Budgeting app comparison

Obsidian Tracker compared with YNAB, Monarch and Copilot Money

YNAB, Monarch and Copilot Money are established subscription apps that connect to your accounts. Obsidian Tracker is a different kind of tool: you import statement CSVs or type entries, and it shows income, expenses, fees and per-platform returns. It does not connect to banks, and its cross-device sync does not work today. This page lays out those trade-offs with a source for every competitor cell. Obsidian Market Replay (FinSim), our market replay simulator, is a paper-trading learning tool with no overlap with budgeting apps, so it is not compared here.

Sources read and prices checked 2026-10-10.

Obsidian Metrics makes Tephra and Tracker, the two products this page compares against others. This page is written by the maker of one of the products compared, so read the competitor columns against their own pages, linked below each table. Competitor facts come only from the vendor pages listed under Sources, read on the date shown above; vendors change plans and prices without notice. We are not affiliated with any company named here, and all product names belong to their owners.

Side by side

What it is

  • Tracker: A personal money tracker for income, expenses, investments, withdrawals and fees, with a dashboard, per-platform annualized return (IRR) computed from the data you import, fee analysis, a bills planner and a printable Monthly Report.
  • YNAB: A budgeting app built around giving every dollar a job, with goal targets, debt management with an integrated loan calculator, and transaction import. [1]
  • Monarch: A personal finance app with account aggregation, net worth across accounts, budgeting, goals, customizable reports and partner collaboration. [2] [3]
  • Copilot Money: A money app with account connection, spending tracking with AI-powered tagging, budgets with rollover, net worth and investment tracking. [4]

Price

  • Tracker: Free for signed-in members. The printable Monthly Report is included with Premium, the same membership that includes Tephra ($19 a month in the Skool community, $29 a month direct), or costs $5 once.
  • YNAB: $14.99 a month, or $109 a year (plus tax). [1]
  • Monarch: $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, in tiers the page names Core and Plus. A promotion was shown on the page; promotions change. [3]
  • Copilot Money: $95 billed yearly, shown as $7.92 a month. The page hints at a monthly option but we did not see its price. [4]

Free trial

  • Tracker: No trial needed for the free tier. An account is required.
  • YNAB: 34 days, no credit card required when signing up directly. [1]
  • Monarch: The page says the first week is free. [3]
  • Copilot Money: A free trial is offered. The page we read does not state its length. [4]

Connecting your accounts

  • Tracker: None. Import statements as CSV (32 presets covering banks, brokerages, crypto exchanges and platforms such as Fundrise and TreasuryDirect) or enter by hand. No bank linking, and no OFX or QFX import. Premium members can add read-only Coinbase and Kraken balances.
  • YNAB: Direct import for select US, Canadian, UK and EU banks, and file-based import for other regions. [1]
  • Monarch: The site says it connects with 13,000+ financial institutions using multiple data providers. [2]
  • Copilot Money: Account connection and aggregation is listed; the number of institutions is not stated on the page we read. [4]

Phones and sync across devices

  • Tracker: Your data is kept in one browser on one device. Cloud sync is built but is not working today, and the app's 'Synced to your account' label does not reflect that. Export a CSV to keep a backup.
  • YNAB: Real-time account syncing across devices. [1]
  • Monarch: Works across web, iOS and Android. [2]
  • Copilot Money: iOS, Mac and web. Android is not mentioned on the page we read. [4]

Investments

  • Tracker: Annualized IRR for all platforms together and for each platform, computed from the cash flows you import, plus a fees page with annualized fee projections.
  • YNAB: Investment tracking is not among the features listed on the page we read. [1]
  • Monarch: You can connect investment accounts, and the Plus tier lets you go deeper on investments. [2] [3]
  • Copilot Money: Tracks stocks, crypto and a home value, with live estimates and portfolio allocation views. [4]

Budgeting approach

  • Tracker: A bills planner built on take-home pay: must-pay and luxury bills, what is left, a savings-first setting and a weekly fun-money amount. No category budgets or rollover in the documented feature set.
  • YNAB: The page describes the YNAB Method of giving every dollar a job, plus goal targets and debt tools. [1]
  • Monarch: Goals and planning; the Plus tier adds forecasting tools. [3]
  • Copilot Money: Budget management with rollover, subscription detection and cash flow analysis. [4]

Sharing

  • Tracker: No sharing feature is documented.
  • YNAB: One subscription can be shared with up to 6 people. [1]
  • Monarch: You can invite your partner to your account at no extra cost for a joint view. [2]
  • Copilot Money: Not stated on the page we read. [4]

Where the others are better

  • YNAB. It connects to select banks directly, syncs across devices in real time, can be shared with up to 6 people and has a 34-day trial. Tracker has no bank connection and no working cross-device sync. [1]
  • Monarch. It connects to a large set of institutions, runs on web, iOS and Android, and adds partner collaboration at no extra cost and forecasting on its Plus tier. [2] [3]
  • Copilot Money. It is the lower-priced of the three on an annual basis, lists live investment estimates and budgets with rollover, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and web. [4]

Where Tracker is better

  • No subscription for the core tracker; the cost is a free account.
  • Per-platform annualized IRR and an annualized fee view across banks, brokerages, crypto exchanges and niche platforms, from statements you import.
  • 32 CSV presets with a column-mapping preview before anything is imported, including niche platforms such as Atlas Earth, GoMining, Fundrise and TreasuryDirect.
  • Tracker has no bank linking, so there are no bank logins to share. Optional read-only Coinbase and Kraken balances for Premium members use exchange API keys.

Where Tracker falls short

  • Cloud sync across devices is not working today. Data lives in one browser, and clearing site data loses it unless you exported a CSV.
  • The JSON account export does not include locally stored transactions; use the CSV export in Settings.
  • CSV import only; no bank connection, OFX, QFX or XLSX.
  • The Fees page shows its first-to-last month one month early; dollar totals are right.
  • Tracker cannot be used signed out.

Frequently asked

Is Obsidian Tracker a YNAB alternative?

Only for some people. Tracker covers tracking, fees, platform returns and a bills planner from imported CSVs. It has no bank connection and no working cross-device sync, so if you want automatic transactions on your phone, YNAB, Monarch or Copilot is the closer fit.

Does Tracker connect to my bank?

No. It imports CSV files and takes manual entries. Premium members can add read-only Coinbase and Kraken balances.

Is this financial advice?

No. This page compares software features and prices for education. It is not a recommendation to use or avoid any product, and we are not financial advisors.

More comparisons

Tracker

Sources

Competitor facts come only from the pages below, accessed 2026-10-10.

  1. YNAB pricing: https://www.ynab.com/pricing (accessed 2026-10-10)
  2. Monarch home page: https://www.monarch.com/ (accessed 2026-10-10)
  3. Monarch pricing: https://www.monarch.com/pricing (accessed 2026-10-10)
  4. Copilot Money home page: https://www.copilot.money/ (accessed 2026-10-10)