Keep Above
Keep Above vs Goodbudget
Goodbudget budgets by envelopes you fill from money you already have, with scheduled fills and transactions that post themselves, and an optional United States bank feed on its paid tier whose imports each need an envelope confirmed. Keep Above has no envelopes and no imports: it works out what would need to be set aside from the bills you entered, and projects that forward with your balance.
Written and maintained by Manandai Ltd, the company that makes Keep Above. This is our comparison, not an independent review, and no winner is named on this page. How we compare.
Every Goodbudget fact below is taken from Goodbudget's own published pages, linked beside it. Features and prices change. Check each provider before deciding.
Spotted something out of date? Email support@keepabove.com and we correct or remove it within five business days.
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Last verified 21 September 2026What each one is
Goodbudget
A long-standing envelope budgeting app, built on the idea of dividing the money you have into named envelopes and spending from them. Manual entry is the primary mode; a bank feed is an optional extra on the paid tier and covers United States banks only. Its feature page sets out Regular, Annual and Goal envelopes.
Keep Above
A forward-looking budgeting app with no bank connection and no spending record. You enter each bill and your income once and keep your balance current, and it works out the balance you would need to cover everything coming and projects that and your reserved funds ahead day by day, up to 30 years.
| Keep Above | Goodbudget | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank connection | None, by design | Optional, paid tier, United States banks only | help centre |
| Manual entry | The whole model | Yes, the primary mode | features |
| Money set aside for later bills | Reserved funds, worked out from the bills you entered | Envelopes you fill, including Annual and Goal envelopes | features |
| Who decides the amount | The app, from the bill and its date | You, when you set the envelope and its fill | features |
| Recurring bills | Entered once, projected forward | Scheduled transactions and Fills post themselves | features |
| Future balance projection | Daily, up to 30 years ahead | Not documented; Goodbudget's own article says it does not support future forecasting | features |
| Imported transactions | No import | An envelope is confirmed for each one | help centre |
| Spending history | None shown | Yes, by envelope | features |
| Where it is sold | Any country | New Zealand and Australian stores yes; bank feeds United States only | help centre |
| Price | Free with a budget you're paid into plus one more; Premium US$9.99/yr or US$2.49/mo in the US | Free; Premium US$10/mo or US$80/yr | plans |
Are envelopes the same thing as reserved funds?
An envelope is a decision you make about money you already have. You choose the envelope, you choose how much goes in, and you spend from it. The arithmetic is yours; the app keeps the tally.
A reserved fund is an answer the app works out. You enter the bill and its date, and Keep Above calculates how much would need to be set aside by now for that bill to be covered when it lands, then projects that alongside your balance.
Neither is a better version of the other. Envelopes give you control over the split and a record of what each pot has done. Reserved funds give you a figure without you having to choose one, at the cost of not being a pot you can move money between.
Does Goodbudget forecast your balance?
Goodbudget tells you what is in each envelope right now. It documents no forward projection of your balance, and its own comparison article says as much rather than leaving it to inference.
Keep Above tells you where your balance would stand on a given day up to 30 years out, and what would need to be set aside to get there. It cannot tell you what you spent last month, because it keeps no record of it.
Do both work without a bank connection?
Worth saying plainly, because it is the query that brings most people to a page like this. Both apps are fully usable with no bank connection, and Goodbudget's feed is a paid-tier extra covering United States banks only, so outside the United States it is a manual app by default.
The difference is not whether you type things in. It is what you type. Goodbudget wants each transaction, so it can keep the envelope balances true. Keep Above wants the bills once and then the balance now and then, because it keeps no transaction record to reconcile.
Can Goodbudget plan a trip, split bills or track a home loan?
Goodbudget's pages describe envelopes with a budget amount and a due date, for one-off costs such as a wedding and yearly ones such as holiday gifts, one household budget synced across the phones sharing it, and loans and mortgages kept as Debt Accounts. They state nothing about a shopping list.
Each kind in the table is a budget of its own in Keep Above, with its own screen in the app. The free plan holds a budget you're paid into plus one more of any kind; Premium holds more.
| Keep Above | Goodbudget | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A trip, with its places and the people going | The dates and places, each cost split between the people going, and a settle-up at the end | A blog guide describes funding a vacation from an Annual or Goal Envelope, or tracking it with tags | blog |
| One big dated day, such as a wedding or a move | An estimate for each cost, its deposit and payment dates, and the costs split between people | A Goal Envelope for things that happen once, like a wedding, with a budget amount and a due date | help |
| Bills split with the people you live with | Each person's share of each bill, which anyone on Keep Above can take into a budget of their own. No money moves | One household budget, synced across the phones of the people sharing it | what you get |
| Birthdays and other days you buy for | What each day would cost, with a share set aside from a budget you're paid into on each payday before it | An Annual Envelope for yearly costs like holiday gifts, with a budget amount and a due date | help |
| What you buy regularly | A cupboard showing how much of each thing is left, and a list for each shop of what would run out before the next | Its pages state nothing about this | help |
| What owning each thing costs a year | What each thing costs a year, from what you paid, its running costs and what it would sell for | A blog guide to a car's running costs, with Annual Envelopes to save for them | blog |
| A home loan | Each portion's balance and rate, when a fixed rate ends, what you pay, and the interest it would cost from here | A Debt Account can track what is owed on a mortgage | help |
| Loans and buy-now-pay-later plans | Side by side, with what is still to pay and what goes out in each pay cycle | A loan added as a Debt Account, with its balance, monthly payment and an optional interest rate | help |
What Goodbudget does that Keep Above does not
- Divides money into named envelopes you control, which is a genuinely different way to think about a budget.
- Keeps a record of what each envelope has taken in and paid out.
- Lets you move money between envelopes when plans change.
- Posts scheduled transactions and Fills automatically once set up.
- Offers a free tier with envelope budgeting included.
- Has an optional bank feed on the paid tier for users with United States accounts.
What Keep Above does that Goodbudget's pages do not document
- Works out the amount to set aside itself, from the bill and its date, rather than asking you to choose it.
- Projects the balance and the set-aside money forward day by day, up to 30 years.
- Shows the balance you would need today to cover everything still coming.
- Is sold in any country with the same behaviour, having no feed to support.
- Plans a trip with its dates, places and the people going, and one big dated day with a deposit and payment schedule for each cost, splitting the costs of either between people; Goodbudget's pages state nothing about these.
- Splits bills with the people you live with, each taking their share into a budget of their own, and keeps a list of the days you buy for with what each would cost; Goodbudget's pages state nothing about these.
- Shows how long each thing in a regular shop lasts, what each thing you own costs a year, and a home loan's portions, when a fixed rate ends and how much of the home is yours; Goodbudget's pages state nothing about these.
Where Goodbudget's own pages state nothing on a point, the tables above say so rather than calling the feature absent.
Our comparison, not a review. Every Goodbudget fact here is taken from Goodbudget's own published pages and linked beside it, those in the first table on 21 September 2026 and those about other kinds of budget on 28 September 2026. Projections described here are conditional on the figures a person enters and on nothing changing. This page takes no account of your circumstances. Nothing here is financial advice.
Keep Above
Enter each bill and your income once, and keep your balance current now and then. Keep Above works out the balance you would need to cover everything coming, and projects your balance and your sinking funds — which it calls reserved funds — forward. No bank connection.
Common questions
Does Goodbudget work without connecting a bank?
Yes. Manual entry is its primary mode, and its bank feed is an optional paid-tier feature covering United States banks only, so outside the United States it is a manual app by default.
Does Goodbudget forecast a future balance?
Its own pages document none, and its own comparison article states that it does not support future forecasting. It tells you what is in each envelope now rather than where your balance would stand later.
What is the difference between an envelope and a reserved fund?
An envelope is a pot you choose to fill from money you already have. A reserved fund is an amount Keep Above works out from a bill and its date, and projects forward. One is a decision you make, the other is an answer the app gives.
Can Goodbudget plan a trip or split bills with other people?
Its pages describe envelopes for a vacation or a wedding, and one household budget synced across the phones of the people sharing it. They state nothing about each person's share of a bill or who owes whom. In Keep Above a trip and bills split with the people you live with are each a budget of their own.
Which one suits me?
If you want to divide money into pots you control and keep a record of each pot, that is Goodbudget's model and not Keep Above's. If you want the set-aside figure worked out for you and projected years ahead, that is Keep Above's.