Keep Above
Keep Above vs NEKO
NEKO puts bills, income and spending on a calendar with a projected daily balance that runs, in its own words, as far ahead as your bills and income go, taking entries by hand or imported from a statement, and naming no sinking-fund feature. Keep Above projects reserved funds alongside the balance and keeps no spending record at all.
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 NEKO fact below is taken from NEKO'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Spotted something out of date?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.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by NEKO. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
Last verified 21 September 2026What each one is
NEKO
A manual money manager built around a calendar, from Tuxedo Lab. There is no bank connection; transactions are entered by hand or imported from a statement. Its forecasting calendar is included on the free tier. Its site.
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 | NEKO | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank connection | None, by design | None; statement import instead | site |
| Manual entry | The whole model | Yes, by hand or from a statement | site |
| Forecast horizon | 30 years, free plan and Premium alike | "Projected daily balance as far ahead as your bills and income go" | site |
| Forecast on the free tier | Yes, the full 30 years | Yes, the forecasting calendar is included | site |
| Recurring bills | Entered once, projected forward | Recurring bills and income on a calendar | site |
| Money set aside for later bills | Reserved funds, worked out and projected with the balance | Not documented | site |
| Spending history | None shown | Yes | site |
| What you keep entering | Your balance, now and then | Each transaction, or an import from a statement | site |
| 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, with in-app purchases | App Store |
How close are Keep Above and NEKO?
Most pages here compare Keep Above with something structurally different. This one does not. NEKO is also manual, also has no bank connection, also puts bills and income on a calendar, and also projects a balance forward on its free tier. If you are looking for that shape of app, it is a real alternative.
Two things actually differ, and they are worth more than a feature list.
How far ahead does each one forecast?
NEKO describes its projection as running as far ahead as your bills and income go. For a plan with long-running recurring items, that can reach a long way.
Keep Above states a fixed 30 years regardless of what you entered. Neither is straightforwardly longer: a NEKO plan with items running indefinitely could exceed it, and one with items ending next year would not reach as far. The difference is that one horizon is a property of your data and the other is a property of the app.
Does either one keep a spending history?
NEKO keeps a spending record, which is the thing it wants your transactions for. That gives you a history to look back on, and it is why entering or importing them matters there.
Keep Above keeps none. Nothing you spend is recorded anywhere, and the only trace day-to-day spending leaves is in the balance you next type in. That is a real loss if you want to look back, and it is the reason the app asks for so little.
How does each one handle money set aside for later bills?
This is the substantive gap. NEKO's pages name no sinking-fund feature, so money for the bills that arrive every few years is not something the app sets aside for you.
Keep Above's reserved funds are worked out from each bill and its date and projected alongside the balance, which is the whole reason its safe line sits where it does. If that problem is what brought you here, it is the difference that matters.
Can NEKO plan a trip, split bills or track a home loan?
NEKO's pages describe a mortgage entered as a loan, with how much of each payment goes to principal and how much to interest. They state nothing about planning a trip or splitting bills between people.
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 | NEKO | 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 | Its pages state nothing about this | site |
| 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 | Its pages state nothing about this | site |
| 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 | Its pages state nothing about this | site |
| 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 | Its pages state nothing about this | site |
| 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 | site |
| 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 | Its pages state nothing about this | site |
| 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 mortgage entered as a loan, with how much of each payment goes to principal and how much to interest | site |
| Loans and buy-now-pay-later plans | Side by side, with what is still to pay and what goes out in each pay cycle | Mortgage, auto, student and personal loans; buy-now-pay-later plans land in the right statement | site |
What NEKO does that Keep Above does not
- Keeps a record of what you spent, which Keep Above does not.
- Imports transactions from a statement, saving the typing while still needing no bank connection.
- Includes its forecasting calendar on the free tier.
- Projects as far as your own recurring items run, which can exceed a fixed horizon.
What Keep Above does that NEKO's pages do not document
- Works out and projects money set aside for bills that arrive later, which NEKO's pages do not name.
- States a fixed 30-year horizon that does not depend on how long your entered items run.
- Works out the balance you would need today to cover every bill still coming.
- Asks only for a balance update, keeping no transaction record to maintain.
- 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; NEKO's pages state nothing about these.
- Keeps a budget of its own for bills split with the people you live with, the days you buy for, a regular shop and the things you own; NEKO's pages state nothing about these.
- Shows a home loan's portions, when its fixed rate ends and how much of the home is yours; NEKO's pages state nothing about these.
Where NEKO'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 NEKO fact here is taken from NEKO'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 NEKO need a bank connection?
No. It has none. Transactions are entered by hand or imported from a statement, and its forecasting calendar is included on the free tier.
How far ahead does NEKO project?
Its own wording is a projected daily balance "as far ahead as your bills and income go", so the horizon depends on your own recurring items. Keep Above states a fixed 30 years regardless of what you entered.
Does NEKO handle sinking funds?
Its pages name no sinking-fund feature. Keep Above works out what would need to be set aside for each later bill and projects it alongside your balance, which is the main functional difference between the two.
Which keeps a record of my spending?
NEKO does. Keep Above does not: it keeps no spending history at all, and day-to-day spending shows up only in the balance you next update.
Can NEKO plan a trip or split bills with other people?
Its pages state nothing about either. They describe loans, a mortgage among them, with how much of each payment goes to principal and how much to interest. In Keep Above a trip and bills split with the people you live with are each a budget of their own.