A free budgeting app built for Canada
When Mint shut down in March 2024, Canadians lost more than Americans did: Credit Karma in Canada has no budgets, and most of the well-known replacements are American apps billed in US dollars, built around US banks.
AI Budgie is made in Canada and free to use. Here’s an honest comparison with the apps Canadians usually look at, including where they beat us.
AI Budgie compared with YNAB and Monarch Money, for Canadians
| AI Budgie | YNAB | Monarch Money | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. Premium (C$6.99/month) is coming soon | US$109/year or US$14.99/month | US$99.99/year or US$14.99/month |
| Billed in | Nothing to pay; Premium in CAD | USD | USD |
| Monthly budget by category | Yes | YesZero-based | Yes |
| Bank sync with Canadian banks | NoYou add purchases yourself | PartlySelect Canadian banks | PartlyThrough Plaid and MX; TD, RBC and BMO often unreliable |
| How a purchase gets in | Type one sentence: “Tim Hortons 4.50 this morning” | From your bank, or typed in | From your bank |
| Import a CSV from your bank | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Prices as published in September 2026. Credit Karma is left out: in Canada it has no budgets.
Where the others are better
- Bank sync. YNAB and Monarch can pull transactions from many banks, including some Canadian ones. AI Budgie doesn’t connect to banks.
- The bigger picture. Monarch tracks investments and net worth; YNAB has a deep budgeting method and lets up to six people share a subscription.
- French. AI Budgie is in English and Simplified Chinese only, for now.
Why Canadians have a harder time finding one
The money is in US dollars. The popular apps charge in USD, so the price moves with the exchange rate and your card may add a foreign-currency fee on top.
Canadian banks and sync don’t get along. Connections to the big banks break more often than US ones, so a sync-based app can end up half-synced, which is harder to trust than no sync at all.
What AI Budgie does instead
No bank connection to break. Adding a purchase is one sentence to the assistant: “Tim Hortons 4.50 this morning” goes under dining out, counted against this month’s budget. Your bank CSV works too.
Everything available today is free: a monthly budget by category, recurring bills, reports, savings goals and 10 AI messages a day. Amounts are in Canadian dollars, and when Premium launches it will be priced in CAD.
Bring your history in 5 minutes
Start with the past, not a blank page. AI Budgie reads the files Canadians usually have.
Step 1: Get your file
- From Mint: your transactions.csv, if you downloaded it before March 23, 2024.
- From YNAB: Export Plan, then use Register.csv from the zip.
- From your bank: most Canadian banks let you download transactions as a CSV in online banking.
Step 2: Upload it to AI Budgie
Create a free account, open Transactions and choose Import CSV. Drop the file in.
Step 3: Check the columns, then import
Dates, amounts, and money in and out are matched for you; categories with the same name as yours are filed straight away. Glance at the preview, then import. Duplicates are skipped if you import the same file twice.
Budget in dollars that are actually yours
Free to start, no card. Set a monthly budget in CAD and add purchases in a sentence.
Start my free budgetNo bank sync, on purpose. Your data isn’t sold or used for ads.
Questions Canadians ask
Is there a free budgeting app in Canada?
Yes. AI Budgie is free and made in Canada: a monthly budget by category, transactions, reports, savings goals and an AI assistant, with amounts in Canadian dollars. It doesn’t sync with banks; you add purchases by typing a sentence or importing a CSV.
What replaced Mint in Canada?
Intuit didn’t replace it: Mint Canada ended on March 23, 2024, and Credit Karma in Canada has no budgets. Canadians have moved to apps like YNAB and Monarch Money, which are billed in US dollars, or AI Budgie, which is free.
Do budgeting apps work with TD, RBC and BMO?
Some can connect through services like Plaid and MX, but connections to the big Canadian banks are known to be less reliable than US ones. AI Budgie doesn’t connect at all: you can download a CSV from your bank and import it, or add purchases one sentence at a time.
Is AI Budgie available in French?
Not yet. AI Budgie is available in English and Simplified Chinese.
Does AI Budgie charge in Canadian dollars?
Everything AI Budgie does today is free. Premium, with an unlimited assistant, alerts and exports, is coming soon at C$6.99 a month.
YNAB, Monarch Money, Mint and Credit Karma are trademarks of their owners. AI Budgie isn’t affiliated with them. Prices and features checked September 2026.