Goodbudget alternative: Cashvelope vs Goodbudget, compared honestly

Goodbudget is one of the best known envelope budgeting apps. Cashvelope is often suggested next to it because of the name, but the two work differently. This page compares them honestly, including the things Goodbudget does that Cashvelope does not.

Prices and limits for Goodbudget were checked on its pricing page on October 6, 2026.

Cashvelope vs Goodbudget at a glance

What's different in day-to-day use

Goodbudget starts from your income. Cashvelope starts from your spending. In Goodbudget you decide where each paycheck goes before you spend it. In Cashvelope you pick the categories that tend to run over, set a limit for each, and the app tells you what's left. Nothing gets distributed, so there is less to set up and less to maintain. It also means Cashvelope will not make you plan every dollar. If that planning step is what keeps you on track, Goodbudget is the better fit.

Budgets reset on their own. A Cashvelope budget repeats every day, week, month, year or custom period. You create it once. Leftover money does not carry into the next period, and you can't move money from one budget to another. See how budgets work.

You see a daily amount, not just a balance. Each budget shows what's left to spend, whether you're ahead of an even pace, and how much a day keeps you on track until it resets. If you like the envelope idea mostly for that "how much is left" feeling, read digital cash envelopes.

No bank connection at all. Goodbudget offers automatic bank sync on Premium for US banks. Cashvelope doesn't connect to banks on any plan. You type each purchase in, and recurring bills can record themselves. More in budgeting without linking your bank.

More than budgets. Cashvelope also has a subscriptions page that adds up what your renewals cost per month and per year, and an accounts page that shows your net worth across cash, savings, investments, property and debts. Values are updated by hand.

Who should choose what

Goodbudget suits you if you want true envelope budgeting, where income is divided into envelopes before you spend, you budget together with a partner, or you want to use it in a web browser.

Cashvelope suits you if filling envelopes felt like too much upkeep, you only want limits on a few categories, you want more than one account without paying, or you also want subscriptions and net worth in the same app. Cashvelope has no ads.

Neither is right if you want every transaction pulled in automatically outside the US. Both are built around logging by hand.

Moving from Goodbudget to Cashvelope

1. On the Goodbudget website, open your transactions and click Export CSV.
2. In Cashvelope, open Settings → Spreadsheet data → Import from spreadsheet and pick the file.
3. Tap Adjust column mapping and set Goodbudget's Envelope column as the category. Check that date, amount and account are matched too. Look at the sample row: spending should come in as an expense. If it doesn't, flip the sign of the amount column in a spreadsheet first.
4. Under Duplicates, choose Skip similar rows if you already entered some of these transactions.
5. Create a budget for each envelope you actually watched. Your envelope balances don't transfer, because Cashvelope budgets are limits, not pots of money.

FAQ

Is Cashvelope an envelope budgeting app like Goodbudget? Only partly. Each Cashvelope budget works like an envelope with a limit: you see what's left and how fast you're spending it. You don't fill envelopes from income, leftovers don't carry over, and you can't move money between them.

Does Cashvelope sync with my bank? No. There is no bank connection on any plan. You log transactions yourself or import a CSV.

Can I share a budget with my partner in Cashvelope? No. You can sync your own data between your devices with an optional account, but there are no shared budgets. Goodbudget is the better choice for that.

Is Cashvelope free? It's free to download with no ads. A few features marked with a crown, such as more than five budgets or the budget timeline, will become part of Pro later. They're open to everyone during early access.

Also comparing other apps? See Cashvelope vs YNAB and Cashvelope vs Mint.