Feature guides
Bank sync, with you in control
Automatic imports keep a budget current. An approval inbox keeps it yours. Budgey does both — automation you approve, not automation that happens to you.
6 min read · Updated July 2026 · All guides
Manual logging builds awareness, but life gets busy, and a budget missing a week of card swipes stops being true. Bank sync closes the gap: transactions from your bank and cards flow into Budgey automatically, each with an AI-suggested category.
The difference from other apps is what happens next: nothing touches your budget until you approve it. Every imported transaction waits in a Review Inbox where you confirm, recategorize, or ignore it — a ten-second daily ritual that keeps the numbers both current and correct. Bank sync is part of Budgey Unlimited and supports up to 3 connected banks or card accounts.
Connect your first account
- 1
Open bank sync in settings
In Budgey, head to bank connections and choose "Connect a bank." Bank sync is a Budgey Unlimited feature, so you'll be invited to upgrade if you're on the free plan.
- 2
Sign in through Plaid
Budgey uses Plaid — the same connection layer trusted by major financial apps — to link your bank. You authenticate directly with your bank inside Plaid's secure flow; Budgey never sees or stores your bank credentials.
- 3
Pick the accounts to sync
Choose which checking, savings, or card accounts should feed your budget. You can connect up to 3 banks or card institutions, and disconnect any of them whenever you like.
- 4
Let the first sync land
Recent transactions arrive in your Review Inbox, each tagged with an AI-suggested category based on the merchant and your own categorization habits. Nothing is in your budget yet — that part is yours.
Work the Review Inbox
The inbox is deliberately simple. Each pending transaction shows the merchant, amount, date, and BaoBot's suggested category. You approve it into your budget (with that category or one you pick), or ignore it — for transfers, reimbursements, and other things that are not really spending. Budgey also flags likely duplicates, like a synced transaction you already logged by hand the day you spent it.
Done daily it is a ten-second habit; done weekly it is a two-minute one. You can approve items one by one or sweep the obvious ones in bulk — and even ask BaoBot to review the inbox with you.
Why an approval step at all?
Fully automatic importing sounds ideal until your budget fills with miscategorized noise — transfers counted as income, refunds counted as spending, one purchase appearing twice. Silent automation erodes trust, and an untrusted budget gets abandoned.
The approval step costs seconds and buys certainty: every number in your budget is one you have seen. You still get the completeness of sync — nothing slips through — with the awareness of manual logging, which is the entire point of budgeting.
- ✓Keep logging cash by hand or by receipt scan — cash never hits the inbox.
- ✓Ignore (don't approve) credit card payments and transfers between your own accounts, or they'll double-count spending you already logged.
- ✓If you also log big purchases manually the moment they happen, approve the synced twin as a duplicate check — Budgey flags it for you.
Your questions
Is it safe to connect my bank account to Budgey?+
Bank connections go through Plaid, the connection layer used by major financial apps. You authenticate directly with your bank inside Plaid's flow, so Budgey never sees or stores your bank username or password — it only receives read-only transaction data, and you can disconnect an account at any time.
How many bank accounts can I connect to Budgey?+
Budgey Unlimited supports up to 3 connected banks or card institutions, each of which can sync multiple accounts (checking, savings, cards). If you actively use more than three institutions for day-to-day spending, Budgey's sync may not fit — our comparison pages point honestly at alternatives.
What is the Review Inbox in Budgey?+
It is where synced transactions wait for your approval. Each import arrives with an AI-suggested category; you approve it into your budget, change the category, or ignore it (for transfers and non-spending). Nothing touches your budget until you say so, and likely duplicates of manually logged transactions are flagged automatically.
Does Budgey categorize transactions automatically?+
It suggests — you decide. Every synced transaction gets an AI-suggested category based on the merchant and your own past choices, and the suggestions improve as you correct them. The approval step means an automatic guess never silently lands in your budget.
Can I use Budgey without bank sync?+
Completely. Manual entry, receipt scanning, and BaoBot chat logging are first-class on every plan, and many users prefer the awareness of logging by hand. Bank sync is an optional Budgey Unlimited feature for keeping the budget current when life gets busy.
Put it into practice
Budgey is free on iOS, Android, and Web — no credit card, no trial clock. BaoBot will build your first budget with you.
No credit card required · Free plan forever · One budget on every device
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