Zero-based budgeting

The easiest, no-fuss zero-based budgeting app.

All the power of zero-based budgeting, without the steep learning curve. Predict your cash flow, split shared expenses effortlessly, and pay off debt without fighting your software.

Start 35-Day Free Trial Try the Demo Budget See How it Works

Budgeting by hand is free, with no card. The Autopilot trial takes a card, and you're not charged if you cancel before it ends.

Try it

A pretend budget

CategoryAvailable
  • Groceries$420.00
  • Eating out$150.00
  • Gas$120.00
AccountsBalance
  • Checking$3,240.00
  • Visa Set aside to pay it $0.00 $0.00

Put groceries on a credit card and the Groceries category goes down, the same as cash. The money to pay the card is set aside for you.

Zero-based budgeting is incredibly useful—until the app makes it a chore.

Most zero-based apps either refuse to let you forecast, or they make paying a credit card bill feel like quantum physics. We built a no-fuss engine that gives you the financial safety you need, with the simple usability you actually want.

  • Credit cards shouldn't be confusing.

    No more mystery yellow categories or moving money back and forth just to pay off dinner.

  • Stop guessing what happens next week.

    Zero-based budgeting is great for today, but you need to see your future cash flow before your next paycheck hits.

  • High interest shouldn't mean overdraft risk.

    Earn yield in your savings account without accidentally draining your checking account on groceries.

How it works

01

The "No-Fuss" Credit Card Helper

Your past debt and your current spending are two different things. We split them up. See exactly what's due, what's reserved from your daily spending, and what extra you are putting toward your balance—with zero mental gymnastics.

More on credit cards

Payment helper

Visa, owes $1,450.00
Statement balance
1,210.00
Minimum due
35.00
Available to pay$720.00
New spending, set aside$320.00

Card purchases since your last payment. Already taken out of your categories.

Debt payoff$400.00

What you've assigned toward past debt.

This payment$720.00
Covers new spending$320.00
From Debt payoff$400.00

Fully covered. Your budget stays balanced.

02

Future Forecasting & Sandbox Mode

Test major life changes without blowing up your budget. Want to know if you can afford a new car payment or a $5,000 vacation? Duplicate your budget in one click, model the scenario, and see how it impacts your debt payoff timeline.

More on forecasting

Try it

A pretend budget, the real forecast

What if

What if

Cash Visa debt
Lowest cash
—
Visa paid off
—

03

"Yours, Mine, and Ours" Multiplayer

For modern couples and roommates. Keep your individual spending categories private, while seamlessly co-managing rent, utilities, and joint savings together. No more sharing a single login or fighting over who paid for what.

Send your partner a link, pick how you split the bills (evenly, by income, or your own numbers), and Tare works out each person's share every month.

More for couples and roommates

Try it

OursAvailable
  • Rent$1,800.00
  • Utilities$240.00
  • Groceries$650.00
  • House fund$4,500.00
Alex's
  • Climbing$80.00
  • A gift for Sam$150.00
Sam'sPrivate

2 private categories

Joint checking$1,240.00
Alex put in$620.00
Sam put in$620.00

You're signed in as Alex. Switch to Sam: the shared categories stay, and each person's own categories are theirs alone.

04

Cash Location Guardrails

Stop overdrafting just because your money is in the wrong place. You can assign money to your envelopes even if the cash is sitting in a High-Yield Savings Account. Our engine watches your near-term bills and tells you exactly when (and how much) to transfer to checking.

More on high-yield savings
Checking$2,640.00
High-yield savings$8,000.00

Checking is $470.00 short. Categories paid from checking hold $3,110.00, and checking has $2,640.00.

Also on the free plan

Get a month ahead. Catch the charges that creep up.

Hold money for next month

Live on last month's income without a fake "Next month" category to fill up and empty out. Hold money back from Ready to assign and it arrives on the 1st. Or turn on holding new income, and every paycheck waits for next month on its own.

  • Held money isn't counted as assigned, so this month stays honest
  • Lower the amount any time before the 1st to let some back out now
  • Good for irregular pay: each month starts already funded
September A pretend budget
Ready to assign$3,150.00

Friday's paycheck. September's bills are already covered.

Held for October$0.00

Subscription watch

Tare finds the charges that come back on a schedule, weekly to yearly, and adds up what they cost you in a year. When a price goes up, you hear about it, along with what the rise costs over a year.

  • Found in your spending: nothing to set up, and it works on hand-entered transactions too
  • Bills that vary, like power, are spotted without flagging every change
  • Cancelled ones move to their own list, so you can see the charges really stopped
Subscriptions A year, all together $959.64

Streamflix went from $15.49 to $17.99 on Sep 3. That's $30.00 more a year.

Charging you nowPriceA year
  • StreamflixMonthly · next Oct 3 $17.99$215.88
  • Gym membershipMonthly · next Oct 1 $45.00$540.00
  • Music appMonthly · next Oct 9 $10.99$131.88
  • Password managerYearly · next Mar 2 $36.00$36.00
  • Cloud storageMonthly · next Oct 14 $2.99$35.88

Bank sync

Stop waiting days for your accounts to update.

Most budgeting apps only see a charge once it posts, which can take two or three days. Until then your envelopes say you still have money you've already spent. Tare brings in pending charges as soon as your bank reports them, so dinner comes out of Dining out tonight, not on Thursday.

  • Categorize a charge while you still remember what it was
  • When it posts, the same transaction updates: no duplicate, and your category stays put
  • If the amount changes, like a tip or a settled gas hold, it comes back for a quick look
  • Holds that never post disappear by themselves
Dining out Balance $41.50
TodaySpent
  • Corner TaqueriaVisa · pending, 8:14 pm −$38.20
  • Bean & BarrelVisa · pending, 9:02 am −$6.75
Earlier this week
  • Pho HouseVisa · posted Sep 28 with a $4.00 tip, back for review −$27.00
  • Pizza nightChecking · posted Sep 27 −$31.55

The assistant

Ask your budget anything. Nothing moves until you say so.

Ask in plain words: why is Ready to assign negative, where did the money go last month, how much should I pay on the card. The assistant looks up your real numbers, and it knows the month and the category you're looking at. When it suggests a change, you see every dollar it would move, and nothing happens until you press Apply.

  • Answers questions about your money

    What's overspent, what's still needed for your targets, where last month went, how Tare handles cards.

  • Lines up the busywork

    Assigning, moving money, funding targets, categorizing new imports, adding transactions and transfers, setting targets, and creating categories.

  • Shows its work

    Every change arrives as a card you can Apply or ignore. A card payment comes with the Payment helper's breakdown, so you see where the money comes from.

Part of Autopilot, and included in the 35-day free trial.

Try it

A pretend budget, scripted answers

  • Ready to assign$250.00
  • GroceriesTarget $400.00 a month$310.00
  • Eating out−$42.00
  • Fun money$180.00
  • Visa debt payoff$0.00

Pick a question below.

Card rewards

The right card for every envelope.

Pick your cards from a list of popular ones, or type in what they earn, and Tare works out which card to use for groceries, gas, dining and the rest. It also shows what the last 90 days would have earned with every purchase on its best card. Made for people who pay their cards off every month.

  • Open any envelope to see which card to pay with
  • Spending caps counted, like 6% on groceries up to $6,000 a year
  • Points valued at what you say they're worth, so 3x and 2% compare fairly
  • A card that charged interest is never suggested: interest costs more than any reward

Part of Autopilot, and included in the 35-day free trial.

Card rewards A pretend wallet
Earned, last 90 days $66.02 Left on the table, a year $355.27
EnvelopePay withEarns
  • Groceries$1,885.04 in 90 days Mastercard ··55182%
  • Eating out$403.72 in 90 days Mastercard ··55182%
  • Gas$411.58 in 90 days Mastercard ··55182%
  • Everything else$600.00 in 90 days Mastercard ··55182%

Visa: 6% groceries, 3% gas. Amex: 4 points per dollar on dining. Mastercard: 2% on everything. Right now it all goes on the Mastercard.

Pricing

A subscription that actually gets cheaper the longer you stay.

No hostage data. No immediate paywalls. Try it free for 35 days. When you are ready, it's $12/month. Stay for 6 months, it drops to $10. Stay a year, it locks in at $8/month forever.

Start 35-Day Free Trial

Manual

$0 for as long as you like

The whole budget, with transactions entered by hand. No card needed. If you cancel Autopilot, this is where you land. Nothing is deleted and nothing is locked.

  • Categories, targets, and moving money
  • Credit card handling and the Payment helper
  • Checking warnings and smart transfers
  • Holding money for next month
  • Subscription watch
  • All your history, always

Autopilot

$12 a month, falling to $8

Everything in Manual, and Tare does the typing.

  • Bank sync, with pending charges, statement balance and minimum due
  • Transfer matching and duplicate merging
  • The assistant
  • Card rewards: the best card for each envelope

Loyalty pricing

  • Months 1–6 $12/mo
  • Months 7–12 $10/mo
  • Year 2 onward $8/mo

Stay subscribed and the price steps down on its own. If you cancel, it starts again at $12.

Questions

Before you move over

What happens to my credit card payment category?

You won't need one. Card purchases come out of the category you spent from, and Tare keeps track of what's set aside for each card. If you carry an older balance, it goes in that card's Debt payoff category, where you assign to it like any other goal.

Can I live on last month's income?

Yes. Hold what's left in Ready to assign and it arrives on the 1st of next month, or turn on holding new income so every paycheck waits for next month by itself. There's no holding category to manage, and held money never shows up as assigned.

What happens when the trial ends?

The trial takes a card when you start it, and nothing is charged for 35 days. When it ends, your card is charged $12 and Autopilot carries on. Cancel before then and you're never charged: your budget moves to Manual, bank sync and the assistant switch off, and everything else keeps working, including all of your history.

Why does the price go down?

Because people who stick with a budget are the ones it works for, and they shouldn't pay more every year for the privilege. The price steps down at six months and again at a year. A break in your subscription starts the ladder over.

How do bank connections work?

Through Plaid. You sign in to your bank in Plaid's window, and Tare never sees your bank password. The access Plaid returns is encrypted before it's stored. Imports start from the day you connect, and new transactions wait in Review until you've looked at them.

Start with the money you have today.

Budget by hand for free, no card needed. Or try Autopilot free for 35 days: $12/month after that, dropping to $8 the longer you stay.

Try the Demo Budget Start 35-Day Free Trial