YNAB vs SoFi Coach℠: Budgeting Comparison Guide
By Lauren Ward
Many life goals need money if they are going to be achieved — from buying a house to traveling the world to going back to school. Whatever your vision board looks like, the first step for most people is making a budget and managing your money month after month.
Using a budgeting app can be a wise money move. It can help you stay on top of your transactions, especially when it has the right features. Find out how YNAB and SoFi Coach money trackers compare to each other and discover which may be right for you.
- Key Points
- • Both YNAB and SoFi Coach are budgeting tools that help users track expenses and reach financial goals.
- • SoFi Coach is a free tool that aggregates financial accounts, including investments and debts, to provide a comprehensive look at your net worth and credit score.
- • A standout feature of SoFi Coach is its integrated AI chat, which offers real-time, personalized financial guidance based on your actual data.
- • YNAB is a paid, subscription-based service that utilizes the zero-sum budgeting method to help users proactively allocate income.
- • Up to six users can be linked to one YNAB account, allowing spouses, for example, to share data.
Your money questions, answered.
What Is SoFi Coach?
SoFi Coach is an online budget planner app with a built-in AI chat where you can ask questions and get real-time feedback on your money. The app connects all of your financial accounts in one place, including investments, assets, credit cards, and loans. You can create a budget, categorize your expenses, and spot upcoming bills to avoid unpleasant surprises hitting your bank account.
SoFi Coach is free and you can sync both SoFi accounts and external accounts for a full financial picture. Once your accounts are connected, you can ask budgeting questions and get answers based on a current snapshot of your finances along with historical data from your account. There’s also credit monitoring included, providing weekly updates on your score. Plus, you get reward points with every five-point increase.
Benefits of SoFi Coach
SoFi Coach gives you a holistic view of your finances, from your day-to-day spending to your long-term net worth. It tracks property value for vehicles and real estate as well as investment performance.
The app also summarizes your current debt and helps you create a plan to pay off your balances ahead of schedule. You can also ask questions for personalized insights based on your financial data, which can help you make informed decisions. It can be something simple like, “Am I on track to save the max in my 401k this year?” to something more complex like, “How much can I afford to spend on my next house?”
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What Is YNAB?
YNAB (which stands for You Need A Budget) is a budgeting app using the zero-sum budgeting method, which helps you plan your income by assigning a spending category to every dollar. In addition to tracking your monthly bills, it also helps you prepare for less frequent expenses like car repairs, savings goals, and debt payoff.
YNAB costs $14.99 per month or $109 for a year when you pay upfront (which comes to $9.08 per month). You can also try a 34-day free trial without submitting your credit card information.
Benefits of YNAB
YNAB allows you to link to multiple bank accounts to import your transactions in real-time. It offers trends reports to help you avoid lifestyle creep and, like SoFi Coach, includes your debt balances and investment accounts so you can track your overall net worth.
It also tracks the age of your money, which measures the time between earning and spending. The goal of this metric is to help users break out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. A major benefit of YNAB is that one subscription lets you link up to six people (such as a spouse or your entire family). That makes it easier to keep everyone on the same page when multiple people use the same accounts.
SoFi Coach vs YNAB for Budgeting
Both SoFi Coach and YNAB can help you learn how to make a budget, but here’s how they compare across other features.
Feature |
SoFi Coach |
YNAB |
|---|---|---|
Pricing |
No charge |
$14.99/ month or $109 per year |
Credit monitoring |
VantageScore 3.0 credit score included |
Not available |
Shared accounts |
Not available |
Groups of up to six people allowed |
Customized insights |
Ask AI-powered chat assistant for guidance based on your own data |
View spending, net worth, and income vs. expense reports |
SoFi Coach Advantages
The SoFi Coach money tracker has several perks you can take advantage of. For starters, you can connect accounts from 12,000 financial institutions, which will allow you to get a truly comprehensive view of your money, debt, and equity no matter where you bank.
You also get weekly credit score updates to see what’s driving your score up or down. If you want tips on how to improve that number or reach any other financial goal, just ask your AI coach for personalized guidance. The AI Coach Chat tool, unique to SoFi Coach, is built using the same playbook SoFi Financial Planners use.
Tips to Maximize SoFi Coach Benefits
Avoid common budgeting mistakes with these tips to make the most of your SoFi Coach experience.
• Connect all of your financial accounts: Your AI-powered coach will give you the best insights when all of your accounts, including debts, investments, and other assets, are added to the app.
• Ask for budgeting help: Once you’ve created a budget within SoFi Coach, ask for areas you could cut back on to save.
• Organize your savings: When you save in a SoFi high-yield savings account, you can set up separate vaults within the account for individual goals for easier tracking.
• Automate transfers: You can ask your SoFi Coach to transfer funds or schedule recurring deposits to help keep your goals on track. “Automating finances can not only be a smart money move, it could also alleviate some of your stress around payment deadlines,” says Brian Walsh, CFP® and Head of Advice & Planning at SoFi.
The Takeaway
Whether you’re just getting started with a budget or want to take your finances to the next level, it’s wise to use a budgeting app. YNAB costs $14.99 a month but could be a good choice if you want multiple members of your family or household to share one app. SoFi Coach, however, is free and includes credit monitoring and an AI tool to answer questions and help you manage your money. If giving access to multiple household members isn’t a primary issue for you, SoFi Coach may offer a more robust set of tools at no cost.
Take control of your finances with SoFi Coach. You can easily view all of your accounts in one convenient dashboard: bank and investment balances, current debts, spending breakdowns, and credit score. Easily set up budgets and spot upcoming bills. And get personalized insights on everyday money questions and take action with Coach chat, the AI guide that’s powered by the playbooks of SoFi Financial Planners, so its guidance comes from expert knowledge.
FAQ
What are the main benefits of YNAB?
YNAB helps you assign every dollar a job in your budget with real-time expense tracking. It also offers insights reports into your spending and net worth. If you want to share your budget with a partner or family member, YNAB lets you add up to six people to a single account.
How much does YNAB cost?
YNAB costs $14.99 per month, or you can pay for a year upfront at a discounted rate of $109. There’s also a 34-day free trial you can start with, which doesn’t require a credit card to get started.
How does YNAB work?
Once you sign up for YNAB, you’ll build your monthly budget template by personalizing categories, adding non-monthly expenses, and setting targets for each category. Then you link your financial accounts in order to track your income, expenses, and progress.
What is the difference between YNAB and SoFi Coach for budgeting?
Both YNAB and SoFi Coach help you budget and save for future goals, with a few key differences. First, there’s no charge to use SoFi Coach if you’re a SoFi member, while YNAB requires a paid subscription. SoFi Coach has an AI-powered chat to help you analyze your finances, while YNAB relies on reporting for analysis.
Is SoFi Coach free?
Yes, SoFi Coach is a free budgeting and credit monitoring app.
How to sign up for SoFi Coach?
SoFi members (accountholders, including those with loans or a SoFi credit card) can access SoFi Coach by tapping on the Coach icon on the top right of the SoFi app home screen. SoFi Coach is most helpful when you link external accounts. Take a few minutes to do this and you’ll have a comprehensive view of your finances with SoFi Coach Insights.
