Freenance Alternative — Martia vs Freenance 2026
Freenance is a dashboard built around FIRE. Martia is the AI you talk to about your money.
Freenance is a dashboard built around one question: when could you stop working. Martia is the AI you talk to about your money — you ask "how much did I spend on groceries in March?" or "can I afford a €1,400 holiday?" and you get a direct answer based on your real transactions. Two apps built for the European market, the same PSD2 standard underneath, two fundamentally different ways of handling your finances. This page shows which one fits which style — and when it makes sense to switch.
Freenance is a mature product built around FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) — it aggregates bank accounts, an investment portfolio and Polish financial products (IKE, IKZE, Polish Treasury Bonds), and calculates the Financial Freedom Runway. Martia is built around the conversation: bank sync, auto-categorisation and the dashboard are infrastructure that supports the chat with AI, not the point of the product itself. Both run in Europe, both use Open Banking — but they solve two different problems.
Key takeaways
- Interface: Freenance = panels, reports, charts (you click to find an answer). Martia = AI you chat with in plain language (you ask, you get an answer from your transactions)
- Product philosophy: Freenance = FIRE tracker (when can I stop working). Martia = mirror (where is my money going right now)
- Price: Freenance is a paid subscription (around €4-7 / month, ~€50-90 / year). Martia is free during early access
- Bank connectivity: both automatic via PSD2 — Freenance is strongest with Polish banks and Revolut, Martia covers 2,410+ banks across Europe and the UK via GoCardless
- AI: Freenance uses AI for categorisation and budget prediction. Martia uses AI as the interface — you talk to it about your money
- What Freenance has that Martia doesn't: Financial Freedom Runway and investment portfolio tracking (stocks, ETFs, crypto, Polish Treasury Bonds) with live prices
What Freenance offers
What is Freenance?
Freenance is a Polish personal finance app focused on the path to financial independence (FIRE). Its signature feature is the Financial Freedom Runway — a metric showing how many months you could live without working, based on assets, expenses and passive income. Freenance connects to Polish banks (mBank, ING, PKO BP) via PSD2 and supports CSV / MT940 import. It also tracks an investment portfolio — stocks, ETFs, bonds, crypto, Polish Treasury Bonds — with live prices and performance tracking. According to freenance.io the app is available on web, iOS and Android. Paid plans start around €4-7 / month (14-day trial, no card required).
Freenance is structured around four pillars: spending tracking, asset tracking, FIRE runway projection, and education (a blog covering B2B contracting, freelancing, and the cost of living in Polish cities). The app also publishes rankings of Polish fintechs and European budgeting apps — which signals their target user: a financially curious person comparing options.
Where Freenance is genuinely strong
The Financial Freedom Runway is a feature most European budgeting apps simply don't have. Freenance calculates it two ways — one method shows how long your assets last at the current spending pace; the second ("Passive Income method") accounts for diminishing passive income as you draw down the portfolio. For someone actively building FIRE, that's a concrete, measurable metric you won't find in classic PFM apps.
The second strength is its integration with Polish investment products — Polish Treasury Bonds, IKE, IKZE, ZUS. Most international apps (YNAB, Monarch, Copilot) don't support these. Freenance is built for the Polish financially literate investor, not just expense tracking.
The third is content. Freenance runs a substantial blog with guides on salaries in IT and creative industries, freelancing, B2B contracting, and city-level cost-of-living comparisons. That builds trust and signals the app understands the Polish freelancer context deeply.
Where you hit the wall
Freenance is a dashboard, not a conversation. The AI categorisation runs in the background, but to find anything you click through panels, reports and filters. The question "how much did I spend on groceries in March?" turns into: open a report → pick the date range → filter by category → read the chart. In Martia, that's one sentence typed into the chat, one answer with links to the underlying transactions. The second point: pricing. Freenance is a paid subscription (€4-7 / month, roughly €50-90 / year). Martia is free during early access. A third, for some: Freenance is strongest with Polish banks and Revolut; for users with accounts across multiple European countries, Martia's PSD2 reach is meaningfully wider.
Where Martia does better for the everyday user
Martia solves the same starting problem as Freenance — "I want to know where my money is going" — but it approaches it from the other side. You don't have to learn the layout of another dashboard. You connect a bank account, open the chat, and talk to Martia about what she sees on your accounts.
An AI you talk to — instead of clicking through panels
This is the sharpest difference between Martia and Freenance. Both apps use AI — but in very different places. In Freenance, AI categorises transactions and predicts your budget in the background; the interface itself is a classic dashboard with panels, filters and reports. In Martia, AI is the interface. You ask "how much did I spend on groceries in March?" — Martia answers with a specific number and the supporting transactions. You ask "can I afford a €1,400 holiday?" — Martia runs a simulation and shows the impact on your balance. ("Technically yes. But check the full simulation — there are edge cases.") For people who know what they want to ask, but don't want to learn a new dashboard, this is a different category of product.
Full functionality in the free plan, not behind a €50-90 / year paywall
Freenance is a paid subscription — according to freenance.io, paid plans start around €4 / month, with higher tiers around €7. Annually that's roughly €50-90. Martia is free during early access — you join the waitlist and use the full feature set: auto-sync, AI chat, automatic categorisation, all without a subscription. (To be clear: this is the early-access phase, not the long-term model. But for the next year, that's the actual delta.)
If you want to understand how the bank connection works, read the guide to bank account sync with an app or the explainer on Open Banking and PSD2.
Mirror, not FIRE trainer
Freenance has a clear stance: it wants you to be heading toward financial independence. The entire product is built around the Financial Freedom Runway — months until FIRE. That's excellent if that's your goal. Martia doesn't take that stance. It shows the data like a mirror: what you have, where you spend, what changes month to month. The decisions stay with you. (For people not yet sure FIRE is their long-term plan, or who simply want to understand their current state first — Martia is the first step; Financial Freedom Runway can come back into the picture once the goal becomes concrete.)
Wider PSD2 reach — 2,410+ banks across Europe and the UK
Freenance is strongest with Polish banks (mBank, ING, PKO BP) and Revolut; the broader PSD2 expansion is in progress. Martia uses GoCardless as its PSD2 intermediary — which means access to 2,410+ banks across Europe and the UK from day one. If you hold accounts at N26, Wise, Monzo, HSBC or Commerzbank alongside Polish accounts, Martia sees all of them in one place. (For someone with only Polish bank accounts, this difference matters less — both apps will handle it.) More on this in the guide to open banking across European banks.
Don't want to click through panels to find an answer?
Martia connects to your bank via Open Banking and answers your questions in plain language — "how much did I spend in March?", "what's eating my budget?", "can I afford X?". Free during early access. No subscription, no premium tier.
Martia vs Freenance — comparison table
The table covers 11 criteria — from interaction model and bank coverage to product maturity. The accent shows which app wins each category.
| Criterion | Freenance | Martia |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Dashboard, panels, reports, charts | AI chat — natural-language questions and answers |
| How AI is used | AI in the background — categorisation, budget prediction | AI as the interface — chat about your money |
| Price (annually) | ~€50-90 (paid subscription, €4-7 / month) | €0 — free during early access |
| Product philosophy | FIRE tracker — path to financial independence | Mirror — what's happening with your money now |
| Polish bank connectivity | PSD2 + CSV/MT940 import (mBank, ING, PKO BP, Revolut) | PSD2 via GoCardless — all major Polish banks |
| European + UK bank coverage | Polish + Revolut; PSD2 expansion in progress | 2,410+ banks — Europe + UK via GoCardless |
| Time to first insight | ~10 min — connect bank + learn the dashboard | 2-3 min — from bank connection to first answer in chat |
| Auto-categorisation | Automatic (AI) | Automatic (AI) |
| Investment portfolio (stocks, ETF, crypto, bonds) | Yes — live prices and performance | Focused on current accounts and categorisation |
| Financial Freedom Runway | Yes — flagship feature | Not tracked |
| Platforms | Web + iOS + Android | Web + iOS + Android |
Recommendation: Choose Freenance if you're actively building FIRE, hold an investment portfolio (especially Polish Treasury Bonds, IKE, IKZE), and want everything in one dashboard with a Financial Freedom Runway metric. Choose Martia if you want to ask questions about your money in plain language and get concrete answers — without learning another dashboard or paying €50-90 / year.
When to switch from Freenance to Martia
Both apps have valid use cases — and people for whom each is the right choice. Below are two honest profiles: when Freenance is the right tool, and when it makes sense to switch to Martia.
Freenance is for you if...
FIRE is a concrete goal — you already have a portfolio, track net worth and want to see the runway projection in real time. You hold Polish investment products (Polish Treasury Bonds, IKE, IKZE) and need an app that understands them. You enjoy working with dashboards, panels and reports — you'd rather click through filters than type a question. You're comfortable paying €4-7 per month for a tool that combines all of this in one place. Your accounts are at Polish banks (plus possibly Revolut) — you don't need broader PSD2 reach.
Switch to Martia if...
You want to ask questions about your money in plain language and get concrete answers — not more charts. You've tried dashboards (Freenance, Kontomierz, your bank app) and ended up not remembering where to click. Your finances are more about the everyday (where is the money going, did I stay on track this month, can I afford X) than long-term FIRE — at least for now. You hold accounts at multiple European banks (N26, Wise, Monzo, HSBC) alongside Polish ones and want to see them together. You don't want to pay €50-90 / year for functionality you can get free.
The Martia Test: dashboard or conversation?
The Martia Test: dashboard or conversation? — a simple heuristic for deciding. Question 1: When was the last time you opened a finance app and found a specific answer in under a minute? If "rarely" or "never" — that's a signal that clicking through panels isn't your style. Question 2: Are you planning a specific date for financial independence and need a runway metric, or do you want everyday control over where your money is going? First answer = Freenance. Second = Martia. Question 3: Is €50-90 / year for functionality you can mostly get for free a worthwhile investment — or unnecessary friction? Three answers leaning toward "free, conversational, today's reality" point to Martia.
Move from Freenance to Martia
The migration takes 2-3 minutes. You connect your bank (you log in through your bank's official window — Martia never sees your password), and transactions start arriving automatically. You don't need to bring over your Freenance history — Martia starts with a clean view from the day you connect and typically backfills the last 90 days.
Frequently asked questions
Why choose Martia instead of Freenance?
If you want to ask questions about your money in plain language and get concrete answers, choose Martia. If you actively track your path to FIRE — net worth, Financial Freedom Runway, an investment portfolio with live prices — choose Freenance. Both apps connect to Polish banks via Open Banking. Freenance is paid (around €4-7 / month). Martia is free during early access.
How is Martia different from Freenance?
Three concrete differences. First: Martia is an AI you talk to in natural language. You ask "how much did I spend on groceries in March?" and you get a direct answer with the underlying transactions. Freenance uses AI for auto-categorisation in the background, but the interface itself is a classic dashboard with panels, filters and charts. Second: product philosophy. Freenance is built around Financial Freedom Runway — how many months you could live without working. Martia is built around the everyday conversation about your money. Third: price. Freenance is a paid subscription. Martia is free during early access.
Is migrating from Freenance to Martia hard?
It takes 2-3 minutes. You connect your bank account to Martia via Open Banking (you log in through your bank's official window — Martia never sees your password) and transactions start arriving automatically. Your Freenance history doesn't transfer — Martia starts with a clean view from the day you connect and typically backfills the last 90 days from the bank. If you want a full archive from Freenance, export it before you cancel the subscription.
What does Freenance do that Martia doesn't?
Two concrete things. First: Financial Freedom Runway — a metric showing how many months you could live without working, based on assets, expenses and passive income. Martia doesn't calculate this. Second: investment portfolio tracking (stocks, ETFs, bonds, Polish Treasury Bonds, crypto) with live prices and performance. Martia focuses on current accounts and spending categorisation, not portfolio management. If you're building FIRE and want everything in one place, Freenance is purpose-built for that.
Can I ask Freenance questions about my spending in plain language?
Not the way you can with Martia. Freenance uses AI for automatic transaction categorisation and budget prediction — that runs in the background. The interface itself is a traditional dashboard with panels, filters and charts: to see how much you spent on groceries in March, you open a report, narrow the date range and category. Martia inverts that: you type "how much did I spend on groceries in March?" into the chat and you get a specific number with links to the underlying transactions. It's a different category of product, not a different version of the same one.
How much does Freenance cost compared to Martia?
Freenance offers a 14-day free trial and paid plans starting around €4-7 / month (roughly €50-90 / year). Check the exact pricing on freenance.io as the tiers shifted in 2026. Martia is free during early access in 2026 — you join from the waitlist and use the full feature set (auto-sync, AI chat, categorisation) without a subscription.
Is Freenance safe for European users?
Yes. Freenance is a Polish company connecting to banks via PSD2 (the European open banking standard, supervised by national regulators), with data encrypted at rest and in transit. According to freenance.io the app does not sell or share financial data with third parties. Martia uses GoCardless as the PSD2 intermediary — GoCardless is regulated by the UK FCA. In both cases the access to your account is read-only and you log in through your bank's official window.
Does Martia work outside of Poland?
Yes. Martia connects to 2,410+ banks across Europe and the UK via GoCardless Open Banking — including N26, Revolut, Monzo, Wise, ING, Santander, HSBC and Commerzbank, alongside the major Polish banks. Freenance is strongest with Polish banks and Revolut; the broader PSD2 expansion is in progress. If you hold accounts across multiple European countries, Martia's wider coverage matters more.
Sources
- Freenance (2026), Producer website — product overview, freenance.io
- Freenance (2026), Best Personal Finance App in Poland 2026 — comparison, freenance.io/financial-tools/best-personal-finance-app-poland-2026
- Freenance (2026), Best Budgeting Apps Ranking 2026, freenance.io/rankings/best-budgeting-apps-ranking-2026
- GoCardless, Bank Account Data — Martia's PSD2 provider, gocardless.com
- PolishAPI, Open Banking standard in Poland, polishapi.org
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