Budget with Buckets

The short version

Budget with Buckets (the app is simply called Buckets) is a desktop envelope budgeting program that keeps your data on your own computer. You pay $64 once instead of subscribing, and the trial never expires. The trade-offs: it works best on a desktop, the phone apps are read-only, bank data takes some setup, and development has been slow lately.

This review is based on research: the vendor's site, guide, changelogs, blog, pricing and download pages, its Google Play listing, its privacy policy, and outside coverage. I did not download or use the app, so I am not claiming hands-on experience.

Where it came from

The founder's history post says Buckets began as a personal spreadsheet, became a web app for his own household, and then moved to the desktop, with the first cross-platform desktop release in October 2017. The company is One Part Rain, LLC, run by Matt and Christy, who describe Buckets as a "keep-going" and not a start-up. In that 2018 post the founder wrote that if he could ever no longer continue, his first choice would be to make Buckets open source. I did not find the desktop app's source published, so treat that as an intention, not a guarantee.

How the budgeting works

The method is a variation on envelopes. Think of income as rain falling into a barrel, and of buckets as the categories you fill from it.

1. Get a bucket for each expense or goal.
2. Make it rain. At the start of each month, fill the buckets from money you already have.
3. Use it up as you spend.
4. Adjust. At month end, move money so no bucket is negative, then start again.

The guide says there are five bucket types. I read about three of them: a plain bucket, a recurring expense (a set amount each month), and a "save Z per month until date Y" type that shows where you will end up by the target date. The "rain" figure at the top of the screen is the money still available to assign, and the guide notes it only makes sense once all transactions are categorized.

Day-to-day touches from the guide: every number field is a calculator (type 35/12 and get the answer), accounts, transactions and buckets can carry searchable notes, and there are tools to merge and mass-edit payees and to mass-edit transactions. There is also an analysis section with charts, and the vendor lists 22 interface languages. The current beta adds an Undo button on deletes, which the stable release does not have yet.

Cost

• License: $64 once, called the Buckets v1 License. It works on all your computers and those of family members living in your home.
• Trial: untimed and otherwise identical to the full version. It shows a small sticker, adds a "Buckets License" bucket to help you save up, and reminds you to buy now and then.
• By the loaf: the vendor offers a discounted license priced at about 20 loaves of bread in your country, available in over 70 countries. As of November 2025 it is verified instantly by the country of your credit card.
• Refunds and upgrades: because it is a one-time purchase, the vendor says it cannot offer refunds. A v1 license covers v0.x and v1.x; a future v2 would probably carry a small upgrade fee.
• Bank sync extra: SimpleFIN Bridge is optional and billed by SimpleFIN. Its own site lists $1.50 a month or $15 a year.

Bank data

There is no live connection built into the app. You choose between three routes: import files (OFX, QFX and CSV), record a macro (a private script that fetches your bank's data on your machine), or sign up with SimpleFIN Bridge. Macros are free and keep everything local, but you set them up yourself, so expect some effort. There is also a YNAB import, which was fixed for YNAB's newer file format in the v0.81.0 beta (August 2025).

Privacy

Your budget file stays on your own devices. The vendor's privacy policy (effective September 2022) says downloading the trial sends the company no information. Sharing works through a relay server that does not store budget data, a shared folder such as a cloud drive (budgets in the folder are encrypted, so losing the keys means losing the budget), or your local network. The public relay is hosted by the vendor and its code is open source. I found no independent security audit.

Mobile: read-only for now

The vendor's FAQ says the mobile app is read-only while editing on the go is being worked on. Android is on Google Play as a desktop companion (5K+ downloads), and its listing says it only works with the latest beta desktop version. The iPhone app is available through TestFlight. The mobile changelog's last entry is March 2024. If you need to log a coffee from your phone in the moment, this is not the tool.

Sharing a budget

Two people can work on the same budget through a relay, a shared folder or a local network, but merging incoming changes is a manual step. The guide says it will become more automated over time. Plan on some patience.

Debt

Marking a credit card or loan as a Debt account takes its negative balance out of your available rain and creates a debt payment bucket that mirrors the account's transactions. Fixed-payment loans like a mortgage are better treated as ordinary expenses or off-budget accounts, according to the guide. The debt bucket balance is not always the exact amount to pay because of statement cycles, so the guide tells you to check your bill. I did not find a payoff planner, so I have left debt payoff off the feature list.

Development pace and risk

The changelog is public and detailed, and the blog is friendly and transparent. But the latest stable desktop version I found is v0.80.0 (spring 2025) and the latest beta is v0.81.1 (September 2025), the last blog post is from November 2025, and I found nothing newer as of late September 2026. The Amazon reconciliation tool was also dropped in v0.80.0. Two people run the company. That is not a red flag on its own for a one-time-purchase desktop app, but it is worth knowing before you pay.

What outsiders say

The College Investor reviewed it as a tool for people with variable income and irregular expenses, praised the untimed trial and the carry-over feature for big upcoming costs, and noted that Buckets is easier on a desktop than a phone and that you need to keep using it to get value. The testimonials on the vendor's own site are chosen by the company, so I did not count them as evidence.

Who it suits

• People who budget on a computer and want to pay once.
• Privacy-minded households who want their data kept local.
• People with irregular income who like planning around monthly buckets and target dates.

Who might look elsewhere

• Anyone who wants full budgeting from a phone.
• Anyone who wants bank transactions to appear automatically with no setup.
• Couples who want seamless real-time sync.
• Anyone who wants very frequent releases and new features.

Bottom line

Buckets is a calm, private, fairly priced envelope tool with an honest trial. If you budget on a desktop and are happy to do a monthly routine, it is good value. The slowing releases and the read-only mobile apps are the main things to weigh.