In short
Lunch Money tracks over 160 currencies with daily rates, has a clean web app, an API and official mobile apps, and lets you set your own annual price. It is a small, bootstrapped company with over 13,000 paying members.
It has no cash flow forecast and no savings goals: both are open requests on its feedback board, with 237 and 499 votes as of October 2026. Freeboard starts from exactly that forecast.
Freeboard and Lunch Money side by side
As of October 2026, from the official pages listed at the end.
| Freeboard | Lunch Money | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | What you can spend today without going below zero in the next 12 months | A budget and your transactions, in any currency |
| Irregular income | Income weighted by certainty: certain in full, half at half, uncertain not at all | Not specific; budgets with rollover and custom periods |
| Forecast | Month by month, 12 months ahead | None (open request, 237 votes) |
| Goals | Emergency fund and goals, with money you can lock | None (open request, 499 votes) |
| Currencies | Many currencies, totals in euros at the ECB reference rate | Over 160 currencies, daily rates |
| Banks | European banks through Enable Banking (PSD2), or by hand | Plaid in the US, Canada and several EU countries; paid third-party services for the UK and more of Europe |
| Platforms | Stripe, Upwork and Fiverr payouts recognised; passive income kept apart from billed work | Not specific |
| Apps | Web app for phone and computer; no native app | Web, iPhone and Android |
| Track record | Early access: no users or reviews yet | Since 2019; over 13,000 paying members |
| Price | Not set yet; demo open to all, the first 100 on the waiting list get a year free | US$10 a month, or pay what you want yearly from US$60 (also in euros); 30 day trial, no card; price locked for life |
Where Lunch Money is stronger
- Multi-currency done well, with more than 160 currencies.
- Simplicity. A focused app, first on the web, built around transactions and budgets.
- An open API and integrations for people who like to build.
- Pricing you choose, locked for life, with a 30 day trial and no card.
- A track record and paying members in more than 30 countries.
Where Freeboard is different
- The months ahead. Freeboard forecasts twelve months and tells you what you can spend today without going below zero.
- Goals and an emergency fund that stay out of what you can spend.
- Certainty on every income, and platform payouts from Stripe, Upwork and Fiverr recognised.
- European banks read through Enable Banking (PSD2), or entered by hand.
Freeboard is new: no track record, no reviews, no native app, and one dashboard per person. What it does differently is narrow: one number, twelve months ahead, counting only income you can rely on, for people in Europe paid by clients and platforms in several currencies.
Lunch Money vs YNAB
YNAB brings a method and one currency per plan; Lunch Money brings many currencies and a lighter touch. For a nomad with accounts in several currencies, Lunch Money is usually the easier fit; for someone who wants a strict method in one currency, YNAB.
| Lunch Money | YNAB | |
|---|---|---|
| Currencies | Over 160 in one budget | One per plan |
| Method | Flexible budgets, rollover | Every unit gets a job |
| Banks in Europe | Plaid in several EU countries, third parties for the rest | Direct import in 18 countries |
| Forecast | None | No balance forecast |
| Trial | 30 days, no card | 34 days, no card |
| Price | From US$60 a year, you choose | US$109 a year |
Which one fits you
Lunch Money if you want to see where money went across many currencies, and you value simplicity and an API.
Freeboard if you also want to know what is coming: the lowest point of the next twelve months and what you can spend today. Try the safe to spend calculator first.
Sources
Read on 16 October 2026. Prices are those shown on the official pages, in US dollars unless stated; they can differ by country and change over time.
- YNAB alternative for EuropeYNAB and Freeboard.
- PocketSmith alternativeIncluding PocketSmith vs YNAB.