> Who is behind Gnarli Budget, what the project stands for, and who it is for: one independent developer, privacy first, proactive planning.

# About Gnarli Budget

Gnarli Budget is built by one person. I am an independent developer with no investors, no board, and no plan to sell the project to a larger company. I built the budgeting tool I wanted to use, and I am turning it into a small company that can support itself — and stay small.

## Why I built this

I wanted to know where my money was actually going, and I wanted a plan that stretched years ahead, not just to the next paycheck. The tools I tried either automated everything behind my back or stopped at this month's spending.

The short version of the story is in [The Story Behind Gnarli Budget](/insights/personal-motivation-a-story-by-the-creator.md).

## What I believe

Monitoring your financial activity plus proactive planning leads to financial freedom. And financial freedom is really time freedom: money set aside and a plan you trust buy back the hours you would otherwise spend worrying.

## Privacy is the leading principle

Gnarli Budget does not connect to third-party bank aggregators. You import your transactions yourself, as CSV files you control. Your data lives in your account, and built-in export and deletion mean you can take it with you or erase it at any time.

## Who this is for

Gnarli Budget works well for people who want control over their automation: you decide what the software does, it does the calculations. It fits people who forecast ahead of their money, and those planning toward financial independence.

## Who this isn't for

It is not for everyone. If you want your accounts connected and categorized for you automatically, or a household dashboard that ingests everything, other apps do that better — the [comparison page](/compare.md) points you at them honestly.

## A small company, never for sale

The plan is to build a small company and never sell it. The pricing is part of that promise: free forever for up to 2 accounts, unlimited accounts for $2/month. Incentives point at you, not at an exit.

## Where things stand: beta

Gnarli Budget is in beta, currently gated by a waitlist. Expect rough edges and changes; what you can count on is that your data stays yours and the fundamentals keep working.

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[About](https://budget.gnar.li/about.md)