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Budget Bandit gives you five file importers plus live bank linking. Which one you want depends on where your data is coming from and whether you are moving a whole budget or just adding transactions to an account.
Every import creates a brand-new budget or adds to an existing account. An import never overwrites or merges into a budget you already have. The three full-migration importers (YNAB, Monarch, Actual) each create a separate new budget. CSV and OFX/QFX add transactions into an account you choose, inside the budget you are already in. Either way, your existing budget is left untouched.

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Pick your path

Coming from YNAB

Brings accounts, categories, transactions, and your monthly assignments into a new budget.

Coming from Monarch

Two CSV files become a new budget with accounts, categories, and transactions.

Coming from Actual

Reads your Actual export and builds a new budget from it.

A CSV from your bank

Map columns and add transactions to an account you choose.

An OFX or QFX file

A structured bank or Quicken file — no column mapping needed.

Link the bank instead

Skip files entirely and let transactions sync on their own.

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Decision guide

You haveUseWhat you get
A full YNAB budgetYNABNew budget: accounts, categories, transactions, assignments
A Monarch accountMonarchNew budget: accounts, categories, transactions
An Actual Budget fileActualNew budget: accounts, categories, transactions, assignments
A bank CSV downloadCSVTransactions added to one account
A .ofx or .qfx fileOFX/QFXTransactions added to one account
A bank that Plaid coversBank linkTransactions sync automatically

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How the two kinds differ

Whole-budget migrations (YNAB, Monarch, Actual) build a complete new budget so you can switch to Budget Bandit without losing structure. Because they always create a new budget, you can run them safely even if you have been experimenting already — nothing you have built is touched. Transaction imports (CSV, OFX/QFX) add rows to a single account you pick. They run duplicate detection so re-importing an overlapping file does not double your history. Use these to top up an account that is not on a bank feed.

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After any import

Imported transactions arrive in your To Review queue. Confirm and categorize them, and any rules you have set apply automatically to matching rows.

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If rows do not come through

See Why rows did not import for skipped dates, bad amounts, and duplicate handling.

CSV format reference

Exactly which columns and formats are expected.

Connect a bank

The no-file alternative.