How to switch from YNAB to Penno (and what you'll miss)

2026-05-19 · 9-minute read · Migration guide

If you're reading this, you've decided to leave YNAB. Probably because of the price hike, possibly because of methodology fatigue, possibly because the subscription model wore you down. Whatever the reason, here's the actual migration walkthrough — including the bits where Penno doesn't replace YNAB.

Step 1: Export from YNAB

In YNAB (web app — the iOS app doesn't expose this), go to Budget Settings → Export Budget. You get a ZIP file with two CSVs:

• Budget CSV: your monthly category targets and balances. Useful for setting up Penno categories with the right budgets.
• Register CSV: every transaction you've logged. This is what you'd import.

Save both somewhere safe. The export is your safety net — if Penno doesn't work out, you have your data.

Step 2: Decide what to import (probably less than you think)

Here's a tip from people who've done this migration: don't import everything.

If you've been on YNAB for 3+ years, you have thousands of transactions across dozens of categories. Importing all of it gives you a cluttered Penno that doesn't match your current life — old categories you don't use anymore, transactions from a previous job, etc.

Better approach: import the last 60-90 days only, or just start fresh from current month forward. Penno is a new context; treat it like one.

Step 3: Reformat the CSV

YNAB's Register CSV has columns like: Account, Flag, Date, Payee, Category Group/Category, Memo, Outflow, Inflow, Cleared.

Penno expects: date,amount,type,category,note.

You need to transform:

• date from YNAB's Date column (format YYYY-MM-DD)
• amount from YNAB's Outflow (positive number) or Inflow (positive number). Penno expects negative for expenses, positive for income.
• type set to "expense" if Outflow has a value, "income" if Inflow has a value
• category from YNAB's Category column (take the part after the slash, not the category group)
• note concatenated from YNAB's Payee + Memo

This is straightforward in Excel/Numbers/Google Sheets. About 15 minutes of formula work for someone comfortable with spreadsheets, more if you're rusty.

Alternative: write a small Python script. The conversion is mechanical. Or use any LLM-based CSV-transform tool — paste the YNAB CSV header + format spec for Penno, ask for the formulas. Five minutes.

Step 4: Create your categories in Penno first

Before importing, set up categories in Penno that match the ones in your transformed CSV. Penno's import maps transactions to categories by name — if the category doesn't exist, the transaction is rejected (or assigned to a fallback).

Don't try to recreate YNAB's full category hierarchy. Penno is flat (no parent groups). Pick the 10-15 categories you actually use; flatten the rest.

Step 5: Import

Penno: Settings → Import CSV → select your file.

Important: Penno's import is destructive. It wipes everything currently in Penno and replaces with the imported file. If you've been using Penno already, export your current data first.

After import, spot-check a few transactions to confirm the conversion worked. Categories, amounts, dates should all look right.

What you'll miss from YNAB

Here's the honest part. YNAB does things Penno does not. If any of these are non-negotiable for your workflow, the migration isn't right for you.

The envelope methodology

YNAB's "give every dollar a job" is the methodology. Penno doesn't enforce it. You can set per-category monthly budgets, but Penno won't refuse to let you spend money you haven't allocated. If the YNAB rules are what made budgeting click for you, Penno will feel looser. (You can manually enforce envelopes — just allocate amounts at the start of each month — but you'll have to discipline yourself rather than letting the app do it.)

Bank import

Obviously. You'll be entering transactions manually. Most ex-YNAB users find this less painful than expected — YNAB's import wasn't perfect either, and the manual entry forces engagement. But the first two weeks are an adjustment.

Shared budgets with a partner

YNAB has a shared-budget feature; Penno is single-device. If you and a partner managed YNAB together, Penno doesn't replace that — Monarch Money is a better fit for couples.

The web app

YNAB is great on web; Penno is iOS-only. If you'd been doing your weekly budget review on a laptop, you'll need to switch to phone or wait for Penno's iPad app (planned, no date).

Goal tracking

YNAB's "Saving Goals" feature lets you allocate toward future expenses (annual insurance, vacation fund, etc.) with progress bars. Penno doesn't have this. You can fake it with categories (a "Vacation Fund" category that accumulates toward a target), but the dedicated UI for goals isn't there.

The community and educational content

YNAB has built an enormous community — courses, podcasts, weekly emails, methodology resources. Penno is just an app. If part of what you paid for was the educational ecosystem, that's gone in the migration.

What you'll gain

Roughly:

• ~$100/year back (over 5 years, ~$485)
• No account, no email collection, no signup
• No bank linking, no Plaid involvement
• Data stays on your device
• 10-language UI if you want to switch out of English
• Better debt tracking for personal IOUs and chip-away debt
• iOS Shortcuts integration for quick logging

When to NOT migrate

If you fall into any of these, stay on YNAB:

• YNAB's envelope methodology is what made budgeting work for you
• You share a budget with a partner
• You manage 5+ accounts with frequent transactions per account
• You rely on YNAB's debt-paydown calculator or goal-tracking features
• You're an active YNAB community participant

Saving $100/year isn't worth losing a budget workflow that works. The migration is for users who weren't getting full value from YNAB's specifics anyway.

The first month after migration

Expect some friction. The manual entry takes 10-15 minutes a day for the first week as you build the habit. By week 3 it's automatic.

You'll also have moments of "wait, how do I do X in Penno?" — usually the answer is "you don't, Penno is simpler." That's the trade.

Email me if you hit something specific. [email protected]. I'll add the answer to the support FAQ if it's a common one.