Budgeting apps outside the US and UK: what actually works
If you live in Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark or most of continental Europe, you have probably discovered that a budgeting app's feature list and the features you receive are two different documents. This is a practical guide to what breaks outside the two markets these apps were built for, and what to do about it.
The three things that break
Bank connections. The most common single complaint. Reviewers describe Australian banks not being supported at all, Canadian connections that need re-authorising every day, and European banks missing from the list entirely. Currency and number formats. An app that assumes a dot for decimals will quietly misread an amount typed with a comma, and one that assumes a single currency will make a mess of a household that holds two. Support and billing. Reviewers report being charged the full price during months when the import feature did not work for them, and getting little back. Whatever the rights and wrongs of any individual case, it is a bad position to be in.
What to check before you pay for anything
· Find your actual bank in the app's supported list before you subscribe — not your bank's country, your bank. · Check whether the connection is re-authorised daily, weekly or rarely. A daily re-auth is a chore that will outlast your enthusiasm. · Type an amount with your own decimal separator into the trial and see what the app stores. · Check that the app will show your currency without converting it into something else. · Find the export button before you need it.
The case for going manual on purpose
If the sync is unreliable where you are, a half-automated budget is the worst of both worlds: you still have to check every import, you still have to fix duplicates, and you have lost the habit of noticing what you spent. Choosing manual entry deliberately removes a whole category of problems. There is nothing to reconnect, nothing to reconcile against a feed that went stale, no duplicate transactions from a re-import, and no monthly fee for a data provider that does not cover your bank. The trade is your own time, once or twice a week.
What handbudget does differently
handbudget has no bank connections for anyone, so there is no country where it works better or worse. It is designed for typing things in: the form is the first thing you see, the date is filled in, the last account is remembered, and amounts are read the way you actually type them — with a comma or a point, spaces or none. You pick the currency you keep the budget in, and nothing is converted behind your back. The browser edition is free; the desktop edition is one payment.
Frequently asked questions
Which currencies does handbudget support?
You choose one for the budget — Norwegian, Swedish and Danish kroner, euro, pounds, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and US dollars, and Swiss francs. It only changes how amounts are written; nothing is ever converted.
Does it work offline?
The desktop edition works with no internet connection at all. The browser edition needs to load the page once, after which everything it does happens in your browser.
Can two people share one budget?
Not simultaneously — there is no sync server, which is the point. What you can do is export the file and hand it over, and the other person imports it. One payment covers a household either way.
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