Track your spending in the US without linking your bank

A biweekly paycheck in a monthly budget

Getting paid every two weeks is the most common schedule at private employers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 43% of them paid biweekly in its 2023 survey. With 26 paychecks a year, two months bring three paydays instead of two.

Kesef works by month, and you choose the day it starts. Each paycheck goes in as income on the day it lands, so a three-paycheck month simply shows more income. Category budgets then tell you how much you can still spend per day until the period ends.

infoBudget on two paychecks a month. When the third one shows up, it's free to save or to pay something ahead.

Venmo, Zelle and Cash App: log them while you remember

Person-to-person payments are fast, which is exactly why they slip: your half of the Uber, the utilities you sent your roommate, the dinner someone else paid for. Kesef can't see those apps, so the habit is to dictate it right after: "dinner, 32". With your account in dollars, that's a $32 expense.

When a bill is shared, a group works better than a stream of transfers. You invite people with a link, each one sees their share, and Kesef can simplify the debts so fewer payments settle everything. People who join don't pay anything.

Apple Pay purchases, logged on their own

If you tap your iPhone to pay, Kesef Pro can log those purchases for you. You set up an automation in the Shortcuts app once, on iOS 17 or later, and every Apple Pay payment comes into Kesef with the merchant and the amount. It works with any card in your Wallet.

• Some banks don't share the amount: then Kesef saves the merchant and the date and waits for you to fill in the number.
• There's no equivalent on Android: there, voice is the fastest way.
• Kesef never sees your card number or your bank account.

Your banks and subscriptions, already on the list

With your phone in a US time zone, Kesef suggests the payment methods people use here, with their logos: Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, PayPal, Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One and Citi, plus Visa, Mastercard and American Express. For recurring bills it offers Hulu, Peacock, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Xfinity, SiriusXM, Audible and Planet Fitness.

infoPicking Chase or Zelle just names how you paid. Kesef has no access to those accounts.

Examples in dollars

• ExampleRent, paid by ZelleYou pay $1,450 of rent by Zelle on the first. You add it once as a monthly expense with Zelle as the payment method, and it shows up on its own every month.
• ExampleSplitting utilities with a roommateThe Xfinity bill is $90 and you share the place with one roommate. You log it in your group, split in halves, and Kesef shows that you're owed $45.
• ExampleGroceries on your Chase cardYou spend $86 at the grocery store with your Chase debit card. On iPhone with Kesef Pro, the Apple Pay purchase logs itself; otherwise you say "groceries, 86" on your way out.
• ExampleA gym membership that renewsPlanet Fitness is on the suggested recurring list: you pick it, enter $25 and a category, and it appears in your upcoming movements before every charge.

Everything else Kesef does

• Category budgets that tell you how much you can spend per day until the period ends.
• Savings goals with their contributions.
• Groups to split expenses with an invite link, free for everyone who joins.
• Recurring expenses, like a subscription, that repeat on their own.
• A calendar with what you spent each day and what's coming.
• A Chat you can ask about your own spending.

Downloading and using Kesef is free, on iPhone and Android. Kesef Pro is an optional subscription that removes ads and limits, and you see its price in the store before subscribing.

More on these features

• Your Apple Pay payments, logged on their ownThe Apple Pay automation, step by step.
• Split the household bills without keeping score in your headGroups for rent, trips and dinners.
• Category budgets that tell you how much you can spend per dayCategory budgets with a daily allowance.
• How to budget when your income changes every monthIf your income changes from one week to the next.