Finance

9 min

28 January 2026

Track Your Bank Expenses Easily: Practical Guide 2026

Learn to track your bank transactions automatically and better understand your spending habits.

Track Your Bank Expenses Easily: Practical Guide 2026

Do you have multiple bank accounts? Hard to keep an overview? Open Banking has revolutionized how we track our personal finances. No more consulting 3 different apps or noting everything by hand.

The Problem with Traditional Banking Tracking

Before, to track your expenses, you had to:

❌ Log into each bank app separately
❌ Manually note expenses in Excel
❌ Waste time categorizing each transaction
❌ Juggle between different PDF statements

Result: Most people give up after a week.

Open Banking: The Banking Tracking Revolution

What is Open Banking?

Open Banking is a European directive (PSD2) that forces banks to open access to your data... to yourself! Concretely, this means:

✅ You can connect your bank accounts to third-party apps
✅ Transactions synchronize automatically
✅ You maintain an overview of all your finances
✅ It's totally secure and regulated

Is it Secure?

Yes, completely. Open Banking is regulated by:

  • 🏛️ The PSD2 directive (European Union)
  • 🛡️ ACPR (French regulatory authority)
  • 🔐 Bank-level encryption (same level as your bank)
  • 📖 Read-only access (impossible to make transfers)

Apps never store your banking credentials. They always go through a certified intermediary.

How Does It Work in Practice?

1. Bank Connection in a Few Clicks

The process is simple:

  1. Choose your bank from the list
  2. You're redirected to your bank (official site)
  3. Authenticate as usual
  4. Authorize read-only access
  5. Done! Transactions synchronize

Over 300 French and European banks are compatible: BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, LCL, Boursorama, N26, Revolut, etc.

2. Automatic Transaction Synchronization

As soon as you spend money:

⚡ The transaction appears in your bank
⚡ It's automatically retrieved by the app
⚡ It's smartly categorized (AI)
⚡ Your statistics are updated

Zero effort on your part.

3. Smart Categorization

The app automatically analyzes each transaction:

  • "Carrefour Market" → 🛒 Groceries
  • "TotalEnergies" → ⛽ Transportation
  • "Netflix" → 📺 Subscriptions
  • "Salary Company X" → 💰 Income

The more you use the app, the more accurate categorization becomes thanks to machine learning.

Why Track Your Expenses?

Identify Unnecessary Spending

By visualizing your expenses, you often discover surprises:

  • Those 3 subscriptions you no longer use (€60/month)
  • Those too-frequent food deliveries (€200/month)
  • Those small impulse purchases that add up (€150/month)

Savings potential: €400/month or €4,800/year!

Understand Your Habits

Do you know how much you spend on average for:

  • Groceries?
  • Entertainment and leisure?
  • Transportation?
  • Clothing?

Most people underestimate their expenses by 30% to 50%.

Achieve Your Goals

Tracking expenses isn't about depriving yourself. It's about giving yourself the means to save for what really matters:

  • 🏖️ Dream vacation
  • 🏠 Home down payment
  • 🚗 New car
  • 💼 Starting your business

Essential Features of a Good Tool

1. Multi-bank

Connect all your accounts in one place:

  • Checking account
  • Savings account (Livret A)
  • PEL/CEL
  • Life insurance
  • Joint accounts
  • Neobanks (N26, Revolut, etc.)

2. Automatic Categorization

No need to do everything manually. AI handles it:

  • Merchant recognition
  • Custom rules
  • Progressive learning

3. Clear Visualization

Simple charts to understand at a glance:

  • Breakdown by category (pie chart)
  • Evolution over time (curves)
  • Month-to-month comparison (bars)

4. Data Export

Your data belongs to you. You should be able to export it:

  • CSV format for Excel
  • JSON format for developers
  • Monthly PDF reports

Focus on AbyssBanking

For those looking for a free French solution, AbyssBanking checks all the boxes.

What Sets It Apart

100% free, really No hidden "premium", no artificial limit. All features are freely accessible.

Hosting in France Your banking data stays in France, on secure GDPR-compliant servers.

Open source The code is open and auditable. You know exactly what's done with your data.

No advertising No targeted ads based on your spending. Never.

Available Features

Automatic synchronization Connection to all French and European banks compatible with Open Banking.

Smart categorization AI learns from your habits and improves categorization over time.

Customizable dashboards Create your own views: monthly, annual, by account, by category.

Advanced search and filters Find any transaction in seconds.

Real Use Cases

For Employees

Understand where your salary goes each month:

  • Fixed charges (rent, electricity, internet)
  • Food and groceries
  • Leisure and entertainment
  • Savings

For Freelancers

Easily separate business from personal:

  • Create dedicated categories
  • Track client revenues
  • Identify deductible expenses

For Couples

Manage your finances together:

  • Joint account for shared expenses
  • Personal accounts for individual expenses
  • Overall view of family budget

For Students

Learn to manage your money:

  • Track expenses easily
  • Identify possible savings
  • Prepare your financial future

Practical Tips to Get Started

Week 1: Observation

Don't change anything about your habits. Just observe:

  • Where does your money go?
  • What are the big expenses?
  • Are there surprises?

Week 2: Analysis

Dive into the details:

  • Which categories are most important?
  • Are there unused subscriptions?
  • Can certain expenses be reduced?

Week 3: Action

Take action:

  • Cancel unused subscriptions
  • Identify 2-3 expense categories to reduce
  • Set a savings goal

Week 4: Optimization

Refine your strategy:

  • Create custom categorization rules
  • Define categories adapted to your situation
  • Configure useful alerts

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Being too restrictive from the start Start slowly, observe first.

❌ Never checking the app Take 5 minutes per week to check.

❌ Wanting to categorize everything perfectly 80/20: focus on major categories.

❌ Comparing with others Everyone has their situation, priorities, constraints.

Security and Privacy

What AbyssBanking Does

✅ Encrypts all data (AES-256)
✅ Hosts in France (GDPR compliance)
✅ Read-only access only
✅ Regular security audit
✅ Auditable open source code

What We NEVER Do

❌ Resell your data
❌ Do targeted advertising
❌ Share with third parties without consent
❌ Store your banking credentials

Start Now

  1. Visit AbyssBanking
  2. Create your account (email + password)
  3. Connect your first bank
  4. Let transactions synchronize
  5. Explore your expenses!

Everything is designed to be intuitive. If you get stuck, documentation and support are there.

Conclusion

Tracking bank expenses has never been easier thanks to Open Banking. No more noting everything manually or juggling between 10 apps.

In a few clicks, you connect your accounts, and everything synchronizes automatically. You finally understand where your money goes and how to use it better.

AbyssBanking makes this tracking accessible for free, in French, with your data hosted in France. Try it, it's free and no commitment!

Frequently Asked Questions

How many banks can I connect? As many as you want, without limit.

Can the app make transfers on my behalf? No, and it's a security feature. Access is strictly read-only.

What happens if I change banks? You can easily disconnect the old one and connect the new one. History remains accessible.

Is my data shared or sold? Never. Your data belongs to you and remains private.

Updated January 30, 2026. Discover all our free tools to simplify your daily life.