CentoA Goodbudget alternative that reads your receipts
Goodbudget made envelope budgeting digital, and its free version is generous. Here is how Cento compares for couples and families: receipts read item by item, separate logins, currencies and price.
Goodbudget brought the envelope method to phones: you split your money into envelopes for rent, groceries or holidays, and spend from them. Its free version gives you 10 envelopes and 10 more for yearly costs and goals, and many couples use it to stay on the same page. If you are looking for something similar that also reads your receipts, keeps amounts in a real currency, or gives each person their own login, this page compares Goodbudget with Cento.
The short answer
- Choose Goodbudget if you want classic envelope budgeting, a web version on your computer, and, on Premium, bank sync with a US bank.
- Choose Cento if you want receipts read item by item, spending in any currency, each person in the household on their own account, and budgets with pockets inside pockets.
Typing every expense, or scanning it
Both apps are built for adding expenses yourself, without a bank connection. Goodbudget’s free version is fully manual; bank sync with US banks is part of Premium.
Typing an expense in Cento takes a few seconds, and it suggests items you have bought before. Cento can also read a receipt: the AI goes through it line by line and puts each item in its own category. A supermarket receipt with food, cleaning products and a birthday present becomes three categories, without you splitting it by hand. Goodbudget doesn’t scan receipts. You can split one transaction across envelopes, by typing the amounts.
Envelopes and pockets
Goodbudget’s envelopes are its core: you fill them each month and they show how much is left. The free version has 10 regular envelopes and 10 for yearly costs and goals, and Premium has as many as you like.
Cento’s budget, part of Premium, uses pockets: money set aside for each purpose, with sub-pockets inside, for example Food with Groceries and Eating out inside it. Cento shows what is left in each as you spend. Without Premium, Cento still shows where your money went, by category and month, with trends over time.
Sharing as a couple or family
Goodbudget shares a household through one shared login: everyone signs in with the same email and password, on up to 2 phones on the free version or 5 on Premium.
In Cento each person has their own account and joins the household. Each expense is marked as shared or as one person’s, so you see the household total and each person’s own spending. On the Family plan, one subscription covers up to 5 people and the others join free. Android and iPhone work in the same household.
Currencies
Goodbudget doesn’t use a currency: amounts are plain numbers, and a second currency needs a separate household. In Cento every amount has a currency, any currency works, and a receipt from abroad is converted, which helps on holiday or if you live across a border.
Side by side
| Goodbudget | Cento | |
|---|---|---|
| Free version | 10 envelopes plus 10 yearly ones, 1 money account, 2 devices, 1 year of history | No time limit, no ads, unlimited typed expenses, 3 receipt scans in total |
| Paid version | Premium: $10 a month or $80 a year | Premium: Personal or Family, priced for your country in the app |
| Budget method | Envelopes | Pockets and sub-pockets (Premium) |
| Receipts | Not read | AI reads every line and sorts each item |
| Bank sync | Premium, US banks | None |
| Sharing | One shared login, 2 phones free or 5 on Premium | Own account each, up to 5 people on the Family plan |
| Currencies | None, amounts are plain numbers | Any currency; receipts from abroad converted |
| Platforms | iPhone, Android, web | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| Export | Transactions as CSV | Expenses as CSV, plus a full backup |
What Cento doesn’t do
Cento has no web version and no bank sync. If you want to budget on your computer, or want transactions from a US bank to come in by themselves, Goodbudget Premium does both.
Which one should you use?
- You love the envelope method and want to plan on a computer: Goodbudget.
- You want to scan receipts and see each item in its own category: Cento.
- Your household spends in more than one currency: Cento.
- Each of you wants your own login, and to keep some spending your own: Cento.
Sources
Checked on 7 November 2026: Goodbudget’s plans, how it works, sharing with a partner, exporting transactions and the changelog. Cento’s features are described in the FAQ.