Getting Started with UnderBudget
Everything you need to go from a new account to a budget that tracks itself. Setup takes about ten minutes, and Home keeps a checklist of what's left.
No account yet? Try the live demo from the home page: a private copy with a few months of sample data to click around in. UnderBudget accounts are invite-only.
What UnderBudget does
Accounts & bank sync
Link your bank through SimpleFIN Bridge so transactions come in on their own, or track accounts by hand.
Budgets
A monthly amount for every spending category. Income, Savings and transfers are tracked separately.
Transactions & review
Bank transactions wait in a review queue with a suggested category. Add the rest by hand.
Rules & recurring bills
Rename and categorize repeat charges automatically, and track each bill against its schedule.
Dashboards
Budget vs actual, spending pace and category breakdowns for any month, plus trends across the year.
Split costs
Work out your share of costs you split with someone else.
Set up in five steps
- 1
Take the quick tour
The first time you open Home, a short tour shows where everything lives. Replay it anytime from the Get set up checklist.
- 2
Add your accounts
On Accounts, click Connect Bank to link a bank through SimpleFIN Bridge (a small paid service that works with most US banks). UnderBudget never sees your bank login, and the connection is stored encrypted. For cash, or a bank SimpleFIN doesn't support, click New Account instead and pick its type: checking, savings, credit card, loan or investment.
- 3
Create your budget
Add your spending categories, give each a monthly amount, and pick their colors. Income, Internal (transfers between your own accounts) and Savings are created for you and never count against your budget.
- 4
Bring in your transactions
With a linked bank, click Refresh on Accounts (or turn on the daily sync in Settings). New transactions land in the review queue (Transactions → Review queue) with a category already suggested by your rules or AI. Check them over, then import. You can also add transactions by hand from the Transactions page.
- 5
Set up recurring bills
In the budget editor, tap the repeat icon on categories like Subscriptions (or on just a subcategory, like Utilities). When you save, you're walked through a pre-filled recurring rule for each bill that doesn't have one yet. UnderBudget links every payment to its rule, shows when the next one is due, and counts the bills still to come in your budget bars and pace. Anything still without a rule waits under Rules → Recurring → Needs a rule, with a count on the Rules menu item.
Check in on your dashboards
Home shows what's left in this month's budget, whether you're on pace, and your biggest categories. The monthly dashboard shows the month's income, spending and savings, then your budget four ways (by category, everyday spending with recurring bills set aside, budget vs actual bars, and a spending mix donut): use the arrows, or swipe on a phone, and tap Make default on the one you want it to open on. It also lists bills still to come and every transaction. The yearly dashboard shows income against spending and category trends across the year. Click any month to drill in.
Page tips
The first time you open a page, a short set of tips explains what it's for. Step through them or close them; either way they won't pop up again. Tips for things you've already done, like linking a bank, are skipped.
Bring a page's tips back with the lightbulb at the top of the page (in the menu on phones). To turn tips off everywhere, or reset them all for a refresher, go to Settings → Tips & onboarding.