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Evidence
Every claim on the comparison page is listed here with the source set used to support or background-check it.
This page inventories the current comparison-page claims and links the official pages, help-center articles, pricing pages, and policy documents used during verification.
Claims about Clarity product behavior are first-party claims. Competitor claims rely on their public materials and are reviewed against those materials as part of the compare-page maintenance process.
This version links the live background sources used during verification. Archived screenshots are not bundled into the repo yet, so the citations page currently focuses on claim inventory plus source links.
Summary
YNAB is the stronger hands-on budgeting tool.
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Summary
Clarity is better for automated tracking across banking, investing, and crypto.
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Choose Clarity if
Automated multi-asset tracking across banks, investments, and crypto
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Choose Clarity if
Hybrid investors with both traditional and crypto assets
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Choose Clarity if
Privacy-conscious users who want BYOK AI and full data deletion
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Choose Clarity if
Users who need a single net worth view across all accounts
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Choose Clarity if
Crypto holders who need cost basis tracking for taxes
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Choose YNAB if
Rigorous envelope-style budgeting with manual control over every dollar
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Choose YNAB if
People who want hands-on control of every dollar
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Choose YNAB if
Users getting out of debt with the envelope method
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Choose YNAB if
Those who enjoy the ritual of manual categorization
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Rubric: coverage
Banks, brokerages, crypto exchanges, and on-chain wallets in one dashboard.
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Rubric: coverage
YNAB connects to banks and credit cards. It does not support crypto or brokerage tracking.
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Rubric: reliability
Automatic retry logic and connection health monitoring with proactive alerts.
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Rubric: reliability
YNAB has solid bank connections and a manual entry fallback that keeps data current regardless of sync status.
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Rubric: pricingPredictability
Flat-rate pricing with no usage-based fees.
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Rubric: pricingPredictability
YNAB currently lists $109/year or $14.99/month. The price has increased multiple times since the subscription model launched.
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Rubric: dataFreshness
Multiple automatic syncs per day with on-demand refresh.
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Rubric: dataFreshness
YNAB syncs bank data but encourages manual entry for real-time accuracy. Freshness depends on user effort.
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Rubric: historicalDepth
Imports up to ~24 months of transaction history from connected institutions.
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Rubric: historicalDepth
YNAB retains complete budget history for the lifetime of the account—valuable for long-term trend analysis.
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Rubric: exportReporting
CSV export, spending breakdowns, net worth charts, and portfolio performance views.
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Rubric: exportReporting
YNAB has solid built-in reports for spending and net worth but limited export options.
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Rubric: privacySecurity
Read-only connections, encryption at rest, no ad tech, and no data sales. BYOK AI keeps model traffic under user control, and closing an account triggers full data purge.
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Rubric: privacySecurity
YNAB says it does not sell Financial Data. Its privacy materials also describe marketing and advertising uses for other personal data, targeted-advertising rights language, and disclosure of de-identified or aggregated non-Financial Data.
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Rubric: developerExperience
No public API yet. CSV exports available for external tool integration.
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Rubric: developerExperience
YNAB has a well-documented public API that supports reading and writing budget data.
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Deep dive: coverage
Clarity tracks banks, brokerages, crypto exchanges, and on-chain wallets in one place—including portfolio performance, cost basis, and tax-lot reporting. YNAB stops at bank and credit card connections. No investments, no crypto, no market data.
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Deep dive: coverage
YNAB focuses on cash-flow budgeting and connects to banks and credit cards. It does not track investments, crypto, or other asset classes. Users with diverse portfolios need additional tools.
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Deep dive: coverage
If your finances extend beyond bank accounts and credit cards, Clarity provides a more complete picture. YNAB has no path to investment or crypto visibility.
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Deep dive: historicalDepth
Clarity imports ~24 months of history from connected institutions. Sufficient for most users, but those with years of data in another tool will notice gaps.
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Deep dive: historicalDepth
YNAB retains your complete budget history indefinitely. Long-time users can look back years to see spending trends and budget adherence over time.
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Deep dive: historicalDepth
YNAB wins here for users who value multi-year historical analysis.
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Deep dive: pricingPredictability
Clarity costs $99/year for every feature—banking, investments, crypto, cost basis, and tax exports included. YNAB costs $109/year but does not include crypto, cost basis, or tax exports.
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Deep dive: pricingPredictability
YNAB has raised prices multiple times since moving to a subscription model, and its terms leave room for future increases. International value still varies because bank-import support is not uniform across markets.
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Deep dive: pricingPredictability
Clarity costs less than YNAB and covers more asset types. Unless envelope budgeting alone justifies the higher price, Clarity is the better deal.
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Deep dive: privacySecurity
Clarity keeps the product model focused on tracking and portfolio visibility rather than a broader marketing stack.
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Deep dive: privacySecurity
YNAB's public materials are more nuanced than a simple 'privacy-first' tagline: the company says it does not sell Financial Data, but it also describes marketing and advertising uses for other personal data, targeted-advertising rights language, and disclosure of de-identified or aggregated non-Financial Data.
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Deep dive: privacySecurity
YNAB's policy is not equivalent to 'selling your financial data,' but it is broader than Clarity's posture on analytics, advertising-related uses, and de-identified data sharing.
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Deep dive: reliability
Clarity uses automatic retry logic and connection health monitoring with proactive alerts when syncs fail or degrade.
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Deep dive: reliability
YNAB has solid bank connections and offers manual entry as a fallback—users can always keep their budget current even when a sync breaks.
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Deep dive: reliability
Both handle reliability well through different approaches. Clarity automates recovery; YNAB empowers users to work around issues with manual entry.
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Deep dive: dataFreshness
Clarity runs multiple automatic syncs per day with on-demand refresh across banks, brokerages, and crypto exchanges.
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Deep dive: dataFreshness
YNAB syncs bank data but encourages manual transaction entry for real-time accuracy. Freshness depends on how diligently users enter transactions.
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Deep dive: dataFreshness
Clarity is fresher out of the box. YNAB can be more current if you manually enter every transaction, but that requires ongoing effort.
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Deep dive: exportReporting
Clarity provides CSV exports, spending breakdowns, net worth charts, and portfolio performance views covering both traditional and crypto assets.
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Deep dive: exportReporting
YNAB has solid built-in reports for spending trends and net worth but limited export options and no investment or crypto reporting.
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Deep dive: exportReporting
Clarity offers broader reporting across more asset types plus better data portability. YNAB's reports are strong for budgeting but stop there.
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Deep dive: developerExperience
Clarity does not yet offer a public API but provides CSV exports for external tool integration.
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Deep dive: developerExperience
YNAB has a well-documented public API that supports reading and writing budget data. A genuine advantage for power users who build custom integrations and automations.
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Deep dive: developerExperience
YNAB wins here with its mature public API. Clarity's CSV exports are a stopgap until a public API ships.
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FAQ: Does Clarity support envelope budgeting like YNAB?
Clarity focuses on automated tracking and spending analysis rather than manual envelope budgeting. If strict zero-based budgeting is your primary need, YNAB is the better fit.
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FAQ: Can I use Clarity and YNAB together?
Yes. Users keep YNAB for cash-flow budgeting and use Clarity for investment and crypto tracking. The two tools serve different purposes and complement each other.
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FAQ: Is Clarity cheaper than YNAB?
Clarity is $99/year. YNAB is $109/year. Clarity includes investment and crypto tracking that YNAB does not offer.
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FAQ: Does Clarity have a public API like YNAB?
Not yet. YNAB's public API is a real advantage for power users building custom integrations. Clarity supports CSV exports for external tool integration.
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FAQ: Does YNAB sell my data?
YNAB says it does not sell Financial Data. Its privacy policy also distinguishes Financial Data from other personal data used for marketing, advertising, and de-identified or aggregated disclosures. Clarity takes the narrower approach: no ad tech, no de-identified data sharing, and full deletion on account closure.
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FAQ: How many times has YNAB raised its price?
YNAB has raised prices multiple times since moving from a one-time purchase to a subscription model. Its terms leave room for future increases.
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Trust and legal notes
YNAB's privacy policy explicitly says it does not sell Financial Data. The same policy also describes marketing and advertising uses for other personal data and disclosure of de-identified or aggregated non-Financial Data.
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Trust and legal notes
YNAB says it may retain account data for up to 12 months after a subscription or trial expires unless the user deletes the account sooner, with some additional retention allowed for legal or regulatory reasons.
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