Kemback vs EveryDollar

The verdict

Choose EveryDollar if you follow the Ramsey approach, want an app that speaks its language, and are happy either to type in every transaction on the free tier or to pay $79.99 a year for Premium’s bank connections and coaching.

Choose Kemback if you want a free plan that goes further than a monthly budget: bank file import, a register you can reconcile, bills, reports, and export of everything. The trade-off is that neither free plan connects to your bank. EveryDollar’s free tier is manual entry, and Kemback asks you to import a file from your bank until its Plus plan brings automatic sync. Plus isn’t on sale yet.

Who EveryDollar is for

EveryDollar is Ramsey Solutions’ budgeting app, and the method comes first. You plan each month until income minus expenses equals zero, and the debt snowball is part of the approach. If that method is what keeps you on track, an app built around it is worth a lot: the screens and the plan point the same way.

The free tier has no end date. You get a monthly budget, unlimited categories and manual entry, which some people prefer because typing in each purchase keeps spending front of mind. Premium, at $17.99 a month or $79.99 a year after a 14-day trial, adds bank connections through Mastercard Connect and Plaid (US only) and includes coaching. A household feature lets a couple share the budget with separate emails. EveryDollar runs on the web on a computer and in iPhone and Android apps from the US stores; it doesn’t support mobile browsers.

Who Kemback is for

Kemback is for people who want a whole money app without a subscription. Under the budget sits a full register: split transactions, transfers between accounts, cleared and reconciled status, and statement reconciliation that locks reconciled transactions. Rules rename payees and set categories, and new transactions wait in a review inbox for a quick look. Bills and recurring transactions appear on a calendar, Kemback warns you when a bill or subscription goes up, and safe to spend and a 90-day projected balance show what’s really available.

It also suits households where each person wants their own sign-in. Accounts can be shared or private, and roles (owner, editor, viewer, advisor) decide who can change what. The Free plan covers a household of two.

Manual entry or bank files

EveryDollar doesn’t import files at all: no CSV, QIF, QFX or OFX. On the free tier, every transaction is one you type.

Kemback takes a middle path. You download an OFX, QFX, QIF or CSV file from your bank’s website and import it. Kemback skips anything it has already seen, so an overlapping date range doesn’t create duplicates. Your rules tidy payees and categories, and the review inbox lets you confirm what came in. For many households that’s a few minutes once a week.

If you want transactions to arrive on their own today, EveryDollar Premium does that and Kemback doesn’t yet. Kemback’s Plus plan, planned at $79 a year or $7.99 a month, will add automatic bank sync through Plaid. It isn’t on sale yet; you can join the waitlist on the pricing page, and the first 500 people on it get $59 a year for as long as they stay subscribed.

Zero-based, with a second option

Both apps can run a zero-based budget. In Kemback’s envelope mode every dollar of income is assigned to an envelope before you spend it, the same discipline as EveryDollar’s income minus expenses equals zero. Kemback also has a category mode, where you set a monthly amount per category and compare spending against it, and you can switch between the two without losing anything. That helps when one person in a household loves a zero-based plan and the other finds it tiring. The budget modes page shows both.

Where EveryDollar is stronger is debt. The debt snowball is part of its method, and Premium includes coaching. Kemback has no debt payoff planner; you’d budget your extra payments yourself and watch the balances fall in your net worth report.

Getting your data out

EveryDollar’s export is a Premium feature: CSV, one month at a time. Kemback exports everything, as JSON or CSV, on the Free plan, whenever you like. Whichever you choose, it’s worth exporting once early on, so you know what leaving would look like.

Moving from EveryDollar to Kemback

1. If you have Premium, export your transactions from EveryDollar as CSV. The export covers one month at a time, so repeat it for each month you want to keep. On the free tier there’s no export, so download history from your bank’s website instead.
2. Create a free Kemback account, add your accounts, and import each file. For a CSV, the column mapper lets you tell Kemback which column holds the date, the payee and the amount.
3. Kemback skips duplicates when you import again, so overlapping months are safe.
4. Add rules for your regular payees, then set up your budget in envelope or category mode.

Bottom line

EveryDollar is a focused companion to the Ramsey method, with a free manual tier and bank connections and coaching on Premium. Kemback is a free plan with bank file import, a full register, separate sign-ins for each person and export of everything, plus a choice of budget styles. Neither connects to your bank for free. Run Kemback alongside your current budget for a month and keep the one you actually open.

Questions

Is Kemback free like EveryDollar's free version?

Yes, and neither has a time limit. EveryDollar's free tier is a monthly budget with manual entry. Kemback's Free plan also imports files from your bank and includes a register, bills, reports, rules and export of everything. Neither connects to your bank automatically for free.

Can I do a zero-based budget in Kemback?

Yes. Kemback's envelope mode asks you to assign every dollar of income before you spend it, which is a zero-based budget. If that ever feels like too much, you can switch to category mode without losing anything.

Does Kemback have a debt snowball tool?

No. Kemback has no debt payoff planner. You can still budget extra payments to a debt like any other expense, but if a guided debt snowball is the heart of your plan, EveryDollar is built around it.

Can I move my EveryDollar history to Kemback?

If you have EveryDollar Premium, export your transactions as CSV, one month at a time, and import each file into Kemback with its column mapper. On EveryDollar's free tier there's no export, so download files from your bank instead.

Can my spouse and I share a budget?

Both apps allow it. EveryDollar has a household feature for a couple with separate emails. In Kemback each person signs in separately, accounts can be shared or private, and the Free plan covers a household of two.