Connect Your Bank
Budget connects to thousands of financial institutions to import transactions automatically. Bank connections are powered by Plaid (opens in a new tab), a secure financial data service used by apps like Venmo, Robinhood, and Coinbase.
Bank connections are optional — you can enter transactions manually if you prefer.
Linking a bank account
Open Settings
Click Settings in the left sidebar.
Click Connect a Bank
Under Bank Connections, click the Connect a Bank button.
Complete the secure link flow
Search for your financial institution, then follow the prompts. Budget uses Plaid's secure connection — your banking credentials go directly to Plaid and are never visible to Budget.
Your accounts appear
Linked accounts are added to your sidebar immediately. Click an account, then click Sync to import your transactions for the first time.
Syncing transactions
After the initial link, transactions don't sync automatically — click Sync on any account page to pull in new activity. Only transactions since your last sync are fetched, so syncing is fast.
To force a full re-sync of all transactions, go to Settings → Bank Connections → Re-sync All.
Auto-categorization
When transactions are imported, Budget tries to assign a category automatically using two methods:
Plaid category matching — Plaid assigns a spending category to each transaction. Budget maps this to the closest matching budget category.
Payee learning — every time you confirm a transaction in the Review Inbox, Budget remembers the payee → category mapping. The next time a transaction from that payee comes in, it's categorized and confirmed automatically — no inbox required.
Transactions that can't be auto-categorized land in the Review Inbox, highlighted in amber in the transaction register. Review, assign a category, and confirm.
Scheduled transaction matching
If you have a recurring bill set up in Upcoming, Budget will automatically match an incoming bank transaction to it when:
- The payee name matches (normalized)
- The amount is within 10%
- The date is within 5 days of the scheduled date
A matched transaction is auto-confirmed and the recurring item advances to its next date. This keeps your schedule accurate without any manual work.
Removing a connection
Go to Settings → Bank Connections and click Remove next to the institution. This disconnects the link — existing transactions in your account register are not deleted.
Privacy
Your banking credentials are entered directly into Plaid's secure interface and are never transmitted to or stored by Budget. Budget only receives transaction data (payee, amount, date, category) after you authorize the connection.