Best Expense Tracker Apps With No Bank Sync Required

The no-bank-sync options are smaller but there are a few decent ones.

I mainly use DrakeAI - chat-based, you type what you spent, AI figures out the category. Free, works offline, no bank connection needed. Been using it for months. Cash spending is annoying to track manually tho ngl, that's the main thing I miss from sync apps - but at least it's actually in my data now instead of just invisible.

Money Manager (Realbyte) is solid if you want more control over categories. More traditional entry, you pick from a menu rather than typing free text. A lot of people who care about exact categorization prefer it. Been around forever and has a desktop app too.

Goodbudget does the envelope method without bank sync - you allocate money to buckets, manually add transactions. Free tier is limited but works. Closer to YNAB philosophy without the price.

The main reason to skip bank sync: privacy, no broken connections, works for international banks and cash, no third parties touching your data. The cost is entering things yourself which is fine if entry is fast enough. The apps that make it fast are more sustainable as a habit than the ones with a five-field form every transaction.

Idk if there's a definitive "best" - depends if you want free text entry or structured categories, and whether the envelope method appeals to you. I've stuck with DrakeAI because typing is faster than picking from dropdowns.