Love Your Budget Software
Schedule whats fixed. Track the rest. Wonderfully simple.
Manage your household money by combining the clarity of a calendar with the power of a spreadsheet—the smarter alternative to zero-based budgeting.
And get this, we only have 4 categories 🤯.
You tried the other apps.
YNAB, Monarch, Copilot, EveryDollar… they all look like this:
Unfortunately, they missed the point.
You don't care what you spent on fitness. You just need to know if you are spending less than you make.
Goodbye Zero-Based Budgets
Why Category Budgeting Fails
Category Confusion
Should TV subscriptions be separate or grouped as "Entertainment"?
Creating categories is a subjective, potentially endless pursuit. Your organized feeling vanishes as you wonder if you have too many, or if you are missing something critical. Besides, life is too short to be "splitting" transactions when you buy food and clothes from the same store.
Maintenance Nightmare
"Groceries" is over. Should I move money from "Home Repair"?
Constantly moving money around to cover "overspending" distracts from seeing what you truly have. Not to mention all the time it takes to maintain. Allocate, categorize, move money, fix outdated rules, repeat. Your budget app is now your second job.
Impossible Task
How much should I set aside for "Cleaning Supplies"?
Humans are terrible at predicting the future. Guessing how every dollar will be spent in each of 40+ categories is unsustainable and guaranteed to fail. Prices change. Priorities change. The best budget app is the one you can stick to.
Introducing...
Calendar-Based Budgeting
1) Schedule what's fixed on your calendar.
2) Track what's left with a single progress bar.
How it works
Calendar
Schedule your commitments
Rent, insurance, subscriptions, automatic savings - these are known, predictable, required expenses that get scheduled on your calendar. Know exactly how much money is committed to these fixed expenses and see whats left.
Plan
Calculate what's left
After your fixed income & expenses are accounted for, Tend will calculate whats left for discretionary purchases. This is the money you can control with your day-to-day choices. Average this out and get a simple target for your monthly and weekly spending.
Spend
Only 4 categories. Not 40.
Connect your accounts to track your spending using only 4 categories based on your level of control over the purchase, not the "type of thing" it was. Radically simple categories like this makes reviewing transactions fast, fun, and sustainable. Never split a transaction again.
Simplify
Track one number
Your weekly discretionary target is the only number you track. One progress bar. Updated in real-time as you spend.
What people are saying.
"Finally, a budget that doesn't feel like a second job"
"I've religiously tracked my family's spend for close to 10 years with YNAB. But now with children and a strong financial situation, it's certainly feeling more like a second job. I really resonate with your thinking about over-the-top tracking."
"The discretionary funds breakdown changed everything"
"I started using Tend because I'm looking at buying a house and needed to wrap my head around finances. The most helpful part was the discretionary funds breakdown—knowing my current flexible funds helped me plan for future fixed funds."
"I was bogged down in all the categories"
"I used YNAB, but got so bogged down in all the categories. I really like the simplicity of Tend. No one really needs so many categories."
"It's what I've been searching for for ages"
"I was about to resign myself to building my own solution but very happy to see someone else has shipped something better. I think it's what I've been searching for!"
"The setup was super easy"
"I've been looking for something simple enough to keep on top of our budget. The setup was super easy and the categorization wizard worked really well. It's really clean and working great on mobile."
"The categorization flow is fantastic"
"Keeping up on categorizing has been the #1 blocker to maintaining a regular spending plan. The 'gamification' of categorizing and the flow is really fantastic. Building your spending plan by pushing you into transaction history really lowered barriers to starting from scratch."
"I struggle to keep track with other apps"
"YNAB has a nice interface, but I struggle to keep track of fixed expenses and what I have left to spend. Simplifi does better at scheduling fixed expenses, but the interface is sluggish. I like Tend because of the scheduled income and expenses and how it calculates discretionary spending."
"I love the way I can toggle between weekly and monthly"
"It's so easy to categorize everything and I really love the way I can toggle between weekly and monthly budgeting. I'm hoping that using Tend will help us budget better and build up our savings."
Everything you need. Nothing you don't.
All your accounts in one place
See balances across all your bank accounts. Track your net cash balance to make sure you always have enough on hand.
Intelligent Transaction Review
Categorize transactions in bulk using only 4 categories. Tend groups related transactions together so you can review quickly and get back to your life.
Smart Reimbursement Linking
Link reimbursements to their original purchases to adjust the amount and not skew your spending reports. Always remember to get paid back.
Transaction Albums
Organize transactions into albums to see the total cost of a vacation or home project.
Fixed Expense Reconciliation
Easily match your planned fixed expenses with actual transactions, keeping your calendar accurate.
Pricing as simple as the software
$7.99
per month
- No credit card required.
- No pressure to commit for a year.
- No hoops to jump through to cancel.
