Founded in 2004 by Jesse Mecham, You Need A Budget (YNAB) is a financial software company that provides cloud-based personal budgeting software following the envelope methodology.
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Legal Structure | LLC |
| Industry | Finance, Fintech, Financial Technology |
| Also known as | YNAB |
| Official website | https://www.ynab.com/ |
YNAB built its namesake software from an Excel spreadsheet for sale in 2004 into licensed releases, the last of which was "YNAB 4," for which support was discontinued in 2019.[1][2] With the release of "nYNAB" in December 2015, the company pivoted to a SaaS business model.[3]
Consumer impact summary
editUser Freedom
editIn order to use YNAB's service, users must agree to the YNAB Terms of Service[4], which, as of April 9th, 2026, includes agreeing to a mandatory binding arbitration with class-action and jury trial waiver for any users not based in the UK, Switzerland or European Economic areas. The terms outline a 30-day period available to such users after agreement to opt out of losing this right by emailing the company at their legal support email address.
Incidents
editThis is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the You Need A Budget category.
Forced arbitration clause update to ToS (April 2026)
editOn April 9th, 2026, YNAB made updates to their Terms of Service, which included a forced arbitration clause stipulating a 30-day window to opt out after accepting the terms by emailing YNAB's legal support email address.[4] An email outlining the new changes was sent to existing users on the 13th, prompting some users to post and discuss the included arbitration notice on the "r/ynab" community forum on Reddit. The notice read:
Dispute resolution: In our Terms of Service, we're moving to arbitration for dispute resolution. This means if we ever have a legal disagreement, it would be resolved by a neutral arbitrator instead of a court or jury, and we'd each bring claims individually rather than as part of a class action. If you prefer to keep your right to go to court, you can opt out by emailing [email protected] within 30 days. Opting out won't affect your account or service in any way.[5][6]
A forced arbitration clause was not included in YNAB's Terms of Service exclusive to the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and EEA territories, also updated on April 9th.[7]
Products
edit- nYNAB App Lineup[8]
- YNAB for Web
- YNAB for iPhone
- YNAB for Android
- YNAB for Apple Watch
- YNAB API
- YNAB Zapier integration
- Pre-nYNAB Apps[1]
- YNAB Excel spreadsheet (Sep 2004)
- YNAB Pro (Nov 2006)
- YNAB 3 (Dec 2009)
- YNAB 4 (Jun 2012 - Oct 2019)[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Timeline | YNAB". YNAB. Archived from the original on 16 Apr 2026. Retrieved 16 Apr 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "YNAB 4 Support Ends October 2019". YNAB. 11 Sep 2019. Archived from the original on 16 Apr 2026. Retrieved 16 Apr 2026.
- ↑ "The New YNAB Business Model". YNAB. Archived from the original on 16 Apr 2026. Retrieved 16 Apr 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "YNAB Terms of Service". You Need A Budget. 2026-04-09. Archived from the original on 2026-04-15. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
- ↑ u/samebutanon (2026-04-13). "Gross, but typical changes to T's & C's". Reddit. Archived from the original on 2026-04-15. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
- ↑ u/discostu- (2026-04-13). "Opt out of binding arbitration within next 30 days". Reddit. Archived from the original on 2026-04-15. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
- ↑ "YNAB Terms of Service (UK, Switzerland, EEA)". You Need A Budget. 2026-04-09. Archived from the original on 2026-04-15. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
- ↑ "The YNAB Lineup". YNAB. Archived from the original on 16 Apr 2026. Retrieved 16 Apr 2026.