Storage
Apps that dodge bank logins usually keep your numbers on one computer
Avoiding a bank connection is a reasonable line to draw. Doing it by storing everything in a single browser is the reason those apps cost you your records. Worth understanding which one you are choosing.
There is a good argument for never handing a bank login to a money app. Providers of bank-linking services have been widely criticised, and the risk is real. A surprising number of tools took that concern seriously, and that is to their credit.
The trouble is how they answered it. Rather than storing your records in a database that only you can log into, most of them kept them in your browser. That solves the bank problem and creates a different one, quietly, on your own machine.
What browser storage actually means
When a tool keeps your records in a browser, it writes them into storage attached to one browser profile on one machine. The app has no server copy. It cannot see them. It cannot migrate them for you.
That means clearing your browsing data can take your records with it. Moving to a new laptop means starting again or hunting down a file. Getting the numbers onto your phone is often not possible at all.
It also means backups are your job, and an ordinary backup habit usually covers documents and photos rather than a folder of finances nobody told you to copy.
The trade-offs these vendors say out loud
None of these vendors hide the single-device limit, which is refreshing. It is in their own words, which makes the comparison straightforward.
Business mode is a one-time $40 purchase for one computer.
One machine. Their business mode is sold per computer.
$19 one-time Pro upgrade adds multi-device sync and encrypted cloud backup.
Sync is the paid upgrade, so the free tier is one device by design.
A one-time purchase desktop app, macOS and Windows.
Desktop only. No phone, no tablet, no second computer.
The file is saved wherever you save files: Documents, Desktop, a drive you choose.
A file in one folder on one computer. Good until that computer dies.
Read those four quotes as a group and the pattern is obvious. Every one of them is a genuinely good product making the same structural choice, and every one of them sells multi-device as an upgrade. Nothing about that choice is a flaw in the software. It is a consequence of where they decided to keep your data.
Five questions worth asking before you trust one
Can I open my records on a phone?
If the vendor only sells a desktop app or a one-computer licence, the honest answer is no. That is a real limit for anyone who checks their numbers away from a desk.
Where are my records actually stored?
Browser storage means they live in one browser profile on one machine. Clearing site data, switching browsers, or reinstalling the OS can take them with it. The vendor cannot warn you, because the deletion happens outside their app.
Is there an account, or just a file?
If it is just a file, who backs it up? If it is an account, who can reach it, and what happens to the data if you stop paying?
Can I leave with everything?
Before you type anything in, look for a CSV export. If getting your data out needs a support email, treat that as a warning about what happens if the vendor changes direction.
What happens when the price changes?
A tool you rely on every month should let you take your history somewhere else. Local files travel. Accounts can be frozen.
Where Set-Aside sits
We also never connect to a bank. There is no bank login in the product and no code that could ask for one. The difference is where your records live.
They go into a real database behind your own account. Sign in from any device you can receive an email on, and your numbers are there. Every record is tied to your account, so no other user can reach it by guessing an ID or sharing a link.
To be fair about the other side: our records sit on someone else's server. We are not local-only and we do not pretend to be. The honest comparison is one database you sign into from anywhere, versus a file on one disk that you are responsible for copying.
And you can take everything with you. Settings has a CSV export for any date range. Leaving should not be harder than arriving, which is a low bar that a fair number of tools in this category miss.
A fair warning
If you mostly work at one desk, never clear your browser data, and are content to check your numbers in one place, one of these tools is a reasonable choice and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Simplicity has real value, and storing less is genuinely safer from some angles.
If you want your numbers on your phone, or you have been burned by losing a spreadsheet before, then the storage decision is the thing to look at. It matters more than any feature list.
See what your months actually look like
A magic link gets you in. We never ask for a bank login, and you can export everything as CSV whenever you want.