Why I built Paqid

I got tired of paying more for less.

I didn't set out to build a budgeting app. I liked the one I had, and its method changed how I handle money. I just got tired of paying more for it every year.

For years I used a well-known budgeting program. I bought it outright back at version 3, paid again to upgrade to version 4, and then one day it quietly became a subscription. So I kept paying — month after month, for the umpteenth time. And every renewal I'd ask myself the same question: what am I actually paying for?

Slick animations I didn't need. "New features" that felt like upgrades in search of a problem. A constant nudge to link all my bank accounts so the app could watch every transaction I made. And a steady drip of emails about making more, doing more, upgrading to more — none of which I'd asked for.

And I'm a programmer. Underneath, a budget is accounts, envelopes, transactions and some arithmetic. My complaint was never paying for software; it was paying more each year for things I didn't use. So I could build the part I actually used, and nothing else.

A word on how it was built: an AI coding assistant (Claude Code) wrote much of the code. I designed Paqid, made every product decision, and understand how it's put together, and I read, check and change what the AI writes. I've run my own budget on it since April 2026.

That just wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to optimize my way to more. I wanted to be a good steward of what I already had — to give every dollar a purpose that matched my values, keep my financial life my own, and have a little left over to be generous with.

So I built Paqid (Hebrew for "overseer"). No bank linking. No upsells. No barrage. Just a quiet, private place to oversee your money with intention — and a way to pass some of that same peace along to others who think the same way.

The feature I'd miss most is the least glamorous one: reconciling. Once a month I sit down with each statement and make sure Paqid and the bank agree to the penny. It's how I know my budget is actually right, and it's the reason I've never needed an app watching my bank account for me.

And I priced it plainly, right on the front page: $45 a year, or $4.50 a month. No tiers, no "contact us," no surprise upgrades — what you see is what it costs. It's priced to keep Paqid running and keep it getting better. Keeping it simple and inexpensive isn't a promotion. It's rather the point.

If that sounds like you, welcome. Let's steward well.

— Andy

If you want to go further

I've written a bit more about the thinking behind all this, in case any of it is the part you care about:

What envelope budgeting is, and how to actually do it — the method itself, including the four ways people give up on it.
Budgeting without linking your bank — what bank connections really involve, and why the tedious part turns out to be the useful part.
Do you spend less with cash? — the pain of paying, what the research actually shows, and how to keep that feeling when you pay with a card.
Budgeting as stewardship — overseeing what you've been given instead of optimizing your way to more, and funding generosity first.
Coming from YNAB — what's the same, what's different, and what you'd be giving up.
Reconciling your budget — the monthly check that makes every other number trustworthy, and what to look for when it doesn't match.

Using Paqid? If you'd like to tell others what you think, good or bad, it's listed on AlternativeTo.

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