Keep Above
Keep Above vs Steady
Steady, from Steady Finance Limited in Christchurch, is a New Zealand web app in a limited soft launch that reads your transactions through a bank connection and produces a figure for what is safe to spend, with a 12-month cash-flow forecast on its paid tier. Keep Above is a manual app on iOS and Android that works the same kind of figure out from bills you entered once, with no bank connection, and projects 30 years.
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 Steady fact below is taken from Steady'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Spotted something out of date?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 Steady. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
Last verified 21 September 2026What each one is
Steady
A New Zealand personal finance web app. Its own site describes a limited soft launch while its open-banking accreditation is finalised, and its material states that native apps are in build and not yet released. Onboarding begins by connecting a bank; CSV import is a paid-tier feature. Pricing and tiers are on its own 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 | Steady | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank connection | None, by design | Onboarding begins by connecting a bank | site |
| Where it runs | iOS and Android, sold in any country | In a browser; its material says native apps are not yet released | site |
| Availability | Live on both stores | A limited soft launch, in its own words, pending accreditation | site |
| Forecast horizon | 30 years, free plan and Premium alike | 12 months on the paid tier; the free tier lists no forecast | pricing |
| What the free tier includes | One budget and the full 30-year projection | 90 days of history, per its own wording | pricing |
| Manual entry | The whole model | CSV import on the paid tier | pricing |
| Recurring bills | Entered once, projected forward | Detected from the transactions it reads | site |
| Money set aside for later bills | Reserved funds, projected with the balance | Goals | site |
| Price | Free with one budget; Premium from about US$6.99/mo | Free; Plus NZ$12.99/mo, introductory NZ$6.50 for 3 months; Family NZ$19.99 | pricing |
How does each one work out what is safe to spend?
Both apps are trying to answer the same question: what is actually safe to spend before the next pay, once everything still coming is accounted for. They get there from opposite directions.
Steady reads your transactions and works the answer out from what your account has actually been doing. That means the figure reflects real spending without you entering anything, and it means the app needs a connection to your bank to exist at all.
Keep Above never sees your account. It works the answer out from the bills and income you entered once, against a balance you keep current. That means it works with no connection anywhere in the world, and it means the answer is only as good as what you typed.
Has Steady launched yet?
Steady's own site describes a limited soft launch while its open-banking accreditation is finalised, and its material says native apps are in build rather than released. We state that because a comparison that implied both products were equally available would be misleading, not because it is a criticism. Everything ships eventually.
One practical note if you go looking: there are several unrelated apps called Steady on the New Zealand App Store, including another finance app. The product compared here is Steady Finance Limited's web app at steady.nz.
How far ahead does each one forecast?
Steady's paid tier documents a 12-month cash-flow forecast, and its free tier lists 90 days of history rather than a forecast. Keep Above projects 30 years, on the free plan and on Premium alike.
A year is enough for most day-to-day questions, and if that is all you need then the horizon is not a reason to choose either. It matters for the bills that arrive every second or third year, which is the case Keep Above's reserved funds are built around.
What Steady does that Keep Above does not
- Reads your transactions for you, so spending is captured without anything being entered.
- Detects recurring bills from what your account actually does, rather than waiting for you to enter them.
- Keeps a history of what you spent, 90 days on the free tier and longer on the paid one.
- Is built specifically around New Zealand bank connections and the local market.
- Offers a family tier.
What Keep Above does that Steady's pages do not document
- Runs on iOS and Android today, in any country, with no accreditation or connection required.
- Projects 30 years ahead rather than 12 months, which is what the every-few-years bills need.
- Works out the balance you would need today to cover everything still coming.
- Projects money set aside for later bills alongside the balance, day by day.
Where Steady's own pages state nothing on a point, the table above leaves the cell blank rather than calling it absent.
Our comparison, not a review. Every Steady fact here is taken from Steady's own published pages on 21 September 2026 and linked beside it. 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
Has Steady launched?
Its own site describes a limited soft launch while its open-banking accreditation is finalised, and its material states that native apps are in build and not yet released. It runs in a browser. Check its site for the current position, as this changes.
Does Steady need a bank connection?
Its onboarding begins by connecting a bank, and CSV import is a paid-tier feature. Its pages do not state that a connection is mandatory, so we describe what its onboarding does rather than asserting a requirement.
How far ahead does each one forecast?
Steady's paid tier documents a 12-month cash-flow forecast, and its free tier lists 90 days of history rather than a forecast. Keep Above projects 30 years, on the free plan and on Premium alike.
Is this comparison fair, given you make one of them?
We make Keep Above and say so above the table. Every Steady fact here comes from Steady's own site on the date shown and is linked, no app is scored or ranked, and what Steady does that Keep Above does not is listed in the same register as the reverse.