Privacy
Your financial data belongs to you. We provide this service without turning your financial life into our product.
Local-first by default
Your financial records stay on your computer in an encrypted local database file that you control. Everyday use does not require a cloud account. If you enable SimpleFIN sync, you use your own SimpleFIN subscription and the app stores the access credential in your operating system's secure storage.
Optional telemetry
If you choose, anonymous performance and error reporting can help us improve the software. You can also turn off performance and error reporting entirely. We do not require telemetry.
Connected Services and accounts
Connected Services (coming soon) — such as Plaid sync provided by Big Picture Money, multi-device database sync, managed AI, and hosted integrations — will require an account so we can provide those services. Even then, Big Picture Money is designed so that your personal financial data remains encrypted and under your control wherever possible. We only store the minimum amount of data needed to provide the service.
See pricing for what the license and add-ons include and FAQ for common account questions.
Local encryption
Your data file is encrypted on disk. A passphrase protects access to your financial records. For technical details, see the security and encryption documentation.
The downside to this is you must remember your passphrase. There is no possible way to recover your data if you forget your passphrase.
AI and cloud providers
AI is optional and off by default. You can turn it off completely, run Ollama locally, or bring your own cloud API key. If you configure a cloud AI provider (such as Google, Microsoft, or Anthropic), the data you send to that provider is subject to their policies. Local models keep inference on your computer — we recommend this for the most privacy-minded users.
A managed AI path is planned as part of the optional Connected Services add-on. Until that ships, Big Picture Money does not operate a hosted AI service.
AI features help with transaction cleanup, merchant normalization, rule suggestions, and similar tasks. AI does not provide investment or tax advice.
Website data collection
This marketing website does not run analytics or tracking scripts. Cloudflare’s normal server-side logs for the CDN show aggregate traffic and performance so we can tell if the site is getting visits — nothing is sold or used for advertising.
Website search
The navbar search box sends your query to Big Picture infrastructure at api.bigpicture.money over HTTPS so we can return matching documentation, marketing pages, and blog posts. Only the search text and result limit are included in that request.
Website search does not send desktop app data, license details, or financial information. Search queries are not logged or retained server-side, and they are not sold or used for advertising.