Envelope Budgeting
Give every dollar a job.
Full zero-based envelope budgeting: a Ready-to-Assign pool, five target types, one-click auto-assign, and credit card payment envelopes. In the same app that runs your retirement plan.
14 days free · Full Pro access · No credit card
Zero-Based
Income lands in one pool. You decide where it goes.
Assigning is separate from spending, so your budget reflects intent, not just history. Every dollar is either assigned to an envelope or waiting in Ready to Assign.
Ready to Assign
Every deposit feeds one pool at the top of your budget. Assign it to envelopes until it reads zero. The screenshot above shows $19,800 of June income waiting for a job.
Balances roll forward
Unspent envelope money carries into next month. Cash overspending deducts from next month's pool, the same rule YNAB users expect.
A real assignment ledger
Assigning money and spending money are separate events. Every assign and move is recorded, so the activity log can tell you what changed, when, and by whom.
Built for two
Budgets are household-level. Your partner sees the same envelopes and the same pool, updated live as either of you assigns or spends.
Targets & Auto-Assign
Five target types. One click to fund them.
Tell each envelope what it needs and when. Auto-assign distributes Ready-to-Assign across your targets in one click, instead of forty manual entries on payday.
Weekly spending
Groceries at $250 a week, whatever the month looks like.
Monthly spending
The classic refill. Dining out gets $400 on the 1st.
Save by date
$3,000 for December travel. Thermal divides what's left by the months remaining.
Hold a balance
Keep $1,000 in car repairs at all times. Refills only after you spend it.
Yearly expense
$600 insurance premium due each June, funded $50 a month so it never surprises you.
Repeating targets
Any target can repeat every few months or years, so true expenses like registrations and premiums stay funded on autopilot.
Credit Cards
Spend on credit without the float trap
Buy groceries on a card and Thermal moves the budgeted cash into that card's payment envelope. When the statement arrives, the money is already set aside. Card overspending is tracked separately from cash overspending, so debt never hides inside your budget.
Simple Mode
Or keep it simple
Not everyone wants zero-based budgeting. Simple mode gives you category limits and live progress with zero ceremony.
Category limits
Set a monthly number per category and watch live progress as transactions sync. No assignment ceremony.
Real-time recompute
Recategorize a transaction and every budget total updates instantly, on every device.
Switch when ready
Simple and envelope modes share one data model. Start simple, flip to envelopes later without losing history.
Everywhere You Spend
The same budget in your pocket
The iOS app carries the full envelope budget: Ready to Assign, auto-assign, targets, and the activity log. Assign money in line at the store and it's assigned everywhere.
Savings goals ride along too: set a target amount and date, link accounts or allocate funds, and progress updates as balances change.
The Bridge
Your budget surplus has a retirement date
Thermal measures what your envelopes leave unspent each month and runs it through your retirement projection. Trim $200 from dining out and see what it does to the year you stop working.
See retirement planning →Ready to give every dollar a job?
Link your accounts, pick your mode, and have a working budget before your coffee cools. Moving from YNAB? See the comparison.
14 days free · Full Pro access · No credit card