Alternative
Extrack vs Walnut — a privacy-first alternative
Walnut auto-categorises by scraping bank SMSes. Extrack asks you to enter the data — slower to onboard, far less data exposed. Here is when each is the right call.
Quick comparison
Walnut was one of India’s first auto-tracking finance apps — it reads bank-transaction SMSes to populate the ledger automatically. Extrack takes the opposite stance: you enter the data, the app never asks for SMS access or bank credentials, and your finance log never leaves the encrypted store.
Side-by-side
| Feature | Extrack | Walnut |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-import from SMS | No (by design) | Yes |
| Requires SMS read permission | No | Yes |
| Manual entry quality | Optimised — quick-add | Available but secondary |
| Bank, card, loan, investment accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Net worth across accounts | Yes | Partial |
| Encrypted at rest, never sold | Yes | Standard storage |
| Works as a web app | Yes — any browser | Mobile-first |
When the other tool is the right call (Walnut)
Walnut is the right call if you want a zero-effort, "set it and forget it" tracker where every UPI debit and credit-card transaction shows up automatically, and you are comfortable granting the app permission to read all incoming SMS. For high-volume spenders who would never bother with manual entry, this trade-off is rational.
When Extrack is the better fit
Extrack is the better fit if you are uncomfortable granting any app blanket SMS access (a permission most Android privacy guides explicitly warn against), or if the auto-tracker’s noise — failed transactions, refunds, OTPs — has historically polluted your ledger. Manual entry is slower but produces a cleaner record, and your data never leaves the encrypted store to be analysed for ad targeting.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does Extrack not auto-import SMS?
- Because SMS permission grants the app read access to every text message on the phone — banking OTPs, two-factor codes, personal conversations. Most privacy guidance explicitly warns against granting it. Extrack chooses the slower path of manual entry to keep that data on the device.
- Can I migrate from Walnut to Extrack?
- Walnut does not currently offer a clean transaction export. The practical migration is to set opening balances per account in Extrack and start fresh from a chosen date, rather than backfilling years of history.
- Is Extrack only for India?
- Extrack works globally but the marketing copy, INR formatting, and the SIP/EMI calculators are tuned for Indian users. UPI is supported as a payment-method tag.
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