Read-only, by design
Banks connect through SimpleFIN Bridge, on its own site. FrugalVue reads balances and transactions. It can't move money and never sees a bank password, and you can revoke access in one click.
Give yourself more help. Help yourself give more.
Every account.One honest picture.
Your household's banks, cards and a year of history in one private, read-only view: where the money goes, a plan you agree on, and a short email every morning. It runs on your own site, and your data is never sold or shared.
- Read-only
- daily bank sync
- 12–14 mo
- of history from day one
- 0
- ads, trackers or data sales
Privacy first
Your money data stays yours
Most budgeting apps keep every household's data in one shared cloud. FrugalVue gives each household its own.
Your own private site
Each household gets its own site and its own database, not a shared pool. Only the people the owner adds can sign in, checked on the server for every request.
Never sold or shared
No ads, affiliate offers, trackers or analytics. Your data isn't sold, shared or used to market to you. AI stays off unless you add your own key, and you can export everything any time.
Every layer, in detail
Sign-in
- Google sign-in with a verified email
- Deny by default: only people the owner added
- Checked on the server for every page and request
Banks
- Read-only through SimpleFIN Bridge: it can't move money
- No bank passwords, ever
- Revoke access at SimpleFIN in one click
Secrets
- Bank, email and AI keys encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM)
- Backups lock secrets with your own passphrase
- Nothing secret is shown back on screen
Your data
- Account numbers kept as the last 4 digits only
- Imported files are read in memory, never stored
- Changes written to an audit log; export any time
AI (optional)
- Bring your own key, or leave it off entirely
- Only what a question needs is sent
- Category suggestions send payee names only
The app
- HTTPS only, strict security headers
- No third-party scripts, ads or analytics
- Not indexed by search engines
What it does
Everything a household needs, nothing it doesn't
Built for a household that wants to see clearly and decide together. New marks what arrived in the latest releases; see what's new.
Track
- Daily read-only bank sync, with how fresh each balance is
- 12–14 months of history on day one, from Rocket Money or any bank's download
- One ledger: a purchase seen by the bank, the card and a file counts once
- Recurring bills and subscriptions found for you, yearly ones too
- The money calendar: this month's bills and paychecks, paid or still to come, at a glance New
- Nicknames for bills, and cancelled ones kept out of savings ideas New
- Payee names: one store, one name, however the bank spells it New
- Transactions by this week, uncategorized and AI-suggested New
Plan
- A first budget built by a wizard from what you really spent
- Giving planned first, as a share of income
- Monthly cash flow with averages, and what your home really costs
- Leave one-time money, like a house sale, out of every figure New
- Homes, vehicles and loans, with what's still owed New
- Payoff planner: slide an extra payment, see the months and interest saved New
Together
- Everyone signs in with their own Google account
- A morning email: yesterday's spending, the month against budget, bills due
- Account Migration Wizard: switch banks without missing a bill
- Receipts and expense reports, tracked until you're paid back New
- Receipts from your email, matched and filed by Claude (with your email connected) New
- Ask questions with your own Gemini, Claude or OpenAI key (optional)
- Connect Claude to your FrugalVue, read-only or read & write (preview) New
- Help built in, and a full backup any time New
- Three looks, each person's own: Natural, Tech or Bright (try them at the top of this page)
Screens from a demo household. Every figure is made up.
How it compares
FrugalVue, Rocket Money, Monarch and YNAB
Privacy first, then features and price. Each of the others is a good app with strengths of its own, listed honestly below.
Swipe the table sideways to see all four →
| FrugalVue | Rocket Money | Monarch | YNAB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy | ||||
| Where your data lives | Your household's own site and database | The company's cloud | The company's cloud | The company's cloud |
| Selling and sharing | Never sold or shared; no ads or trackers | Says it takes no payment for your data; its privacy notice lists sharing with Rocket companies for marketing (you can limit it) and for joint marketing with other financial companies (you can't)RM | Says it never sells your financial data; what it shares with ad partners may count as "sale or sharing" under some state lawsMO | Says it doesn't sell or share your budget data; runs targeted ads to find new usersYN |
| How it's paid for | The household's own plan; no ads, offers or commissions | Free tier, Premium and Premium+ subscriptions, and sponsored offers | Subscriptions only | Subscriptions, plus books and merchandise |
| Bank connection | SimpleFIN Bridge, read-only; can't move money | Plaid (Akoya for Fidelity), read-only for tracking; Financial Goals moves money if you turn it on | Plaid, Finicity, MX or Spinwheel, read-only | Plaid or MX, read-only (Plaid in the UK and EU) |
| Run it on your own hosting | Yes, or we host it for you | Not found | Not found | Not found |
| Export your data | Full backup any time | CSV | CSV | CSV |
| Features | ||||
| Budgets | Built from your real spending, giving first | Up to 2 custom category budgets free; more with Premium | Flex or per-category | Zero-based, its signature method |
| Recurring bills found for you | Including yearly ones | Yes | Yes, with a bill calendar | Scheduled by hand |
| Household members | Everyone the owner adds | One partner, view-only, with Premium | Members at no extra cost | Up to 6 people at no extra cost |
| Import past history from files | Rocket Money export, CSV, OFX, QIF | Apple Card statements only | CSV (web) | CSV, OFX, QFX, QIF (web) |
| Switch banks without missing a bill | Account Migration Wizard | Not found | Not found | Not found |
| Receipts on transactions | Yes, and from your email with Claude | Not found | Yes | Photos on transactions |
| Expense reports and reimbursements | Yes, tracked until paid back | Not found | Business income and expense tracking (Plus); no reimbursements found | Not found |
| Loan payoff planning | Payoff planner tied to your bills | Not found | Payoff calculator and goals | Loan Planner |
| Investments and net worth | Balances and loans; no investment tracking | Net worth (Premium) | Detailed investment tracking | Net worth report; investments by hand |
| Credit score | Not offered | Yes | Yes | Not found |
| Cancels subscriptions and negotiates bills for you | Not offered | Yes: cancels subscriptions with Premium; from Nov 2, 2026, negotiates bills with Premium+ only, with no fee (before then, a share of the savings) | Not found | Not found |
| AI | Optional, with your own key | Rowan assistant (Premium+) | AI assistant; AI categories always on | AI categories and spending insights; no assistant found |
| Connect Claude to your data | Yes (preview) | Not found | Connector paused | Public API; no official connector (its privacy policy mentions YNAB apps in AI chatbots) |
| Apps | Web, made for phones too; no app-store app | Web, iOS and Android | Web, iOS and Android | Web, iOS, Android and Apple Watch |
| Price | ||||
| Cost | Invite-only early access; we'll talk costs when we reply. SimpleFIN Bridge has its own small yearly fee | Free tier; Premium is pay-what-you-think-is-fair, about $7–14 a month; Premium+ $15 a month | $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year; Plus $199 a year; no free tier | $14.99 a month or $109 a year |
| Free trial | The demo site, for as long as you like | 7 days | 7 days | 34 days |
Where FrugalVue is strong
- Your data on your own site, never sold or shared
- A year of history on day one, and switching banks without missing a bill
- Giving planned first, expense reports, receipts and loan payoff plans in one place
- Everyone in the house, at no cost per person
Where it falls short
- No app-store app: it runs in the browser, phones included
- No investment tracking or credit score
- Nobody cancels subscriptions or negotiates bills for you
- US banks that SimpleFIN Bridge supports; small team, early access
Another app may suit you better if…
- You want a free tier and someone to cancel and negotiate for you: Rocket Money
- You track investments closely and want polished mobile apps: Monarch
- You want to learn zero-based budgeting, with lots of free teaching, or you bank in the UK or EU: YNAB
Sources, as published by each company (checked October 15, 2026). FrugalVue isn't affiliated with Rocket Money, Monarch or YNAB; their names are their owners' trademarks.
- Rocket Money: security, privacy notice, terms, FAQ, pricing, bill negotiation, account sharing, export
- Monarch: pricing, Plus, privacy, data providers, members, import, MCP connector
- YNAB: pricing, security, privacy policy, state privacy notice, Direct Import, YNAB Together, Loan Planner
Watch
See it in action
A short tour with a demo household. Every name, bank and number in it is made up.
How it works
Bring your history, then let it run
Set up in an afternoon. After that, it runs by itself every morning, and you can keep your current app alongside it for as long as you like.
- 01
Seed your history
Import 12–14 months: a full Rocket Money export (categories and renamed merchants included), or each bank's CSV, OFX or QIF download. You see a preview before anything is saved.
- 02
Connect read-only
Link your banks once through SimpleFIN Bridge. It picks up the same accounts where the files end and syncs daily; overlaps are matched, never doubled.
- 03
Review and plan
Give your common payees a category (your AI can suggest them), say whose card is whose, and build a budget from real spending.
- 04
Stay on track
A short email each morning, a shared bill tracker and an honest monthly cash flow keep everyone pointed the same way.
Rocket Money export
Any bank or card CSV
OFX · QFX · QBO
QIF
Mint, Monarch & YNAB-style CSVs
Daily sync via SimpleFIN Bridge
How it fits together
Your banks in, one clear picture out
SimpleFIN Bridge brings in the accounts you choose, read-only. FrugalVue lines up every source, so you can track, manage and reconcile across all of them. AI helps where you want it, and only with your own key.
Invite-only early access
Join early access
Each household gets its own private FrugalVue: its own site, its own database, and only the people you invite. Tell us a little about your household, and we'll reply by email to talk through setup.
- Want to look around first? Ask for a login to the demo: a made-up household you can click through
- We'll help you seed 12–14 months of history
- Set up for you, or on your own hosting
- No obligation; we reply personally
Prefer email? Write to info@frugalvue.com.
Questions
Good to know
Can I try it first?
Yes. Choose "a login to the demo site" on the form and we'll add you to demo.frugalvue.com: a made-up household with a year of history, a bank switch in progress, loans to plan and expense reports. Click anything; it resets every night.
Can FrugalVue move money or pay bills?
No. It only reads balances and transactions, through a read-only connection. It can't move money, and it never sees your bank passwords: you connect your banks on SimpleFIN Bridge's own site.
Which banks work?
For the daily sync, any bank or card that SimpleFIN Bridge supports, which covers most US banks and credit unions; you can check yours on their site. For history, any bank that lets you download transactions as CSV, OFX/QFX/QBO or QIF, plus Rocket Money's export.
Why 12–14 months of history?
A bank connection usually starts with about the last 90 days. A full year shows the bills that come once or twice a year, seasonal spending, and a fair average to build your first budget from. The overlap between your files and the bank connection is matched, so nothing counts twice.
Where does my data live?
In your household's own FrugalVue: its own site and its own database, not a shared pool. Account numbers are kept as the last 4 digits, secrets are encrypted, and you can export a full backup at any time.
Do I need AI?
No. FrugalVue works fully without it. If you add your own Gemini, Claude or OpenAI key, you can ask questions about your money and get category suggestions; only what each question needs is sent to the provider you chose.
What does it cost?
FrugalVue is in invite-only early access, and we'll talk through costs when we reply. SimpleFIN Bridge, which provides the daily bank connection, is a separate service with its own small yearly subscription.
Is this financial advice?
No. FrugalVue organizes, categorizes and reports. It's a read-only visual aid; check important figures against your statements, and talk to a professional for advice.