Your own version

Your own YNAB-style budget app on your iPhone

YNAB is a method as much as an app: before you spend, you decide what each sum is for. If you follow that idea and want an app that does only your version of it, describe your categories and rules to Borel. It writes a native budget app in Swift that you try in your browser and keep on your iPhone, with no bank login.

Updated . Borel isn’t connected to YNAB.

A prompt to start from
“A zero-based budget app. When money comes in, I assign all of it to my own categories until "to assign" shows zero. I log each spend with amount, category and an optional note in two taps. Each category shows what's left this month, red when overspent, and I can move money between categories. Savings goals show a progress bar and months left. Lock with Face ID.”

About YNAB

What people like about YNAB

In our words, from what YNAB says about itself.

  • The YNAB Method's question before every purchase: what's it for?
  • Goals for saving and paying down debt, with a loan calculator.
  • Connected accounts and transactions that sync in real time between devices.

YNAB lists $14.99 a month or $109 a year, in US dollars, after a 34-day free trial, and one subscription can be shared with others.

Made for you

What your own budget app can do

What the prompt above builds, and what you can change by asking Borel in plain words.

  • Your categories, your rules

    Money in is assigned to rent, food, fun and savings until nothing is left to assign.

  • Quick entry at the till

    Amount, category, done, with your most used categories first.

  • Goals you can see

    A holiday fund or a card to pay off, with a bar and the months left.

  • Figures behind Face ID

    The app opens to your numbers only after a glance.

Said plainly

How it's different

  • It doesn't connect to your bank; you type spends in, or import a file your bank gives you.
  • It gives no financial advice and does no tax or investment work.
  • There's no shared household budget across two phones in this version.
  • Your app isn't YNAB and won't look or work like it: it has only what you ask Borel to build, and none of YNAB's own content.
  • Your data stays in your own app: on your iPhone by default, or in your app's own database in Borel's cloud if you add accounts.

How to get yours

From the prompt to your home screen

  • 1

    Start from the prompt

    Change anything in it first: names, rules, screens. Borel asks what it needs to know, then writes the app in Swift and SwiftUI.

  • 2

    Use it in your browser

    It opens in a live iPhone simulator streamed from Borel's Mac, at no cost. Building starts free, with 5 free credits a day, up to 30 a month.

  • 3

    Keep it on your iPhone

    With Pro, from $20 a month, Borel Companion installs it with a free Apple ID, up to 3 apps at a time, and renews each one every 7 days while it runs.

How to make a budget appThe screens it needs, what it keeps, the iPhone features it can use and what to ask for next.See the guide

Frequently asked questions

No. Bank connections need a licensed data provider, which Borel doesn't set up. Typing a spend takes a few seconds.

Yes. Describe what happens to leftovers and to overspending, and Borel writes the month-end rule.

It stays on your iPhone by default and can sit behind Face ID. No server holds it unless you add accounts.

Yes, if your bank exports one. Ask Borel for an import screen and say which columns hold the date, the amount and the description.

Make your own budget app

Start from the prompt on this page and change it until it's yours. Borel builds it while you watch.