The budget app accountants don't hate

Each row is one transaction with columns for date, amount, type (expense or income), category, merchant, and any notes you added at entry. The header row is human-readable so spreadsheets pick it up immediately. Dates use ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD) for reliable sorting. Amounts use period decimals (no currency symbol) so spreadsheet math works without cleanup. Categories use the readable name you see in the app. If you have transactions across multiple months or years, they all come out in one file, sorted by date descending. The file is plain UTF-8 CSV, which means it opens in Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Tiller, or any text editor. No proprietary fields, no nested JSON, no encoding surprises.

CSV export is a premium-only feature ($2.99/week or $29.99/year). The free tier doesn't include export — partly because the heaviest export users (freelancers, small business owners, accountants' clients) get clear value from unlimited exports and that's the right fit for premium pricing. Annual premium is about $2.50/month, so a single year of premium typically pays for itself many times over at tax season by saving accountant data-entry time. If you're a casual user who doesn't need exports, the free tier covers your day-to-day budgeting fine. If exports are a recurring need, premium pays for itself fast.

Mint had CSV export before shutdown — many former Mint users specifically need an export-capable replacement. YNAB exports to CSV but only with a paid subscription ($14.99/month). Monarch exports to CSV on the household plan ($14.99/month). Copilot Money exports CSV with subscription ($13/month). The common pattern: CSV export is premium across the category. Cash Compass premium at $29.99/year is the cheapest of these by a wide margin, and the export file format is straightforward (no quirky columns or extra metadata to strip out). Goodbudget exports envelopes but not transactions in a way that's easy to feed into a tax workflow. For pure transaction export at low cost, Cash Compass is the cleanest option.

The CSV is generic enough that most accounting workflows accept it directly — QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Wave, Xero, and Tiller all import standard CSV. If your accountant uses an unusual template, the easiest path is to open the Cash Compass CSV in Excel or Numbers, rearrange columns, and save. The fields you usually need (date, amount, category, merchant) are all present and named clearly. We don't currently offer per-format export presets (QuickBooks IIF, OFX, QFX) because the matrix of accounting tools is wide enough that maintaining presets would be a moving target. The flat CSV approach lets you adapt to any tool with five minutes of column work, which most users find faster than waiting for a specific export integration.