A Pocketbook alternative built on CDR
Pocketbook shut down in March 2024. BankSync is a CDR-regulated replacement that syncs every Australian bank to your spreadsheet, database, or AI agent. You own the data, you build the budget.
BankSync is a CDR-regulated Pocketbook alternative for Australians. It connects to every Australian bank via the Consumer Data Right (no screen-scraping) and pipes transactions, balances, and holdings into Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Excel, Claude, or ChatGPT. Automatic sync can run hourly on eligible plans.
What replaces each Pocketbook feature.
- Auto-categorised transactions
- Rulesets, lookup tables, Memory and AI fills, customisable per account
- Bills tracking
- Recurring registry: subscriptions detected, price rises and missed charges flagged
- Budget nudges
- Budget threshold alerts, anomaly flags and a scheduled digest by email or Slack
- Net-worth tracking
- Balances, investment holdings and loan balances synced together
- Mobile-only app
- Web dashboard, plus push to Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Excel, or AI agents
- Screen-scraping (legacy)
- CDR-regulated via Fiskil (ADRBNK000246)
Consumer Data Right, in short.
- Regulator
- ACCC & Treasury
- How it works
- Australia's Consumer Data Right (CDR) is the regulated open banking framework letting you securely share your bank data with accredited recipients. BankSync routes through Fiskil, an accredited Data Recipient (ADR).
- Connection
- Routed via Fiskil (Accredited Data Recipient, ADRBNK000246).
What former Pocketbook users build with BankSync.
- A Sheets-based budget Push every transaction into Google Sheets and pivot, chart, and forecast like Pocketbook power users always wanted to.
- A Notion finance dashboard Sync transactions and balances into Notion databases and build a money OS with goals, bills, and net-worth views.
- Conversational money tracking Ask Claude or ChatGPT "where did my money go this month?" via the BankSync MCP server. No spreadsheets, no SQL.
Questions, answered.
What replaced Pocketbook in Australia?
Pocketbook shut down in March 2024. There is no single official replacement. Australians have moved to a mix of CDR-regulated alternatives like BankSync (sync to Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Excel, Claude, ChatGPT), WeMoney, Frollo, Up Bank (only if you switch banks), and overseas tools like Rocket Money.
Why is BankSync a good Pocketbook alternative?
BankSync connects to every CDR-accredited Australian bank (Big 4, neobanks, mutuals, brokerages) using the regulated Consumer Data Right framework, not screen-scraping. Unlike Pocketbook, BankSync gives you the raw data: sync transactions, balances, and holdings into Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Excel, or query them in plain English from Claude and ChatGPT via MCP. You own and shape the budget yourself.
Is BankSync free like Pocketbook was?
BankSync is paid SaaS, but it offers a 14-day free trial and your card is not charged during the trial. Pricing is transparent and lower than most competing CDR-regulated tools.
Does BankSync support Pocketbook-style auto-categorisation?
Yes, and more of it. Rulesets and lookup tables categorise on your own logic, Memory learns from any correction you make in your sheet, and AI fills whatever is left (with low-confidence guesses parked in a review queue rather than written). On top of that you get budget threshold alerts, a recurring registry that spots subscription price rises and missed charges, duplicate and internal-transfer screening, and a weekly digest. You can edit rules, override categories, and fine-tune them per account.
Can I import my Pocketbook history into BankSync?
BankSync pulls transaction history directly from your bank via CDR (banks share up to 2 years of history). You do not need an export from Pocketbook, connect your bank and history backfills automatically.
Is BankSync safer than the screen-scraping tools Pocketbook used?
Yes. BankSync uses the regulated Consumer Data Right framework via Fiskil (Accredited Data Recipient ADRBNK000246). Your banking credentials never leave your bank. Consents are scoped, time-bound (up to 12 months), and revocable at any time. Screen-scraping tools required you to share your password, CDR makes that obsolete.
Which Australian banks does BankSync support?
Every CDR-accredited Authorised Deposit-taking Institution (ADI). That covers CommBank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ, Macquarie, Up, ING, Bankwest, St.George, Bendigo Bank, Suncorp, HSBC Australia, plus credit unions, mutuals, and brokerages like CommSec, NAB Trade, and Westpac Online Investing.
How is BankSync different from WeMoney or Frollo?
WeMoney and Frollo are consumer PFM apps (closed-ended, mobile-first, ad-supported). BankSync is a data-pipe: it gets your bank data into the tools you already use (spreadsheets, databases, AI agents) so you can build whatever budget, dashboard, or report you need. It is the right choice if you outgrew Pocketbook because you wanted control of the data, not another app.