# Clarity — Frequently Asked Questions

> 35 detailed answers across 9 categories. Last updated November 2025.

Cross-referenced against the [Security](https://useclarity.app/legal/security), [Privacy](https://useclarity.app/legal/privacy), and [Terms](https://useclarity.app/legal/terms) pages, and against the published pricing source so every number stays current.

## Categories

- [Security & privacy](https://useclarity.app/faq#security) (6)
- [Pricing & plans](https://useclarity.app/faq#pricing) (5)
- [Connections & coverage](https://useclarity.app/faq#connections) (5)
- [Spending & cash flow](https://useclarity.app/faq#spending) (4)
- [Investments & net worth](https://useclarity.app/faq#investments) (4)
- [Taxes & planning](https://useclarity.app/faq#taxes) (3)
- [AI assistant](https://useclarity.app/faq#ai) (2)
- [Account & data](https://useclarity.app/faq#account) (4)
- [Comparisons & alternatives](https://useclarity.app/faq#compare) (2)

## Security & privacy

How Clarity protects your financial data, what we can and can't do with it, and how AI fits in.

### How is my data secured?

Clarity is read-only. We can see your balances, transactions, and holdings — we cannot move money, change account settings, or see your bank password.

Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest. The API keys and tokens we use to talk to your banks and exchanges are encrypted at the application layer before we store them, on top of the encryption the database itself provides. Production secrets are not stored in source control.

We do not sell your personal information, and we don't share it with advertisers. The only third parties that touch your data are the service providers that keep Clarity running (Plaid for bank data, Stripe for billing, OpenAI for AI chat, and our cloud hosts). Each is bound by their own privacy terms, which we link in our Privacy Policy. Security overview: https://useclarity.app/legal/security. Privacy Policy: https://useclarity.app/legal/privacy.

### Does Clarity see my bank password?

No. When you connect a bank, brokerage, or credit card, you authenticate inside Plaid's secure flow — we never see your username or password.

Plaid returns a read-only access token that we encrypt and store. That token lets us pull your balances, transactions, and holdings, but it cannot move money or change anything on the account.

If you disconnect a bank from Clarity, the token is revoked and removed immediately. Browse supported connections: https://useclarity.app/integrations.

### Will the AI assistant train on my financial data?

No. AI queries go to OpenAI's API under their Business Terms, which state that customer API data is not used to train their models.

We also minimize what gets sent. Each query includes your message plus the financial context relevant to that specific question — not your entire account. If you ask "how much did I spend on groceries in May," the AI sees your grocery transactions for May, not your whole transaction history.

For reference, the AI is a paid feature: 100 messages a month on Pro, 500 on Wealth. It is not available on the free tier. How the AI works: https://useclarity.app/product/ai. Data handling: https://useclarity.app/legal/privacy.

### Do you sell my data?

No. We don't sell your personal information, and we don't share it with advertisers. We never have, and we never will.

We only share data with the service providers that operate Clarity: Plaid for bank connectivity, Stripe for billing, OpenAI for AI chat responses, and the cloud platforms that host the app and database. Each is contractually bound to handle data only on our behalf, and the full subprocessor list is published in our Privacy Policy.

Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, we also don't disclose your nonpublic personal information to non-affiliated third parties for marketing — so there is no marketing opt-out to manage. Privacy Policy: https://useclarity.app/legal/privacy.

### Is Clarity SOC 2 certified?

As of early 2026, Clarity has not completed a SOC 2 attestation. We maintain administrative, technical, and physical controls aligned to the SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria — access management, encryption, change control, monitoring, vendor review, and incident response — but we don't claim a certification we haven't earned.

Progress updates live on the Security page. Security overview: https://useclarity.app/legal/security.

### How do I report a security vulnerability?

Email legal@raintree.technology with reproduction steps and estimated impact. We acknowledge reports within 5 business days and provide an initial assessment within 15.

Good-faith security research is welcome. We will not pursue legal action against researchers who follow our disclosure policy and avoid harming users or service availability. We don't currently operate a paid bug bounty, but we publicly acknowledge valid reports with your permission. Full policy: https://useclarity.app/legal/security.

## Pricing & plans

What's free, what's paid, what each tier includes, and how cancellation works.

### Is there a free plan?

Yes — free forever. No credit card, no time limit, no trial countdown.

Free includes the full Clarity workspace: Money (transactions, budgets, recurring), Net Worth (balance sheet across every account), and Planning (Goals, Taxes, Insurance, Life Events). You can add manual entries for any bank, brokerage, debt, or physical asset — and you can connect crypto exchanges using your own read-only API keys (unlimited, even on free).

What's gated to paid tiers: automatic syncing for banks, brokerages, and wallets; OCR for tax documents; PDF/CSV exports; and the AI assistant. See all tiers: https://useclarity.app/pricing.

### How much does it cost?

Free to start, with two paid tiers:

Pro is $24/month or $219/year (the annual plan saves about 24%). It includes 5 bank/brokerage connections, 5 wallets, unlimited crypto exchange connections, OCR for 1099/W-2 documents, PDF and CSV exports, and 100 AI messages a month.

Wealth is $49/month or $449/year. It raises the included connections to 15 banks/brokerages and 10 wallets, and the AI cap to 500 messages a month.

If you need more connections than the bundle includes, extra ones are $2/month per bank/brokerage and $1/month per wallet, with a cap so the bill can't run away from you. Every connection syncs in full automatically — there are no opt-in toggles. Compare plans: https://useclarity.app/pricing.

### Can I cancel anytime?

Yes — anytime, from Settings.

Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You keep paid-feature access until that date, and we don't issue partial refunds for the unused portion (this matches standard SaaS practice).

New subscribers get a 30-day money-back guarantee on their first paid subscription. Email us within 30 days and we'll refund in full. Renewals and tier changes don't qualify for the guarantee.

Your historical data stays in your account after you cancel — you simply drop back to the free tier. Nothing gets deleted until you ask us to. Full refund policy: https://useclarity.app/legal/terms.

### What happens if I upgrade or downgrade?

Upgrades take effect immediately and bill prorated for the rest of the period. Downgrades take effect at the next renewal — you keep the higher tier's features until then.

If you downgrade past your connection count (for example, from Wealth's 15 banks to Pro's 5), the extra connections are paused, not deleted. Reconnect or upgrade later and they pick up where they left off.

Tier changes don't reset the 30-day money-back window — that applies only to your first paid subscription. Compare plans: https://useclarity.app/pricing.

### What happens if my payment fails?

We retry the charge a few times over a short window. If payment still doesn't go through, your account is downgraded to the free tier and you lose access to paid features.

Your data stays intact, automatic syncing pauses, and you can resubscribe to resume. We'll email you before downgrade so you can update your payment method. Full billing terms: https://useclarity.app/legal/terms.

## Connections & coverage

Which banks, exchanges, and chains we support, and how the connection rails work.

### Is my bank supported?

Almost certainly. We connect through Plaid to 12,000+ US and Canadian banks, credit unions, and brokerages.

That covers every major institution (Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, Capital One, US Bank, PNC, TD, Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, Robinhood, E*Trade, Coinbase via brokerage, and on down) plus a long tail of regionals, community banks, and credit unions.

If the bank is on Plaid's coverage list and supports the data type you need (transactions, balances, investments, liabilities), Clarity can connect. Search supported connections: https://useclarity.app/integrations.

### How does account linking work?

Three ways to connect, all read-only.

Banks and brokerages go through Plaid. You log in inside Plaid's flow — your username and password never touch Clarity. Plaid returns a read-only access token, which we encrypt and store, that lets us pull balances, transactions, and holdings.

Crypto exchanges connect with read-only API keys you create on the exchange itself (Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, etc.). We require read-only scopes and encrypt the key before storing it. The key cannot place trades or withdraw funds.

On-chain wallets connect by public address — we never ask for private keys or seed phrases. Anything visible on a blockchain explorer is visible to Clarity. Anything that requires signing (transactions, transfers) is impossible without your wallet.

Disconnect any rail from settings and the credential is revoked and removed immediately. Browse supported connections: https://useclarity.app/integrations.

### Which crypto exchanges and chains do you support?

130+ crypto exchanges via read-only API keys, and on-chain wallets across 40+ blockchains.

Exchange coverage includes the majors (Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Gemini, Bitstamp, Bitfinex, KuCoin) plus dozens of regional and derivatives-focused venues through the CCXT integration library. All exchange connections require a read-only API key you create yourself — we cannot place trades or move funds.

On-chain coverage spans Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Avalanche, and 30+ more. Wallet addresses pull native balances, ERC-20 / SPL token holdings, and DeFi positions across major lending and liquidity protocols. Crypto portfolio: https://useclarity.app/crypto-portfolio-tracker. DeFi tracker: https://useclarity.app/defi-tracker.

### Can I add accounts that aren't connectable — like a house or a private investment?

Yes — manual entries are first-class. You can add anything that doesn't have a Plaid connection or live API: a primary or investment home, vehicles, art, watches, wine, trading cards, precious metals, pre-IPO equity, private fund stakes, and cash held outside an account.

Each manual entry has a name, an asset class, an optional acquisition date and cost, and a current value with an "as of" timestamp. Update the value whenever you want and Clarity recomputes your net worth.

Manual entries roll into the same balance sheet, exposure, and net-worth view as your connected accounts — they don't sit in a separate silo. Net worth tracker: https://useclarity.app/net-worth-tracker.

### How often does Clarity sync?

On the free tier, syncs run on a scheduled cadence (typically once a day) when you open the app. On Pro and Wealth, automatic syncs run more frequently in the background and you can trigger an on-demand sync from any account.

Plaid itself controls how fresh each institution's data is — most banks update transactions overnight, some throughout the day. Crypto exchanges and on-chain wallets update in near-real-time on demand because we hit those APIs directly.

If an institution drops the connection (Plaid calls this a "re-auth"), we'll prompt you to reconnect and the data picks up where it left off.

## Spending & cash flow

How transactions, categories, recurring charges, and budgets actually work.

### How do I track spending across multiple bank accounts?

One feed across every connected bank and card.

Transactions flow in from every institution — checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, even some debit-style brokerage cards — into a single stream. They're auto-categorized on arrival using merchant data and pattern matching, with recurring charges and merchant rollups surfaced automatically.

Override any category and the rule applies to past and future transactions across every account, not just the one you're looking at. The same logic powers the Sankey cash-flow view, recurring detection, and budget tracking. Spending tracker: https://useclarity.app/spending-tracker. Multi-account budgeting: https://useclarity.app/multi-account-budgeting.

### How does Clarity find my subscriptions and recurring charges?

We detect recurring charges automatically from transaction patterns — same merchant, similar amount, predictable cadence.

That includes obvious subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, gym memberships) plus the less obvious ones: annual domain renewals, quarterly tax payments, irregular but predictable charges from contractors or services. New recurring patterns get flagged when they first appear.

You can mark anything as "not recurring" to hide it from the list, or pin charges as recurring even if the pattern is noisy. Spending tracker: https://useclarity.app/spending-tracker.

### Is Clarity useful if I mainly want to track spending and net worth — not investing?

Yes — investing tools are optional.

Connect only your banks and credit cards for cash flow, recurring spend, and liabilities. Add manual entries for homes, vehicles, and other illiquid assets so net worth reflects the whole picture. The portfolio, crypto, and tax features stay out of your way until you want them.

Many users live in the Money and Net Worth tabs full-time and never open the investing surfaces. Net worth tracker: https://useclarity.app/net-worth-tracker.

### Does Clarity do budgets?

Yes — Clarity includes budgeting that works across every connected account, not just one bank.

Set budgets by category (groceries, dining, travel) or by goal (save for a down payment, pay off a card). Spending rolls in from every connected institution in the same feed, so a budget for "groceries" tracks Whole Foods on your Amex and Trader Joe's on your Chase card together — without you having to split them across apps.

Budgets are a free-tier feature; automatic syncing is what gates to paid. Multi-account budgeting: https://useclarity.app/multi-account-budgeting.

## Investments & net worth

How portfolio, holdings, cost basis, and net worth roll up across brokerages and chains.

### What does it mean to track all my finances in one place?

Every account you have, in one workspace — including the ones nobody else tracks.

Banks, brokerages, 401(k)/IRA/HSA, crypto exchanges, and on-chain wallets connect automatically. Homes, vehicles, art, precious metals, and pre-IPO equity get added manually.

Detail is preserved, not summarized away: every transaction stays itemized, every lot is tracked with its cost basis (FIFO accounting), and households can share visibility with per-member permissions controlled by the account owner. Workspace tour: https://useclarity.app/product.

### How does cost basis work?

Clarity tracks cost basis at the lot level using FIFO (first-in, first-out) accounting.

That means when you sell, the oldest shares are matched to the sale first, and the resulting gain or loss reflects what you actually paid for those specific shares — not an estimate.

Lot-level cost basis matters at scale. For high-balance investors, it's the difference between "your broker says you have a $40k unrealized gain" and "your actual gain is $40k, here's exactly which lots created it, and here are the losses you could harvest without crossing the wash-sale rule." Portfolio tracker: https://useclarity.app/portfolio-tracker.

### Does Clarity track retirement accounts?

Yes — 401(k), 403(b), IRA (Traditional, Roth, SEP, SIMPLE), HSA, and pension accounts all connect through Plaid where the custodian supports it.

We pull contributions, employer matches, holdings, and performance — and roll them into your overall net worth alongside taxable accounts. Tax-advantaged contribution limits and remaining capacity for the year are surfaced automatically. Retirement tracker: https://useclarity.app/retirement-tracker.

### What's included in net worth?

Everything you connect, plus everything you add manually.

Assets: bank balances, brokerage and retirement holdings (priced live), crypto exchange balances and on-chain wallet positions, plus manual entries for real estate, vehicles, art, precious metals, pre-IPO equity, and any other illiquid asset.

Liabilities: credit card balances, mortgages, HELOCs, student loans, auto loans, margin loans, and any manual liabilities you add. Net worth is the difference, computed live as your accounts update. Net worth tracker: https://useclarity.app/net-worth-tracker.

## Taxes & planning

Tax estimates, document handling, and what Clarity can (and can't) do for tax season.

### What does Clarity do for taxes?

Clarity surfaces quarterly tax estimates as your income changes, identifies tax-loss harvesting opportunities before year-end, and reconciles 1099-DA forms against your actual on-chain activity to catch phantom gains brokers sometimes report.

Pro and Wealth add OCR for 1099, W-2, and other tax documents — drop a PDF in and the values get parsed and added to your tax picture. Tax features: https://useclarity.app/product/taxes. Crypto tax tracker: https://useclarity.app/crypto-tax-tracker.

### Is Clarity a tax advisor?

No. Clarity is software, not a tax advisor or financial advisor. The reports, estimates, and harvest suggestions we generate are informational — they're meant to make conversations with your CPA or planner faster, not replace them.

We surface what your accounts show. You and a qualified professional decide what to do about it.

### What is 1099-DA reconciliation?

Starting with the 2025 tax year, US crypto brokers issue Form 1099-DA reporting your digital asset proceeds and basis to the IRS.

Broker-reported basis is frequently wrong — especially across exchanges, after transfers, or with DeFi activity — because the broker doesn't see your full history. Clarity compares what the broker reported against your actual on-chain and exchange activity at the lot level and flags discrepancies, so phantom gains don't become an unexpected tax bill. Crypto tax tracker: https://useclarity.app/crypto-tax-tracker.

## AI assistant

What the AI can do, what it sees, and how privacy works under the hood.

### Does the AI actually see my accounts, or is it just ChatGPT?

It sees your accounts — but only the slice it needs to answer your question.

Each query sends OpenAI your message plus the relevant financial context (data minimization), not your entire account. Ask "how much did I spend on dining last month" and the AI sees last month's dining transactions, not your retirement holdings.

Under OpenAI's Business Terms, your data isn't used to train their models; API data is retained up to 30 days for abuse monitoring only.

It's a paid feature: 100 messages a month on Pro, 500 on Wealth. How the AI works: https://useclarity.app/product/ai.

### What kinds of questions can I ask the AI?

Anything you'd ask a careful, math-literate friend with read-only access to your accounts. A few examples:

— "Where did my money actually go last month?"
— "What subscriptions am I paying for that I forgot about?"
— "How much have I made on AAPL since I first bought it?"
— "Which lots would I sell to harvest $5k in losses without a wash sale?"
— "How does my Q2 tax estimate change if I sell this position?"

Answers come from your connected accounts and manual entries, not from generic web advice. How the AI works: https://useclarity.app/product/ai.

## Account & data

Household sharing, exports, account deletion, and what happens to your data over time.

### What happens to my data if I cancel?

You keep it.

Cancelling drops you to the free tier — your history stays in your account, and you can export a full JSON backup anytime (the same export we use for data-portability requests under GDPR Article 20).

When you delete the account, integration credentials (Plaid tokens, exchange API keys) are revoked and removed immediately, and the rest of your data is typically deleted within 30 days. Some records may be retained longer where we're legally required to keep them (tax or fraud-prevention purposes). Your privacy rights: https://useclarity.app/legal/privacy.

### Can I export my data?

Yes. Authenticated users can request a machine-readable JSON full backup anytime — transactions, holdings, categories, merchants, budgets, goals, and account identifiers all included. This is the portability export we use for GDPR Article 20 requests.

Formatted reports (PDF) and category-level CSV exports are paid-tier features available on Pro and Wealth. Your privacy rights: https://useclarity.app/legal/privacy.

### Can my spouse or household see my Clarity?

Yes. Account holders can invite household members to share financial visibility within a single Clarity account.

Each household member has their own login. The account owner controls which data is visible to each member and can adjust permissions at any time. Removing a member revokes their access immediately. Household members are subject to the same Terms of Service and Acceptable Use policies as the account owner. Terms of Service: https://useclarity.app/legal/terms.

### How do I contact support?

Email us through the contact page and we'll get back to you within one business day on most questions, sooner for billing or security issues. Pro and Wealth subscribers get prioritized response times. Contact: https://useclarity.app/contact.

## Comparisons & alternatives

How Clarity stacks up against the apps you might already be using.

### How does Clarity compare to Monarch, Copilot, YNAB, or Mint replacements?

They're great spending trackers — none of them does the full balance sheet.

Monarch handles shared budgeting well but skips crypto exchanges, on-chain wallets, and DeFi. Copilot has a beautiful iOS spending UI without real investing or crypto depth. YNAB is best-in-class envelope budgeting and doesn't try to be a net worth or portfolio tool. Most Mint replacements clone the spending feed and stop there.

Clarity adds lot-level cost basis, on-chain positions across 40+ chains, tax-form reconciliation that catches what brokers miss, and an AI assistant that answers questions using your actual data. Pricing is published from the live source, so figures don't go stale in a screenshot. Side-by-side: https://useclarity.app/compare. Alternatives by category: https://useclarity.app/alternatives. Or browse the whole resource hub: https://useclarity.app/atlas.

### Is Clarity better than a spreadsheet?

Spreadsheets are powerful — until you transfer money, change a holding, or open a new account. Then you have to update every formula.

Clarity stays current automatically: balances, transactions, and holdings sync from your accounts; cost basis is recomputed when you trade; net worth updates live. You can still export everything to JSON or CSV when you need a spreadsheet for a specific analysis.

If you're already happy with a spreadsheet, Clarity's free tier may still be worth keeping in your toolkit for the parts spreadsheets are bad at — recurring detection, live crypto pricing across chains, and tax-document OCR. Workspace tour: https://useclarity.app/product.

## Links

- [FAQ](https://useclarity.app/faq)
- [Security](https://useclarity.app/legal/security)
- [Privacy](https://useclarity.app/legal/privacy)
- [Terms](https://useclarity.app/legal/terms)
- [Pricing](https://useclarity.app/pricing)
- [Integrations](https://useclarity.app/integrations)
- [Product](https://useclarity.app/product)
- [Contact](https://useclarity.app/contact)