No accounts · No bank-linking · Explains, never advises
Understand your money.
Before you spend it.
Budgeting, debt, saving, credit, and scams — in plain language.
PlainMoney is a free set of calculators and guides for the everyday money questions nobody explains well. Try the tools right here, no signup. The mobile app carries the same honesty further — it keeps your real numbers entirely on your own device.
- Nothing you type on this site is saved
- Safety guidance is free forever
- The app never links to your bank
See it in action
Real screens from the app
Your actual cash-left-until-payday with the optional on-device AI switched on, a real paycheck broken down line by line, and spending viewed in a different country's currency without your real numbers ever changing.
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Today, with on-device AI on
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Paycheck, decoded
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View in any currency
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Spending, by category
The same rules on this site and in the app
- No backend
- No accounts
- No analytics or trackers
- No bank-linking, ever
- No credit checks
- Safety content free forever
Try it now
Real calculators, right in your browser
Type your own numbers — nothing leaves this page. These are two of the app's built-in tools; the full library of calculators lives in Tools.
The 50/30/20 budget split
A starting split for take-home pay: needs, wants, and savings.
● Not saved anywhere
Emergency fund target
A cushion sized to your own essential monthly spending.
● Not saved anywhere
This page computes from numbers you type once. In the app, tools like this read your actual logged income and spending automatically — irregular-income averaging, a real cash-flow calendar, budget caps that track what you've already spent this month. See what's app-only →
How the app is organized
Four tabs. Nothing about you leaves your phone.
This site mirrors the app's shape, minus the parts that need your real, private data.
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1
Today
Cash left until payday, upcoming bills, and the tools that use your real numbers — the irregular-income averager, cash-flow calendar, spending caps. On-device only.
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2
Learn
Plain-language guides across 21 topics — budgeting to retirement to scams — each ending with what it explains and, just as clearly, what it isn't advice about.
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3
Safety
Deterministic playbooks for fraud, coercive control, elder exploitation, and benefits — no model involved, no paywall, ever. See the Safety hub →
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4
Manage
Your money system, currency lens, content packs, and — the whole point — a "Your data" screen that exports or deletes everything, because it never left your device.
PlainMoney explains how things work. It never tells you what to buy, sell, pay first, or borrow — every tool and guide ends with a plain line about what it isn't advice about.
New · Simulate
Watch a paycheck actually move
An animated flow diagram of one paycheck — gross pay, taxes, needs, wants, savings, and debt payoff — that you can run forward in time to see compounding versus debt interest. Drag the controls; the whole thing updates live.
Learn
21 topics, in plain language
A sample of what's here now — the app carries the complete library, on-device, with your own numbers worked in.
How big should an emergency fund be?
3 vs. 6 months of essentials, and where to actually keep the money.
Read the guide → Free foreverWhat rent-to-own and payday loans really cost
The true annualized cost, and why these products trap rather than just cost.
Read the guide → FreeHow compounding actually adds up
Why starting early beats a larger amount later — with a live calculator.
Read the guide →Free forever — no exceptions
Safety guidance is never behind a paywall
Fraud, coercive financial control, elder exploitation, disability benefits, and disaster recovery — this content is deterministic (no model involved), always free, in the app and on this site, for as long as PlainMoney exists.
Financial fraud
Scam patterns, safe money-moving, identity-theft recovery.
Coercive control
Signs of financial abuse and a safe first step.
Benefits & assistance
Eligibility basics, Social Security, disaster recovery.
Local resources
Food banks, tax clinics, and nonprofit debt help — offline directory.
Explain, never advise
Why this reads differently than most finance apps
Most budgeting apps
- Ask you to link your bank account
- Make money from your data or ads
- Tell you what to do with your money
- Gate basic safety information behind a subscription
PlainMoney
- Never links to a bank, ever — you type in your own numbers
- No accounts, no analytics, no ads, no third-party SDKs
- Explains how things work — the decision stays yours
- Safety content is free forever, with no Pro UI anywhere near it
iOS & Android
The private half lives in the app
This site is the public, stateless half — try the math, read the guides, nothing saved. The app is where PlainMoney actually works for you: your real income and spending, an irregular-income averager, a cash-flow calendar, budget caps, savings goals — all on your device, never uploaded anywhere. Free forever covers 73 of the app's 105 features, including everything in Safety. Pro is $4.99/month for the deeper tools: net worth, loan comparison, quarterly-tax set-asides, and more.
Live on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, and on Google Play for Android phones and tablets.
- Your real numbers, on your device — never uploaded, never linked to a bank
- Optional on-device AI (new in 1.1) — "Enable AI/SI/LLM" is off by default; the model runs on your phone and nothing you type leaves it
- Free forever core — budgeting, debt, saving basics, and all of Safety
- Pro unlocks the deeper tools — $4.99/mo, cancel anytime
- Export or delete everything — one screen, because it's already only yours