Your data, in plain words
Here is what happens to the information you give Casual Budget, without the legal language.
On this website
- This site sets no cookies and runs no trackers or ads.
- The calculator works inside your browser. Nothing you type leaves the page.
What we keep
- Your account (name, email and sign-in details), your budget, your plans and the spending you add.
- Your chats with the app, including the receipt pictures you attach. They are kept with your chat and are not deleted automatically.
What the AI receives
- When you use an AI feature, we send what it needs to Anthropic, the company that makes the Claude AI. That means receipt pictures and your messages for receipt chat, your budget figures for the Assistant and for the AI-drawn pictures, and every chat message to a check that keeps the chat about money.
- We send OpenAI a record of the steps an AI request took and how long they took. It does not include your messages, your receipts or the answers.
- For receipts in another currency, the total and the currency go to a free exchange-rate service (Frankfurter). Nothing that identifies you goes with them.
- A CSV file you upload does not go to any AI company. We read it on our own server and sort its lines with a small model trained only on your own records. We do not keep the file, and the lines wait for you for about ten minutes at most.
Services that help run the app
- Heroku runs the app and its database. Netlify serves the web app, and your requests to the app pass through it.
- Amazon Web Services sends our emails (sign-up, password reset, sign-in codes and household invitations).
- Twilio sends text messages, such as sign-in codes, if you add a phone number.
- Plaid connects your bank if you choose to link one. Your bank password goes to Plaid and never reaches us. We keep a connection key, your account names, the last four digits and balances, and the transactions Plaid sends.
- Stripe handles payments. Your card details go straight to Stripe and never reach us.
- The web app currently loads its fonts from Google, and AI-drawn pictures load drawing tools from public code libraries. Those services see your device’s address, not your budget.
If you used the older Casual Budget pages
- Bank connections made there use Plaid too, and their sync texts can include the new transactions.
- Signing in with Google, statement uploads (stored with Amazon Web Services) and older receipt tools that look up store and food details also live there.
Deleting your account
- There is no delete button yet. Email support and we will delete your account and your budget for you.
The formal policy is on the privacy page.