ReadyCentsWhat Zerosum does well.
Worth saying plainly, because picking a budgeting app is personal and Zerosum is a real option.
- Zero-based budgeting with categories guiding spending
- Savings goals, twelve reports and forecasts, and recurring transactions
- Plaid in the US and Canada, or Lunch Flow elsewhere, on the Pro tier
- Migration paths from YNAB and Actual, and a 21-day Pro trial with no card
What ReadyCents does differently.
One paid tier, not two
Zerosum publishes Basic at $30 a year and Pro at $75 a year. ReadyCents has one subscription: everything managed and every advanced insight is included, so there is no tier that exists to make the one above it look reasonable.
Manual budgeting stays free
Zerosum puts manual entry and file imports on its paid Basic tier. In ReadyCents that is the free tier, with no expiry.
Bring your own provider
Both offer Plaid and Lunch Flow paths. ReadyCents also supports SimpleFIN, and its managed Plaid quota is counted per institution login rather than per account.
Tax and reimbursement tracking
Business classification, deductible tagging and tax-year summaries, plus a claim-and-repayment ledger for money owed to you, are part of ReadyCents rather than left to reports.
ReadyCents against Zerosum.
Every claim about Zerosum comes from its own public material and was accurate when written.
| What matters | ReadyCents | Zerosum |
|---|---|---|
| Budgeting approach | Zero-based digital envelopes. Assign the cash you have, then use the live Ready to Budget breakdown to see why the total changed. | Zero-based budgeting: money comes in, you choose its jobs, and categories guide spending. |
| Ways to bring transactions in | Manual entry, YNAB migration, CSV and bank-file imports, managed Plaid slots, or your own SimpleFIN or Lunch Flow connection. | Manual entry and file imports on Basic; Plaid in the US/Canada or Lunch Flow elsewhere on Pro; YNAB and Actual migration. |
| Credit-card workflow | Funded spending reserves payment cash automatically. Optional overspending carryover remembers the originating card when debt is covered later. | Choose a dedicated card account with an automatically managed payment category or a simpler budget account that behaves like checking. |
| Planning beyond envelopes | Calendar, projected budget, reports, net worth, reimbursements, debt and FIRE insights, tax tracking, and household workspaces. | Savings goals, 12 reports and forecasts, recurring transactions, multiple budgets, and sharing. |
| Current public price | Free manual budgeting forever. Connected Premium is $9.99/month, $26.99/quarter, or $74.99/year. A one-time $5 pass unlocks 60 days of Connected Premium without a subscription. | Basic is $30/year and Pro is $75/year before applicable tax, with a 21-day Pro trial and no card required. |
What switching actually involves.
Import instead of retyping
CSV and bank-file imports bring your history across, and matching prevents duplicates against anything already entered.
Try the connected experience once
A one-time $5 pass gives you 60 days of the connected experience with one managed Plaid institution login, with no automatic renewal, so you can compare properly before subscribing.
Keep multiple budgets
Personal, Household and Business budgets live under one login, and linked transfers move money between them while keeping the envelope context.
Its report set covers what you need and the two-tier price suits how you use it.
You want manual budgeting free rather than paid, prefer one inclusive subscription, or want tax and reimbursement tracking inside the budget.
Free forever to budget by hand, $9.99 a month for Connected Premium, or a one-time $5 pass for 60 days of the connected experience.
Try it before you decide.
Manual budgeting, envelopes, goals and imports are free for as long as you like. If you want to see bank sync first, the 60-day pass is one payment with no renewal.