What Mint and YNAB do well
- Automatic bank and card syncing, no manual imports
- YNAB's budgeting method is genuinely excellent
- Mobile apps that make logging easy
- Low friction to get started
Mint & YNAB Alternative: Firefly III Bookkeeping
Mint is winding down and YNAB charges a subscription for cloud software you never own. Firefly III is open source, self-hosted, and $29/mo flat, with your finances never leaving your server.
Flat pricing · No contract · 30-day refund
Side by side
Firefly III on Last Hour vs Mint and YNAB
The trade-off is convenience versus privacy. Automatic bank sync is easy, but it means handing your credentials and data to a service.
| Firefly III on Last Hour | Mint | YNAB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $29/mo flat | Free, ad-supported (winding down) | Subscription, per household |
| Automatic bank sync | ✕ CSV/OFX import by design | ✓ Automatic | ✓ Automatic |
| Where your data lives | Your server | Their cloud | Their cloud |
| Advertising / data use | ✕ None | Ad-supported model | No ads; subscription funded |
| Double-entry accounting | ✓ Proper double-entry | Tracking, not double-entry | Budgeting, not double-entry |
| Budgets | ✓ Envelope and category budgets | ✓ Budgets | ✓ Best-in-class budgeting method |
| Software license | Open source (Firefly III, AGPL) | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Can a vendor shut it down? | ✕ No, you host it | Yes, as announced | Not applicable while subscribed |
Straight talk
Where each one wins
Where Mint or YNAB may still be the better fit
- You want automatic bank sync with zero manual work
- You rely on YNAB's specific budgeting methodology
- You want a polished mobile app above all
- You don't want to import statements yourself
Our honest take: if automatic bank sync and a great mobile app are essential, YNAB is worth its subscription. If you'd rather not hand your bank credentials to a third party and you want your financial history to be yours forever, Firefly III is the honest alternative.
Frequently asked questions
Does Firefly III connect to my bank automatically?
Firefly III is designed for privacy and does not connect to your bank by default. You import transactions via CSV or OFX files. This keeps your banking credentials off the internet, but it means a manual import step rather than Mint-style automatic syncing.
Is Firefly III good for business bookkeeping?
Firefly III is built for personal finance and is excellent for tracking spending, budgets, and net worth. For full business accounting with invoicing and tax reporting, ERPNext is a better fit.
Will Mint shut down?
Mint announced it is winding down and directing users to Credit Karma. Many people are looking for a replacement because of that. Firefly III is self-hosted, so it cannot be shut down by a vendor.