Updated 2026-09-18
A budget app without a subscription
OwnFi is a budgeting app that costs nothing: no subscription, no premium tier, no free trial that turns into a charge. You import the PDF or CSV statement your bank sends you, and the app builds budgets, bills, net worth and a safe-to-spend number from it on the phone.
The reason it can be free is the reason it is private: there is no server to pay for. Approved partner offers on one optional Settings screen are the only revenue, and you can switch them off.
How it compares
| OwnFi | Monarch | YNAB | Copilot | Rocket Money | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank login required | No. Import the PDF or CSV your bank sends | Yes | Optional; file import for many banks | Yes | Yes |
| Works in Canada | Yes: RBC, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC, BMO formats | Listed; Canadian connections are the top complaint in its Canadian reviews | Listed; direct import missing for many Canadian banks | Not on the Canadian App Store | Not on the Canadian App Store |
| Price | Free, no tier | US$99.99/yr | US$109/yr | US$95/yr | Free tier plus paid Premium |
| Imports past statements | Yes, any month you have a file for | CSV import | CSV/OFX/QFX file import | CSV import | No file import |
| Financial data leaves the device | Never | Yes (cloud account and aggregator) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android app | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Competitor facts were checked against their public store listings and pricing pages on 18 September 2026; prices are in US dollars and change. Tell us if something is out of date.
How it works
- Download the statement you already get
Your bank's app or website has a PDF or CSV for every month. Save it to your phone, or share it straight to OwnFi from the bank's app.
- Import it on the phone
OwnFi reads it locally: 27 named bank formats plus a parser that learns any CSV once you confirm the columns. Password-protected PDFs open with the password your bank sent, which is never stored.
- Get the number
Transactions are categorised, bills and subscriptions detected, and the Dashboard shows what you can safely spend today with upcoming bills already reserved.
Questions
Is there a catch?
No paywall anywhere. OwnFi may earn a commission if you use a clearly labelled partner offer from the optional Partner offers screen; nothing about you is attached to the link.
Will features move behind a paywall later?
OwnFi stays free, with no paid tier planned; the homepage FAQ explains how it makes money.
Are there ads?
No ad networks and no ad SDKs. The only offers are the labelled partner links you can turn off.
How is this different from a free tier?
There is no tier. Every feature is available to everyone: statement import, budgets, bills, net worth, forecasts, the on-device advisor, widgets and Family Sync.
Where does my data go?
Nowhere. It stays on the phone, encrypted at rest.
About OwnFi
OwnFi is a free budgeting app that imports your bank statements instead of logging into your bank. Nothing leaves your phone. Free on iPhone and Android, with a sample-data mode so you can look before importing anything. See everything it does or read the privacy proof.