Blog · Comparisons
Budgeting apps that let the month start on payday
Mihkel Vetemaa
Co-founder & CEO ·
Bilance, Monefy, Toshl and Bankin’ let you move the start of the budget month to any day you choose. Each has a different scope, and only Bilance and Monefy offer it on every platform. Wallet by BudgetBakers has the setting on Android only. MoneyWiz and Spendee can start an individual budget on any date. Finanzguru documents custom monthly periods for budgets, analysis and statistics, alongside a separate salary-month statistics mode. YNAB and Actual Budget stick to calendar months on purpose. We make Bilance. The table links to public vendor sources where available; Bilance’s settings were checked in the app.
Why the 1st is the wrong day for many people
Most salaries in Europe arrive near the end of the month, often between the 25th and the last working day. If your app’s month runs from the 1st, your pay and the rent it covers land in different “months”. A month that looks great was just the one where salary arrived a day early, and a month that looks terrible paid two rents.
Moving the month start to your payday fixes the bookkeeping instead of your habits: every period begins with money arriving and ends just before the next salary. Spending, budgets and monthly comparisons suddenly describe real pay cycles.
What a real custom month start includes
The detail worth checking before you switch: does the whole app follow the new month, or only one budget? In some apps the setting exists but moves a single budget’s window, while statistics, reports and charts stay on calendar months. A real financial month moves everything at once.
How it works in Bilance
In Bilance the setting is called the financial month (Settings, “Financial month”). Pick any day from 1 to 31 and the whole app follows: budgets, spending statistics, the savings rate and the monthly report all use the same window. There is no day-28 cap; if you pick the 31st, shorter months simply start on their last day, so February works without a special rule. Calendar months stay the default, and we recommend keeping them unless your payday actually causes the boundary problem above.
The comparison at a glance
| Custom month start | Budgets | Pricing model | Platforms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilance | Yes — any day, e.g. payday; budgets and reports follow | Yes — monthly, per category | Paid; no permanent free tier [1] | iOS, Android [1] |
| Monefy | Yes — any day 1–31 [1] | Yes — monthly; weekly is Android-only [1] | Free core app; paid Premium unlock [1] [2] | iOS, Android [1] [2] |
| Toshl Finance | Yes — set in the web app; budgets and graphs follow [1] | 2 on Free, unlimited paid; custom periods, rollover [1] [2] | Free tier; sync needs Medici plan [1] [2] | iOS, Android, web [1] |
| Bankin' | Yes — budgets only, any start day [1] | Yes; custom categories need Plus/Pro [1] [2] | Free core; Plus/Pro subscriptions; ads and partner offers [1] [2] [3] | iOS, Android [1] [2] |
| Wallet by BudgetBakers | Yes — Android only, not iOS or web [1] | Yes — mobile apps only [1] | Free tier; sync needs Premium [1] [2] | iOS, Android, web [1] |
| MoneyWiz | Per budget — any start date; no app-wide setting [1] | Yes — rollover, groups, income goals [1] | Free manual tier; bank sync needs Premium [1] [2] | Apple only [1] |
| Spendee | Per budget — start date at creation [1] | 1 free; unlimited paid [1] | Free tier; sync needs Premium [1] | iOS, Android, web [1] |
| Finanzguru | Yes — payday-to-payday or custom day [1] | Yes — Plus only [1] | Free tier; budgets, forecasts & full history need Plus [1] | iOS, Android, Mac [1] [2] |
| YNAB | No — calendar months by design [1] | Zero-based method; flexible targets [1] | Paid only (USD) [1] | iOS, Android, web [1] |
| Actual Budget | No — calendar months [1] | Envelope method, zero-sum [1] | Free, open-source (MIT); hosting is separate [1] [2] | Windows, macOS, Linux; mobile via web app [1] [2] |
| Buddy | — | Yes — very flexible [1] | Free tier; sync needs Premium [1] | Apple only [1] [2] |
| Fintonic | — | Category spending forecasts [1] | Free (marketplace-funded) [1] | iOS, Android, web [1] [2] [3] |
A dash means we could not verify the point from the vendor’s published pages. That is “not verified”, not “proven absent”.
The apps, briefly
Full support. Bilance moves the whole app to your chosen day, on iOS and Android. Monefy has a “first day of month” setting for any day 1 to 31; it is a manual expense tracker, so every transaction is typed in by hand. Toshl calls it the financial month too, but you can only change the setting in its web app, not on the phone. Bankin’ lets the budget start on any day and pitches it for paydays; it is France-first.
With an asterisk. Wallet by BudgetBakers has an “initial day of the month” setting, but its own help page marks it unavailable on iOS and the web app. MoneyWiz and Spendee give each budget its own start date, which works if budgets are all you need, but neither documents an app-wide setting. Finanzguru’s documentation describes custom monthly periods for budgets, analysis and statistics. Its separate salary-month statistics follow a regular monthly income contract, which can also be added manually from existing transactions. That statistics mode follows the income date rather than a freely chosen day.
Deliberate no. YNAB keeps calendar months by design; its answer is the YNAB method itself, assigning each paycheck forward until you are a full month ahead. That is coherent, it just asks you to adopt a method rather than change a setting. Actual Budget is calendar-month only; a custom start day is a long-standing open feature request.
Paid weekly or every two weeks?
A fixed start day only helps when your payday is a date. If you are paid every two weeks, payday rotates through the calendar, and no day-anchored month can follow it. This is common in the US: 43% of US private establishments paid biweekly and about 10% paid monthly in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ February 2023 snapshot. The snapshot does not show how pay schedules changed over time. In Europe monthly salary is the usual case, which is exactly why a payday-anchored month works so well here. If you are on rotating paydays, look at budgets with weekly or custom periods (Toshl and MoneyWiz both document them) rather than a month-start setting.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change the start of the month in Bilance?
Yes. In Settings, choose "Financial month" and pick any day from 1 to 31. Budgets, statistics, the savings rate and the monthly report all follow the same window, on iOS and Android.
What happens in February if my month starts on the 30th?
In Bilance, months that are shorter than your chosen day start on their last day instead, so a financial month anchored to the 30th or 31st still works all year. Some other apps avoid the question by capping the setting at day 28.
Does YNAB let the budget month start on payday?
No, and this is a design decision, not a gap. YNAB expects you to assign each paycheck to upcoming costs and gradually get a month ahead, at which point the calendar boundary stops mattering. It works, but it is a method to learn, not a setting to change.
Is a custom month start worth switching apps for?
Only if the boundary problem actually distorts your numbers, which usually means your pay arrives near the end of the month and your biggest bills follow it immediately. If your current app tracks well otherwise, check first whether it has the setting hidden away; the table above shows where each app stands.
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