Tiller Money

Tiller Money is a personal finance platform that connects your bank accounts and credit cards to Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, then uses AI to categorize every transaction automatically. It is built for people who want full control over their financial data without giving up the flexibility of a spreadsheet. Unlike app-based budgeting tools, Tiller keeps your data in a format you already own and can customize without limits.

How Tiller Money works

After linking your financial accounts, Tiller pulls in new transactions daily and appends them to a spreadsheet in your Google Drive or OneDrive. Its AI categorization engine, called AutoCat, reads the merchant name and transaction details and assigns a spending category based on rules you set over time. The more you use it, the more accurate AutoCat becomes at matching your habits. Tiller also ships a library of budget and investment tracking templates, so you can start with a working spreadsheet on day one rather than building from scratch.

All data lives in your own Google or Microsoft account. Tiller does not store a proprietary copy of your finances in a walled-off app. If you cancel, the spreadsheet stays with you.

Strengths

• Spreadsheet ownership. Your data lives in Google Sheets or Excel, not inside a closed platform. You can write formulas, build custom dashboards, or export to any other tool without jumping through hoops.
• AutoCat automation. The rule-based AI categorization reduces the manual work of sorting transactions each month. Rules stack and can be as specific or broad as you need.
• Template library. Tiller provides pre-built templates for zero-based budgets, envelope budgeting, debt paydown tracking, and investment summaries. New users can be productive immediately.
• Investment tracking. Beyond day-to-day spending, the platform pulls in investment account balances so you can track net worth alongside monthly cash flow in the same sheet.
• No vendor lock-in. Because everything outputs to a standard spreadsheet format, switching away or archiving years of data requires no data export dance.

Limitations

• Spreadsheet fluency required. Users who are not comfortable with formulas or spreadsheet layouts will find the learning curve steep. The templates help, but customizing them meaningfully takes spreadsheet knowledge.
• No mobile app experience. Tiller does not offer a native iOS or Android app. Reviewing your budget on a phone means navigating Google Sheets or Excel on mobile, which is workable but not designed for it.
• AutoCat still needs training. Out of the box, categorization rules are not pre-loaded to match your specific merchants. Expect several weeks of correcting and teaching AutoCat before it runs smoothly.
• Annual subscription only. At $79 per year, there is no monthly billing option and no free tier beyond a 30-day trial. Users who want to test it longer before committing face a binary decision.
• Bank connection reliability. Like all aggregation tools, connection outages with certain banks or credit unions can interrupt the daily transaction feed, requiring manual reconnection.

Who it is for

Tiller Money is a strong fit for people who already live in spreadsheets and want their financial data to meet them there. It works well for detail-oriented budgeters who find app-based tools too restrictive, self-employed individuals who want to track business and personal spending in a custom format, and anyone who prioritizes data ownership over a polished consumer interface. It is not the right tool for someone who wants a simple, phone-first budgeting experience with no setup involved.

How it compares

For users who want financial tracking without any spreadsheet involvement, Credit Karma offers a free, fully automated dashboard that surfaces credit score data, account balances, and personalized financial recommendations inside a consumer app. It requires no setup and no spreadsheet knowledge, but you trade customization for convenience and your data stays inside Credit Karma’s platform.

If your financial picture includes cryptocurrency alongside traditional accounts, Coinbase covers the crypto side of the ledger but does not address everyday budgeting or bank transaction tracking. Some Tiller users run both in parallel, pulling Coinbase account values manually into their Tiller net worth sheet to get a complete picture. Tiller itself does not natively connect to crypto wallets or exchanges.

The core difference is control. Tiller gives power users a customizable, data-portable system at the cost of setup time. App-first alternatives trade that flexibility for a faster, lower-friction experience.