How to Track Spending Offline Without a Cloud Account
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The problem
Most budgeting tools want an email address, a password and often a link to your bank before they show you a single chart. If all you want to know is where the month went, that is a long list of strangers to hand your numbers to. And if the service shuts down or changes its pricing, your history goes with it.
Burrow is a free budget and journal desktop app for Windows. It keeps your numbers in one database file in its own folder on your computer, so there is no account to make and nothing to log in to. This guide walks through a first session: installing it, confirming that nothing is allowed online, importing your spending and making sure a copy exists if something goes wrong. Everything below assumes a Windows 10 or 11 PC, since that is the only system Burrow ships on today.
Steps
Download the right installer
Open your Gumroad download page or receipt and pick the x64 installer for most PCs, or the ARM64 one if your laptop runs Windows on ARM. The installer works for your user account, so it needs no administrator rights, and it may fetch Microsoft WebView2 once if your PC does not already have it.
Get past the Windows warning
Burrow is not code-signed yet, so Windows may show "Windows protected your PC" the first time. Click More info, then Run anyway. If you would like proof the file is untouched, each release lists SHA-256 checksums in a file called SHA256SUMS.txt that you can compare against your download.
Check that nothing is allowed online
Open Settings > Network. Every online feature there is a switch, and all of them start off. For a purely offline budget, leave them that way. You will notice that none of them is needed for the Budget page to work.
Import your transactions, then set category budgets
The Budget page shows income, expenses and a chart of budgeted versus spent by category. Click Import transactions and choose a CSV file from your bank; the import checks the file with a preview first, and it has its own guide on this site. The file never leaves your computer. Then open the Planner tab (the Budget page also has Dashboard and Subscriptions tabs) to set a budget for each category.
Review what Burrow has logged
Go to Settings > Privacy & activity. It keeps a log of Javi requests, exports, imports, backups and restores, which is a quick way to see for yourself what the app has been doing while you worked.
Leave the daily backup running
Automatic daily backups are on by default and land in a backups folder on your computer. Burrow keeps the newest copy per day for 7 days, per week for 4 weeks and per month for 6 months, and restoring makes a safety copy first, so a restore you regret can be undone.
What stays on your computer
Your transactions, budgets and notes sit in a single database file inside Burrow's folder. The maker has no servers that hold your data, and the app has no telemetry and no analytics. The only moment Burrow talks to anyone about licensing is when you choose to activate a paid upgrade, and that is a deliberate click, not a background check.
You are not locked in either. At any time you can export everything as JSON, CSV and Markdown in one ZIP and import it back, and that export is free and will stay free.
Who this suits and who it does not
This approach suits someone who is comfortable importing their own data and who wants a quiet tool rather than a dashboard that nags. It will frustrate anyone who expects the app to watch their bank accounts on their behalf, because the route into Burrow for bank data is a file you bring yourself.
Pros and cons
Pros
- No account, no sign-up email and no monthly bill, so there is nothing to cancel or forget.
- No limits on entries or transactions and no time limit on the free app.
- Free export to a ZIP means your history is never trapped.
- Daily backups run by default, with a safety copy made before any restore.
Cons
- It is Windows only for now, so it will not help on other systems.
- Burrow adds no password to its data file, so anyone who can sign in to your Windows account can open it.
- Bank data comes in through your own CSV exports, not through an automatic connection.
- The installer is not code-signed yet, which means a Windows warning on first run.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an internet connection to use Burrow?
No. Activating a paid upgrade contacts Gumroad once, and every other online feature is a switch in Settings > Network that stays off until you turn it on.
Where is my data stored?
In one database file inside Burrow's folder on your own computer. The backups folder sits on your computer too.
Is the free version time-limited?
No. Every module is free with no time limit. Each new install also starts with 14 days of the paid Pro features switched on, and after that Burrow carries on as the free app with all your data.
Can I take my data with me if I stop using it?
Yes. Export gives you JSON, CSV and Markdown in one ZIP, and it is available at any time without paying.
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