pricing page, read from Canada, shows prices in Canadian dollars: CA$103.99 a year. Its help centre says it supports bank accounts and cards from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and that it works without a linked account: enter income and bills and set category budgets by hand. Monthly and lifetime options sit behind a toggle on the pricing page and are not recorded here.
Goodbudget
Goodbudget is the envelope method on a screen. It has a free plan with 10 regular envelopes, 10 more envelopes, 1 account, 2 devices and 1 year of history, and runs on web, Android and iPhone. Because it offers automatic bank sync for US banks only, on the Premium plan, the Premium plan’s headline extra does not apply to Canadian accounts. For a Canadian the free plan and the paid plan differ mainly in the number of envelopes, accounts, devices and years of history.
KOHO
KOHO is a prepaid Mastercard account with a budget attached, not an app that reads accounts held elsewhere. KOHO describes budgeting built into the app, with spending limits by category, and says budget categories update as you spend. Its RoundUps feature rounds each purchase up to the nearest dollar and saves the difference, and is offered on every plan, including the free Non-Member account. The budget only sees spending that runs through the KOHO card, so it suits people who move day-to-day spending onto it. The KOHO review covers plans and fees, and the prepaid cards in Canada comparison sets it beside other prepaid cards.
RBC NOMI
NOMI is a set of features inside the RBC Mobile app. NOMI Budgets gives a calculated budget recommendation based on your own spending habits, with updates and reminders. NOMI Insights analyzes monthly cash flow and categorizes spending, and NOMI Forecast provides a rolling forecast of payments and deposits for the next 7 days. RBC’s page does not post a separate fee for NOMI.
TD MySpend
TD MySpend is a companion app that is free to download (standard message and data rates may apply). It sorts expenses into needs, wants or other, and bases “typical” spending on a rolling average of the previous 13 months of spending on TD personal banking accounts and TD credit cards. One install detail: on Android both the TD MySpend app and the TD app must be installed; on iOS only TD MySpend.
Scotia Smart Money by Advice+
Scotiabank describes Scotia Smart Money as a free suite of features for eligible personal banking customers on the latest Scotia mobile app. The budget feature tracks spending each month against budget targets you set. It covers Scotiabank accounts only.
Which budgeting apps are not available in Canada, or have changed?
Some of the names that appear in US lists do not apply here, and two older names no longer work the way they did. Each line below rests on the provider’s own statement.
| App | Provider’s own statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Money | not available outside the US; it supports US-based financial institutions and accounts only | Copilot Money FAQ |
| Mint | Mint's features have moved to Credit Karma | Intuit’s Mint website |
| Hardbacon | the mobile app has been retired in favour of a web experience | Hardbacon About page |
Copilot Money runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and web, but its FAQ lists “Not available outside the US” among the things the app does not do. Intuit’s Mint page does not mention Canada, so nothing is claimed here about what a Canadian Credit Karma account includes. Hardbacon’s About page says its platform once included budgeting tools; the site now compares financial products. Other US apps are left off this table because no statement about Canada could be saved from their own pages.
Is there a free budgeting app in Canada?
A budget does not need a subscription. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), a federal agency, runs a free online Budget Planner, and FCAC describes a budget as “a plan that helps you manage your money.”
How to read this table: From FCAC's Making a budget page and the Budget Planner tool. Amounts are typed in by the user; the pages do not describe any bank connection.
| Feature | What FCAC says |
|---|---|
| What it is | A federal government web tool for creating a personalized budget and saving it online |
| How amounts get in | You enter income, savings and expenses yourself from pay stubs, bills and account statements; you can add and name your own items |
| Saving your work | The budget is saved online and reopened later through a unique link |
| Feedback | Tips, guidelines and alerts for each budget category, plus charts that show where the money is going |
| Comparison | An option to compare your budget with those of other Canadians in similar situations |
| Export | A spreadsheet download is listed among the key features |
Source: Making a budget (FCAC) — what a budget is; Making a budget (FCAC) — what the Budget Planner is; Making a budget (FCAC) — tracking exercise; Making a budget (FCAC) — needs and wants; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 1; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 2 guidelines; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 3 suggestions; Making a budget (FCAC) — emergency fund; Making a budget (FCAC) — monthly comparison; Budget Planner (FCAC) — the tool's own description; Budget Planner (FCAC) — saving the budget. In effect from August 21, 2025; checked October 11, 2026.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Step 1: List your income, savings and expenses | Gather recent pay stubs, bills and account statements and enter the amounts into each category of the Budget Planner |
| Step 2: Review your results | The results show average guidelines for what Canadians usually spend or save in each category, with a green, yellow or red alert for each |
| Step 3: Review your next steps | Personalized suggestions based on what you entered, whether you have money left or are overspending |
Source: Making a budget (FCAC) — what a budget is; Making a budget (FCAC) — what the Budget Planner is; Making a budget (FCAC) — tracking exercise; Making a budget (FCAC) — needs and wants; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 1; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 2 guidelines; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 3 suggestions; Making a budget (FCAC) — emergency fund; Making a budget (FCAC) — monthly comparison; Budget Planner (FCAC) — the tool's own description; Budget Planner (FCAC) — saving the budget. In effect from August 21, 2025; checked October 11, 2026.
Paper works too. The free printable monthly budget tracker is a one-page sheet for income, bills and spending categories, with nothing to install and no login to share. Cash budgeters can pair it with the cash stuffing starter kit, and a spending reset can run on the no-spend month calendar. People settling in Canada can estimate first-year costs with the newcomer budget calculator before choosing any app.
How do you choose a budgeting app in Canada?
Start with the method, then check the bank, then the price. FCAC suggests tracking everything for a month or two before making a budget, which also shows which kind of tool fits.
| Point | What FCAC says |
|---|---|
| Track first | For 1 or 2 months, keep track of everything you buy and the bills you pay |
| Needs and wants | Try dividing expenses into two categories, needs and wants; they are not the same for everyone and change over time |
| Emergency fund | FCAC says an emergency fund should cover living expenses for 3 to 6 months, built by saving a small amount regularly |
Source: Making a budget (FCAC) — what a budget is; Making a budget (FCAC) — what the Budget Planner is; Making a budget (FCAC) — tracking exercise; Making a budget (FCAC) — needs and wants; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 1; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 2 guidelines; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 3 suggestions; Making a budget (FCAC) — emergency fund; Making a budget (FCAC) — monthly comparison; Budget Planner (FCAC) — the tool's own description; Budget Planner (FCAC) — saving the budget. In effect from August 21, 2025; checked October 11, 2026.
Matching published features to situations:
- All accounts are at one big bank: RBC NOMI, TD MySpend and Scotia Smart Money need no third-party connection. TD and Scotiabank describe their tools as free; RBC’s NOMI page posts no separate price.
- Accounts are spread across institutions: YNAB, Monarch and PocketGuard state Canadian support; a trial confirms each account connects.
- Planning every dollar before spending: YNAB is built on that method, and Goodbudget does it with envelopes.
- Budgeting as a couple: Monarch says a partner can be added for free; YNAB allows one subscription shared by a group of up to six people.
- No bank login shared with anyone: Goodbudget, PocketGuard in manual mode, the federal Budget Planner or a printable sheet.
- Avoiding US-dollar charges: PocketGuard posts Canadian dollars, and the bank tools and KOHO are Canadian products.
- A student budget: YNAB offers a free 365-day trial with proof of enrolment.
A budget usually points at two next jobs. FCAC says an emergency fund covers living expenses for 3 to 6 months; the emergency fund calculator turns monthly costs into a target. Where debt payments crowd the budget, the debt payoff calculator shows how extra payments change the payoff date.
Common mistakes with budgeting apps
- Paying before testing the bank connection. Monarch’s own Canada page asks users to confirm their institutions connect during the trial.
- Forgetting a trial that needs a card. Monarch’s trial is 7 days, with a payment method required; YNAB’s needs no card when started on its own site.
- Reading a US-dollar price as Canadian. YNAB and Monarch both bill in US dollars.
- Paying for bank sync that does not cover Canada. Goodbudget offers automatic bank sync for US banks only, on the Premium plan.
- Expecting a bank tool to see other banks. Scotiabank says information from other financial institutions cannot be added.
- Setting a budget once and leaving it. FCAC’s tips below are about the monthly check-in, not the setup.
| Tip |
|---|
| Keep all your receipts and bills |
| Limit your spending as much as possible to what's in your budget |
| Update your budget with any changes, for example a pay raise or a bill increase |
| Compare your budget to what you actually spend at the end of each month |
Source: Making a budget (FCAC) — what a budget is; Making a budget (FCAC) — what the Budget Planner is; Making a budget (FCAC) — tracking exercise; Making a budget (FCAC) — needs and wants; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 1; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 2 guidelines; Making a budget (FCAC) — step 3 suggestions; Making a budget (FCAC) — emergency fund; Making a budget (FCAC) — monthly comparison; Budget Planner (FCAC) — the tool's own description; Budget Planner (FCAC) — saving the budget. In effect from August 21, 2025; checked October 11, 2026.
How this list was put together
YieldMaple read each provider’s own pricing, product or help page, confirmed every quoted statement again on October 11, 2026, and recorded only what the page states, with the exact wording saved for each fact. No provider supplied information or paid to be listed, and this page has no affiliate links. The list is not exhaustive: other budgeting apps are sold in Canada, and leaving one out is not a judgment about it. Facts that could not be confirmed on a provider’s own page were left out, including monthly-billing prices hidden behind toggles. Prices and features change often, so the provider’s page on the day of sign-up is the figure that applies.