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OnTheBuck vs. spreadsheets

Budgeting without spreadsheets

2026-02-26

A budgeting spreadsheet is great, right up until it's Sunday night and you're copy-pasting transactions again.

Spreadsheets give you total control. They also give you homework. Fall behind for a week and the numbers stop being trustworthy, so you stop opening the file.

The trade-off you're making

OnTheBuck A spreadsheet
Free plan Yes, free to start (no card) Free (manual)
Price Free; Pro CAD $8/mo or $72/yr Free
All accounts in one place Yes Manual entry
Budgets & spending Yes You build it
Cashflow view Yes You build it
Investment tracking Yes, incl. TFSA & RRSP Manual
Auto-categorization Yes No
Multi-currency Yes, USD and CAD in one base currency Manual formulas
Shared households Yes Shared file
Multiple Spaces Yes, keep personal, business & family separate Separate files
Bank connections Read-only via Plaid (Canadian banks) No (CSV import)
Platforms Web, iOS & Android Any spreadsheet app

Keep the control, drop the chore

OnTheBuck is built for spreadsheet people. You still decide how everything's organized, you just set it up once. Make a rule ("anything from this merchant is Groceries," "tag this account as Business") and it applies from then on. Your accounts sync in the background (read-only, so we never see your password), and the picture stays current without you touching a cell.

What you get back:

  • Net worth across every account, updated automatically.
  • Budgets and spending insights that don't depend on your data-entry discipline.
  • A cashflow view that shows money in vs money out, and forecasts next month from your history.
  • Rules and tags: spreadsheet-level control without the maintenance.

You don't have to give anything up

Your data is still yours: export everything to CSV anytime. If you love the ritual of a spreadsheet, keep it for the deep dives and let OnTheBuck handle the day-to-day, so the numbers are always right when you look.

Start free, and upgrade only if you want more.

Stop guessing where your money goes.

Track accounts, budgets, spending, cashflow, and investments in one calm place. Free to start.

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