--- title: "Copilot Money Alternative: Local-First Budgeting | SelfCapsule" description: "Copilot Money links 16,000+ US institutions. SelfCapsule never links a bank and keeps your data on your device. Compare price, platforms, AI, and storage." url: "https://selfcapsule.com/vs/copilot" image: "https://selfcapsule.com/og/default.png" --- SelfCapsule vs Copilot Money # Copilot Money vs SelfCapsule. Linked Accounts or Local-First. Copilot Money connects to your bank accounts and categorizes transactions for you on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web. SelfCapsule takes the other route: no bank connection and no account, just a local-first database on your device that you fill by importing statements. [Download for macOS](https://selfcapsule.com/download) [iPhone and iPad on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6764298551) Windows: coming soon Quick verdict Choose Copilot if you bank in the US and want transactions, balances, and investments to update on their own, with automatic categorization that learns from you. Choose SelfCapsule if you would rather no company held your transaction history, are happy to import a statement each month instead of sharing bank access, and prefer a free tier or a one-time payment to a subscription. ## How Copilot Money and SelfCapsule Compare Every Copilot Money entry comes from Copilot Money's own pages, read on 3 November 2026. Prices are in US dollars. [See the sources](https://selfcapsule.com/vs/copilot#sources). Copilot Money compared with SelfCapsule | Dimension | Copilot Money | SelfCapsule | | --- | --- | --- | | Where your data lives | Copilot's servers on Google Cloud Platform, with 256-bit encryption at rest and TLS in transit. | On your device only. No account, no cloud sync, no server. | | Bank connection | Yes, through Plaid and Mastercard Data Connect, plus direct links for Capital One, Coinbase, Apple Card, and Public. US institutions only. | None. You import statement files you download from your bank. | | How transactions arrive | Automatically, from linked accounts. | You import files. Mac: CSV, TSV, OFX, QFX, QIF. iPhone and iPad: CSV, OFX, QFX. | | Price | $18 a month or $109 a year (yearly shown as a limited-time offer, down from $119), after a 1-month free trial. No permanent free tier. | Free tier. Pro is $29 once. | | Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Mac, and web. | Mac (direct download), iPhone and iPad (App Store). Windows coming soon. | | AI features | Copilot Intelligence categorizes transactions; Money Assistant answers questions about your data (beta). | Runs on your device: Ollama on Mac, Apple's on-device model on iPhone and iPad (iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence; on other devices categorization uses your own rules and there is no AI assistant). | | Investments | Stocks, crypto, and retirement accounts; compare your holdings against the market. | Pro: investment and crypto accounts with cost basis. | | Export | Download all transaction data, including categories and notes, from Settings. | Encrypted backup (AES-256-GCM, passphrase) on all platforms. Mac: report CSV export (Pro), no transaction export screen yet. iPhone and iPad: transaction CSV export. | | App Store privacy label | Data Linked to You, including Financial Info. | Data Not Collected | ## Which One Fits You ### Where Copilot Money Is the Better Fit - You want every account, card, and investment to update without you doing anything. - Your accounts are with US institutions, which is all Copilot supports. - You want the same data on the web and on every Apple device you own. - You want live investment performance next to your budget. - You want human support inside the app. ### Where SelfCapsule Is the Better Fit - You do not want a bank aggregator or a cloud service holding your transaction history. - You bank outside the US. SelfCapsule works with any bank that lets you download CSV, OFX, or QFX files. - You want a free tier that does not expire, or to pay once instead of every year. - You want AI that runs on your device and needs no account. Reports ## Local-First Reports From Your Own Data. Spending by category and income against expenses, with net worth over time on Pro. Drawn from the database on your device, with no aggregation across users. Import ## Bring Your Statements. Skip the Bank Login. Import CSV, OFX, or QFX files on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, plus TSV and QIF on Mac. Map CSV columns once and save the template. Your bank credentials never leave your bank. Switching ## Moving From Copilot Money to SelfCapsule Copilot lets you download your transaction data, and SelfCapsule imports transaction files, so your history can come with you. 1. ### Download your data from Copilot. Copilot's privacy page says you can download all your transaction data, including categories and notes, from the app's Settings. 2. ### Install SelfCapsule and create matching accounts. Download the Mac app, or get the iPhone and iPad app from the App Store. 3. ### Import your history. For a CSV file, map the columns once and save the mapping as a template. From then on, download statements from your bank as OFX, QFX, or CSV. 4. ### Cancel the subscription. Copilot notes that if you subscribed through Apple, deleting your Copilot account and cancelling the subscription are two separate steps. FAQ ## Questions Worth a Direct Answer ### Is there a Copilot Money alternative that does not link my bank? Yes. SelfCapsule never asks for a bank login. You download statements from your bank and import them, and your data stays on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad. Copilot Money connects to your accounts through Plaid, Mastercard Data Connect, and direct links with some institutions. ### Is Copilot Money available outside the US? Copilot's FAQ says it supports US-based financial institutions and accounts only. SelfCapsule imports statement files, so it works with any bank that lets you download CSV, OFX, or QFX files. ### Does Copilot Money have a free plan? No. Copilot's FAQ says there is no permanent free tier. It offers a one-month free trial, then $18 a month or $109 a year (the yearly price is a limited-time offer, listed instead of $119). SelfCapsule's free tier does not expire, and Pro is a one-time $29. ### Where does Copilot Money store my data? On Copilot's infrastructure, which its privacy page says is built on Google Cloud Platform, with 256-bit encryption at rest and TLS in transit. Copilot says it does not sell your financial data or show ads. SelfCapsule keeps your data on your device and has no server to send it to. ### Does SelfCapsule have AI like Copilot? Yes, and it runs on your device. On Mac, SelfCapsule uses Ollama, an open-source local AI runtime. On iPhone and iPad it uses Apple's on-device model, which needs iOS 26 and a device that supports Apple Intelligence; on other devices the assistant is unavailable and categorization uses your own rules. Copilot uses Copilot Intelligence for categorization and has a Money Assistant chat in beta. ### Does SelfCapsule work on the web or Android? No. SelfCapsule runs on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and Windows is coming soon. Copilot runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web. ## Sources, Checked November 2026 We read each Copilot Money page below on 3 November 2026. Copilot Money can change its prices and features at any time, so check its own pages before you decide. If anything here is out of date, [tell us](https://selfcapsule.com/contact) and we will correct it. ### Copilot Money - [Copilot Money: home page (pricing)](https://www.copilot.money/), accessed 3 November 2026 - [Copilot Money: FAQ (platforms, US only, free trial, AI)](https://www.copilot.money/faq), accessed 3 November 2026 - [Copilot Money: Privacy and Security (storage, encryption, data download)](https://www.copilot.money/privacy-and-security), accessed 3 November 2026 - [Copilot Money on the App Store (features, privacy label)](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/copilot-track-budget-money/id1447330651), accessed 3 November 2026 ### SelfCapsule - [SelfCapsule: pricing](https://selfcapsule.com/pricing) - [SelfCapsule: download](https://selfcapsule.com/download) - [SelfCapsule: FAQ (storage, network use, AI, backups)](https://selfcapsule.com/#faq) - [SelfCapsule Finance on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6764298551) ## Your finances. Contained. A free tier covers core budgeting. Upgrade once if you want the full toolkit. [Compare SelfCapsule with other apps](https://selfcapsule.com/vs). [Download SelfCapsule](https://selfcapsule.com/download) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "WebPage", "name": "Copilot Money Alternative: Local-First Budgeting", "description": "Copilot Money links 16,000+ US institutions. SelfCapsule never links a bank and keeps your data on your device. 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