Questions and answers

ShowMeTheMoney is a private envelope budgeting app for Mac, Windows, Linux and your own server. Give every dollar an envelope, group envelopes into stacks, and see what's ready to budget. It imports QFX/OFX, CSV and PDF bank statements, including statements that cover several accounts: point at a PDF statement once and every month after reads itself. Accepting a statement flags likely duplicates and reconciles it to the cent. Your budget stays on your computer or your server, and no bank password is ever asked for. A household can share one server with separate sign-ins. If a subscription lapses, everything stays readable and exportable.

A way of budgeting where every dollar you have is given a job before you spend it. Money coming in lands in Income; from there you fund envelopes such as Groceries, Rent or Holidays, and spending comes out of the envelope it belongs to. What you haven't given a job yet is shown as ready to budget. An envelope below $0 always means the same thing: you spent more there than you set aside.

Yes. A transaction can be split into parts, each in its own envelope, for example one shop that was part groceries and part household goods.

Households who want to know where every dollar goes, keep their financial records to themselves, and have their books balance with their bank statements to the cent.

Yes, and that is how it is meant to be used. You download statements or transaction files from your bank's website and import them; no bank password is ever asked for. Connecting a bank is optional (see below).

No. Your budget is stored on your computer, or on the server you run, and is never sent to us. The app contacts us only to check its licence, offer updates and, if you agree, report crashes. The privacy policy lists exactly what we receive.

Yes, at any time and whether or not you subscribe: each book exports as one file that can be imported again on another computer. On a server reached over HTTPS, the file can also be encrypted with a password.

Bank exports in QFX or OFX format, spreadsheets (CSV), and PDF statements. You drop the file on the window and the app works out which of your accounts it covers.

If your bank lets you download QFX, OFX, CSV or PDF statements, yes; almost every US bank and card offers at least one. It has been tested on real statements from banks and card issuers including Chase, Bank of America, Synchrony and SoFi.

The first time a bank's PDF statement arrives, the app works out where the dates, balances and transactions are and highlights them on the page for you to check. Every statement in that layout after that reads itself.

No. It reads the text inside a PDF, so it needs the statement your bank lets you download, not a scan or photo of a paper one.

One file, for example a bank statement with checking and savings, is split into its accounts, and each account's part is imported into the right one.

No. Transactions already recorded are recognised and left out, and anything that only looks similar (same amount within two days) is flagged for you to decide.

Your transactions, yes: export them from the other app as a spreadsheet (CSV) and import it, telling the app once which column holds what. Envelopes and budgets are set up afresh, since every app keeps those differently.

Only if you choose to, through SimpleFIN, a separate service that gives the app read-only access to your accounts and costs $1.50 a month or $15 a year, plus tax (as of November 2, 2026). New transactions come in when you press Sync now; nothing syncs on its own.

Checking your records against your bank's statement until they agree to the cent. When you accept an imported statement, the app reconciles it for you where the figures allow; otherwise you tick off each line until the difference is $0.00. Reconciled transactions are locked, so last month stays last month.

Desktop computers running macOS, Windows or Linux, and your own server. See the download page for the versions supported.

Yes. The server version is a Docker container with PostgreSQL, for 64-bit Intel/AMD and ARM (a Raspberry Pi works), and everyone signs in from their own browser. The download page has a ready-made setup.

Yes, on your own server: up to four people, each with their own sign-in. The desktop app is for one computer and has no sign-in.

Yes. Each budget is a separate book with its own accounts and envelopes, up to five books.