Privacy & Encryption
A private budgeting app.
Encrypted end to end.
Ridgeline Budget never connects to your bank, never sees your credentials, and - with end-to-end encryption enabled - never sees your numbers at all. Here's exactly how a privacy-first budget app works.
No bank linking
A budget app that never touches your bank
Most budgeting apps ask you to connect your bank through an aggregator such as Plaid. That means granting a third party ongoing access to your accounts - and trusting them with your complete transaction history, stored on their servers, forever.
Ridgeline Budget takes the opposite approach: you enter your numbers yourself. It takes a couple of minutes a day, no outside service ever sees your bank data, and typing each amount keeps you honestly aware of what you're spending - which is half of what makes a budget work.
- No bank credentials shared with anyone, ever.
- No third-party aggregator storing your transaction history.
- Nothing to break when a bank changes its login flow.
- Manual entry doubles as your daily awareness habit.
End-to-end encryption
AES-256 encryption. Keys that never leave your device.
Enable encryption and your financial data is encrypted with AES-256-GCM on your device, before it's sent anywhere. The key is generated locally and stored only on your device. The server holds unreadable ciphertext - it never sees the key, so neither we nor anyone who breached the server could read your budget.
Choose a random 256-bit key (strongest) or derive one from a passphrase. Moving to a new device or sharing with your partner uses the built-in key-transfer tool, including QR-code sharing - the key still never passes through our servers in readable form.
- Data encrypted before it leaves your device.
- Zero-knowledge design: the server stores only ciphertext.
- QR key sharing for partners and new devices.
- Included with the $3/month or $35 lifetime plan.
No data business
We can't read your data - and we don't want to
Ridgeline Budget was built by one household, for our own finances. There are no advertisers, no "anonymized insights" sold to partners, and no data-monetization model of any kind. The business is simple: the app is free to start, and sync costs $3/month or $35 once.
Honest tradeoff: strong privacy means you hold the keys. If you lose every device with the key and have no backup, we can't recover your encrypted data - because we can't read it either. Regular JSON backups (one tap in Settings) make that a non-issue.
- No ads, no data selling, no tracking-based business model.
- Full JSON export - your data is always portable.
- Delete your account and data whenever you choose.
Common questions
Privacy questions, answered.
Why doesn't Ridgeline Budget link to my bank account?
Bank linking requires handing your credentials or account access to a third-party aggregator, which then stores your transaction history on its servers. We skip that entirely: you enter amounts yourself in a couple of minutes a day, so no outside service ever sees your bank data - and entering spending by hand keeps you genuinely aware of it.
Is Ridgeline Budget end-to-end encrypted?
Yes. Paid workspaces can enable AES-256-GCM end-to-end encryption. The key is generated and stored only on your device - data is encrypted before it's sent, and the server stores unreadable ciphertext. Nobody, including us, can decrypt it.
What happens if I lose my encryption key?
If you lose every device holding the key and have no backup, your encrypted data is unrecoverable - we cannot decrypt it because we never have the key. Protect yourself by exporting a JSON backup regularly (Settings → Data Backup → Export) and transferring the key to a second device with the built-in key-sharing tool.
Does Ridgeline Budget sell my data or show ads?
No. There are no ads and no data-monetization model. Revenue comes only from the optional $3/month or $35 lifetime plan, so there's no incentive to mine or sell your financial information. The full details are in our privacy policy.
More questions? See the full FAQ on privacy & encryption or read the privacy policy.
Free to start · No bank account required
Budget privately, starting today.
Try the full app free - no credit card, no bank connection, no data harvesting. Add encrypted sync for $3/month or a one-time $35.