Manual by design
Writing the entry is the budgeting moment. The app keeps that act fast instead of hiding it behind sync.
Manual money records, owned by you.
A ledger that lives on your phone.
Tabulala helps you record expenses, plan the month, manage recurring items, and keep net-worth snapshots by hand.No accounts. No bank sync. Exportable data.
Free during beta. Final launch price still being set.
The problem
Most money tools make you choose a compromise.
- Option 1: bank syncConvenient, but your transaction history leaves your hands.
- Option 2: free appsOften paid for with ads, tracking, or pressure to upgrade.
- Option 3: spreadsheetsPrivate, until they become one more system to maintain.
Tabulala is the fourth option.A small manual ledger for people who want privacy without rebuilding a spreadsheet.
Calm, manual, exportable, and built around records you control.
What it is
One app. One price. Everything in.
Not a free tier with paywalled pages. One complete personal finance tool, bought once.
Daily expense tracking
Amount-first, under 8 seconds to add a transaction.
The month
Plan the month before you live it, then compare it with what actually happened.
Recurring items
Confirm or skip each one. Nothing posts silently in the background.
Net worth
Manually updated balances, saved as snapshots. No Plaid, no broker links.
Export
Export your records to a plain file you can keep, open, or move.
01
$12.40
Start with the amount and date. Today is already filled in.
02
Lunch
Add a note, category, and account from the same screen.
03
Saved
One tap, back to the ledger. No bank connection detour.
Not included, on purpose
- Bank sync, account aggregation, or Plaid.
- Cloud sync, logins, usage tracking, or crash reports.
- Subscriptions, tiers, or features behind a wall.
- Streaks, badges, leaderboards, or scores.
What it looks like
Designed to feel like a private notebook, not a dashboard.
Rows are the hero. No charts you didn't ask for.
Today
$1,842.30
Left for the month. Updated only when you write something down.
GroceriesHousehold · May 24
− $62.00
RentRecurring · confirm or skip
Due
Brokerage balanceSnapshot · manually updated
+ $400.00
No "you spent more than last month" pop-ups. Just your record, the way you'd keep it in a good notebook, if a notebook could also do math.
Three pillars
Three things we care about more than features.
Local-first, really.
Zero network calls in normal use. Install it, switch on airplane mode, use it forever. The only path out is when you tap Export and hand a file to your share sheet.
One-time price.
$19 once. Everything in. You're not renting a tool that gets worse if you stop paying.
Reversible by design.
Categories archive instead of deleting. Balance edits append a new snapshot instead of overwriting history. Reset wipes everything atomically after typed confirmation.
Product posture
Small promises that shape the app.
No account required
The default path is simple: open the app, write the record, keep going.
Your records can leave
If Tabulala stops fitting your life, your records should not be trapped inside it.
Objections
A few things you're probably thinking.
Manual entry sounds exhausting.
Add Transaction is amount-first and fits on one screen. Most entries take under 8 seconds. That small act is part of the point: you see the money leave as you write it down.
What happens when I get a new phone?
Export your records to a plain file you can keep and open elsewhere. v1 ships export-first; bringing an old export back into the app is planned next.
You charge once. What if you stop maintaining it?
Your records are yours regardless. Export gives you a way out instead of locking your money history inside the app.
Why no subscription?
Paying every month to track spending can become the thing you are trying to avoid. Tabulala is meant to be a small tool you buy once and keep.
Will years of entries fill up my phone?
For normal manual use, years of entries should be measured in megabytes, not gigabytes. The exact number depends on how much you record, but v1 is not planned around heavy media like receipt-photo storage.
Will cloud sync ever be added?
Maybe, but only if it can be optional and clear. The default app should stay local-first, exportable, and useful without an account. Any future sync would need to respect that instead of replacing it.
Pricing
One price. Once. Everything in.
$19 one-time at launch. No subscription. No tiers.
Free during the TestFlight beta.
$19
- Net worth: included.
- The month: included.
- Recurring: included.
- Exports: included.
- Future updates: included.