Do you need an app, or is your spreadsheet enough?
Most people who keep their finances seriously started with a spreadsheet. Many never leave it, and they are right to. This page is for the moment you start wondering.
Data and prices checked on
If your spreadsheet works, keep it. It is free or already paid for, it does exactly what you tell it, and nobody knows your finances better than the sheet you built yourself. Cashfulness does not beat Excel at flexibility, and it does not try.
The reasons to move are specific. The first is balance: a spreadsheet cannot stop you from entering an expense without taking it from anywhere, so after a year the totals quietly drift from the bank; double-entry makes that impossible. The second is the phone: an expense you write at the till is an expense that gets recorded. The third is everything you end up rebuilding by hand: exchange rates, recurring payments, the reconciliation with the bank statement, the balance sheet, the documents. Cashfulness does those for 57.99 euro a year, with a free plan to see if it is worth it.
of spreadsheets contain at least one error, across decades of field audits. A household file is simpler than a corporate model, but it is also audited by nobody.
Raymond R. Panko, University of Hawaii, "What We Know About Spreadsheet Errors" and later auditsSide by side
| Cashfulness | Spreadsheet | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free up to 200 entries or 60 days; 57.99 € a year | Free (Google Sheets, Numbers) or part of Microsoft 365Better here |
| Flexibility | A chart of accounts you shape, within the method | Unlimited: it is whatever you buildBetter here |
| Books that balance | Guaranteed: every entry has a debit and a creditBetter here | Only if your formulas are right, and stay right |
| Entering an expense from your phone | Quick entry bar, a few secondsBetter here | Possible, awkward on a small screen |
| Balance sheet and income statement | Built in, always currentBetter here | You build and maintain them |
| Multi-currency | 32 currencies with automatic ratesBetter here | Manual rates, or a formula to look them up |
| Recurring payments | Proposed on their own, with remindersBetter here | Copy and paste |
| Bank reconciliation | CSV import and matchingBetter here | By eye, or with formulas |
| Documents | Attached to the entry, end-to-end encryptedBetter here | Links to files elsewhere |
| Sharing | Collaborators with permissions (Ultra) | Shared file, everyone can change everything |
| Works offline | Needs a connection to sync | Excel and Numbers fully; Sheets with offline modeBetter here |
| Your data | CSV export at any time | It is your fileBetter here |
No competitor prices to verify on this page: Google Sheets and Apple Numbers are free, Excel is part of Microsoft 365.
Where the spreadsheet is better
Freedom. Any layout, any formula, any chart. If you like building the tool as much as using it, no app will replace that.
Cost. Nothing, or something you already pay for.
Ownership. The file is on your disk, in a format that will open in thirty years.
Offline. Excel and Numbers never need a connection.
The drift problem
A spreadsheet records what you type. If you type an expense but forget which account paid it, or a transfer in one tab and not the other, nothing complains. Twelve months later the sheet says one thing and the bank another, and you spend an evening finding out why.
Double-entry is the five-century-old answer to exactly this: every entry moves money from one account to another, so the total of all accounts is always zero and a mistake shows up the moment you make it. Cashfulness writes the two sides for you; you only see amount and category.
Bringing your spreadsheet in
Export your sheet as CSV and import it. Columns map to date, amount, account and category; the accounts you used become the chart of accounts, and the balances on the day you start become the opening balances. Keep the old file: it is your archive, and nothing in Cashfulness depends on it.
When to stay with the spreadsheet
If you reconcile once a year and it balances. If you track three accounts and never travel. If building the model is half the pleasure. In all those cases, Cashfulness would be a cost for a problem you do not have, and we would rather tell you so than sell you a subscription.
Questions people ask
Can I import my Excel or Google Sheets file into Cashfulness?
Yes, as CSV: date, amount, account and category map onto the chart of accounts, and the balances on your start date become the opening balances.
Is Cashfulness more accurate than a spreadsheet?
It cannot go out of balance, because every entry has a debit and a credit. A spreadsheet is as accurate as its formulas, and nobody checks them for you.
What does a spreadsheet do better?
Anything custom: your own layout, your own formulas, your own charts. It is also free and fully offline.
Can I keep using my spreadsheet alongside Cashfulness?
Yes. Export from Cashfulness as CSV whenever you want and feed your sheet. Many people keep the sheet for analysis and the app for daily entry.
How much does Cashfulness cost?
Free up to 200 entries or 60 days. Then Premium at 5.99 euro a month or 57.99 a year, or Ultra at 9.99 or 95.99 with shared spaces and 10 GB of documents.
Try it on your own numbers
Free up to 200 entries or 60 days, no card. If it is for you, Premium costs 5.99 a month or 57.99 a year.